Shakespeare festivals: All the summer’s a stage

Every summer, parks and outdoor stages across North America resonate with grand speeches, sonorous soliloquies, tragic verses, and comedic antics—all by the same playwright. Here are six can’t-miss festivals of William Shakespeare’s works.

Shakespeare in the Park

New York

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The lines may be long, but the tickets are free to this most venerable of Shakespeare festivals, now in its 55th year in New York’s Central Park. Actors from Meryl Streep to Kevin Kline have honed their Elizabethan chops at the Delacorte Theatre over the years. This year, the stage belongs to Anne Hathaway, as the cross-­dressing Viola in Twelfth Night (through July 12).

Shakespeare on the Sound

Rowayton and Greenwich, Conn. (203) 299-1300

Curators of this two-town Connecticut festival have commissioned Passing Strange’s songwriting virtuoso Stew to write an original score for A Midsummer Night’s Dream (though July 12). Audiences picnicking around the play’s winding outdoor “thrust” stage will feel surrounded by the play’s woodland mischief.

The Old Globe

San Diego (619) 234-5623

Nestled among the eucalyptus trees of San Diego’s Balboa Park, the Lowell Davies Festival Theatre hosts one of the country’s most renowned celebrations of the Bard. Highlights this year include Twelfth Night (through Sept. 26) directed by Paul Mullins, and the late tragedy Coriolanus (through Sept. 25), helmed by resident artistic director Darko Tresnjak.

Georgia Shakespeare Festival

Atlanta (404) 264-0020

In addition to conventional productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream (June 11–July 31) and Titus Andronicus (July 9–Aug. 2), Georgia gets irreverent with MacHomer (Aug. 26–30). Impressionist Rick Miller performs Macbeth in the voices of Homer, Marge, and the rest of The Simpsons cast.

Oregon Shakespeare Festival

Ashland, Ore. (541) 482-4331

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival is one of the oldest in the country. It’s also among the longest, lasting eight and a half months. In the summertime, productions head outdoors to the Elizabethan Stage, and this year include a Much Ado About Nothing (through Oct. 11) set in World War II Italy and a more traditional take on Henry VIII (through Oct. 9).

Stratford Shakespeare Festival

Stratford, Ontario (800) 567-1600

Stratford—on, you guessed it, the Avon River—is the perfectly laid-out locale for North America’s largest Shakespeare festival. This season sees 14 plays spread across four theaters, highlighted by Tony Award–winning director Des MacAnuff’s take on Macbeth (through Oct. 31), set in colonial Africa and starring Colm Feore.