Now in its fourth season, the South Bay theater company Shady Shakespeare has—to borrow a famous Shakespeare line—taken arms against a sea of troubles, namely Silicon Valley's recent economic downturn.

The company has responded to the economic slump by making its outdoor Shakespeare productions free to the public.

A Shady Shakespeare press release says: "It is the hope of Shady Shakespeare that even with a difficult economy, the people of the communities we serve can still enjoy an entertaining and educational evening of theater."

The company is currently staging a free summertime production of Shakespeare's romantic comedy Much Ado About Nothing at the Sanborn-Skyline County Park in Saratoga. The play's run will end on Sept. 22.

According to Shady Shakespeare Managing Director Dinna Myers, the company's productions of plays like Much Ado and The Two Gentlemen of Verona are designed to make Shakespeare's writing accessible and comprehensible for those who have not acquired a taste for Elizabethan English.

"If you come and see one of our shows, I guarantee you that you will understand every word that's being said because that's what we strive for," says Myers, who is also directing Much Ado. "We strive to make Shakespeare less of a mythical creature and more of an everyman kind of playwright. Most of his work was dedicated to the common man."

Myers, who works as a sales manager for a theatrical supplies company, co-founded Shady Shakespeare in 1999 with actors Sara Betts and Jeff Day. The "shady" in the name is a reference not to something dubious about the company but to the shade of the outdoor settings in which the company performs.

"The company was started because we felt like there were not enough opportunities for younger, less experienced non-Equity actors and designers to get the experience they needed to be able to compete in the global market of acting," Myers says.

According to Myers, one of the company's goals has been to find a permanent home venue.

"We've been at a different venue every year. We started at the Palo Alto Jewish Community Center, and then we were at the very tiny park stage at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts. Last year, we were at the Mountain View Community Center, which we liked even though it was right next to a train station. But they've decided to tear it down, so we went looking for a space again this year," Myers says.

Shady Shakespeare's fourth season marks the company's first year of performances at the Sanborn-Skyline County Park. Myers hopes the park becomes the company's permanent home. She says the park stage and its redwood surroundings would be perfect for a staging of A Midsummer Night's Dream, the play that first got Myers hooked on the Bard.

The members of Shady Shakespeare are also considering doing productions of Hamlet and All's Well That Ends Well in the future. The company stages only one play per year, which takes place during the summer.

"At this time I can't imagine expanding into a winter season, although people are constantly begging me and asking me to do that," says Myers, who adds that the company won't extend its summer-only seasons until it receives extra funding.

Shady Shakespeare's budget has experienced plenty of growth since the company's inception, however.

"We have managed to double our projected budget every year since we started. Sara Betts, the artistic director, and I started with $500 each out of our own pockets. Thanks to sponsorships and online sales of Shady Shakespeare items, the company currently is working with a $20,000 budget, according to Myers.