Chicago Shakespeare Theater is keeping its show docked at its Navy Pier facility and Oak Brook's First Folio Theatre is taking the summer off before re-commencing in the fall, but playgoers eager to swap the urban concrete for wide-open greenery can still find opportunities for scenic road/Metra excursions, fresh-air picnics and entertainment under starry skies.
A Midsummer Night's Dream, Midsommer Flight, July 15-Aug. 21. Lovers and pixies and clowns romp Shakespeare's Athenian forests in Chicago parks on the North, South and West sides this summer. Details: MidsommerFlight.com
The Winter's Tale, Oak Park Festival Theatre at Austin Gardens in Oak Park, July 16-Aug. 20. A tale begun in winter needs a happy ending in a summery setting (after a BEAR chase) and Shakespeare provides us both. Details: OakParkFestival.com
Midsummer Mayhem: Mad World, Shakespeare's Motley Crew, July 30-Aug. 28. The merry rag-tag rascals of Ravenswood's Independence and Winnemac Parks present their annual showcase, this year featuring favorite looney scenes from Shakespeare and his contemporaries. Details: SMCplays.com
Pearl's Rollin With the Blues, Writers Theatre in Glencoe, June 23-July 24. Whenever you see the names of diva Felicia P. Fields and director Ron OJ Parsons on the same playbill, good times and splendiferous music are guaranteed. Details: WritersTheatre.org
Dear Jack, Dear Louise, Northlight Theatre in Skokie, July 7-Aug. 7. What could be more romantic than a pair of lonely "pen-pals"one, a doctor in the army and the other, an aspiring actress in New York Cityconducting pre-Facebook trysts during World War II? Details: Northlight.org
Zorro: The Musical, Music Theater Works, Aug. 11-21. Spiderman, Superman and the Scarlet Pimpernel all have their own musicals, so why has it taken so long for someone to write some swashbuckling songs for this Latino-American masked crusader? Details: MusicTheaterWorks.com
Home, Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre at the Noyes Arts Center in Evanston, June 5-19. Samm-Art Williams' 1978 play (presented by Tim Rhoze as an old-fashioned "tent show") recounts the re-assimilation struggles of a Black draft-evader in a society still reeling from the recent wars at home and abroad. Details: FJtheatre.com . Photo by Kara Roseborough
Hand to God, Paramount Theatre Productions at the Copley Theatre in Aurora, June 1-July 10. Richard Askins' searing criticism of religious dogma and teenage angst carried to extremes does for fuzzy sock-puppets what Stephen King did for clowns. Details: ParamountAurora.com . Below: Hand to God's Jessica (Felicia Oduh). Photo by Amy Nelson