Shakespeare’s
Stephen Bybee
Columbia, MO
1999
This photograph was taken at a time in our local history when Shakespeare’s was a nighttime hub for art majors, painters, musicians, bartenders from Shattered, J-School students, and photographers. It was also a time when “Shakespeare’s” only meant the original Ninth Street Shakespeare’s and there was no confusion about what you meant when you said, “Meet me down at Shakes…”. This was taken on a weeknight, probably in early December, when the nights were just starting to get cold, and the windows of Shakespeare’s exhibited a beguiling perspiration formed of rising dough, pizza ovens, the warmth of hungry patrons and the rich effervescence of pitchers and cups of freshly poured beer.