SOURCE: "An Actor Prepares for Malvolio," in The New York Times, June 29, 1986, pp. 1, 4.

Despite the sultry midday heat, all was astir in Central Park. At the Delacorte Theater, seemingly a world away, the actor F. Murray Abraham strode about the stage in straw hat, T-shirt and shorts reciting Shakespeare.

The actor—best known for his Academy Award-winning portrayal of Salieri in Amadeus—was rehearsing a scene from Twelfth Night in which his character, the vainglorious steward Malvolio, gets his comeuppance.

Behind him, stage hands were quietly transforming the Delacorte stage into the mythical dukedom of Illyria, set in 16th-century Yugoslavia. A figurehead was being affixed to the frame of a ship, a sign was being painted, and tiles were being secured to the roof of a yellow and lavender housefront, whose Slavic design was inspired by a book on Bulgarian monasteries. Undaunted by the activity, the actor gamely...