(Steven McElroy’s article appeared in The New York Times, 5/17; via Pam Green.)
Selections from the warm-weather season, including Shakespeare, new plays and musicals in development. We also picked our favorite festivals in dance, classical music and pop.
Shaw and Stratford Festivals
NIAGARA-ON-THE LAKE, ONTARIO, THROUGH OCT. 28; STRATFORD, ONTARIO, THROUGH NOV. 4 Free will is the theme at the Stratford Festival this year, where productions of “The Tempest” (starring Martha Henry as Prospero), “Coriolanus” (directed by Robert Lepage) and Eugene O’Neill’s “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” (directed by Miles Potter) are among the dozen shows planned. Over at another Canada mainstay, the Shaw Festival, a new adaptation of C.S. Lewis’s “The Magician’s Nephew,” written by Michael O’Brien and directed by festival’s artistic director, Tim Carroll, will have its world premiere. Sarah Ruhl’s “Stage Kiss,” a reimagined “Henry V” and plenty of other productions are also planned for the Shaw’s three stages. stratfordfestival.ca; shawfest.com
Clubbed Thumb Summerworks
NEW YORK CITY, MAY 19-JUNE 30 As sure a sign of summer as Shakespeare in the Park, the Off Off Broadway company Clubbed Thumb, known for finding and nurturing unusual new works, will present its 23rd summer season of three world premieres. Prior summers have introduced theatergoers to new plays by Ethan Lipton, Sarah Ruhl, Jordan Harrison, Madeleine George and Erin Courtney — a list of Clubbed Thumb alums that also includes a lot of really good directors like Leigh Silverman and Lear deBessonet. The new plays in the 2018 lineup — and the new playwrights we’ll want to keep an eye on — are “Tin Cat Shoes,” by Trish Harnetiaux; “Wilder Gone,” by Angela Hanks; and “Plano,” by Will Arbery. clubbedthumb.org
