A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM and More Set for 2026 Greater Hartford Shakespeare Festival

Following another record-breaking inaugural season of performing two plays in repertory, Capital Classics Theatre Company has revealed the two titles that will comprise the 2026 Greater Hartford Shakespeare Festival: the dark comedy Measure for Measure performed in repertory with the magical A Midsummer Night's Dream.

The alternating productions, which will each be performed ten times, will run Wednesday, July 8 through Sunday, August 2, 2026, outdoors on the campus of the University of Saint Joseph in West Hartford. In the event of inclement weather, the production moves inside the university's Bruyette Atheneum. Performances will be Wednesday through Saturday evenings at 7:30pm with Sunday performances occurring at 5:30pm. The repertory performance schedule, ticket information and directions will be announced in the coming weeks.

Capital Classics Co-founder and Artistic Associate Geoffrey Sheehan states, "Since we expanded the Greater Hartford Shakespeare Festival to two productions, we have been delighted how the audiences have turned out in even greater numbers. We have focused on pairing a popular title with a lesser-known work. In 2024, we offered Hamlet alongside The Taming of the Shrew. In 2025, we paired Twelfth Night with King Lear. For 2026, we have partnered the ideal summer comedy - A Midsummer Night's Dream - with the lesser-seen, complex comedy, Measure for Measure. We once again look forward to taking our guests on two wildly different journeys."

About the Plays

MEASURE FOR MEASURE 

Called away on a mysterious diplomatic mission, Duke Vincentio places his puritanical and despotic deputy Angelo in charge of Vienna. Seizing the reins of power, Angelo sentences Claudio to death when it is discovered that Claudio's fiancee is with child out of wedlock. When novice nun Isabella, who is also Claudio's sister, begs for mercy for her brother, Angelo agrees to a pardon — in exchange for her chastity. Unbeknownst to everyone, Vincentio has disguised himself as a friar to observe his deputy's nefarious misdeeds. Can Claudio be saved and Isabella's virtue preserved in time? In this dark and still-timely comedy, Shakespeare tackles the intersections of political power, morality, religious hypocrisy, love, and sex. 

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM

Among Shakespeare's most beloved and fantastical comedies, A Midsummer Night's Dream is rightly a perennial favorite for a midsummer night performance! Outside of Athens, a magical woodland kingdom finds four runaway lovers, a traveling troupe of bungling actors, and a mischievous company of fairies set on a collision course. In true Shakespearean fashion, identities get scrambled, affections get misdirected, and merry mix-ups abound. To quote Lysander, “The course of true love never did run smooth.” Packed with beloved characters like Puck, Bottom and Titania and endlessly quotable lines, A Midsummer Night's Dream is sure to find our audience laughing and falling in love under a canopy of stars.