All The World's A Stage: Free Summer Shakespeare

Last summer, while living in New York, I was lucky enough to see a free performance of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night at The Delacorte Theater in Central Park, starring an amazing cast that included Anne Hathaway and Audra McDonald, among others. I, for one, love to see Shakespeare performed as much as possible, but sometimes it can get a little pricey — especially when you're talking theater tickets to see productions with actors of that caliber.

Even though I'm in Boston this summer interning for Shoestring, the $20 bus ticket to New York for the weekend will pay for itself if I get to see another free summer season production at The Delacorte, which also got me curious about whether or not other theater companies around the country were offering a similar Shakespearian experience. Lucky for you, dear readers, I struck gold: here's a list of the best Shakespeare in the Park programs to check out this summer.

1. Shakespeare in the Park (Central Park, NYC)
Even if you're not from The City That Never Sleeps, the two shows in repertory for the Shakespeare in the Park 2010 summer season make it well worth the trip. First is Merchant of Venice, directed by Daniel Sullivan and featuring Al Pacino as Shylock. If that doesn't make you want to see Shakespeare al fresco, I don't know what else will. The second show is The Winter's Tale, directed by Michael Greif. Most of the supporting actors will be featured in both productions, though some names worth mentioning are Jesse Tyler Ferguson from the new show Modern Family on ABC, as well as Jesse L. Martin from the popular film version of RENT, and Hamish Linklater, who was a standout in the production of Twelfth Night that I mentioned seeing last summer. Free tickets are given out in the park each morning during the show's run, so get there as early as possible. Luckily, once you have a ticket, a seat is assigned to you so there's no need to camp out early before the actual performance. (PublicTheater.org)

2. GreenStage (Seattle)
GreenStage will be featuring a "summer of love" this summer with performances of Romeo and Juliet and As You Like It. As promised, each of GreenStage's summer performances of Shakespeare are completely free. There's no assigned seating, however; so make sure to get there at least an hour early to ensure a prime location for your blanket and picnic basket. (GreenStage.org)

3. San Francisco Shakespeare Festival (Bay Area)
If you're interested in seeing a professional production of Two Gentleman of Verona then the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival is your perfect destination. This year's production will feature many actors familiar to the SF summer stage. Just like GreenStage, SF Shakes invites you to bring a picnic dinner with you to enjoy while you watch the show. (SFShakes.org)

4. Summer Shakespeare (Olney Theatre, DC)
Olney Theater is one of the area's premiere professional theater companies. They will be hosting The National Players production of Taming of the Shrew in their Root Family Theater during the summer. As mentioned on the Olney Theatre website, this show is family friendly, so bring the kids along to enjoy what I'm sure will be a wonderfully done production of one of Shakespeare's best comedies! (OlneyTheatre.org)

5. Shakespeare on the Common (Boston)
This summer, the Commonealth Shakespeare Company is producing free performances of Shakespeare's tragedy Othello on Boston Common. No casting has been announced yet, but as a native Bostonian, I'm super excited to check out this performance. Since there are usually only a handful of performances each summer, it tends to get packed and quickly. Gather up a group of friends and stake your claim near the stage early in the afternoon, and bring loads of picnic supplies to last you the duration. (CommShakes.org)

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