Where's our downtown theater festival?

You can't complain about an evening of Balkan-Yiddish-gospel-postmodern music, really. World Music Day sounds pretty cool (except that you can't call it WMD without thinking of our last president).

But where's the free outdoor theater festival in Palo Alto? The one-acts on the corner? Pinter in the park? That would be my little dream. Music gets center stage in the summer, due to some long-held tradition involving amps over asphalt. But there are days when you want art that's more narrative, telling stories by sunset, highlighting the up-close emotion between two people, talking out that which cannot be sung.

If I ran the circus, there'd be more following in the alfresco footsteps of PACT's Hot Dog Suppertime Shows, or PYT's Theater in the Park, but for big kids. Yes, the Shakespeare is lovely, too. More of that, please. Can we have this also, in an inflatable auditorium, or is that pushing it?

Theater on the corners and in the plazas of downtown Palo Alto would be vibrant, surprising and immediate. As tantalizing as overhearing a conversation in a crowd. You don't need much room to tell a story, just a compelling narrative and people who know they're inside it. Maybe a few set pieces and props, or just a pair of actors, or a whole set constructed in a piazza. Whatever way you make it, I'd go.

Some of the stages in my theater vision:

• King Plaza in front of Palo Alto City Hall. A political setting for pieces that tackle thorny issues and times, or scripts sassy with satire. Kushner. "Tomfoolery."
• The circle lawn at Gamble Garden, intimate and rustic. I can imagine a collection of one-acts with two or three actors each, the audience sitting all around.
• Heritage Park on Homer Avenue. Big enough for some splashy musical theater. Despite the judicious tree-planting that has occurred, the big grassy expanse could still easily accommodate even the gym scene in "West Side Story," assuming you don't mind dancing on the lawn.
• Lytton Plaza on University Ave. A busy spot, good for anything fast-paced and urban. The college kids might like that sprightly talker Mamet.

I still haven't figured out a good place for the inflatable auditorium.

Pictured: The circular lawn at Gamble Garden. Photo by Rebecca Wallace.