America's great outdoor dramas: tales and tunes about our nation's heritage ring out in exquisite settings produced by Mother Nature

Travel America, May-June, 2003 by Randy Mink

The Utah Shakespearean Festival, in its 42nd season, brings Bard fans to Cedar City, a town of 25,000 in southwestern Utah's red-rock country, which boasts the country's largest concentration of national parks, monuments and forests.

A beloved summer tradition in New York City is "Shakespeare in the Park" at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park. Admission is free.

IF YOU GO ...

FOR DETAILS ON 2003 OUTDOOR PROductions around the country, log on to the Institute of Outdoor Drama's website, www.unc.edu/depts/outdoor. There is a link to each of the 122 theaters. Phone: (919) 962-1328. The institute's annual printed directory has been discounted.

Contact the following outdoor dramas:

* Black Hills Passion Play, Spearfish, South Dakota; (800) 457-0160; www.blackhills.com/bhpp.> * Daniel Boone: The Man & The Legend, Harrodsburg, Kentucky, (800) 85-BOONE; www.boonedrama.com.

* The Great Passion Play, Eureka Springs, Arkansas; (800) 882-7529; www.greatpassionplay.com.

* Hatfields & McCoys and Honey in the Rock, Beckley, West Virginia; (800) 666-9142; www.theatrewestvirginia.com.

* The Lost Colony, Manteo, North Carolina; (800) 488-5012; www.thelostcolony.org.

* The Miracle Worker, Tuscumbia, Alabama; (888) 329-2124; www.helenkellerbirthplace.org.

"Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Ashland; (541) 482-4331; www.osfashland.org.

* Shakespeare in the Park, New York City, (212) 539-8525; www.publictheater.org.

* The Shepherd of the Hills, Branson, Missouri; (800) OLD-MATT; www.theshepherdofthehills.com.

Stephen Foster: The Musical, Bardstown, Kentucky; (800) 626-1563; www.stephenfoster.com.

Tecumseh!, Chillicothe, Ohio; (866) 775-0700; www.tecumsehdrama.com.

"TEXAS Legacies, Palo Duro Canyon State Park, Texas; (877) 58-TEXAS; www.epictexas.com.

Trail of Tears, Tahlequah, Oklahoma; (918) 456-6007; www.cherokeeheritage.org.

Trumpet in the Land. New Philadelphia. Ohio; (330) 339-1132; www.trumpetintheland.com.

Unto These Hills, Cherokee. North Carolina; (866) 554-4557: www.untothesehills.com.

Utah Shakespearean Festival, Cedar City; (800) PLAYTIX; www.bard.org.

Young Abe Lincoln, Lincoln City, Indiana; (800) 264-4ABE; www.lincoln-amphitheatre.com.