Add some Hamlet to your family’s three cheese picnic omelets at the Oak Park Festival Theatre, June 14 through July 19 and stay at the nearby and affordable Best Western Plus Chicago Hotel at Hillside!
Hamlet, William Shakespeare’s classic and masterful tragedy, about a prince of a boy unable to make up his mind about killing or not killing his stepfather Claudius and loving or not loving his crazy girlfriend Ophelia and acting Oedipal to his mommy Gertrude and seeing ghosts (kids!), has been produced, filmed, performed live for TV, and parodied countless times. And because it’s Shakespeare, everybody in Hamlet dies! The last decades have seen adaptations in modern settings and dress, with Oak Park Festival Theatre’s version taking place in a hotel.
Oak Park Festival Theatre is a splendid outdoor venue in a lovely park, presenting Actors Equity productions of The Bard as well as classic plays. Patrons may have a picnic before performances, or walk a few blocks to downtown Oak Park and its many fine restaurants. Special Family Day activities are offered twice a season, with pre-show activities, and early performances at 6 pm. Kids may enjoy dancing and stage combat workshops, storytelling, tours of the set and backstage, plus simple explanations of the show.
The Oak Park Festival Theatre at Austin Park is at 167 Forest Avenue. For more information or to buy tickets, call (708) 445-4440.
Best Western Plus Chicago Hotel at Hillside, just minutes from the Oak Park Festival Theatre, provides free shuttle service to and from O’Hare Airport in Chicago. The hotel offers affordable, comfortable rooms, a breakfast bar and restaurant and much more. The hotel is pet friendly and offers AAA rates.