Oak Park Festival Theatre is Oak Park’s premiere Equity theater, and the oldest professional outdoor classical theater in the Midwest. Throughout its history, Oak Park Festival Theatre has presented more than 100 plays, enjoyed by more than 5,000 audience members annually.

Founded in 1975 by Oak Park resident Marion Karczmar, its first production, William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” was performed on a flatbed truck parked on the Westgate cul-de-sac in downtown Oak Park with a cast that included then unknowns David Mamet and William H. Macy. In 1976, the Park District of Oak Park invited the festival to perform under a canopy of stars in the idyllic Austin Gardens located at 167 Forest Avenue. 

Every year since, with the exception of summer 2020, Oak Park Festival Theatre has returned to the gardens to build their summer stage. Today, under the leadership of artistic director Barbara Zahora and managing director Bryan Wakefield, the theater looks to reclaim its place in the Chicago area’s summer outdoor theater scene. Oak Park Festival Theatre is a 501(c)3 nonprofit, charitable organization. Donations are tax deductible to the full extent of the law. Remaining shows in the 2021 season include a virtual production of “The Venetians,” by Matt Barbot, directed by Eddie Torres, presented in partnership with Kane Repertory Theatre (May 8-15); “The Tempest,” by William Shakespeare, directed by Barbara Zahora (July 15-Aug. 21) and “The Madness of Edgar Allan Poe: A Love Story” (Oct. 16-Nov. 13). For more information about Oak Park Festival Theatre visit oakparkfestival.com. 

Oak Park Festival Theatre is supported by the Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, the Park District of Oak Park, The Oak Park Area Arts Council, and many generous donors. Additionally, we are partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency and the National Endowment for the Arts. Special thanks to our local partners the Wednesday Journal, the Oak Park-River Forest Community Foundation, and the Oak Park River Forest Chamber of Commerce.