Summer Stages - Theater Beyond Shakespeare - NYTimes.com Whether you prefer your summer Shakespeare outside or indoors, this festival can accommodate you. "Twelfth Night" will be presented on the green at the Village at Hendrix in Conway and at Wildwood Park for the Arts in Little Rock. At the indoor Reynolds Performance Hall in Conway, you can catch "Richard III" or "The Tempest." Shakespeare plays are big business come summer, but this Arkansas company, like many theaters focused on Shakespeare, branches out: The indoor stage will also feature the Huck Finn musical "Big River"; (866) 810-0012, arkshakes.com. "The Tempest" (May 30-June 24), featuring just six actors and three dancers, and "Hamlet" (Sept. 19-Oct. 14) bookend a season that will also include "Spunk" (July 4-29), George C. Wolfe's musical adaptation of short stories by Zora Neale Hurston. The gorgeous Bruns Amphitheater will be haunted by Noël Coward's "Blithe Spirit" (Aug. 8-Sept. 2), too; (510) 548-9666, calshakes.org. From fully produced shows that the festival recommends - like "Hands on a Hard Body," the new musical about an endurance contest at a Texas auto dealership (at La Jolla Playhouse through June 17) - to readings and student productions, this annual festival embraces diverse new endeavors in musical theater at sites from Santa Barbara to San Diego; lafestival.org. "Richard III," "As You Like It" and the always timely evolution versus creationism drama "Inherit the Wind" will run in repertory in this annual outdoor Shakespeare festival (June 3-Sept. 30) at the Lowell Davies Festival Theater. Indoors you'll find the premiere of the musical "Nobody Loves You" (through June 17), a romantic comedy with a book and lyrics by Itamar Moses. Gaby Alter is the composer and co-lyricist. "The Scottsboro Boys" (through June 10) is also continuing, and "Divine Rivalry" (July 7-Aug. 12) and "God of Carnage" (July 27-Sept. 2) are coming up; (619) 234-5623, theoldglobe.org. SHAKESPEARE SANTA CRUZ The Three Musketeers, long since retired, attempt a final mission in "The Man in the Iron Mask" (July 25-Aug. 26), a new play by Scott Wentworth based on the works of Alexandre Dumas. "Twelfth Night" (July 24-Aug. 26), "Henry IV, Part II" (Aug. 7-26) and "The Mandrake" (Aug. 21-22) complete the summer season; (831) 459-2159, shakespearesantacruz.org. "Fool," a new play by Theresa Rebeck, is among the works chosen for the annual National Playwrights Conference this summer (June 29-July 29). The conference, which includes development time and resources for the writers as well as staged readings open to the public, will include seven other scripts chosen from nearly 1,000 submissions. As usual, the O'Neill will also host conferences on puppetry (June 9-17), musical theater (June 19-July 15) and cabaret and performance (July 30-Aug. 11); (860) 443-5378, theoneill.org. GOODSPEED MUSICALS John Newton, a slave trader turned minister and hymn writer, is the subject of a new musical named for his most famous song: "Amazing Grace." The show, with a book by Arthur Giron and Christopher Smith and music and lyrics by Mr. Smith, runs through June 10 at the Norma Terris Theater in Chester, where Goodspeed focuses on new work. "The Bikinis" (Aug. 9-Sept. 2), a newish musical about a 1960s girl group that had its premiere in Asbury Park, N.J., in 2010, will follow. At the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, "Mame" runs through July 7, and Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Carousel" will take over that stage July 13-Sept. 23; (860) 873-8668, goodspeed.org. A hit at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe last summer, David Greig's eerie love story "The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart" will have its American premiere at this annual multi-arts festival. "Prudencia," which incorporates Scottish border ballads and theatrical storytelling, is alone worth a visit to New Haven, but more theater and lots of dance and music performances are at this fertile festival as well; (203) 562-5666, artidea.org. Friends at a dinner party begin to read "Romeo and Juliet" aloud as a diversion, but the play takes over in this reconceived version of Shakespeare's tragic romance. The director Joanna Settle, for the fourth time, is turning to Stew and Heidi Rodewald to create music for a production to be staged at both Baldwin Park in Greenwich (June 26-July 8) and Pinkney Park in Rowayton (July 18-29); (203) 299-1300, shakespeareonthesound.org. WESTPORT COUNTRY PLAYHOUSE In 1950 Stephen Sondheim worked as an apprentice at this theater, converted from an 1835 tannery building by the scenic designer Cleon Throckmorton in 1930. This summer Mr. Sondheim is back, in a sense: his "Into the Woods" (through May 26) is the first production in Westport's 82nd season. Also in the works are "The Year of Magical Thinking" (June 12-30); "Tartuffe" (July 17-Aug. 4); "Harbor" (Aug. 28-Sept. 15), a new family comedy by Chad Beguelin; and "A Raisin in the Sun" (Oct. 9-Nov. 3), Lorraine Hansberry's 1959 drama, directed by Phylicia Rashad; (203) 227-4177, westportplayhouse.org. SHAKESPEARE THEATER COMPANY It seems prudent to watch one's wallet around government officials, but in Washington this summer at least one thing won't cost you: "All's Well That Ends Well" (Aug. 23-Sept. 9), the company's annual Free for All production. The tale of a resourceful woman in love is just one of three productions at the Shakespeare this summer: "The Servant of Two Masters" (through June 24), the madcap commedia dell'arte work by Carlo Goldoni, is already running, and "The Merry Wives of Windsor" (June 12-July 15), Shakespeare's bawdy revival vehicle for Falstaff, is coming soon; (202) 547-1122, shakespearetheatre.org. Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" is a popular summer theater title, but the musical adaptation "Illyria: A Twelfth Night Musical" (June 6-Aug. 5) is much less known. The music and lyrics are by John R. Briggs and Eric Frampton, and Mr. Briggs directs. "Much Ado About Nothing" (June 21-Aug. 4), Oscar Wilde's "Importance of Being Earnest" (July 5-Aug. 3) and "The Emperor and the Nightingale" (July 14-Aug. 3), adapted by April-Dawn Gladu from the Hans Christian Andersen story, are also in the works; (404) 264-0020, gashakespeare.org. CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE THEATER This seems bold: The Belgian performance group Ontroerend Goed means to recount human history from the Big Bang until just now in "A History of Everything" (May 25-June 3), and they mean to do it in 90 minutes. That should leave ample time to hang out nearby on Chicago's Navy Pier. More traditional fare, "Disney's Beauty and the Beast," will run June 28-Aug. 26, and Ian McDiarmid is playing the title role in "Timon of Athens" (through June 10); (312) 595-5600, chicagoshakes.com. This annual celebration of eclectic performance presented by the company Collaboraction adopts a different theme each year, though the word "reincarnate" is not necessarily a reflection on the specific subjects of the festival's 13 productions (some as short as just a few minutes). Instead, a company spokesperson said, "reincarnate" is meant to evoke the idea that artists recreate themselves in their work; (312) 226-9633, collaboraction.org. The second annual Next Up festival (June 5-24) will allow Northwestern University directing and design students the opportunity to direct area actors and enjoy Steppenwolf resources. The festival, running at the Steppenwolf Garage, will include three plays: Keith Reddin's "Life and Limb," Emily Schwend's "South of Settling" and Tennessee Williams's "Glass Menagerie." On the Downstairs Stage, Frank Galati's adaptation of the E. L. Doctorow novel "The March" continues through June 10, to be followed by Chekhov's "Three Sisters" (June 28-Aug. 26), adapted by Tracy Letts ("August: Osage County") and directed by Anna D. Shapiro; (312) 335-1650, steppenwolf.org. Here, where Lincoln Park is home to the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial and a memorial to the 16th president's mother, Nancy, among other Honest Abe attractions, the new musical "A. Lincoln: A Pioneer Tale" (June 8-July 1), about Lincoln growing up on the Indiana frontier, seems well placed. The Amphitheater is not completely Lincoln-obsessed, though: "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" runs July 20-Aug. 5, followed by "The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940" (Sept. 14, 15, 21 and 22); (800) 264-4223, lincolnamphitheatre.org. This young company, made up mostly of New Yorkers working in idyllic environs for the summer, will present "As You Like It," "Othello" and "Love's Labour's Lost" in rotation outdoors in Lafayette Park. One of the group's founding principles is "Theater is not a privilege; it is a right," and a manifestation of this is free admission to the shows; (207) 467-5118, mainestageshakespeare.com. Smithsonian Magazine recently included Brunswick on its list of "The 20 Best Small Towns in America" (at No. 13), and the music theater, a busy place for over 50 years, is one of the draws. Coming productions are "A Chorus Line" (June 6-23), "Legally Blonde" (June 27-July 14), "Sunset Boulevard" (July 18-Aug. 4) and "42nd Street" (Aug. 8-25); (207) 725-8769, msmt.org. OGUNQUIT PLAYHOUSE Tallulah Bankhead, Cass Elliot, Steve McQueen and Geraldine Page are among the greats who have played roles at Ogunquit, which celebrates its 80th anniversary this summer. Sally Struthers, appearing in her 10th consecutive season, will start things off in "Always ... Patsy Cline" (May 23-June 16), playing the Cline fan Louise Segar. "South Pacific" (June 20-July 14) is next, followed by an adapted version of "Damn Yankees" (July 25-Aug. 18) that replaces the Washington Senators with the Boston Red Sox and will feature Carson Kressley as the devilish Mr. Applegate. "9 To 5: The Musical" (Aug. 22-Sept. 15) and "Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story" (Sept. 20-Oct. 21) will round out the milestone season; (207) 646-5511, ogunquitplayhouse.org. Is it advisable nowadays to consider the possible end of the world when deciding whether to have children? Such questions drive "Lungs" (May 23-June 10), a comedy by the British playwright Duncan Macmillan that will open the summer season here. Brad Oscar will star as Tevye in "Fiddler on the Roof" (June 13-July 14), and Mark St. Germain's "Dr. Ruth, All the Way" (June 19-July 15) and Arthur Miller's "All My Sons" (July 19-Aug. 4) are among the other productions; (413) 236-8888, barringtonstageco.org. BERKSHIRE THEATER GROUP Lenox, Pittsfield and Stockbridge. An outdoor production of "Pinocchio" (July 25-Aug. 11) in Lenox; musicals including "A Chorus Line" (July 2-21) and "Oliver!" (Sept. 7-9) at the Colonial Theater in Pittsfield; and premiere productions on the Berkshire Theater Festival's Fitzpatrick Stage are only the start of it: This arts organization, encompassing five stages in three towns, has a huge season planned; (413) 298-5576, berkshiretheatregroup.org. From a comedy with a cast of three ("The Hound of the Baskervilles," June 11-23), to musicals including "Legally Blonde" (July 23-Aug. 4) and "Nunsense" (Aug. 20-Sept. 1), the Cape Playhouse has, as usual, a varied season that will soon be under way on its small and busy stage; (877) 385-3911, capeplayhouse.com. CHESTER THEATER COMPANY The summer season in Chester, based on the theme "Uncommon Love Stories," will begin unfolding with "Animals Out of Paper" (July 5-15), Rajiv Joseph's comedy about a down-on-her-luck origami artist. Picking up the thematic thread are "The Swan" (July 18-29), by Elizabeth Egloff; Arlene Hutton's "Running" (Aug. 1-12); and "The Betrothed" (Aug. 15-26), by Dipika Guha; (800) 595-4849, chestertheatre.org. "Is Sex Possible?," with its provocative title, is a new play by Constance Congdon that seems appropriately placed in a festival devoted to innovative performance. The summer theme - it changes each year - is aging. Ms. Congdon's solo show, about the challenges of sex and dating for someone approaching 50 or 60, is one of several boundary-bursting experiments on the calendar; (413) 427-6147, kofest.com. Lorna Luft will portray Dolly Levi in "Hello, Dolly!" (June 12-24), the first of a half-dozen shows that will keep the North Shore stage humming until "A Christmas Carol" closes on Dec. 23. Between Dolly and Scrooge come "Annie" (July 17-29), "All Shook Up" (Aug. 14-26), "9 to 5: The Musical" (Sept. 25-Oct. 7) and "Guys and Dolls" (Oct. 30-Nov. 11); (978) 232-7200, nsmt.org. Three big musicals will take the stage at the 1,083-seat Robinson Theater at Waltham High School this summer, starting with "A Chorus Line" (June 15-24), starring Lorenzo Lamas as the director, Zach. "Bye Bye Birdie" (July 13-22) and "My Fair Lady" (Aug. 10-19) will follow; (781) 891-5600, reaglemusictheatre.org. Olympia Dukakis is set to appear as a female Prospero in "The Tempest" (July 19-Aug. 19), directed by Tony Simotes, the company's artistic director. And John Douglas Thompson, who played Othello and Richard III in recent seasons here, will take on a different challenge when he appears as the jazz musician Louis Armstrong in "Satchmo at the Waldorf" (Aug. 22-Sept. 16), a solo show written by the Wall Street Journal theater critic, Terry Teachout. Shakespeare & Company is also preparing several other shows, including "King Lear" (June 16-Aug. 19) and Charles Busch's "Tale of the Allergist's Wife" (June 12-Sept. 1); (413) 637-3353, shakespeare.org. With the playhouse in the midst of a $2 million expansion and renovation, this year will feature no summer performances on the stage of the 1833 meeting house. Not to worry: "Romeo and Juliet" and "Twelfth Night" will run in repertory outside, at the Tisbury Amphitheater in Vineyard Haven. Vineyard will also produce "The Screenwriter's Daughter" (July 6-14), a new play by Larry Mollin about Ben Hecht ("The Front Page") and his daughter Jenny, staging it off site at the MV Performing Arts Center in Oak Bluffs; (508) 696-6300, vineyardplayhouse.org. Former high school sweethearts meet again, years later, and wonder what might have been in the rock musical "The Consequences," one of five shows planned for the theater's Julie Harris Stage this summer. The musical, with a book by Kyle Jarrow and music and lyrics by Mr. Jarrow and Nathan Leigh, will run June 14-July 7, following José Rivera's "References to Salvador Dalí Make Me Hot" (May 24-June 9); (508) 349-9428, what.org. David Hyde Pierce directing "The Importance of Being Earnest" as a Prohibition-era gangster tale, with Tyne Daly as Lady Bracknell; Bradley Cooper starring as John Merrick in "The Elephant Man," in a cast that also includes Patricia Clarkson; Kelli O'Hara in a new musical adaptation, directed by Michael Greif, of the 2002 Todd Haynes film "Far From Heaven"; and so on ... they are not making it easy to choose highlights in what looks like an exciting season; (413) 597-3400, wtfestival.org. "Thoroughly Modern Millie" (June 18-24), "Chicago" (June 25-July 1), "Aladdin" (July 5-13) and other productions are in store for audiences who visit the large Muny, a fixture here since 1917; (314) 361-1900, muny.org. A live band will provide folk-rock underscoring for Shakespeare's "Two Gentlemen of Verona" (July 13-Aug. 26), presented in Sand Harbor State Park, where the lake plays a role as scenery. The producing artistic director, Charles Fee (who also runs the Idaho Shakespeare Festival in Boise, Idaho, and the Great Lakes Theater Festival in Cleveland), is the director; (800) 747-4697, laketahoeshakespeare.com. Gordon Clapp of "NYPD Blue" fame will star as a gangster in the premiere of "Auld Lang Syne" (June 20-July 1), by Jack Neary. The two-character comedy starts off a season that will also include "I Do! (July 4-15), "The 39 Steps" (July 18-29) and others; (603) 924-7585, peterboroughplayers.org. It seems like a cruel joke: A year ago Surflight was emerging from bankruptcy, and now the company is recovering from a fire in early April that damaged a housing unit where production personnel live. Yet the shows will go on. Among them are "All I Ask of You: A Tribute to Andrew Lloyd Webber" (May 26-June 16), "Annie" (June 19-July 21) and "The Sound of Music" (July 24-Aug. 25); (609) 492-9477, surflight.org. New York City BRICK THEATER Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It is hard to escape politics these days, but at the Brick, at least you can count on a few laughs at "Democracy" (June 1-July 1), a slate of eight plays riffing on political matters. After that, a group of fervent, 30-something Dungeons & Dragons players is thrown into turmoil when one player announces he is being sent overseas by the Marines in "Of Dice and Men." It's one of several productions comprising "Game Play" (July 6-28), an assortment of shows - some quite technically complex - inspired by games and gaming; (212) 352-3101, bricktheater.com. George C. Scott took to the Delacorte stage as Shylock in the Public Theater's first production there five decades ago. This 50th-anniversary season will include the complementary works "As You Like It" and "Into the Woods," which both involve enchanted natural settings. Daniel Sullivan will direct a cast including Lily Rabe, Oliver Platt and Stephen Spinella in "As You Like It" (June 5-30), and the production, set in the American South in the mid-19th century, will feature original bluegrass music by Steve Martin. Later this summer Donna Murphy will star as the Witch in the Stephen Sondheim-James Lapine fairy tale "Into the Woods" (July 23-Aug. 25), directed by Timothy Sheader; (212) 967-7555, shakespeareinthepark.org. "Giant Killer Slugs," described in press materials as "a creature feature written for the stage," is one of 20 shows that will take over the stage at Theater for the New City during its third annual summer festival devoted to experimental theater and dance; (212) 254-1109, theaterforthenewcity.net. 59E59 Theaters will present its early look at a dozen or more American productions heading to Scotland to be presented at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August. Among the titles to be announced soon: "Dirty Paki Lingerie," a solo show by Aizzah Fatima about six Pakistani-American women and the challenges they face at the juncture of two cultures, and "Clooney, Cowell, Pitt and Me: Amusing Encounters With the A-List," written and performed by Sandro Monetti, a journalist who has covered Hollywood for several British media organizations; (212) 279-4200, 59e59.org. ICE FACTORY New plays by John Clancy and Bekah Brunstetter are among the half-dozen premiere productions at the annual Ice Factory, which was presented at the Ohio Theater for years but begins a new era at the New Ohio Theater, in the West Village, this year. What hasn't changed: the festival's focus on risky and imaginative new work; (212) 868-4444, newohiotheatre.org. LINCOLN CENTER FESTIVAL The much heralded Sydney Theater Company production of Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya" (July 19-28), with Cate Blanchett as Yelena, is reason enough to get excited about the theater lineup at this annual festival. Now get more excited: Alan Cumming in a solo adaptation of "Macbeth" (July 5-14) sounds awfully compelling, too. "Macbeth," a National Theater of Scotland production directed by John Tiffany ("Once"), is a multimedia interpretation set in a psych ward; (212) 721-6500, lincolncenterfestival.org. Unlike most other annual theater festivals in Manhattan, this one takes place entirely under one roof, on West 36th Street. This 13th annual festival will feature more than a dozen plays and musicals, including "Relax! Alice," a modern, loose and experimental adaptation of the Lewis Carroll stories "Through the Looking-Glass" and "Alice's Adventure's in Wonderland"; (866) 811-4111, midtownfestival.org. About 200 titles are part of this sprawling annual event, which will provide eclectic theater downtown day and night. Among the foreign-born productions, "Dogs" sounds intriguing; it's a musical by the Tel Aviv company TheaterCan, about a group of Israeli men performing in a musical version of "Romeo and Juliet"; (212) 352-3101, fringenyc.org. The festival that gave initial stage time to "Next to Normal," "[title of show]" and other successes has moved from its usual fall time slot to July this year, taking up the only month in New York that was not already full of theater offerings. Clever, eh? It's a chance to escape to an air-conditioned theater in midsummer to catch some fresh new musical projects; (866) 811-4111, nymf.org. You can be entertained while supporting a cause by taking in some of the more than 30 productions in this socially conscious festival, in which each show partners with a charity and solicits donations or holds benefit performances or postshow discussions with representatives from the chosen organization. Among the productions are "Trafficked," about sex slavery and created in partnership with representatives from the United Nations, and "A Dance for Rylie," a gay love story - a musical - about a man dying in the hospital and his partner, who is prevented from seeing him; (866) 811-4111, planetconnections.org. In "unFramed" the poet and painter Iyaba Ibo Mandingo, born in Antigua, tells the story of his move to America as a child and his subsequent struggles - including nearly being deported after Sept. 11 - while painting a self-portrait. "unFramed" is one of 10 shows in this diverse celebration of solo performance; (212) 352-3101, terranovacollective.org. Theatergoers who have missed out on the short runs of new plays in Clubbed Thumb's annual festival should note that this year each of the three chosen productions will get nine performances, up from six in past incarnations. The 17th Summerworks will feature Susan Soon He Stanton's "Takarazuka!!!" (May 26-June 4), directed by Lear deBessonet with a cast including Jennifer Ikeda ("Top Girls"); Ethan Lipton's "Luther" (June 8-17), directed by Ken Rus Schmoll; and "Motel Cherry" (June 21-30), a co-production with New Georges, written by Peggy Stafford and directed by Meghan Finn; (212) 352-3101, clubbedthumb.org. UPTOWN SERIES Dark issues surface when five childhood pals get together for a reunion in Alena Smith's "Bad Guys" (May 22-June 17), the first of two premieres in Second Stage Theater's annual new works initiative. The second play, the political drama "Warrior Class" by Kenneth Lin, runs July 12-Aug. Second Stage is also presenting the new musical "Dogfight" (June 27-Aug. 12), based on the 1991 movie. The show, with a book by Peter Duchan and music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, will be directed by the always busy Joe Mantello; (212) 246-4422, 2st.com. New York State CHAUTAUQUA THEATER COMPANY A year ago this company announced its first commission would be a play by Kate Fodor, and this summer comes the premiere of the resulting work. The play, "Fifty Ways" (July 20-29), is about loving, leaving and consequences. Full productions of "The Philadelphia Story" (June 29-July 8) and "As You Like It" (Aug. 10-17) are on the calendar, along with Chautauqua's signature developmental workshops of a couple of new plays; (716) 357-6250, theater.ciweb.org. The Merry-Go-Round Playhouse, housed in a 1930 carousel building in Emerson Park, has been presenting musicals for decades, but it moves into new territory this year. The Playhouse is producing a festival to span three locations (the Auburn Public Theater and Theater Mack at the Cayuga Museum of History and Art are the others) and include nine full productions and a development series, allowing emerging artists to pitch ideas to an audience, show selected songs and vignettes and seek feedback. The bigger productions include "Kiss Me Kate," "Altar Boyz," "My Fair Lady" and "Cabaret"; (800) 457-8897, fingerlakesmtf.com. The Hudson Highlands will provide the natural backdrop as always, and the company of performers will offer "Love's Labour's Lost," "Romeo and Juliet" and, with a cast of four playing more than 100 characters, the madcap "39 Steps"; (845) 265-9575, hvshakespeare.org. The season at this Rockland County barn theater is already under way with "The Hound of the Baskervilles," a wacky comedy with actors playing multiple roles in the telling of a Sherlock Holmes story (through June 10). The rest of the season, which runs through Oct. 28, includes "The Last Days of Mickey and Jean," by Richard Dresser; Tom Dudzick's backstage comedy "Don't Talk to the Actors"; and "The How and the Why," by Sarah Treem ("In Treatment"), which had its premiere last year at the McCarter Theater Center in Princeton; (845) 786-2873, penguinrep.org. Saul Elkin has been offering free summer theater here on Shakespeare Hill since 1976. He'll direct the first production, "Richard III" (June 21-July 15), himself, and Kyle LoConti will handle "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (July 26-Aug. Bring lawn chairs, blankets and picnic baskets and enjoy the view of Hoyt Lake as backdrop; (716) 856-4533, shakespeareindelawarepark.org. Ever wonder what became of Abigail Williams, one of the initial accusers in the Salem Witch trials? In "Abigail/1702," Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa considers this question. Set 10 years after Arthur Miller's "Crucible," Mr. Aguirre-Sacasa's drama finds Abigail living in Boston with a new identity and an inescapable past. The play is one of the main-stage shows coming up at Powerhouse, where works in progress by Stephen Belber, Itamar Moses and others are also being presented in various states, from staged readings to workshops to more fully produced enterprises; (845) 437-5599, powerhouse.vassar.edu. FLAT ROCK PLAYHOUSE "Nunsense" (through June 10), "Red" (June 20-July 8), "Guys and Dolls" (July 25-Aug. 19) and "Noises Off" (Aug. 23-Sept. 9) are some of the shows in store for North Carolina audiences on the main stage in Flat Rock and the new Playhouse Downtown, a few miles away in Hendersonville. While in Flat Rock, make time for a visit to the Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site, where he and his wife, Lilian, lived for 22 years, and the surrounding park; (866) 732-8008, flatrockplayhouse.org. Take the characters of Euripides" "Medea," Shakespeare's "Macbeth" and Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Cinderella," put them all in one show, mix them up with music, and voilà, out comes "Medea/Macbeth/Cinderella," a heavy and humorous tale of ambition, adapted by Bill Rauch and Tracy Young. The show is one of many now onstage in Ashland. This festival, one of the most respected of its kind, is also staging "Romeo and Juliet," "Troilus and Cressida," Chekhov's "Seagull" and several others; (541) 482-4331, osfashland.org. Bert Lahr, Helen Hayes, Grace Kelly and many others performed at this converted mill, where theater was presented from 1939 until 2010, when financial troubles forced the playhouse to close. But with this summer comes a renovation and a renaissance in the appropriately named town of New Hope. The Rodgers and Hammerstein revue "A Grand Night for Singing" (July 2-22) will start things off, followed by Neil Simon's "Barefoot in the Park" (Aug. 7-26), a show that played at Bucks County before it ran on Broadway in 1963; (215) 315-7788, bcptheater.org. PENNSYLVANIA SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL Actors will learn lines on their own, show up in whatever costumes they can pull together and wing it without a director or designers in "King John" (July 25-Aug. 5), the company's "extreme Shakespeare" presentation this summer, meant to be Shakespeare as it was done in his own time. The boldness of the undertaking seems to underlie the entire season, a short burst from June 1 through Aug. 5 that will include (more traditionally rehearsed and presented) productions of "The Tempest" (June 20-July 15), "Much Ado About Nothing" (July 11-Aug. 5), "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (July 19-Aug. 5) and a few others; (610) 282-9455, pashakespeare.org. Big musicals will overtake the small stage at this 500-seat barn theater: "Forever Plaid" (May 30-June 17), "The Sound of Music" (June 20-July 14), "9 to 5: The Musical" (July 18-Aug. 11) and "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" (Aug. 15-Sept. Closing out the season is the smaller, four-character comedy "God of Carnage" (Sept. Arrive early and stroll the gardens surrounding the theater, or visit the bar-in-a-gazebo on the lawn; (401) 782-8587, theatrebythesea.com. Mike Daisey will bring his recent, controversial solo show "The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs" to this annual multi-arts smorgasbord this year, where another (less divisive) solo show that ran recently in New York, the gravity defying "Leo" performed by Tobias Wegner, will also be presented. The Gate Theater of Dublin is making a trip to the American South too, with a production of Noël Coward's "Hay Fever," and the British group 1927 ("Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea") will offer its eerie and fantastical "The Animals and Children Took to the Streets." As it has since 1979, the fringier Piccolo Spoleto will overtake the city at the same time, this year offering 700 or so events; (843) 579-3100, spoletousa.org, or (866) 811-4111, piccolospoleto.com. NASHVILLE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL Sit on blankets or bleachers in Centennial Park for "Much Ado About Nothing" (Aug. 16-Sept. 16) in a 1940s Hollywood musical-style adaptation by the artistic director, Denice Hicks. A five-piece onstage jazz band will create the soundscape. Nashville musicians or other entertainers provide preshow entertainment every night at 6:30; (615) 255-2273, nashvilleshakes.org. Around for over 50 years, Utah Shakes is not slowing down. Instead, it is making plans to build another theater, a $26.5 million, 900-seat space with a retractable roof that will allow for more shows and, possibly, year-round use. The new theater won't be ready until early 2015, but Cedar City audiences have plenty of options in the three existing theaters this summer. "The Merry Wives of Windsor," "Titus Andronicus" and "Hamlet" are the Shakespeare plays coming up in a season that includes several other shows, including "Les Misérables"; (800) 752-9849, bard.org. WESTON PLAYHOUSE The 75th anniversary season here last summer ended with a destructive flood because of Hurricane Irene, but the show went on anyway: The new musical "Saint-Ex" had to be closed for a few days, but eventually the theater was able to present the last few performances. This summer - perhaps we can call it the summer of the phoenix - the playhouse is fully recovered and planning an ambitious season including the premiere musical "Pregnancy Pact" (Aug. 30-Sept. 11), set to a pop-rock score and about just what the title suggests, as well as "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" (June 21-July 8), "Fiddler on the Roof" (Aug. 2-25) and several other productions; (802) 824-5288, westonplayhouse.org. June 19-Sept. At the 300-seat Blackfriars Playhouse, the Center means to offer Shakespeare productions as they would have been done originally - on a simple wooden stage without technical flourishes. The audience is fully lighted, as it would have been then. The summer season will include "The Merchant of Venice" and "The Two Gentlemen of Verona," as well as James Goldman's "The Lion in Winter"; (877) 682-4236, ascstaunton.com. Five plays in rotating repertory will comprise the 22nd season at this adventurous festival; among them are premieres by Johnna Adams ("Gidion's Knot," July 4-29) and Bess Wohl ("Barcelona," July 5-29). Plays by Bob Clyman, Evan M. Wiener and the always reliably provocative Neil LaBute complete the group; (800) 999-2283, catf.org. Shakespeare is always the main character in this summer stages preview, but Vern Thiessen's play "Shakespeare's Will," one of several productions at the intimate Touchstone Theater, is about the Bard of Avon's wife, Anne Hathaway. Hathaway's husband will be well represented at the bigger stage, the outdoor Up-the-Hill theater, where "Twelfth Night," "Richard III" and "Troilus and Cressida" will be presented; (608) 588-2361, americanplayers.org. You've got to love the name of the town, but don't go for that reason alone; go because the Players have been doing their thing out there on Door Peninsula for a long time. This summer "Lombardi," which ran last season on Broadway, will have a showing in Green Bay Packers territory. Fish Creek is about 65 miles from Green Bay - the town, that is; the theater sits right on the shore of the body of water. "Lombardi" will close out the season (Sept. 5-Oct. 14), beginning performances on the very day the N.F.L. season starts. Earlier Peninsula will present "Opus" (June 12-24), "The Nerd" (June 27-July 22), "Chicago" (July 25-Aug. 12) and "Agatha Christie's Murder on the Nile" (Aug. 15-Sept. 2); (920) 868-3287, peninsulaplayers.com. Canada SHAW FESTIVAL Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, through Oct. 28. Plays by George Bernard Shaw are central in the season, as always, but the festival branches out, too, with the McNally-Ahrens-Flaherty musical "Ragtime"; William Inge's "Come Back, Little Sheba"; Noël Coward's "Present Laughter"; John Guare's "His Girl Friday," adapted from the "The Front Page"; and more. Oh, and the Shaw plays of course: "Misalliance" and "The Millionairess" are the 2012 choices; (800) 511-7429, shawfest.com. Christopher Plummer is creating a solo show, "A Word or Two," from the literature that has inspired him throughout his lifetime, and Rick Miller brings his Shakespeare/"The Simpsons" mashup "MacHomer" to this destination festival, celebrating 60 years this season. The schedule of more than a dozen shows also includes a few by Shakespeare, of course, including "Henry V," "Cymbeline" and "Much Ado About Nothing"; (800) 567-1600, stratfordfestival.ca.