presented by Time’s Fool Company:

SHAKESPEARE'S THE WINTER'S TALE

Artwork by Joe Pasquale for Time’s Fool Company

July 21st, 2026

Free Outdoor Theater in Wethersfield

Presented by Time's Fool Company • With Support from Town Oil

Exit, Pursued by a Bear

The Winter's Tale contains the most famous stage direction Shakespeare ever wrote — and it's only the third-strangest thing that happens.

A king destroys his own family in a storm of jealousy. Sixteen years pass. What was a tragedy becomes a comedy — young love, music, a charming con man, a countryside in bloom — and then Shakespeare pulls off the most astonishing final scene he ever staged.

Grief becomes wonder. Winter turns to spring. And it all happens for free, under the stars, on a lawn in Old Wethersfield.

Mark Your Calendar

August 5–9 and August 11–15
⏰ Shows begin at 6 p.m., with one exception —

🏮 Friday night shows begin at 8 p.m. by lantern light!

Keeney Center Lawn
200 Main Street, Wethersfield, CT

Free admission (donations appreciated)
Bring lawn chairs, blankets, and the whole family

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Why We Sponsor Time's Fool

At Town Oil, we've been taking care of people for over 60 years. That's meant more than fuel deliveries and HVAC repairs — it's meant showing up for our neighbors, season after season. Time's Fool does the same thing every summer, and their mission of "theater without walls, imagination without limits" makes sure everyone's invited.

We sponsor this stage because we believe in what a night like this does for all of us. There's a kind of connection a community only builds when people come together in one place — hundreds gathered on the same lawn, laughing at the same lines and holding their breath at the same turn. Researchers who study community life keep landing on the same idea: the more we come together for shared experiences, the more we trust and look out for one another.

A free evening of Shakespeare on the lawn is exactly that kind of gathering — warm air, open sky, and a story worth staying out late for. So we help make sure it happens. Year after year.