From the first performance at this summer theater (“The Guardsman,” starring Basil Rathbone, 1927) to the years when soon-to-be Hollywood stars like Henry Fonda and Bette Davis plied the boards in summer stock, the Cape Playhouse has brought the quintessential summer theater experience to the area. The brainchild of Raymond Moore, a close friend of stage star Gertrude Lawrence, who moved an abandoned 1838 meetinghouse to the present spot off Route 6A, it’s considered America’s oldest professional summer theater. These days Broadway-caliber Equity actors perform in high-quality traveling shows, usually comedies and musicals. Shows run for about 2 weeks; there are usually six per summer. So many people order a season pass that most of the performances sell out, so plan ahead.