We've always been fond of summer-stock theater whether it's in an old barn, an old tent or out under the stars. Fortunately, there are plenty of summer theater options that readers can couple with a modestly-priced regional vacation, spiked with country cooking, quaint B&Bs or sleazy Bates Motels. ( You pay your money, you take your choice. ) The following venues all are within a few hours' drive of Chicago.
Illinois
Under new artistic leadership, the Illinois Shakespeare Festival ( ISF ) has jettisoned the roster of familiar Chicago actors and directors who peopled the ISF for years. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, although the Chicago-based artists were time-tested and capable veterans. In any case, the intimate and handsome ISF open-air theater at Ewing Manor in Bloomington, IL remains a splendid setting for a play, and the lovely Ewing Manor gardens are the welcoming and perfect setting for a pre-show picnic. Bloomington itself offers luxurious B&B's, superb Victorian architecture and oodles of antiques. This year's June 25-Aug. 9 repertory season includes Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and Richard III, plus an update of Moliere's raucous farce, Scapin. There's also free pre-show jazz, 6:30-7:30 p.m. on Wed., Friday and Saturday nights; see www.thefestival.org .
Just about due south of the Illinois Shakespeare Festival, about 90 minutes further on, is the classic Illinois farming community of Sullivan, with its Victorian court house and Civil War memorial on the town square. Also on the square, a small former movie house has, since 1957, produced an annual season of summer stock, nurturing many name stars along the way. This year, the Little Theatre on the Square offers five shows June 10-Aug. 16, among them The Wedding Singer, Funny Girl and Singin' in the Rain. Sullivan is in the heart of Illinois Amish country, and is close to the Lincoln shrines of Springfield and New Salem, and to Lake Shelbyville recreation. FYI: The comfortable Little Theatre is air conditioned; visit www.thelittletheatre.org .
Wisconsin
Nestled in the rolling hills of the Wisconsin River Valley in Spring Green, American Players Theatre ( APT ) is going all-out for its 30th anniversary season, June 6-Oct. 4, with a rotating repertory of eight plays—five in the outdoor hillside theatre and three in the troupe's brand-new 200-seat indoor Touchstone Theatre. APT's core ensemble of veteran actors is mostly unknown to Chicago audiences but, increasingly, APT is using some of Chicago's finest directors, among them LGBT-community favorite William Brown, who will stage Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors and Coward's Hay Fever outdoors this summer. Also, Remy Bumppo Theatre Artistic Director James Bohnen will helm Henry V outdoors. About 50 miles west of Madison, Spring Green is a bucolic haven for theatregoers, canoeists, anglers, antiquers, campers, bikers and the like; see www.playinthewoods.org .
Further north in Wisconsin, in Door County's Fish Creek to be precise, there are plenty of familiar Chicago faces both onstage and backstage as the famous Peninsula Players has become "summer camp" for many of Chicago's best veteran performers, designers, directors and technicians. The beautiful gardens and weather-protected theater—all completely rebuilt just three years ago—are directly on the shores of Green Bay. Artistic director Greg Vinkler, well-known to Chicago audiences, is on hiatus this summer ( playing on Broadway in the successful new production of West Side Story ) and has left operations in the hands of Tom Mula, another Chicago actor and director who's spent many summers at the Peninsula Players. This year's June 16-Oct. 18 season of five shows features The Lady with All the Answers ( about Ann Landers ) , A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine ( about the Marx Brothers ) and Wait Until Dark ( about two hours ) and two more shows. Visit www.peninsulaplayers.com .
Cheek-by-jowl with the Peninsula Players is the American Folklore Theatre, also in Fish Creek, presenting family-friendly, 90-minute original musicals under the stars in Peninsula State Park. As the company's name suggests, its work has some connection to American tall tales or history and to Wisconsin itself more often than not. This year's three-play season in rotating repertory, June 17-Aug. 29, includes Cheeseheads: The Musical, Sunsets and S'mores and Muskie Love, all three of which sound pretty dang Wisconsin ( even though two of them were written by the Chicago team of Dave Hudson and Paul Libman ) . Oh, fer cry-eye, this is fun stuff, y'know? See www.folkloretheatre.com .
Things are far more serious on the eastern shore of Door County, in Bailey's Harbor, where the Door Shakespeare Festival has set up shop among the 425 splendid acres of Bjorklunden, once a private estate. There, in the garden, Door Shakes will serve up The Merchant of Venice, July 27-Aug. 16. Folks on the Eastern Shore describe it as "the quiet side" of the Door Peninsula, though it boasts plenty of shops, restaurants and activities. Visit www.doorshakespeare.com .
Michigan
Crossing Lake Michigan and curving downwards towards the southeastern tip, one encounters Saugatuck, Mich., an essential part of summer for many in the LGBT community, and the Mason Street Warehouse ( MSW ) now is part of everyone's gay old time there. It's not the spot for Shakespeare or Shaw or even Noël Coward. No, this troupe's meat-and-potatoes is old-fashioned musical comedy, with this year's line-up including The Full Monty ( so you can skip the nude beach ) , Pump Boys and Dinettes and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. The June 26-August 30 season is as easy to take as a white wine spritzer and it's right downtown at the Saugatuck Center for the Arts ( on Culver Street, not Mason Street ) . This is an indoor venue, so rain be damned! See www.masonstreetwarehouse.org .
Head east from Saugatuck on the I-94 and get off halfway between Kalamazoo and Battle Creek, and you'll soon find yourself in the tiny rural town of Augusta, Mich., home to the Barn Theatre, a classic "straw hat" summer-stock operation in a big, ol' former dairy barn. There, for its 64th season, the Barnies will offer six shows, June 2-Aug. 23, including The Who's Tommy, The Full Monty and Big River. There's also a shed-turned-bar where you can sip a cool one and catch a nightly cabaret show after the main event in the Barn proper. And the Barn is air-conditioned. We say "moo" to that! There's a small state campground nearby, otherwise the closest accommodations are in K'mazoo ( home of Gibson Guitars ) or B'Creek ( home of Kellogg's Corn Flakes ) . See www.barntheatre.com .
