This Tiny Wisconsin Town Has a Tony-Winning Theater, Frank Lloyd Wright Architecture, and Live Music in a Barn

Charles Usher, Midwest Living

Spring Green is a weird place. Weird in the word’s old, Shakespearean sense: holding power over the fates. How else do you explain how a town of fewer than 1,600 nurtured America’s most well-known architect, then held on to him when he could have left for New York or Paris? Or that a group of idealistic actors searching for a home for an outdoor theater would find the perfect natural amphitheater here—and build it into a Tony Award-winning company that draws audiences from across the country? Or that nationally known bands would come to play in an old pig barn? Time and again, creatively minded folks from Madison, Chicago, and beyond have felt drawn to Spring Green, helping build an arts scene that's the envy of towns 10 times its size. Weird indeed.

As the Bard himself might have put it, though Spring Green “be but little, she is fierce.” Visitors will find not only incredible artistic options, but also excellent shopping and dining and easy access to outdoor adventure along the Wisconsin River and throughout the rolling hills of Wisconsin’s Driftless region.

Things to Do

Arts and Culture

Winner of the 2026 Tony Award for Regional Theatre, American Players Theatre was founded on a farm alongside the Wisconsin River in 1978. It puts on nine plays each season. Two are always Shakespeare; the rest run the gamut from Chekhov to the contemporary French playwright Yasmina Reza. Arrive early to hike trails through remnant prairie and have a pre-show picnic, then watch an alfresco performance as dusk falls. There are more great shows at the Shitty Barn, a former pig barn turned concert venue cheekily named for the ex-residents’ output. Performers range from regional acts to national touring outfits and genres spanning rock, blues, funk, and Americana.

Frank Lloyd Wright grew up in Richland Center near Spring Green and built his home, Taliesin, just south of town. Visit on an app-based or guided tour. Devotees of Wright’s Prairie Style can nerd out on the half-day Estate Tour, which covers the entire property. Down the road is Unity Chapel, the Wright family chapel. A young Frank Lloyd helped design its interior (closed to the public), making it the first building he ever worked on. Down Highway 23 is Wright’s Wyoming Valley School. Schedule a private tour to visit the former school, designed as a memorial to Wright’s mother, who taught kindergarten. You can also tour one of Wright’s final designs, the Seth Peterson Cottage, in the Wisconsin Dells, on the second Sunday of each month.