As Shakespeare Dallas presents its winter production of Macbeth, the Dallas theater company is preparing for summer and its 2026 season, including its 54th Shakespeare in the Park summer festival and a fall show. The Shakespeare in the Park summer festival will include William Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor and Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. In The Merry Wives of Windsor, Falstaff, Shakespeare’s legendary buffoonish knight, finds himself in financial trouble. His solution is to try to seduce the wives of two wealthy merchants by sending them identical letters. The wives see through his transparent plans and plot their own fun. Directed by Jenni Stewart, Shakespeare Dallas’ Interim Executive Artistic Director, the show runs Tuesday, Saturday, and Sunday, June 12 – July 19. Shakespeare Dallas’ non-Shakespeare show, Alice in Wonderland, has all of the beloved characters from Lewis Carroll’s classic, including the White Rabbit, the Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter, and the Queen of Hearts, but this is not a Disney production. Shakespeare Dallas describes it as a more grown-up production, and it will most likely be rated PG-13. Directed by Natalie Young, the show runs Wednesday, Thursday, and FridayJune 19 – July 17. For its fall production, Shakespeare Dallas presents Titus Andronicus, Shakespeare’s goriest play. Revenge leads to bloodshed, agony and death in this intense tragedy. Roman general Titus Andronicus returns from war with four prisoners. Determined to seek vengeance, the prisoners rape and mutilate Titus’ daughter and kill and banish his sons. The violence triggers a cycle of retribution, resulting in one of theater history’s bloodiest plays. Directed by Dr. Danielle Georgiou, the show runs Thursday-Sunday, Sept. 18 to Oct. 18. All three shows will take place outdoors at Dallas’s Samuell-Grand Amphitheater. Picnics are encouraged and beer and wine are allowed and memberships are available.   Stewart talks about the three shows, what families need to know about violence in Shakespeare, and why Falstaff is so beloved. NBC DFW: The Merry Wives of Windsor features real places, and the characters are middle-class, not kings or queens or great generals. Does their fairly average existence make their farcical situation more realistic or just funnier? Jenni Stewart (JS): It does both. What makes The Merry Wives of Windsor so delightful is that these characters live recognizable lives. They worry about money, marriage, reputation, and social standing in a small town where everyone knows everyone else. Because the stakes feel familiar, the farce lands harder. The comedy comes from watching very ordinary people behave very badly, and realizing how close that chaos is to our own lives. Shakespeare understood that humor is often funniest when it feels just a little too real. NBC DFW: Why do people across the centuries love Falstaff? JS: Falstaff is gloriously human. As a character, Falstaff is funny, shameless, charming, infuriating, and surprisingly vulnerable. He refuses to apologize for wanting pleasure, comfort, and attention, and there’s something deeply relatable about that. Across centuries, audiences recognize themselves in him. He is a reminder that joy, excess, and imperfection are part of being alive, even when society insists we behave otherwise. NBC DFW: Alice in Wonderland is your non-Shakespeare show of the season. How do you select non-Shakespeare shows? JS: We choose non-Shakespeare titles that feel philosophically aligned with Shakespeare. Alice in Wonderland is playful on the surface, but underneath it wrestles with identity, logic, power, and language. That curiosity about the world and how it operates is very Shakespearean. We also look for stories that expand our audience and invite people into the theater who might not yet see themselves as Shakespeare lovers. NBC DFW: This Alice is described as grown-up. What does that mean for people who are most familiar with the Disney version? JS: “Grown-up” doesn’t mean joyless or inaccessible. It means we lean into the darker, stranger questions at the heart of the story. This version explores what it means to feel unmoored, to question who you are, and to realize that rules are often arbitrary. Audiences familiar with the Disney version will still recognize the characters and whimsy, but they’ll also discover layers that speak more directly to adult experiences of uncertainty, growth, and transformation. NBC DFW: Titus Andronicus is violent. What should families in the audience know about the show? JS: Titus Andronicus contains intense depictions of violence, revenge, and trauma. It is not recommended for young children. Families should know that this is Shakespeare at his most extreme, and the content is meant to provoke reflection rather than shock for shock’s sake. We encourage patrons to review content advisories and choose what feels appropriate for their household. NBC DFW: What does Shakespeare’s use of violence and revenge say about Titus’ Roman society, Elizabethan society and today’s culture? JS: In Titus, violence is a symptom of a society that has lost its moral compass. Shakespeare shows how cycles of revenge escalate when power, pride, and dehumanization take hold. That critique applied to Roman society, resonated in Elizabethan England, and still feels urgent today. The play asks what happens when justice becomes personal, empathy disappears, and violence is normalized. It challenges audiences to consider not just the brutality onstage, but the systems and choices that allow it to flourish. Learn more: Shakespeare Dallas DFW Culture Dallas Jan 17 Sir James MacMillan's piece adds Scottish flair to Dallas Symphony Orchestra concert Art and Culture Jan 10 Shakespeare Dallas kicks off 2026 with winter production of ‘Macbeth' This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser. ...read more read less