On the shores of Lake Tahoe in the depths of the Nixon administration, life was a bummer and Shakespeare was a drag. Or so we insisted with the sort of righteous indignation only a 13-year-old whose rights have been trampled by The Man, ( or in this case, our mother ) could muster. We wanted to roast marshmallows with the guys in the adjacent campsite. They had a bus all painted up like the one in the 'Partridge Family.' They rolled their own cigarettes. They were cool. But alas, our liberal mother's liberality didn't extend to the nuclear family. The vote was two to one in favor of s'mores with the foxes in tie-dye bandanas over 'As You Like It' with our mother by the lake. But this was not a democracy. 'As You Like It' won. Fascist, our older sister whined. Worse than the fuzz, man, we added. We just knew we were going to hate it. As it turned out, verily, as it often turns out, we didn't know much. As the sun set over the Forest of Arden/shores of Lake Tahoe, we were entranced.
Now, some 35 ( ! ) years later, our fondness for alfresco theater hasn't dimmed. Obviously and fortunately, you don't have to pack up the van and haul off to northern California to indulge. From the exquisite riches of the American Players Theatre in Spring Green, Wis., to the Illinois Shakespeare Festival in Bloomington/Normal, the summer hereabouts bursts with enough comedy, drama and tragedy to see one through to Labor Day.
Shakespeare is a perennial favorite for outdoor theaters, but this year, there's also Eugene O'Neill, Hannah Cowley and Brian Friel. Here's a rundown for some of the shows we're especially keen on in this, a summer of potentially great content:
—American Players Theatre ( APT ) ( 608-588-7401; www.playinthewoods.org ) : A few hours from the Loop ( and 40 miles west of Madison ) , APT's outdoor amphitheater sits on 110 acres of verdant hills and woodlands high above the Wisconsin River. Pastoral picnic grounds are a stone's throw from the theater. This year saw the ties between APT and the Chicago theater community grows stronger, with APT mainstays such as Tracey Michelle Arnold and Marcus Truschinski traveling south to do shows at Writers' and Northlight theaters while gifted Chicago directors James Bohnen and William Brown went north to work in Spring Green. It's an alliance that benefits theater goers on both sides of the border.
APT's 29th season features Brown directing 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', ( Previews June 7, 8, 12; regular run, June 14-Oct. 5 ) ; Eugene O'Neill's 'Ah, Wilderness!' ( Previews June 13, 19; regular run, June 21-Oct. 4 ) ; George Bernard Shaw's rarely produced 'Widower's Houses' ( Previews, Aug. 1, 7; Regular run Aug. 9-Oct. 4 ) . Astonishingly, this year marks the first time APT will stage a work by a female playwright with Hannah Cowley's comedy of manners, 'The Belle's Stratagem.' ( Previews, Aug. 8, 13; Regular run Aug. 16-Oct. 3. )
One don't-miss pick is 'The Desert Queen', July 11, 27. A world premiere written and directed James DeVita, this one-woman show explores the life of English archeologist and explorer Gertrude Bell. Hailed as the 'uncrowned Queen of Iraq' for mapping the Middle Eastern country's borders, Bell also established Iraq's first museum. A land most of us have seen only through the lens of war, Iraq should takes on new dimensions to our western eyes in DeVita's timely, ground-breaking work.
The other must-see is 'Henry IV: The Making of a King' ( previews, June 20, 24; regular run June 26-Sept. 20 ) . Remy Bumppo Artistic Director James Bohnen directs a piece billed as a 'conflation' of Shakespeare's 'Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2.' Those intricate, fascinating histories explore the metamorphosis of Prince Hal from reckless, slacker party boy into one of the greatest leader in known history-a change that included his heartbreaking rejection of that consummate, lovable wastrel for the ages, Sir John Falstaff.
—First Folio Shakespeare Theatre ( 630-986-8076; www.firstfolio.com ) : It's easy ( and misguided ) to stereotype DuPage County as a bastion of close-minded, conservative rubes who don't know Shakespeare from Navy Pier. So when the dynamic husband-and-wife team of Alison Vesely and David Rice launched First Folio just over a decade ago, working under radical premise that there was an audience for Shakespeare and other classic theater kin the far western suburbs, they were flying bravely in the face of conventional wisdom. And as it turned out, they were right.
Come summer, audiences turn out in generally delighted droves to see the Bard performed on what was once the front yard of robber baron coal magnate Francis Peabody. ( Old Man Peabody eventually donated his Tudor mansion and the surrounding grounds to a community of monks, and the place is reportedly haunted by restless spirits of the long-gone religious order. )
First Folio's season is now year-round, with indoor performances in the mansion. This summer, the show to look out for is Much Ado About Nothing ( previews, July 8-10; regular run, July 11-Aug. 17 ) . Nick Sandys takes the lead in an all-star cast that also includes the chameleonic likes of John Reeger and Patrick Clear as Michael Goldberg directs Shakespeare's frothy/dead serious/frothy comedy of sparring wits and ingénues done wrong. The plot: While cutting each other to verbal shreds, Beatrice ( Melissa Carlson ) and Benedyck ( Sandys ) discover that they love each other, but their romance is all but derailed with Beatrice's best friend, Hero, is slandered and humiliated on her wedding day by Benedyck's best friend, Claudio ( Will Allen ) . 'Much Ado' is a comedy of heft, and perhaps the only rom-com in existence with a leading lady capable of ordering a murder without batting an eye.
A postscript from the Department of Dubious Programming: First Folio announced its summer plans over a year ago, but that didn't stop the Oak Park Festival Theatre from announcing several weeks ago that their summer season also included 'Much Ado.' To which we're inclined to snark hello, there are dozens of plays in the Shakespeare canon. There's just no reason for duplication like this.
—Illinois Shakespeare Festival ( ISF ) , Ewing Cultural Center grounds, Illinois State University, Bloomington-Normal, ( 866-IL-SHAKE ( toll-free ) or 309-438-8620; www.thefestival.org ) : The most provocative, engaging production of 'The Merchant of Venice' we ever saw? That's easy. It was the gender-bending wonder featuring the ever-fabulous and immensely talented Bruch Reed as Portia. Radical, deep and true, the production was exemplary of the high standards and thoughtful work that defines the 30-year-old theater roughly 125 miles south of Chicago. This year, the ISF season opens with 'The Taming of the Shrew' ( June 27-Aug. 10 ) —for our money, one of Shakespeare's most controversial and challenging pieces, thanks to Kate's ( infamous ) final monologue. Staging the thing without turning it into an eye-rolling two-hours of misogynistic lunacy is surely one of the great theatrical challenges of the post-'Feminine Mystique' world. This summer, that challenge falls to director Catherine Weidner.
Want a whipsmart and hacky overview of the whole Shakespeare canon? ISF's 'The Complete Works of William Shakespeare ( Abridged ) ' offers 37 plays in 97 minutes and runs in rep with 'Shrew' June 28-Aug. 9. And for something completely different, check out Phillip Johnson and Brian Howard as 'Moonie and Broon' ( July 21 ) . The solo artists will perform separately, with Johnson doing a family-friendly mix of performance art, comedy, magic and improv, at 6 p.m. and Howard following at 8 p.m. with a way-out-there neo-vaudevillian, adults-only show at 8 p.m. Juggling, fire eating, clowning, music, and stupid stunts—what's not to love?
But perhaps best of all is 'Titus Andronicus' ( July 18-Aug. 8 ) . Centuries before 'Sweeney Todd,' Shakespeare was dishing out vengeance via meat pies in what would have been the world's first slasher flick had movies existed in Elizabethan England. Festival Artistic Director Deb Alley goes for the gore with 'Titus,' a hyperviolent early tragedy full of the ghosts of Shakespearean characters yet to come. Evil Goth Queen Tamora foreshadows Lady Macbeth, and Aaron the Moor could have been Iago's great-grandfather. The conquered warrior Titus and his hideously victimized daughter Lavinia evoke the likes of Lear and Cordelia.
—Oak Park Festival Theatre, ( 708-445-4440; www.oakparkfestival.com ) : Founded in 1975, Oak Park Festival Theatre is the oldest outdoor Equity company in the western burbs. In recent year, the company's board president, Joyce Porter ( look for her in the upcoming indie film, 'Chicago Overcoat' ) , has spearheaded a powerful renaissance that essentially doubled both the number of productions the festival stages yearly and its overall budget. The festival happens year-round now, with fall and winter shows going up in the parlor of Oak Park's historic Pleasant Home.
The quality can be uneven at this festival and, in recent years, some of the outdoor audiences were far from robust. Even so, the event remains an enduring mainstay for both venerable classics and new adaptations of literary works. Moreover, under the artistic directorship of Jack Hickey, the festival offers 'Family Days' with each show, a terrific program aimed at making Shakespeare and others accessible to children. Got kids? Bring them to the pre-show workshops in dancing, stage combat and dramaturgy at 3:30 Sun., June 22 or 29. The main event—'Much Ado About Nothing' —follows at 5 p.m.
Also for the shorter set this year: Frank Farrell, Festival and Theatre Hikes team for a ( non-hiking ) staging of 'Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm.' ( Aug. 9, 10 )
The aforementioned 'Much Ado' runs June 13-July 19 ( previews June 11-12 ) . But for a production that's not part of a nearby theater's season, check out 'Dancing at Lughnasa' ( July 23-Aug. 23; previews July 23, 24 ) . Joseph Jefferson winner, Performink scribe and Roosevelt University performing arts instructor Brenda Bremner puts on her director's hat for the harsh, poetic beauty of Brian Friel's drama of 1930s Ireland. The story of a boy growing up without a father but with a mother and four 'spinster' aunts has long been acknowledged as a drama of intelligence, humor and bittersweet heart. The leafy emerald confines of Austin Gardens are an ideal stand-in for a rural patch of Eiren. Pack a pint of poteen you're your picnic hamper, and the illusion of Ireland could be complete.
