Seeing this summer’s schedule for the Cromulent Shakespeare Company, which begins this weekend, brings to mind the times we packed up the kids (now adults) and a picnic to enjoy an evening of the Bard’s wordplay in the park. We still have the T-shirt bestowed upon Craig for gamely portraying Juliet’s nurse in a brief sketch that amused or maybe just embarrassed our two children (“She’s dead,” was his oft-repeated line; the T-shirt is now a cleaning rag).

There’s something about Shakespeare that just begs to be performed outdoors — whether it’s the improvisional demands created by a squirrel racing through the set, threatening to upend props, or the rhythmic sounds of audience members slapping mosquitoes (you might want to bring your own insect repellent, btw) — and with the often irascible ways of Minnesota’s weather, what better choice than The Tempest?

Performances of The Tempest are at 7 p.m. Thu.–Sat., 2 p.m. Sun.

Fri., 6/5, Kenwood Park
Sat., 6/6, Lake Harriet Rose Gardens
Sun., 6/7, Raspberry Park at Harriet Island
Thu., 6/11, Loring Park
Fri., 6/12, Powderhorn Park
Sat., 6/13, Father Hennepin Park
Sun., 6/14, Como Park
Thu., 6/18, Washburn Fair Oaks Park
Fri., 6/19, Riverside Park
Sat., 6/20, Nokomis Park
Sun., 6/21, Newell Park
Thu., 6/25, Whittier Park

For suburban locations, and information on their other show this summer, Shakespeare Soup, click here.
—SP