Paige Lindsey White in the title role, front, and Allie Pratt as Marina, from back left, Mike Ryan as Helicanus and Nick Rossi as Lysimachus in Santa Cruz Shakespeare’s “Pericles.”
Kevin Lohman/Santa Cruz Shakespeare
Playwright Denmo Ibrahim gives actors feedback during a Golden Thread Productions rehearsal of “A Country Made of Salt” at Potrero Stage in San Francisco on, Friday, April 10, 2026. Golden Thread Productions is the first U.S. theater company dedicated to the Middle East.
Estefany Gonzalez/For the S.F. Chronicle
Adam Mendez Jr, from left, Malcolm Rodgers, Ije Success, Regina Morones, Nicholas René Rodriguez, Rezan Asfaw and Benoît Monin in Shotgun Players’ “Continuity.”
Ben Krantz/Shotgun Players
From Shakespeare in the redwoods to avant-garde dance in downtown San Francisco, the Bay Area’s summer arts calendar is packed with performances that surprise, provoke and delight.
This season’s highlights include world-premiere theater, bold contemporary opera and major musical celebrations, alongside intimate storytelling events and large-scale spectacles. Whether you’re looking for a chilling “Macbeth,” a surround-sound Pink Floyd listening experience or cutting-edge choreography under the sun, there’s no shortage of reasons to venture outside.
‘Continuity’
They’re trying to make an action movie about climate change, but they’re shooting a scene with a melting Greenland glacier in New Mexico, and the snow is made of plastic. The bigger obstacle still on the movie set of Bess Wohl’s dark comedy, which Shotgun Players is mounting Sunday, May 23 through June 21, might be the artists’ egos. Then there’s Hollywood’s fondness for happy endings, even in subject matter where the opposite is all but assured.
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‘The Moth’
The Moth has been keeping the art of storytelling alive since launching in 1997. Its open-mic StorySlam competition pops up in cities around the country, giving community members five minutes to tell an autobiographical story on a chosen theme, with some stories making it to its broadcast “The Moth Radio Hour” and “The Moth Podcast.” Oakland’s “I Love Boosters” filmmaker Boots Riley and comedians Hasan Minhaj and Tig Notaro are among the famous names who have told tales on the Moth stage over the years. This summer, the Bay Area will have the opportunity to tell or listen to yarns with the theme “American Dreams” at Freight & Salvage in Berkeley on June 3 and “Holiday Gone Wrong” at Public Works in San Francisco on June 23.
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‘The Unfinished Work of Camille Claudel’
The People’s Circus Theatre deploys physical theater and dance in tribute to a French Impressionist sculptor whose works scandalized the public. Written and directed by Felicity Hesed, this circus-inflected piece about an artist swimming against the mainstream gets a June 4-6 run at ODC Theater.
Elim Chan at San Francisco Symphony
San Francisco Symphony’s newly announced music director, Elim Chan, may not be starting her gig till 2027, but locals can get an early taste with her June 5-6 program. The Hong Kong-born conductor will lead works by Mendelssohn, Wagner and Debussy, as well as Berlioz’s song cycle “Les Nuits d’été” (“Summer Nights”) with the glorious mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke as soloist.
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A scene from “Elektra”
Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera
‘Elektra’
Richard Strauss’ “Elektra,” a tale of bloody intergenerational violence, returns to San Francisco Opera on June 7-27 in Keith Warner’s thrilling night-at-the-museum production. Company Music Director Eun Sun Kim leads a promising cast at the War Memorial Opera House. Pro tip: Keep an eye on the videos playing before the opera starts.
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Pink Floyd’s ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’
listening session One of the best-sounding recordings ever meets a top-shelf local listening room as Envelop presents Pink Floyd’s “The Dark Side of the Moon” twice on June 16. Audience members take off their shoes and sit quietly on the floor in a circle as the 1973 masterpiece is expertly mixed in a dark room and played over 32 surround-sound speakers.
‘Arab Spring’
Siblings Dina and Yusef haven’t seen each other in five years and their father for longer. Now that he’s dead, they’re supposed to go through his house and arrange an Islamic funeral for someone who’s basically a stranger. In Golden Thread Productions and San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Company’s world premiere of Denmo Ibrahim’s play, running June 19-July 12 at the Potrero Stage, a brother and sister finally hash it all out: inherited trauma, staying home versus leaving, as they piece together who their father was from coffee pots, rusty silverware and tape recordings.
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‘Absolutely Science Fiction’
One aspect of the genius of authors Kurt Vonnegut and Ray Bradbury is their prescience. In the double bill, presented by Z Space’s “Word for Word,” Vonnegut’s highly irreverent “The Big Space F*ck” sends potential humanity elsewhere to ensure its survival, while Bradbury’s warning about relying too much on technology encompasses “The Veldt.” Both stories, running at Z Below June 24-July 29, will assuredly guarantee intense dialogue long after the final bow.
‘Dracula’
Go goth July 1-8 when an internationally touring company brings this dance adaptation of Bram Stoker’s vampiric tale to the Orpheum Theatre. Trailers promise a dynamic, Lloyd Webber-esque production, with stage pyrotechnics and a modern score that taps Bach, Rachmaninoff, Mussorgsky and more.
‘Macbeth’
With the 2024 closure of California Shakespeare Theater, Santa Cruz Shakespeare — with its outdoor amphitheater nestled in a fog-draped eucalyptus grove — has become an even worthier destination for Bay Area Shakespeare fans. This summer, Paige Lindsey White, who triumphed equally as a comic Polonius and a heroic Pericles at the company in recent years, returns to the Grove at DeLaveaga Park from July 12-Aug. 30 as one of Shakespeare’s most ruthless leading ladies.
George Brooks’ 70th birthday celebration
Saxophonist George Brooks recently posted a picture of himself performing Terry Riley’s “In C” at The Freight as part of an all-star ensemble. Now the Bay Area Indo-jazz pioneer will headline his own birthday party on the same stage on July 17. The event reunites the Summit band with guitarist Fareed Haque and bassist Kai Eckhardt, of Garaj Mahal fame, and drummer Steve Smith, formerly of Journey, as well as percussionist Selvaganesh Vinayakram performing in place of the late Zakir Hussain.
‘The Judgment of Paris’
San Francisco composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer’s new opera is a comic reimagining of the classical-era incident that started the Trojan War. They reframe it through the lens of the historic 1976 Paris blind tasting that decisively proved Napa Valley wines equaled French wines. Commissioned by Festival Napa Valley, there’s one performance only, at Charles Krug in St. Helena, on July 18.
An Evening with Sutton Foster & Kelli O’Hara
Between them, Broadway stars Sutton Foster and Kelli O’Hara have three Tony Awards and countless accolades. The former has portrayed everyone from Marion “The Librarian” Paroo in “The Music Man” to Princess Fiona in “Shrek the Musical,” while the latter has played Eliza Doolittle in “My Fair Lady” and Anna in “The King and I.” Their show on July 18 with the San Francisco Symphony will be an homage to a performance Julie Andrews and Carol Burnett did for CBS in 1962 and will draw on Broadway’s songbook and more.
Ballet 22 will present its “Summer Season” program from July 25-26 at Fort Mason’s Cowell Theater in San Francisco.
Jake Dani Victor/Ballet22
Ballet22
Every summer this pickup company brings together male-identifying and nonbinary performers who dance on pointe, giving them a space outside conventional companies’ gender norms to build technique and expand the ballet repertoire. This year’s program, running July 25-26 at Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture’s Cowell Theater, includes a world premiere by former Lines Ballet member Keelan Whitmore, a selection of variations from the delightful and technically challenging 19th century ballet “Coppelia,” and a work by Miami-based Durante Verzola, whose inspired musicality recently landed him on Dance Magazine’s coveted “25 to Watch” list.
‘ODC Summer Sampler’
Whatever the weather, summer always reaches a peak at the esteemed company’s annual showcase of new work. This year, ODC stalwart KT Nelson’s “Nothing’s Gonna Make Sense (Reflections on Grief)” figures to touch some deeply embedded nerves. It shares the July 30-Aug. 2 bill with Co-Artistic Director Mia J. Chong’s world premiere, a collaboration with her socially engaged company, EIGHT/MOVES.
‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ outdoor staged reading
Any visit to Filoli, the National Trust for Historic Preservation site in Woodside, is a rewarding one. But add one of Shakespeare’s greatest comedies to the trip, and it’s a must-see for even casual theater fans. Shakespeare Silicon Valley will present a staged reading of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” beneath Filoli’s redwood trees on Aug. 12, placing the classic rom-com in an idyllic setting.