2026 Portland Original Practice Shakespeare Festival in Parks | Free, Audience Interaction, Onstage Prompter

OPSFest brings no-cost Shakespeare to parks all over the Portland Metro area. The company uses the original practice techniques of Elizabethan England: limited rehearsal, scrolls in hand, audience interaction, and an onstage prompter!

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From press release:
Original Practice Shakespeare Festival
Summer 2026
More info: opsfest.org

Hey there, OPS fans!

Your summer of Shakespeare is almost here! Come celebrate our eighteenth year of free theatre, wild audience interaction, and onstage moments that are too good to be rehearsed with our company of dynamic actors out in the Portland metro area’s beautiful parks (and beyond!).

On Saturday, June 20th, we’re starting our eighteenth season off right with fan favorite A Midsommer Nights Dreame at the summit of Mt. Tabor. The actors have no idea what character they will play until the AUDIENCE CASTS THE SHOW one hour prior to curtain! This is OPS Fest at its liveliest and most chaotic—there’s no better way to begin the season! Folks will delight in arriving early to the show to cast the play on-site at 8PM and watch their creation take shape at 9PM. This performance will NOT be suitable for children. Picnics and leashed dogs are welcome.

The rest of our season schedule is as follows:

June:
6/20: Mt. Tabor Summit – Midsummer Midsommer at 9pm
6/27: Happy Valley Library – A Midsommer Nights Dreame (Abridged) at 5:30pm
6/28: Oaks Park – Twelfe Night (Abridged) at 2pm

July:
7/10: Laurelhurst Park – Henry IV Part 1 at 7pm
7/11: Laurelhurst Park – Comedie of Errors (Abridged) at 2pm, King Lear at 7pm
7/17: Irving Park – Much Adoe About Nothing at 7pm
7/18: Irving Park – Twelfe Night (Abridged) at 2pm, Romeo and Juliet at 7pm
7/24: Laurelhurst Park – Cymbeline at 7pm
7/25: Laurelhurst Park – A Midsommer Nights Dreame (Abridged) at 2pm, Twelfe Night at 7pm
7/31: Roehr Park (Lake Oswego) – Comedie of Errors at 7pm

August:
8/1: Veterans’ Park (Sherwood) – As You Like It at 7pm
8/5: Gateway Discovery Park – A Midsommer Nights Dreame (Abridged) at 11:30am
8/8: George Rogers Park (Lake Oswego) – Macbeth at 7pm
8/14: Washington Park – Julius Caesar at 7pm
8/15: Washington Park – Romeo and Juliet (Abridged) at 2pm, A Midsommer Nights Dreame at 7pm
8/19: Camille Park (Beaverton) – Comedie of Errors (Abridged) at 6:30pm
8/22: Mt. Tabor Amphitheatre – Apprentice Showcase at 2pm, Hamlet at 7pm
8/29: Tillamook Library – Loves Labour’s Lost at 2pm