JULY
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Shakespeare on the Green, which produces a free show on the Barat College lawn every summer, started with comedies but hadn’t done one for seven seasons prior to this year’s selection, The Two Gentlemen of Verona. Now part of the DePaul University Theatre School, Shakes-peare on the Green is the biggest of the local outdoor Bard fests, drawing crowds as large as 2,000 on Saturday nights for productions regularly praised for their high quality. This year for the first time there’ll be an attempt to keep the audience in a concentrated area to improve the sound quality without aggravating the school’s neighbors. Performances start tonight and continue Thursday through Sunday until August 10. The grounds, at 700 E. Westleigh in Lake Forest, open at 6; curtain time is at 8. You can bring a picnic or purchase hot dogs and burgers on-site; parking and admission are free. In case of rain, the first 650 patrons will be accommodated in the school’s theater. Call 847-574-4758 for more information.
26 SATURDAY
The Freedom Schooner Amistad is a Connecticut-based replica of the Spanish cargo ship Amistad–site of an 1839 revolt by enslaved Africans, who were subsequently brought to the U.S., imprisoned, and eventually let off by the Supreme Court. A floating museum dedicated to improving race relations, it’ll dock at Chicago’s Navy Pier on July 26; the DuSable Museum of African American History has put together a slew of activities in conjunction with its visit, which ends August 13. Tonight at 7:30 there’ll be a one-time-only performance of Ifa Bayeza and Pam Dickler’s musical Amistad Voices at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater at Navy Pier, 800 E. Grand, Chicago. Tickets are $20.50 (312-595-5600). A free mock trial and legal symposium take place Wednesday, July 30, from 5 to 9 at the pier’s Chicago Children’s Museum. Tours of the ship–which is sailing the Great Lakes through the end of the year–take place Monday through Friday from 2 to 4:15 and weekends from 10 to 5:15. They’re $8 for adults, $5 for children; call 773-947-0600, ext. 232, for more information.
31 THURSDAY
