It is hot out there, and that can only mean one thing: it’s time for summer Shakespeare. We’ll bet there’s a great show happening at a park or in an air-conditioned theater near you. What plays are you looking forward to seeing this summer?
To get you started, we’ve rounded up some summertime offerings from our theater partners across the US. Find your region of the country and see what’s onstage near you.
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- The Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival’s “Richard II” runs through August 26. Benjamin Bonenfant (Aumerle) and Julia Coffey (King Richard II). Directed by Davis McCallum. Photo © T. Charles Erickson Photography.
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- The San Francisco Shakespeare Festival’s 2018 Free Shakespeare in the Park production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” runs through September 23. Stephen Muterspaugh (Oberon) and James Lewis (Puck). Photos: John Western
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- The Old Globe’s “The Tempest,” with Kate Burton as Prospera, runs through July 22.
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- In the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s “Romeo and Juliet,” Romeo (William Thomas Hodgson) and Juliet (Emily Ota) bask in wedded bliss. Photo by Jenny Graham.
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- The American Players Theatre’s “As You Like It” runs through October 7. Pictured: Chris Klopatek (Orlando) on Michael Ganio’s scenic design. Photo by Liz Lauren.
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- Chesapeake Shakespeare Company presents its sixteenth season outdoors at the PFI Historic Park in Ellicott City, featuring A Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by Gerrad Alex Taylor, June 22 – July 29. Jose Guzman as Nick Bottom, Brendan Edward Kennedy as Francis Flute, Tim Neil as Snug, Owen Halstad as Robin Starveling, and (examining Bottom’s shoe) Imani Turner as Puck. Photo by Jean Thompson.
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- In the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s “Love’s Labors Lost,” Longaville (Jeremy Gallardo), Dumain (William Thomas Hodgson), Berowne (Stephen Michael Spencer) and Ferdinand (Daniel José Molina) disguise themselves as Muscovites as they set out to woo the Princess of France and her ladies. Photo by Jenny Graham, Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
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- The Colorado Shakespeare Festival’s “Love’s Labor’s Lost” runs through August 12. Pictured: Rafael Untalan (Don Adriano de Armado) and Anthony Adu (Moth). Photo by Jennifer Koskinen.
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- The Idaho Shakespeare Festival’s “Macbeth” runs through June 23. .Lynn Robert Berg as Macbeth, Christopher Tocco as Macduff. Photo by by DKM Photography.
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- The Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis’s “Romeo and Juliet” at Shakespeare Glen in Forest Park is onstage through June 24. Sigrid Wise as Juliet (center) and Reynaldo Piniella as Romeo (green shirt) with the ensemble.
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- At Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum, Coriolanus is onstage through September 23. David DeSantos (Caius Martius Coriolanus) and Ellen Geer (Volumnia). Photo by Ian Flanders.
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- At the Atlanta Shakespeare Company, “King John” in onstage until through July 1. Andrew Houchins as Hubert, Joshua Goodridge as Arthur Photo by Artistic Director Jeffrey Watkins.
East
The Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival’s
“The Taming Of The Shrew” features Liz Wisan as Kate.
Photograph © T Charles Erickson.
O eastern star!– Antony and Cleopatra, 5.2.366
Catch the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Ellicott City, Maryland’s PFI Historic Park, amidst the picturesque reinforced ruins of the Patapsco Female Institute, a 19th-century girls school. The show runs from June 22 to July 29—but don’t miss preview performances on June 20 and 21 that will benefit Ellicott City, which experienced catastrophic flooding earlier this month.
At the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, The Taming of the Shrew runs through August 24, while Richard II starts June 22 and runs through August 26.
South
The Atlanta Shakespeare Company, “King John,” with Amee Vyas as Constance, Maurice Ralston as King Phillip. Photo by Jeffrey Watkins.
But if it were at liberty, ’twould sure southward.– Coriolanus, 2.3.29
At the Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre, catch an outdoor performance of The Winter’s Tale, or spend the evening with Prince Hal and Falstaff in Henry IV, Part 1.
The Atlanta Shakespeare Company’s King John runs through July 1 at the Shakespeare Tavern Playhouse.
At Shakespeare Dallas, catch The Taming of the Shrew through July 13 or The Comedy of Errors through July 15.
Midwest
Now on Dardan plains
The fresh and yet unbruisèd Greeks do pitch
Their brave pavilions.– Troilus and Cressida, PRO.13 – 15
The American Players Theatre’s As You Like It runs through October 7.
At the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, there’s still time to catch Macbeth, which closes on June 24. It features the work of our old friends Teller, Aaron Posner, and Ian Merrill Peakes.
Emily Daly & Marcus Truschinski in the American Players Theatre’s “As You Like It,” Photo by Liz Lauren.
West
The west yet glimmers with some streaks of day.– Macbeth, 3.3.7The Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s “The Book of Will” by Lauren M. Gunderson. Directed by Christopher Liam Moore. Photo: Jenny Graham.
At the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, Love’s Labor’s Lost and Richard III are onstage until mid-August.
Hurry to the Idaho Shakespeare Festival, where Macbeth closes June 23.
The Oregon Shakespeare Festival adds three great productions to its marquee this month: Romeo and Juliet, Love’s Labor’s Lost, and Lauren Gunderson’s The Book of Will. Lauren Gunderson is among the United States’ most produced playwrights; if you listen to our podcast, Shakespeare Unlimited, you may remember our interview with her in 2017.
The San Francisco Shakespeare Festival’s free A Midsummer Night’s Dream runs from June 30 – September 23. Catch it at one of five locations across the city.
At The Old Globe, The Tempest is onstage until July 22.
Head down to California’s Topanga Canyon to see Theatricum Botanicum’s productions of Coriolanus (through September 23) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (through September 3).
The American Players Theatre, Arkansas Shakespeare Company, Atlanta Shakespeare Company, Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, Colorado Shakespeare Festival, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Nebraska Shakespeare Festival, The Old Globe, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Shakespeare Dallas, Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis, and Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum are theater partners of the Folger Shakespeare Library.
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Comments
I am seeing As You Like It and Measure for Measure at APT, but I have to wait until September!
Susan L Edgren — June 19, 2018
You might take a look at the Michigan Shakespeare Festival in Jackson, Michigan, as well as the Stratford Festival just across the border in Canada.
Prof. Sylvia Kasey Marks — June 19, 2018
[…] not too late to see many of the productions featured in our June round-up, including performances at the American Players Theatre, Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, Colorado […]
What's onstage at Shakespeare theaters in July - Shakespeare & Beyond — July 20, 2018
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What's onstage at Shakespeare theaters in August - Shakespeare & Beyond — August 14, 2018