The Mountain Shakespeare Festival hosts a Texas Hold ‘Em Poker Fundraiser on Father’s Day, Sunday June 17, at Pine Mountain Club. All are welcome. Players and non-players are invited and the proceeds go directly to funding this year’s production of Shakespeare’s hilarious comedy, "As You Like It" in the Mountain Shakespeare Festival’s second season.

The Texas Hold’Em buy-in will be $50 and the top prize is a $500 seat at a World Series of Poker Tourney. There will be prizes for others who make it to the final table.

The tournament begins with sign-ups and seating at 1:00 p.m. and ends at 7:00 p.m. Food and beverage are included in the buy-in. Non-players who want to enjoy the fun can spend the afternoon for only $15. It’s adults only, not for kids, and major televised sporting events will be shown on the big screens.

"Do something special for Dad," says Mountain Shakespeare Festival Artistic Director Peter Kjenaas. "This won’t really be gambling, but some friendly competition to help a start-up arts organization."

Seating is limited. Go to www.mountainshakes.org or call 661-242-6904 to reserve your seat today.

The Mountain Shakespeare Festival will perform "As You Like It" under the stars for its second season. Performances will be in Pine Mountain Club’s Lampkin Park on the afternoons of July 14 and 15 and at the Dream Castle in Frazier Park on July 19, 20, and 21.

"We have good reason to be excited about this season," said Managing Director Kat Fair. "The great response we had to our production of ‘A Midsummer Nights Dream’ last year has really created a buzz and brought in lots of support from local businesses."

And what will you be supporting with your poker dollars?

The Mountain Shakespeare Festival’s mission is to enrich the local community through education, entertainment and enlightenment while providing a delightful tourist offering that brings low-impact commerce to the region. Through productions of Shakespeare’s plays and modern stage works, coordinated with a vigorous education program, MSF will create a wealth of language, commerce and community participation that result in an overall improved quality of life to our mountain area and the surrounding region.

This is part of the June 15, 2007 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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