Outdoor Shakespeare programs bring the Bard to a summer’s day

You know we’re in the thick of summer when the parks are suddenly populated by witches, kings and traitors. Indeed, ’tis the season of Shakespeare in the park, when the local theater community ensures we get our recommended annual allowance of Renaissance garb. 

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Seattle has two companies that perform free outdoor Shakespeare — huzzah! — and this year, both have chosen to perform political plays by the Bard. 

Wooden O, now a program of Union Arts Center, is performing Macbeth at regional parks stretching from Everett to Tacoma, Sammamish to Des Moines (July 9 - Aug. 15). An iconic tale of ambition, tyranny and a stain that just won’t come clean, the play is also a hit parade of famous quotes. Take note of all the familiar phrases and tally them up when the hurly-burly’s done. 

Also performing at parks around the Sound is GreenStage, this year with Coriolanus (July 10 - Aug. 15). Set in the Roman War, the story concerns a deeply divided nation, haves versus have-nots, and an arrogant, vengeful leader who must learn the art of compromise. Yes, things sure sound like they were different back then, but just do your best to relate. 

GreenStage is simultaneously presenting The Winter’s Tale (July 10 - Aug. 15), the tragicomedy about a jealousy-crazed king who banishes his newborn daughter to the Bohemian woods (spoiler: She turns out okay).

Forsooth, that’s a lot of Bard to imbibe (and as he noted in Sonnet 18, “summer’s lease hath all too short a date”). But Shakespeare in the parks is a treasured form of time travel. And you have the option of seeing these works over the course of the season or packed into a single weekend at the annual (and delightful) Seattle Outdoor Theater Festival at Volunteer Park (July 25-26). 

Hark! There’s one more local take on Shakes this summer. Dacha Theatre Company is performing the comedy As You Like It using the group’s innovative, funny format, in which all roles and scenes are determined by a pre-show roll of the dice. It’s happening at the Crown Hill Center (July 18 - Aug. 1), with a set designed like a honkytonk dive bar, right before Dacha takes the show to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival — smack dab in Macbeth country.

Meanwhile in the 21st century… 

Seattle is experiencing something of a battle of the neighborhoods this weekend, with several popular festivals competing for your attention. This confluence of gatherings might make for tough choices but it feels well timed — offering multiple ways to channel those leftover World Cup vibes, now that we’re no longer playing host.

At the south end of the city, this edition of the monthly Georgetown Art Attack (July 11) has several compelling hooks. Fantagraphics is celebrating 50 years of publishing rad comics with its Hot Off the Press Book Fair (5-9 p.m.), a festival of comics, zines and graphic novels that also features local legend Jim Woodring, who’ll be signing his new book Quaky. Also newly available from Fantagraphics: the anthology Night Shift, showcasing the region’s incredible wealth of women comic artists including Ellen Forney, Mita Mahato, Kelly Froh, Megan Kelso, Roberta Gregory, Vivian Li and many others. Plus: live music by The Fallouts. 

While in Georgetown, don’t miss Mini Mart City Park’s fifth annual block party. The celebration includes food, ceramics, plants and prints, plus the opening of Flotation Device (July 11 - Aug. 16), an indoor-outdoor exhibit featuring work by Seattle artists Colleen Louise Barry, Becca Fuhrman and Flora Wilds. There’s more excellent art over at studio e, where the group show finding (July 11-31) spotlights gallery artists such as Emily Counts, Joe Feddersen, Fay Jones and Ko Kirk Yamahira. And one more of the many Georgetown happenings: the ReVAMP Recycled Art and Fashion at Fogue Galleries, showing 100 works by 40 artists (reception July 11, 5-9 p.m.; show up through Aug. 22).

That certainly seems like a full day. But wait, look westward and we find the annual street party known as West Seattle Summer Fest (July 10-12), with tons of local craft vendors and a great big music lineup too. See: Alien Crime Syndicate, Massy Ferguson and the True Loves, among many others. And hang on, travel north across a bridge or two and here’s the Ballard Music and Seafood Fest (July 10-12), featuring a boatload of tasty fish, crustaceans and mollusks, plus a killer lineup of music including Built to Spill (!), Nite Wave, Low Cut Connie and Beatleconcert. And something no other neighborhood fest can (would?) boast: a lutefisk eating contest. 

Is it possible to attend all three ’hood hootenannies without expending all your summer energy in one Seattle swoop? Let me know if you attempt it! Extra credit: the Port Townsend Handmade Market (July 11), featuring 100+ arts and craft booths and those beautiful sea views.

For those itching to get out of town entirely, the Northwest summer gods have answered your wish with concerts happening all over the state — including a bunch of stages showcasing locally grown musicians.

< Spokane is inaugurating a new music festival this weekend: Blessing in Disguise (July 11), with four walkable stages in and around the Spokane Stadium. Local names on the roster include Ayron Jones, Allen Stone and a headliner who goes by Macklemore, plus AJR, Everclear, Big Head Todd and the Monsters and more.

< The Haystack Music Festival (July 10) returns to 18 walkable venues across North Bend, with some 70 local musicians playing Americana, including bluegrass, retro-country and folk-noir. 

< Up in Bellingham, the Northwest Tune-Up Bike & Music Festival (July 10-12) features a music lineup including Seattle rock goddesses Thunderpussy and chillwave Californians Hippie Sabotage, plus bike races, bike films and bikes (pedaled by people) flying high over jumps. < Seattle-formed indie-folk outfit The Head and the Heart is celebrating 15 years since its self-titled debut album took the country by storm. The band will play the album in its entirety at Remlinger Farms in Carnation (July 10-11). Also coming up at Remlinger Farms: Seattle indie-rock darling Deep Sea Diver (July 18), with Nation of Language.

Remember that Shakespeare bit about summer having too short a lease? Get out there and make the most of it!