“OVER 60 YEARS OF FREE. FOR ALL. FOREVER,” proclaims the Public Theater’s website, host to Central Park’s iconic outdoor series Shakespeare in the Park. In 1954, Joseph Papp founded the New York Shakespeare Festival, originally conceiving it as a Shakespeare workshop. The theater originated as a mobile operation in 1956 — a 35-foot trailer pulled by a retrofitted NYC sanitation truck visiting parks, churches, and community orgs. According to The Public’s website, in 1957, “the sanitation truck broke down on the shores of Belvedere Lake in Central Park,” leading to the creation in 1962 of the recently renovated Delacorte near the site of that demise. Since then, more than six million playgoers have experienced open-air performances at Central Park’s Delacorte Theater.
Before he hit it big on the silver screen in The Hustler, Dr. Strangelove, and Patton, George C. Scott trod the boards at the Delacorte in Papp’s 1962 inaugural production, The Merchant of Venice. Over the following years, many already-crowned celebrities have hit that stage, including Blythe Danner (Much Ado About Nothing, 1988), Michelle Pfeiffer (Twelfth Night, 1989), Denzel Washington (Richard III, 1990), Patrick Stewart (The Tempest, 1995), Anne Hathaway (Twelfth Night, 2009), and Al Pacino (in Scott’s footsteps, The Merchant Of Venice, 2010). First up in the new season is the gateway Shakespeare drug Romeo & Juliet, May 22 to June 28, with Ra’Mya Latiah Aikens as Juliet and Daniel Bravo Hernández as Romeo, followed by The Winter’s Tale.
A classic NYC minute (quite a few of them) involves standing in line, often at an odd hour like the crack of dawn (which I did for Sir Patrick), hoping to score tickets. But there are lots more ways to get them now, including the classic standby in-person method in Central Park, in person in the boroughs on select dates, and a lottery at The Public Theater. And on select summer Fridays (June 5 and 19; August 7, 14, and 21), a free afternoon open house will feature “self-guided tours, onstage photo ops, family-friendly activities.” If that’s not enough to tempt you, try this: You can bring your pet, though there are no details about species limitations on that perk. ❖
Shakespeare in the Park
The Delacorte Theater, in Central Park
Enter at 81st Street and Central Park West
Or, at 79th Street and Fifth Avenue