Shakespeare Summer

Costumes for "Midsummer Night's Dream," by the show's costume designer, Jessica Ford, found backstage at Shakespeare & Co.'s theater Fair thee well, bard, when the sun shines. Shakespeare abounds in the boroughs and beyond this season: there's Shakespeare in the Park, Shakespeare in the Parking Lot, Shakespeare on the Sound (Rowayton and Greenwich, that is). Haven't been able to find a Shakespeare in the Hamptons this summer, but in the Berkshires there's Shakespeare & Co., which is putting on "Midsummer Night's Dream" and "Antony and Cleopatra" (starring the company's founder, Tina Packer). Last week I visited the company's campus and took some snaps, which you see here. The organization's gala is this Saturday. Resident Costume Director Arthur Oliver's sketches for the costumes in "Antony and Cleopatra," which began rehearsals at Shakespeare & Co. last week.>