What's onstage at Shakespeare theaters in August

Every month, we share a snapshot of Shakespeare in performance around America. What plays are opening this month? We check in with our theater partners at American Players Theatre, Atlanta Shakespeare Company, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Nashville Shakespeare Festival, Shakespeare at Notre Dame, and The Old Globe.

[See last month’s post for Shakespeare plays that opened in July and continue through August]

At the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, young love is in the air. Love’s Labour’s Lost, featuring the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival Conservatory Company, opened Aug 14 and will be on tour through Sep 2. Twelfth Night, which opened in June, runs through Aug 26.

Shakespeare in the Park is in full swing in Nashville! Nashville Shakespeare Festival‘s production of The Winter’s Tale, directed by Santiago Sosa, is “set in a fairy tale world of contrasting peoples inspired by the diverse South American cultures during the Gran Colombia era and will feature original music.” The Winter’s Tale is playing in rep with Antony and Cleopatra through mid-September.

At The Old Globe in San Diego, Barry Edelstein directs Hamlet, Aug 6-Sep 10. According to one reviewer in The San Diego Union-Tribune, “Edelstein’s assured sense of tone — in his most accomplished directing venture at the Globe yet — is one of the best aspects of this deeply absorbing and visually rich show, which unfolds across a broad emotional spectrum.”

With a cast of just 10 actors, American Players Theatre in Wisconsin presents Pericles, Prince of Tyre, directed by Eric Tucker, on its outdoor stage on selected dates Aug 11-Sep 29. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which opened in June, plays on selected dates through Oct 8. (Catch another Midsummer at Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Aug 4-Sep 3.)

This month, the Atlanta Shakespeare Company presents The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged), Aug 5-20, and The Taming of the Shrew (Aug 26-Sep 17).

Shakespeare at Notre Dame presents Much Ado About Nothing, Aug 15-27, with “tunes of the mid-1940s, drawing on popular big band music of WWII.”

American Players Theatre, Atlanta Shakespeare Company, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Nashville Shakespeare Festival, Shakespeare at Notre Dame, and The Old Globe are theater partners of the Folger Shakespeare Library.