Summer theater

This month, UC Irvine alumnus Abel Garcia returns to the school’s New Swan Shakespeare Festival for his fifth season to perform in productions of “Much Ado About Nothing” and “All’s Well That Ends Well.” His Texas roots make Garcia an ideal fit for the Wild West setting of this version of “Much Ado,” which features live bluegrass music, square dancing, Southern drawls and country attire.

Garcia plays Benedick, a gambling cowboy who fears commitment but is hat-over-spurs in love with Beatrice. Channeling his inner Kurt Russell, Garcia grew a mustache and began doing pushups to prepare for the role. “I wanted to bulk up to get a feel for the ranch lifestyle,” says Garcia, who briefly broke into a Southern Shakespearean hybrid drawl. “Now I’m ready to throw hay on a wagon.”

UC Irvine holds a fixed place in Garcia’s heart. He returns year after year, after graduating with an MFA in acting in 2021. “I adore the school,” Garcia says. “They helped take me to the next level, and I’m still growing there. I’m an Anteater for life.”

For as naturally as Garcia now commands the stage, it wasn’t always so. The former high school football player described himself as an introverted and shy kid who hated public speaking. A scheduling mistake landed him in a theater class his senior year, where it took less than a month for Garcia to realize his career plans had profoundly changed. He still returns to El Paso each year to appear on stage at his former theater teacher’s company.

Garcia believes Shakespeare isn’t just for academics and theater nerds, but rather The Bard should feel accessible to everyone. “I don’t think it matters that audiences understand every sentence,” he says. “Feeling what the characters are going through is the important thing. Just give yourself over and ride along on the journey.”

To illustrate his point, the actor builds his characters using eclectic playlists from every genre and era. “Playlists are important to me,” says Garcia, who chose Milli Vanilli to inform his role as the deceitful Parolles in “All’s Well.” “Parolles’ whole arc is lying about who he is. I started with Milli Vanilli then branched off into the wild ’80s: ‘Rock Me Amadeus’ and Wang Chung. I can’t explain it, but that’s the vibe I get.”

A reviewer once described New Swan like “a mirage that appears each summer, bringing a few months of ephemeral moments that feel like dreams within dreams before vanishing in September.” Garcia says that description feels just right.

The intimate stage under the stars provides the perfect backdrop for Shakespearean heartaches and struggles. “The problems these characters face are bigger than life. They’re constantly challenging the gods,” Garcia says. “An open-air space like New Swan makes that easier to convey. We can hear crickets, ambulances and kids skateboarding on campus. Somehow that feeds into the plays, reminding us these characters are still humans.”