Arboretum to offer new season of Theatre-Hikes

The scene is New York City's Central Park, the subject is relationships and the characters are city sophisticates trading barbs and the occasional deep insight.

Sound a little like Carrie Bradshaw's social milieu from "Sex and the City?"

There definitely are parallels between the popular TV series and movie and the 1980s play "Key Exchange," a show that will be featured later this summer when Morton Arboretum debuts its Theatre-Bike production.

"It's like 'Sex and the City,' but it's not the women's perspective as much as the man's," said Frank Farrell, Theatre-Bike creator and Chicago-area theater veteran.

About 10 years ago, Farrell started Theatre-Hikes, a performance troupe that presents plays outdoors and audience and cast members hike from location to location between scenes. The shows are featured at several venues, including the arboretum, 4100 Route 53, Lisle.

They've become an increasingly popular summer and fall feature at the arboretum. This season, three Theatre-Hike shows will be presented. And there will be the world premiere of Farrell's newest brainchild, the "theater-bike," an event that will intersperse bicycling over 5 miles of arboretum terrain with the play's nine scenes.

"I think it is the first one in the world," Farrell said. "I've never heard of it anywhere else."

Farrell said he hit upon the idea while pondering the audience's needs.

"We live in a society that's overweight. Theater is generally very sedentary for an audience, and with Theatre-Hikes it's not. Biking is just an extension of that," he said.

Farrell chose "Key Exchange" as the first biking production partially because the play's three characters play out much of the script's comedy-drama while bicycling through the lush landscape of a park plunked smack in the middle of a bustling metropolis.

Substitute Lisle for New York and the audience is mirroring the scenario on "stage."

Because the story deals with adult themes, Farrell said he recommends the show for mature audiences only.

The theater-bike experience is, at this point, a BYOB venture, as in "bring your own bike," though Farrell said bike rentals may be offered down the road if the idea catches on.

"This is very much an experiment," he said. "We don't know how this is going to go over."

One reason it even can be attempted at the arboretum is that the Lisle facility opened up the grounds to nonmember bicyclists last summer.

"We researched it carefully because safety is of utmost importance," said Marilyn Baysek, the arboretum's special events manager.

Baysek said the theater-bike show will be followed by a picnic dinner.

"We're hoping people will use this as a Saturday night date night sort of thing," she said.

"Key Exchange" will be presented as a cycling show at 5 p.m. June 21 and 28, July 19 and 26, Aug. 23 and 30 and Sept. 13 and 20.

The season's first hiking show, "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm," will be presented at 1 p.m. Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays in June and July. A dinner-theater version of the show will be presented at 4 p.m. June 22 and July 20. A low-impact version that requires less rigorous hiking will be presented June 15 and July 6.

The second show, Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew," will be presented weekends in August and September, with dinner-theater shows set for Aug. 17 and Sept. 21 and low-impact hikes Aug. 10 and Sept. 14.

The season's final theater-hike show, "Dracula," will be presented at 1 p.m. Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays every weekend in October and the first weekend in November, plus a special Oct. 13 show. This show has no low-impact or dinner-theater versions, Baysek said.

Baysek recommends theater-goers bring water, sunscreen, insect repellent, sunglasses, blankets and camp chairs.

Baysek said arboretum staff embraced Farrell's ideas for both theater-hikes and theater-bikes.

"It's so mission-rich for us. It gets people exploring parts of the arboretum that are away from the main Visitor Center," she said, adding that guides accompany the audience as they walk or bike to each performance area.

"They make sure that nobody straggles and gets lost," she said.

Baysek said she credits Farrell with making the unusual theater formats work.

"He's very sensitive to people's interactions with nature," she said. "It's all about respecting nature and interacting with nature."

If you go

What: Theatre-Bike and Theatre-Hike presentations

Where: Morton Arboretum, 4100 Route 53, Lisle

When: Weekends June through November

Tickets: $47 for Theatre-Bikes; $19 to $47 for Theatre-Hikes; member discounts available

Info: (630) 725-2066, mortonarb.org and theatre-hikes.org