Romantic Comedy 'As You Like It' Opens APT's Season

Posted July 6, 2026

Shepherd Express As You Like It Banner2026

Anne Siegel, Shepherd Express

It takes a theater company of APT’s size, talent and attention to make this play shine (in the afternoon or, better yet, under the stars at night). There’s still plenty of time to add an APT visit to your summer calendar.

Just as trees begin to leaf out as spring turns to summer, so does American Players Theatre (APT) turn to Shakespeare when opening its summer season.

This year is no exception. Shakespeare’s rich, romantic comedy, As You Like It, has returned to open APT’s 47th summer season. This comedy is part of nearly a half-dozen plays which are now open in both the indoor and outdoor APT theaters in Spring Green. As You Like It will continue performances in the Hill Theatre through October 4.

APT carries an extra glow this season, with its distinction of winning the 2026 Tony Award for Regional Theatre. This is a regional theater’s highest honor, and it is presented by the Tony Awards Committee to recognize a theater’s ongoing commitment to producing quality work. APT is the first Wisconsin theater to receive this award.

Romantic Comedy Favorite

One of APT’s Shakespeare favorites is As You Like It, and the current production delights in every way. The natural surroundings of Spring Green’s outdoor theater offer a lush outdoor landscape for this return to Shakespeare’s Forest of Arden, where much of As You Like It occurs.

Like another of Shakespeare’s best-known works, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the forest in As You Like It is a place of harmony, beauty, escape and illusion. But first, As You Like It begins at court, where jealousy, suspicion and power coincide. It’s not a happy place. In contrast, the forest seems far more relaxed and comfortable for the characters who wind up there.

There’s also so much lust and love in the forest that one wonders if there’s something in the water.

When we first meet two of the main characters, Orlando and Oliver, they are wrestling each other. The cause of this fight is jealousy between brothers. The younger brother (Derrick Moore as a dashing Orlando) wants his share of his father’s inheritance, which the older brother refuses to deliver. In his mind, Oliver resents his younger brother’s popularity. (Oliver is played by the equally dashing Rasell Holt).

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