Ragdale's outdoor summer performance series returns to its historic Lake Forest campus on Wednesday, July 15, with an evening of live art, architecture, and music on the lawn behind Ragdale House.

Gates open at 5:30 p.m. The evening begins at 6 p.m. with "Ragdale Walks," a guided tour of the Ragdale gardens led by art critic Lori Waxman. At 6:30 p.m., this year's Ragdale Ring competition winners Paige Davidson and Julia McConnell — Virginia Tech architecture faculty who co-founded the design group Gluten — will discuss their winning installation, "Front of House," in a 30-minute talk and Q&A. The main performance starts at 7 p.m. with the ensemble Freedom From and Freedom To, movement and sound improvisers who create fleeting worlds of dance and music with randomly formed quartets.

This year's Ring installation reimagines the historic outdoor theater not as a fixed stage but as what its designers call "a set of fragments, openings, and positions for performance, gathering, movement, wandering, and watching." The installation remains on view throughout the summer on Ragdale's grounds.

The event is family-friendly. Ragdale encourages guests to bring picnic food, blankets, and folding chairs. A limited number of chairs will also be available on-site, first-come, first-served. A food truck will be on site, and alcohol is permitted for guests 21 and older.

No parking is available at Ragdale. A free shuttle runs between the Forest Avenue Lot (690 Forest Ave., downtown Lake Forest) and the campus at 1260 N. Green Bay Road. Metra riders can take the Union Pacific North line to the Lake Forest stop.

The Ragdale Ring dates to 1912, when architect Howard Van Doren Shaw built an open-air theater on his family's estate so his wife, playwright Frances Shaw, could stage her plays for audiences of 200 to 300. Shaw modeled it after a theater he'd seen at the Villa Gori outside Siena, Italy — a circular grass orchestra ringed by a low limestone wall, with evergreen wings framing the stage. Since 2013, Ragdale has invited artists and architects each year to reinterpret the Ring through an international competition carrying a $15,000 production grant.

Tickets are on sale at Ragdale.org. General admission tickets are $25, with discounted tickets available at $15 for students, seniors, artists, and veterans. Children under 12 enter free.