There is much ado about Shakespeare in CT this summer

Watching a William Shakespeare play is as big an outdoor summertime activity in Connecticut as swimming or hiking. Some of the state’s summer Shakespeare companies have been around for 30 years or more. Others spring up now and then, and some indoor Shakespeare plays happen as well.

Most of the shows are still weeks or months away, but several summer Shakespeare theater companies have announced the plays they plan to produce this year. One of them, Hartford Stage’s Breakdancing Shakespeare youth theater version of “Much Ado About Nothing,” will be holding auditions on May 14.

First up is one of two “As You Like It” events this summer. The Oddfellows Playhouse Teen Repertory Company is staging the comedy May 16-25 at the Oddfellows Playhouse on Washington Street in downtown Middletown. oddfellows.org.

The summer Shakespeare season starts in June when the Norwalk-based Shakespeare on the Sound presents “Romeo and Juliet” June 12-30 in Pinkney Park in Rowayton. shakespeareonthesound.org.

New Haven’s International Festival of Arts & Ideas is welcoming director Karin Coonrod’s internationally renowned Compagnia de’ Colombari company with its creative reworking of “King Lear” (in which multiple actors play the title role), June 14-16 indoors at the Yale University Theater. Arts & Ideas is also holding a June 29 talk on “TRANSforming Shakespeare” about gender concepts in Shakespeare’s works, with Jennifer Lanier from the Original Practice Shakespeare Festival. artidea.org.

Hartford Stage’s summer Breakdancing Shakespeare program has a few distinctions. It’s performed indoors at a time when most other Shakespeare shows are outside. It shortens and updates the scripts. The performers are Hartford-area youth aged 16 to 21. This year’s Breakdancing Shakespeare show is the comedy “Much Ado About Nothing.” Hartford Stage will be holding auditions on May 14 from 4 to 7:30 p.m. at the company’s rehearsal studios on Main Street in Hartford. The production is created during a youth theater summer program that runs June 17 through July 26. “Much Ado About Nothing” will have public performances at Hartford Stage July 26-28. hartfordstage.org.

The Flock Theatre in New London will be staging a Shakespeare comedy, “As You Like It,” and a Shakespeare history play, “Henry V,” in June and July at the Connecticut College Arboretum in New London as well as in Westerly, Rhode Island. The exact dates have not been announced. flocktheatre.org.

For the first time in the company’s more than 30-year history, the Greater Hartford Shakespeare Festival will be performing two plays in repertory. “Hamlet” and “The Taming of the Shrew” will have 10 performances each July 10 through August 4. The festival is presented by the Capital Classics Theatre Company on the lawn outside the University of Saint Joseph in West Hartford. capitalclassics.org.

Shakespearience, which just held a 36-hour “Shakespeare-a-thon” event at its headquarters in Waterbury, is now preparing for its fourth Shakespeare in the Litchfield Hills production, with five performances of “Romeo & Juliet” happening Aug. 7-11 at River Walk Pavilion in Washington Depot. The shows are free, and picnicking is encouraged. shakesperience.org.

New Haven’s Elm Shakespeare Company has announced that its 2024 summer production will be “Richard III,” performed Aug. 16 through Sept. 1 in Edgerton Park on the New Haven/Hamden border. Elm Shakespeare is the state’s largest outdoor Shakespeare show, typically playing to tens of thousands of people each summer. The performances are free, but donations are enthusiastically requested. elmshakespeare.org.

Other Shakespeare summer shows in Connecticut may be announced in the coming weeks, but eight scheduled between mid-June and late August is an excellent start.