Mark Cofta’s June theater picks

June's first week includes the opening of Philadelphia Theatre Company's Hillary and Clinton (through June 26), the East Coast premiere of Lucas Hnath's acclaimed comedy, following the success of his drama The Christians across Broad Street at the Wilma Theater. Naomi Iizuka's 36 Views (through June 26), an international art world mystery at the Lantern Theater Company, is directed by Peter DeLaurier, and features Bi Jean Ngo.

Also, InterAct Theatre Company presents Young Jean Lee's Straight White Men (through June 19), a family comedy directed by Matt Pfeiffer, who staged The Invisible Hand at Theatre Exile. The Delaware Theatre Company hosts the Off-Broadway one-man comedy My Son the Waiter: A Jewish Tragedy (June 2 - 19).

Reimagining classics; grappling with the news

The Mechanical Theater's radical three-person Romeo and Juliet (June 3 - 12), a BYOB performance happening on the veranda of the Historic Strawberry Mansion, directed by Eric Singel. The Reject Theatre Project's Shrew (June 17 - 19), "an original feminist response to Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew," directed and created by Christine Freije, is performed by an all-female cast at Asian Arts Initiative. Quintessence Theatre Group adds their first June production, Samuel Beckett's Happy Days (June 8 - 26), featuring E. Ashley Izard and Gregory Isaac. The New Freedom Theatre, fresh from their successful The Ballad of Trayvon Martin, stages the seldom-seen 1957 musical comedy Jamaica (June 16 - 26).

Simpatico Theatre Project premieres local playwright and actor R. Eric Thomas' Philadelphia-based comedy Time Is On Our Side (June 3 - 26), and People's Light introduces a sexy, suspenseful political drama by producing director Zak Berman, The Harassment of Iris Malloy (June 15 - July 10).

SoLow or Shakespeare?

Check out Tara Lynn Johnson's feature about the 7th annual SoLow Fest (June 16 - 26), featuring original one-person shows all over the city. I'm hoping to catch Alana Gerlach's Belonging (June 21 - 25), Alex Clothier's Everything's Fine! (June 25- 26), Rachel Gluck's Magdalene (dates TBA), and Josh Hitchens's No Sleep (June 16 - 25), a storytelling experience for 13 people in a dark attic at midnight.

The Arden Gild in Delaware has a distinguished history of producing semi-professional outdoor Shakespeare on their lovely grounds near Wilmington, and this year features the rarely performed Troilus and Cressida (June 10 - 25) — with a Star Wars design theme.

The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival opens their 25th season of high-quality professional theater at DeSales University in Allentown, PA with West Side Story (June 15 - July 3) on their main stage, followed by Julius Caesar (June 22 - July 17) in their audience-on-three-sides Shubert Theatre, and also offers daytime performances of The Little Mermaid (June 3 - August 6) for kids.

Cabaret crossovers: the Ratpack, the blues, and Joss Whedon

The hotter-than-ever theater-cabaret crossover features some great June events. In the Arden's Hamilton Arts Center, beloved comic Tony Braithwaite sings June 17 and 18, and then returns as a special guest for The Summer Club on June 27 on the Arden's Haas Stage. The Summer Club, led by Jeff Coon and music director Larry Lees, is a nightclub style cabaret with a 17-piece orchestra that hearkens back to the Ratpack heyday of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis, Jr. This Jersey Shore staple, a hit in Avalon and Cape May, also features Michael Philip O'Brien, Fran Prisco, and Arden favorites Rachel Camp and Kristine Fraelich.

Another Arden star, Barrymore Award winner Liz Filios, presents her first solo cabaret, In Blue (June 9), at L'Etage, a personal journey through the history of the blues. Also at L'Etage is Love Sucks. Let's Sing! (June 10 and July 22), a song cycle by Jean Brooks and Debra Leigh Scott about their travels on love's rocky road.

For something very different, check out The Bare and the Bold Burlesque's June 19 show at Franky Bradley's, a song and dance tribute to Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse, and Dr. Horrible.