THE PLAY

Join us for one of our city’s favorite summer traditions! Now in its seventh year, the FREE FOR ALL Chicago Shakespeare in the Parks tour heads out to neighborhood parks across the north, west, and south sides of the city with a 75-minute abridged production. At each location, a specially equipped truck rolls into the park, a stage unfolds, and a company of professional actors shares Shakespeare’s magical comedy with families and neighbors of all ages.

The citywide tour is made possible by a renewed civic, cultural, and corporate partnership between Chicago Shakespeare Theater, the City of Chicago, Chicago Park District, Boeing, and BMO Harris Bank. Since the inception of the Chicago Shakespeare in the Parks program seven years ago, more than 130,000 Chicagoans have taken advantage of free performances in their communities.

For the first time since the establishment of the Chicago Shakespeare in the Parks tour in 2012, Artistic Director Barbara Gaines is adapting and staging this production for audiences across Chicago. Gaines brings a vision of merriment to the beloved story of an evening in the park, where mischief ensues when the Fairy Court discovers four young lovers and an amateur theater troupe rehearsing nearby.

On the occasion of the Illinois Bicentennial, Chicago Shakespeare in the Parks will expand its summer tour with FREE SHAKESPEARE at Glen Oak Park in Peoria, Illinois. Duplicating its successful community engagement efforts piloted in Chicago over the first seven seasons of the program, the Theater makes its first foray beyond city limits to work in partnership with Peoria residents and community organizations, reaching new audiences from neighborhoods across the down-state region.