King Lear
July 12–15, tickets free but reservations requested, Seattle University’s Lee Center for the Arts

Freehold Theatre, one of 10 organizations to win a Mayor’s Arts Award this year, has made it a habit of bringing Shakespeare’s classics to "nontraditional sites." This summer’s production of King Lear (with a stacked cast including Tony Pasqualini in the title role, Reginald Andre Jackson and Jose Gonzales) will play to the general public at Seattle University next week, but that’s only one of several stops on the Engaged Theatre Tour. Lear and his fool will also visit Joint Base Lewis-McChord, the Washington Corrections Center for Women and Monroe Correctional Center for Men, Harborview Medical Center, and a juvenile detention center. Nice work, Freehold.

Accidental Death of an Anarchist
July 5–Aug 4, $15–$30, Erickson Theatre Off Broadway
Director Gabriel Baron returns to Strawberry Theatre Workshop for another look at political satire Accidental Death of an Anarchist by Nobel Prize winner Dario Fo. First staged by Strawshop in 2005, Anarchist makes a farce out of the true story of a railway worker who reportedly "fell" to his death from a fourth-story window in police HQ. Corrupt cops abound; it’s a "Monty Python sketch interwoven with deep political satire, and a call to action," says artistic director Greg Carter. And from now until midnight July 4, tickets are half price ($15).