What's onstage at Shakespeare theaters in June

It is hot out there, and that can only mean one thing: it’s time for summer Shakespeare. We’ll bet there’s a great show happening at a park or in an air-conditioned theater near you. What plays are you looking forward to seeing this summer?

To get you started, we’ve rounded up some summertime offerings from our theater partners across the US. Find your region of the country and see what’s onstage near you.

East

The Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival’s
“The Taming Of The Shrew” features Liz Wisan as Kate.
Photograph © T Charles Erickson.

O eastern star!

– Antony and Cleopatra, 5.2.366

Catch the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Ellicott City, Maryland’s PFI Historic Park, amidst the picturesque reinforced ruins of the Patapsco Female Institute, a 19th-century girls school. The show runs from June 22 to July 29—but don’t miss preview performances on June 20 and 21 that will benefit Ellicott City, which experienced catastrophic flooding earlier this month.

At the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, The Taming of the Shrew runs through August 24, while Richard II starts June 22 and runs through August 26.

South

The Atlanta Shakespeare Company, “King John,” with Amee Vyas as Constance, Maurice Ralston as King Phillip. Photo by Jeffrey Watkins.

But if it were at liberty, ’twould sure southward.

– Coriolanus, 2.3.29

At the Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre, catch an outdoor performance of The Winter’s Tale, or spend the evening with Prince Hal and Falstaff in Henry IV, Part 1.

The Atlanta Shakespeare Company’s King John runs through July 1 at the Shakespeare Tavern Playhouse.

At Shakespeare Dallas, catch The Taming of the Shrew through July 13 or The Comedy of Errors through July 15.

Midwest

Now on Dardan plains
The fresh and yet unbruisèd Greeks do pitch
Their brave pavilions.

– Troilus and Cressida, PRO.13 – 15

Emily Daly & Marcus Truschinski in the American Players Theatre’s “As You Like It,” Photo by Liz Lauren.

West

The west yet glimmers with some streaks of day.

– Macbeth, 3.3.7

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s “The Book of Will” by Lauren M. Gunderson. Directed by Christopher Liam Moore. Photo: Jenny Graham.

At the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, Love’s Labor’s Lost and Richard III are onstage until mid-August.

Hurry to the Idaho Shakespeare Festival, where Macbeth closes June 23.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival adds three great productions to its marquee this month: Romeo and Juliet, Love’s Labor’s Lost, and Lauren Gunderson’s The Book of Will. Lauren Gunderson is among the United States’ most produced playwrights; if you listen to our  podcast, Shakespeare Unlimited, you may remember our interview with her in 2017.

The San Francisco Shakespeare Festival’s free A Midsummer Night’s Dream runs from June 30 – September 23. Catch it at one of five locations across the city.

At The Old Globe, The Tempest is onstage until July 22.

Head down to California’s Topanga Canyon to see Theatricum Botanicum’s productions of Coriolanus (through September 23) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (through September 3).

The American Players Theatre, Arkansas Shakespeare Company, Atlanta Shakespeare Company, Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, Colorado Shakespeare Festival, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Nebraska Shakespeare Festival, The Old Globe, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Shakespeare Dallas, Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis, and Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum are theater partners of the Folger Shakespeare Library.