All the Country’s a Stage

Stumped for fun, cheap and surprising things to do this summer?  Check out the host of exciting theater festivals in towns across the U.S.

By Matthew Freeman for MSN City Guides

Your TiVo is a barren wasteland. Your Wii has become an exercise machine. You’ve seen "Indiana Jones" and "Iron Man", twice. Driving to the beach means paying over $4 a gallon. Some genius decided to start charging for a second carry-on at the airport. Disney World makes your kids cry.

It’s summer. What the heck is there to do? Well, how about a little live entertainment? From Maine to California there are live theaters that wake from a lengthy hibernation, turn on the lights, and perform Shakespeare, contemporary classics, and brand-new plays by some… living playwrights. (Who knew?) Many of these festivals import some of the most talented actors, designers and directors in the country to entertain local crowds and vacationers.

Here’s a look at a handful of the summer theater festivals in the US. Who knows, one might be playing near you.
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Williamstown Theater Festival - Williamstown, Mass.
This festival in Western Massachusetts is where some of the best actors of film and television go to show-off their stage chops. Spread over the Main, Nikos and Center stages are seven productions, late-night cabaret, play readings and children’s theater. This year has already seen a revival of Christopher Durang’s hilarious ‘80s comedy “Beyond Therapy” (with “Saturday Night Live” comedian Darrel Hammond) and “The Atheist” starring Campbell Scott. Upcoming shows for this summer season will include the new play “Broke-ology” by playwright Nathan Lewis Jackson, featuring Gaius Charles (“Friday Night Lights”) and Wendell Pierce (HBO’s “The Wire”).

Dorset Theater Festival – Dorset, Vt.
This award-winning festival has been entertaining Vermont for more than 30 years. Produced out of a historic renovated barn, their summer season began with a one-man show about baseball great and malapropism-prone Yogi Berra (“Nobody Don’t Like Yogi”) and continues with the rarely produced “June Moon,” the only collaboration between renowned writers George S. Kaufman and Ring Lardner.

Artistic director Carl Fowler describes his vision this way: “Anyone reading the paper knows that times are tough … The theater is traditionally a place for hope and reflection. So we'll give people a little escape and try affirm the values that have gotten this community through tough times before —looking out for each other, treating each person with respect and finding value in every member of our society. And being a summer theater, we'll do it with plenty of laughs along the way.”