U. SAUCON TWP., Pa. – The stage is set and the curtain is getting ready to rise on a summer tradition in Lehigh County.
69 News Reporter Sydney Kay was in Upper Saucon Township with a preview of an annual festival getting ready to open Wednesday.
The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival’s 2026 Summer Theatre Series runs from May 27 through Aug. 2 at DeSales University.
This season’s theme is “Legends and Legacy,” celebrating a “historic convergence of milestones,” according to the event website: PSF’s 35th anniversary, its 30th year as the official Shakespeare Festival of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the 25th anniversary of its educational WillPower Tour, and the nation’s 250th birthday.
Festival Artistic Director Jason King Jones said the festival has 149 performances over the next 10 weeks. The festival brings in about 150 to 200 seasonal artists, from craftspeople building sets to people making costumes. 200 volunteers also participate, Jones said.
“It’s a labor of love,” he said.
He said the company is the largest regional theater in the area.
Akeem Davis, who plays Boy Willie in August Wilson’s “The Piano Lesson,” said Wilson is one of the most prolific American playwrights. He wrote a 10-play cycle. Each of the plays is set in a different decade of the 20th century.
He explores the development of American culture through the lens of African-American culture.
“The Piano Lesson,” set in the 1930’s, is about a family heirloom that has both sentimental and financial value. Boy Willie and his sister have different ideas on how to use the asset to propel the family forward.
Do you hold on tightly to your roots, or do you exchange it for the value it can provide and try to build on that? That’s one of the themes of the play.
Jessica Johnson, who plays Berniece, Boy Willie’s older sister in “The Piano Lesson,” said this year is the second time she is performing at the festival.
Subscriptions for the 2026 Summer Theatre Series can be purchased online at pashakespeare.org, by calling the box office at 610.282.WILL [9455], or in person at the Labuda Center for the Performing Arts on the campus of DeSales University in Center Valley, PA. Single tickets will be available for purchase in February 2026.
Below is a list of plays in this year’s 2026 Summer Theatre Series:
The Piano Lesson
By August Wilson
Schubert Theatre · May 27 to June 14
Million Dollar Quartet
By Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux
Original Concept and Direction by Floyd Mutrux
Inspired by Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins
Main Stage · June 10 to June 28
The Complete Works of Jane Austen, Abridged
By Jessica Bedford, Kathryn MacMillan, Charlotte Northeast, and Meghan Winch
Schubert Theatre · June 24 to July 12
Moriarty
A New Sherlock Holmes Adventure
By Ken Ludwig
Main Stage · July 16 to August 1
Romeo and Juliet
By William Shakespeare
Main Stage · July 8 to August 2
Coriolanus
By William Shakespeare
Schubert Theatre · July 22 to August 2
PA Shakespeare Festival— Family Theatre Series:
“Play On!” Community Tour presents—As You Like It
Touring the Lehigh Valley region and beyond · May 29 through June 14
Sheila the Magical —The Princess & The Frog Prince Part 2
Schubert Theatre · July 3 to August 1
Shakespeare for Kids presents—Romeo and Juliet
Onstage and touring community libraries · July 22 to August 1