An Elizabethan classic that spans numerous genres and offers its actors a wide variety of complex and thrilling roles, William Shakespeare's Antony & Cleopatra enjoys a July 12 through 20 run in the great outdoors of Rock Island's Lincoln Park, this meaty and juicy entertainment having previously lured to the stage the legendary likes of Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh, John Gielgud, Vanessa Redgrave, Anthony Hopkins, and Judi Dench.

With the New York Times stating that "the shining achievement of the musical is its winsome country and bluegrass score," and USA Today lauding the book "that's as forthright as it is smart, funny and charming," collaborators Steve Martin's and Edie Brickell's Tony-nominated Bright Star continues the Clinton Area Showboat Theatre's summer season, its July 17 through 27 run treating patrons to a musical treat that Stage & Cinema called "full of unforced goodness and rewarded risk-taking."

Even without benefit of a plot synopsis, you may think you know the chief inspiration for Alexander Richardson's new Barely There Theatre stage comedy To Leer at Lear. It's Shakespeare's timeless tragedy King Lear, right? Well, yes. But also no. Because as Richardson states during our recent interview, “The inspiration that's actually been in the back of my head as I was writing it, and that's apparent as we're rehearsing it now, is A Muppet Christmas Carol.”

Hailed by the New York Times for being an "old-fashioned British style of farce with an elaborate plot and dizzy characters," the golf-themed comedy Ken Ludwig’s A Fox on the Fairway enjoys a July 10 through 20 run at Geneseo's Richmond Hill Barn Theatre, the praise continued by ChicagoCritic deeming it "perfect family fare" and the Chicago Sun-Times calling the play "a riot of a hilarious show."