It’s hard to be blue when New West Theatre is singing in the sun.

 For a variety of personal reasons, I was in an I hate everyone mood on Sunday, and was going to give the second New West Theatre Arts in the Park show in a row a miss, but knew that the local theatre troupe’s Up with People vibe were just what I needed, Sunday, Aug. 29.

 They always ooze positive vibes, which made a spine tingling medley of Beach Boys songs including “Good Vibrations,” all the more apt.

 With the summer Arts in the Park concert series,New West Theatre have taken on the monumental task of putting on mini music festivals every single weekend at four different locations all over the city. For the most part, they’ve gone off without a hitch, except for one weekend— the one supposed to feature New West Theatre.

 Several hundred people have enjoyed each presentation and this Sunday was no exception.

 This Sunday’s show, which was the only one that had to be been postponed due to the weather, was the only one to directly feature New West’s performers.

This show was supposed to take place on Aug. 14 and 15 

This time, the sky was clear and while it was hot, it wasn’t as hot as it was, so numerous people took refuge under the trees or under umbrellas stuck in the middle of socially distanced chalk circles in Civic Park.

I arrived in the middle of Willy Big Bull’s  set of laid back, heartfelt, singer songwriter based music.

 He told a few stories about building scaffolding up north and played a song inspired by that.

He also added a laid back version of the Rolling Stones’ “ Wild Horses.”

Shakespeare in the Park returned to their roots with a performance of A Midsummer Nights Dream in Galt Gardens, July 30.

 With the temperatures hovering around 30 even at night,  the conditions were ideal to have an actual MidSummer’s Night’s dream, though I defy anyone to fall asleep during this production with all of the physical comedy and hilarity ensuing.

The Lethbridge Shakespeare Performance society’s very first production, 10 seasons ago was also A Midsummer Nights Dream this time they have more experience and custom designed costumes and a talented new cast, featuring mostly university students under the same director as the original, Andrew Legg.

The only cast member from the first production is Lethbridge Shakespeare Performance Society mainstay Jeff Graham, who is double cast as the duke and one of Titania’s fairies Mustard-seed.

Addison Gatner and Autumn Adrian play well off each other as friends torn apart by magical flowers and mischievous fairies. My favourite scene between their characters of Hermia and Helena is the exchange of insults, mostly making fun of Hermia’s height. 

 Like in the original, the supporting cast pretty much stole the show, from in the midst of a whirlwind of chaos created by jealous husband, Fairy King Oberon played by a menacing Cole Fetting and his Queen, Titiana, played by Megan Fennell.

The play is a love story gone horribly wrong with hilarious results after Oberon decides he wants Titania’s adopted child, and sets his hyperactive servant Puck, played with jittery energy by Chris Kyle Peterson on the case with the help of magical flowers designed to make the recipient fall in love with the next person or animal they see. Hilarity ensues when Puck turns the flamboyant actor Bottom (Trevor Loman) into a half man half-ass beast who Titania falls in love with and has her attendants spoil him.

Lethbridge has a  fascinating wild west history, back when Fort Whoop Up was operating circa 1870, so local actor and director 

Andrew Legg has dug up stories about the more interesting characters who hung around Fort Whoop up for a brand new Trader Tales, July 23 at the Fort.

“ Fort Whoop Up was only around for  a really short period of time,” said Andrew Legg, who  dug into the history once his production of  A MidSummer Night‘s Dream for The Lethbridge Shakespeare performance Society was well underway.

“ So I’ve been researching a 10 year block around 1870,” he said adding he learned stories about Fort Whoop up Founder  J J Healy and Jerry Potts and some of the more interesting characters who came to Southern Alberta from Montana, mostly, looking  to make their fortunes by trading supplies and whiskey to First Nations in exchange for buffalo robes when the fort was founded in 1869 at  the intersection of the St. Mary and Belly River, now known as the Oldman River.

 The actual Fort was actually located outside of  Lethbridge near the airport rather than in the coulee where the current replica is located.