At our latitudes, playgoing is indoor recreation—except in the summer, when theater, especially Shakespeare, inexplicably becomes an outdoor activity. In some quarters, this is sold under the pretense of replicating the authentic Elizabethan experience—as if ours was a maritime climate similar to that of London (on this side of the Atlantic enjoyed in upper Newfoundland) and performances given only in daylight hours. Fortunately, the Chicago area offers dramatic fare for those who like citronella or freon.
Bringing the indoors outdoors
"I love working outdoors!" declares Kevin Theis, slated to portray the villainous monarch in Richard III for Oak Park Festival Theater in Austin Gardens June 19-Aug. 25, "You feel connected to the other actors the way you don't in a theater." Jack Hickey, who will star in Inherit the Wind from June 16-July 14 concurred: "There's an intimacy between actor and audience after the sun sets, when the lights come up and the stage becomes a glow in the darkness." (708-445-4440/www.oakparkfestival.com )
David Rice likewise rhapsodized over First Folio Theatre's performance site in the Mayslake Peabody Estate, calling it a "sylvan setting in the west suburbs [of Oak Brook]." This summer, the venue not only offers a classical rendition of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice July 11-Aug. 19, but staged readings of Shylock And His Daughter, Maurice Schwartz' little-known classic from the repertoire of the American Yiddish Theatre recounting Shylock's perspective on the familiar story (performed in English) July 26-Aug. 16. (630-986-8067/www.firstfolio.org )
Theatre-Hikes offers an athletic as well as an artistic approach to entertainment, configuring its texts to a promenade through such horticultural museums as the North Park Village Center, the Pullman State Historic Site and the Morton Arboretum—a concept that founder Frank Farrell likens to "getting closer to nature while 'holding a mirror up to nature.'" This summer, Theatre-Hikes will present Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles (June 23-July 24), The Wind in the Willows (July 14-Aug. 25) and Streeterville (Aug. 18-25). For schedules and locations, log onto www.theatre-hikes.org
For those who enjoy the proximity of nature without necessarily wallowing in it, there's the Skyline stage at Navy Pier, featuring the thrilling acrobatics of Cirque Shanghai, currently featuring in its Year of the Dragon line-up the Imperial Thunder motorcycle stunt-aerialists, and continuing through Sept. 3 ( www.navypier.com ), and Lincoln Park's venerable Theater By The Lake, this year presenting revivals of such 2011-2012 shows as Redtwist's Opus, ETA's Broke-ology, The Inconvenience's Hit The Wall and—a fitting choice for a lakeside venue—Building Stage's Moby-Dick (312-742-7994/www.chicagoparkdistrict.com ). New to the circuit is the Riverfront Theater, housed in the giant tent constructed at Chicago and Halsted for last year's ThreeSixty Peter Pan, but now hosting a series of musical and dance revues May 30-Sept. 30 (888-556-9484/www.riverfronttheater.com ).
Bringing the outdoors indoors
We associate abbreviated clothing with warmth and sunshine, but National Pastime's annual Naked July Festival celebrates the human body in the comfort of a temperature-controlled environment. "It's illegal to go naked outside in the city," artistic director Laurence Bryan reminds us, "Inside, the show goes on, rain or shine, and nobody suffers sunburn or bug bites." The festival's roster—playing in National Pastime's new quarters on Lawrence Avenue June 29-Aug. 11—features, among other acts, full productions of Jose Rivera's References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot and Cal Yeomans' 1979 gay classic Richmond Jim, as well as the Living Canvas dance troupe. (773-327-7077/www.nakedjuly.com )
Plays with bucolic settings allow us to pretend we're basking in lush pastoral splendor while still safely sheltered from flora and fauna. To conclude its season devoted to Eugene O'Neill, Eclipse Theatre presents Ah, Wilderness—as close as that gloomy author ever came to writing a boy-meets-girl comedy—at the Athenaeum July 31-Sept. 2 (773-935-6875/www.eclipsetheatre.com ), while Artistic Home offers The American Plan, Richard Greenberg's comedy of romance at a vacation resort in the Catskills, playing at Stage 773 July 22-Aug. 26 (773-327-5252/www.stage773.com ).
Exploring more serious themes are Victory Gardens' production of Oedipus El Rey, Luis Alfaro's relocation of the Greek tragedy to a sweltering Los Angeles barrio where rival gangs roam the streets seeking respite from the heat, playing July 9-29 (773-871-3000/www.victorygardens.org ) and Rasaka Theatre Company, premiering Rajiv Joseph's tale of childhood comrades growing up in troubled times, Gruesome Playground Injuries, July 5-Aug. 5 (312-777-1070/www.rasakatheatre.com ). Audiences with vivid imaginations can also share in the watery ambience of Eastland: A New Musical, Lookingglass' docudrama of Chicago's most famous shipwreck, June 16-July 29 (312-337-0665/www.lookingglasstheatre.org ), or the Chicago Commercial Collective's revival of Keith Huff's runaway hit, A Steady Rain, remounted in its original home at Chicago Dramatists July 10-Sept 2 ( www.asteadyrain.com )
Huddling in the AC
Sometimes, however, nothing will do but to seek an environment wholly unlike your own, if only in your fantasies. Chekhov's Three Sisters transports us to 19th-century Russia, where people go joyriding in sleighs on sub-zero nights, but since Tracy Letts did the adaptation, look for surprises in the Steppenwolf production running July 7-Aug. 26 (312-335-1650/www.steppenwolf.org ). The decorum of regency-era Brits are explored in Lifeline's Pride and Prejudice, now extending through July 8 (773-761-4477/www.lifelinetheatre.com ), and those of the less-privileged classes in Redtwist's The Cripple of Inishmaan, currently running to June 24 (773-728-7529/www.redtwist.org ) and Ka-Tet Theatre's production of John Godber's Salt of the Earth, July 13-Aug. 19 (1-800-838-3008/www.katettheatre.org ).
Finally, for the ultimate escape, House Theatre brings back its twice sold-out Death and Harry Houdini for one more stay, following its out-of-town gig in Florida. If you missed Dennis Watkins (who can't keep up this pace forever, remember) replicating the physically strenuous stunts of the iconic illusionist in its four previous incarnations—at Live Bait, the Viaduct, and twice at the Chopin—you can atone for this error between July 7 and Aug. 17 (773-769-3832/www.the housetheatre.com ).
