This is truly a mid-summer night’s dream come true for the St. Louis area: St. Louis Shakespeare Festival has announced a slate of free performances in 24 parks for the month of August.
From Kiener Plaza downtown to Shaw Park in Clayton to the Chesterfield Ampitheater and to other parks in St. Louis and St. Charles counties, the Metro East and more, Shakespeare Festival will present a tour of its bold, afro-futurist, musical adaptation of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” featuring a cast and crew comprised of rising St. Louis artists.
The family-friendly production of one of William Shakespeare’s most beloved comedies is part of the Festival’s public parks program, TourCo. The Bard’s tale of four central characters who fall in and out of love while lost in a magical forest is ultimately about self-love and exploration – a main focus of the company’s production.
“Shakespeare in the park has always been free, and always will be,” said St. Louis Shakespeare Festival producing artistic director Tom Ridgely. “But we knew that for these plays to truly belong to everyone, they had to be seen and enjoyed not only in St. Louis’s biggest and most beautiful park, but in the smaller neighborhood parks that are the heart and hub of so many of our communities.”
Each show begins at 6:30 p.m. and runs for 90 minutes. The tour will visit 24 locations from Aug. 2 to 27, Tuesday through Sunday.
The all-Black company of local talent includes director Tre’von Griffith (known as Tre-G), and actors Tiélere Cheatem as Helena/Hippolyta/Quince, Ricki Franklin as Bottom/Demetrius and Christina Yancy as Puck/Egeus/Snug. Also in the cast are Rae Davis as Hermia/Titania, Asha Futterman as Theseus/Oberon and Mel McCray as Lysander/Flute.
The creative team includes Cherokee Street fashion designer Brandin Vaughn (costume design), Laura Skroska (production design) and tour stage manager Britteny Henry.
Next month’s tour kicks off in downtown St. Louis at Kiener Plaza on Aug. 2, and continue to Tower Grove Park in South City, 9 Mile Garden in Affton, Trojan Park in Wellston, Bellevue Park in Belleville, Illinois, and Fairground Park in North St. Louis for the first week. The remaining dates include stops in the Metro East – Edwardsville, Brussels and East St. Louis – and across St. Louis City, St. Louis County and surrounding municipalities.
The full schedule is as follows:
- TUE AUG 2 – Kiener Plaza (500 Chestnut St,. St. Louis, MO 63101)
- WED AUG 3 – Tower Grove Park (4378 Northwest Dr, St. Louis, MO 63110) [Audio Description]
- THU AUG 4 – 9 Mile Garden (9355 Gravois Ave, Affton, MO 63123)
- FRI AUG 5 – Etzel Heights Subdivision (1220 Robert L Powell Pl, St. Louis, MO 63133)
- SAT AUG 6 – Bellevue Park (401 Bellevue Park Dr, Belleville, IL 62226)
- SUN AUG 7 – Fairground Park (3715 Natural Bridge Ave, St Louis, MO 63107)
- TUE AUG 9 – 14th and St. Louis Ave. (1400 St. Louis Ave, St. Louis, MO 63106)
- WED AUG 10 – O’Day Park Amphitheater (1000 O’Day Park Dr, O’Fallon, MO 63368)
- THU AUG 11 – Schroeder Park (359 Old Meramec Station Rd, Manchester, MO 63021)
- FRI AUG 12 – Love Bank Park (2851 Cherokee St, St Louis, MO 63118)
- SAT AUG 13 – The Harney Mansion Grounds (332 S Mansion St, Sullivan, MO 63080)
- SUN AUG 14 – Pomme Park (1 Golfview Dr, Arnold, MO 63010)
- TUE AUG 16 – Schlafly Bottleworks (7260 Southwest Ave, Maplewood, MO 63143)
- WED AUG 17 – Carondelet Park (3900 Holly Hills Blvd, St. Louis, MO 63116)
- THU AUG 18 – Chesterfield Amphitheater (631 Veterans Pl Dr, Chesterfield, MO 63017)
- FRI AUG 19 – City Park (101 S Buchanan, Edwardsville, IL 62025)
- SAT AUG 20 – January-Wabash Park (501 N Florissant Rd, Ferguson, MO 63135)
- SUN AUG 21 – Heritage Park (131 Illinois River Rd, Brussels, IL 62013)
- TUE AUG 23 – Fountain Park (Fountain Ave & N. Euclid Ave. St. Louis, MO 63113)
- WED AUG 24 – Jones Water Park (2600 Caseyville Ave, East St. Louis, IL 62205)
- THU AUG 25 – Shaw Park (27 S Brentwood Blvd, Clayton, MO 63105)
- FRI AUG 26 – Chroma Plaza (4041 Chouteau Ave, St. Louis, MO 63110) [ASL Interpretation]
- SAT AUG 27 – Hermann Farm (526 E 1st St Hermann, MO 65041)
All performances are free and open to the public and include a “Living Study Guide,” a 10-minute introduction to the cast and themes of the play. Guests are encouraged to bring their own chairs and blankets. For more information, visit the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival website.
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