New York Shakespeare Festival
Encyclopedia
New York Shakespeare Festival is the previous name of the New York City
theatrical producing organization now known as the Public Theater
. The Festival produced shows at the Delacorte Theater
in Central Park
, as part of its free Shakespeare in the Park series, at the Public Theatre near Astor Place in downtown Manhattan
and, for a time, at Vivian Beaumont
and Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatres in Lincoln Center. For some years the official name of the company was "The Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival." Under new re-organization and branding, the Public has dropped "NYSF" from its name, and has labelled its Delacorte operations as simply Shakespeare in the Park. The phenomenon of free Shakespeare in New York was pioneered and brought into being by the visionary entrepreneur Joseph Papp
, who founded the Festival.
"Shakespeare in the Park" is an annual theater festival held in the summer in New York City's Central Park
. All tickets to Shakespeare in the Park are free, which contributes to the popularity of the event. Long queues for free tickets are common sights near the Great Lawn of Central Park
, particularly during the last weekend of a show's run and during productions with big name stars. Patrick Stewart
, Meryl Streep
, Natalie Portman
, Jimmy Smits
, Allison Janney
, Oliver Platt
, Sam Waterston
, Jesse L. Martin
, Kevin Kline
, Anne Hathaway
and Al Pacino
are among the actors who have graced the Delacorte stage in recent years.
The 2011 season presents Measure for Measure
and All's Well That Ends Well
in repertory, playing on alternate nights.
. Eventually, the plays moved to a lawn in front of Turtle Pond
in Central Park. In 1959, parks commissioner Robert Moses
demanded that Papp and his company charge a fee for the performances to cover the cost of "grass erosion." A court battle ensued. Papp continued to fight Moses, winning his enduring respect and the quote "well, let's build the bastard a theater." Following this, Moses requested funds from the city for the construction of an amphitheater in the park. In 1961, the Delacorte Theater
was built. The first performance held in the theater in 1962 was Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice
, starring George C. Scott
and James Earl Jones
.
, directed by Michael Greif, who directed Rent
, and A Midsummer Night's Dream
featuring Jon Hill and Mallory Portnoy.
The 2008 season began with Hamlet
(27 May - 29 June), with Michael Stuhlbarg
in the title role, under the Public Theater's Artistic Director Oskar Eustis
. Sam Waterston
, who played Hamlet the last time the tragedy was presented at the Theater (1975), played Polonius
. The second presentation was James Rado's, Gerome Ragni
's, and Galt MacDermot
's Hair
(22 July - 14 September) led by Jonathan Groff and Will Swenson. Christopher J. Hahnke took over the role of Claude when Mr. Groff left to film "Taking Woodstock". Hair made its original debut in October 1967 at Joseph Papp
's Public Theater, the initial presentation of the theater.
The 2009 season offered Twelfth Night (June 9 to July 12), with Anne Hathaway
playing Viola
, and Euripides
' The Bacchae
(August 11 to September 6), with music by Philip Glass
.
The 2010 season (June 9 - August 1) featured The Merchant of Venice
and The Winter's Tale
performed in repertory. Al Pacino
starred as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. The season's repertory company also featured Jesse Tyler Ferguson
(as Solanio in Merchant and the Young Shepherd in The Winter’s Tale); Jesse L. Martin
(Gratiano/Polixenes); Lily Rabe
(Portia
/First Gentlewoman); Ruben Santiago-Hudson (Prince of Morocco/Leontes
); and Max Wright (Old Gobbo/the Old Shepherd). Daniel Sullivan
directed Merchant of Venice and Michael Greif
direceds The Winter’s Tale.
, Gilbert and Sullivan
, Eric Bogosian
, Sam Shepard
, and Samuel Beckett
. The 2006 season featured Mother Courage
by Bertolt Brecht
.
A notable exception came in the year a dispute occurred between Joseph Papp and the City of New York over public funding for his productions at the Delacorte. In a dramatic move of independence and zest, Joseph Papp denied the city any Shakespeare at the Delacorte for a summer, instead moving the Public's production of Pirates of Penzance to the uptown location. There have been few altercations between the city and the Public since, though the Public relies heavily on private funding. In 2005, the theater company was among 406 New York City
arts and social service institutions to receive part of a $20 million grant from the Carnegie Corporation, which was made possible through a donation by New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg
.
, including Wilford Leach
's staging of The Mystery of Edwin Drood
from the 1984-1985 season and The Tempest
from the 1995-1996 season. The festival has also attracted many well-known actors, such as Meryl Streep
, Morgan Freeman
, Martin Sheen
, and Al Pacino
- the latter two of whom appeared as Brutus and Marc Antony in a toga-clad historical production of Julius Caesar
, directed by Stuart Vaughan in 1987, in the first of the NYSF's Shakepeare Marathon - Papp's endeavor to present all of Shakespeare's works over a period of years.
Since its inception, the festival has become popular with both New York natives and visitors to the city, and while the Delacorte Theater has 1,872 seats http://www.nyc24.org/2005/centralpark/art/shakespeare.html, prospective theatergoers can expect to sit in line for hours before the early afternoon ticket distribution. Approximately 80,000 people attend Shakespeare in the Park every year.http://www.nyc24.org/2005/centralpark/art/shakespeare.html.
A variety of arrangements have been employed to modify the Delacorte Theater stage over the years. In recent years, the Public has been known for its elaborate sets at the Delacorte, with broad metaphors and reference to contemporary events. While they have rarely strayed from the Shakespearean script, such staging and costuming has riled traditionalists. The current trend at the Delacorte has been away from original Elizabethan costuming and sets, and more toward a directorial impression of how a show can be re-interpreted. Depending on the show, this trend has led to mixed critical reviews.
. The Festival, under Papp's leadership, sponsored several Riverside Shakespeare Company productions at a critical stage in its development, beginning with Riverside's New York premiere production of Brecht's Edward II in 1982 at The Shakespeare Center
on the Upper West Side (dedicated by Joseph Papp in 1982), followed by Equity parks tours of free Shakespeare throughout the five borroughs of New York City - much as the NYSF had done for years before. Riverside Shakespeare Company summer parks tour of Free Shakespeare sponsored by the NYSF began with A Comedy of Errors in 1982, followed by The Merry Wives of Windsor, featuring Anna Deavere Smith
in her New York stage debut as Mistress Quickly, Romeo and Juliet, and The Taming of the Shrew. During the NYSF period of support, the Riverside Shakespeare Company expanded greatly, offering for the first time The Shakespeare Project
in 1983, and serving a wide range of audiences in the five borroughs.
Most of this kind of developmental support by the NYSF came under the initiation of Joseph Papp
- as part of his commitment to foster the development of theater in New York, from revenues derived from successful NYSF productions, such as the Broadway production of A Chorus Line
, which had been developed at the NYSF and transferred to Broadway for the longest run of a Broadway musical up till then.
and Turtle Pond provide a backdrop for the shows at the Delacorte. As shows at the Delacorte begin in the early evening, shows usually start in daylight; as the play rolls on, the sun sets and the audience is drawn into the illuminated action on the stage. Since 1962 the Public has had the privilege of its exclusive use.
Tickets are also distributed on selected days in the other boroughs of the city. In 2009, the Public tested distribution online through a Virtual Line and a Senior Line, but the majority of tickets are still distributed at Delacorte, according to their FAQ.
Tickets cannot be exchanged in the event of a rainout. Late seating is at the discretion of the director, and permission for late seating may not be granted until 30–40 minutes into the show.
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
theatrical producing organization now known as the Public Theater
Public Theater
The Public Theater is a New York City arts organization founded as The Shakespeare Workshop in 1954 by Joseph Papp, with the intention of showcasing the works of up-and-coming playwrights and performers. It is headquartered at 425 Lafayette Street in the former Astor Library in the East Village...
. The Festival produced shows at the Delacorte Theater
Delacorte Theater
The Delacorte Theater, established in 1962, is an open-air theater located in Manhattan's Central Park and has a seating capacity of 1,800. The Delacorte is owned by the City of New York and operated by The Public Theater. It is an open-air amphitheater, with the Turtle Pond and Belvedere Castle...
in Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
, as part of its free Shakespeare in the Park series, at the Public Theatre near Astor Place in downtown Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
and, for a time, at Vivian Beaumont
Vivian Beaumont Theatre
The Vivian Beaumont Theater is a theatre located in the Lincoln Center complex at 150 West 65th Street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The structure was designed by Finnish American architect Eero Saarinen, and Jo Mielziner was responsible for the design of the stage and interior.The Vivian...
and Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatres in Lincoln Center. For some years the official name of the company was "The Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival." Under new re-organization and branding, the Public has dropped "NYSF" from its name, and has labelled its Delacorte operations as simply Shakespeare in the Park. The phenomenon of free Shakespeare in New York was pioneered and brought into being by the visionary entrepreneur Joseph Papp
Joseph Papp
Joseph Papp was an American theatrical producer and director. Papp established The Public Theater in what had been the Astor Library Building in downtown New York . "The Public," as it is known, has many small theatres within it...
, who founded the Festival.
"Shakespeare in the Park" is an annual theater festival held in the summer in New York City's Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
. All tickets to Shakespeare in the Park are free, which contributes to the popularity of the event. Long queues for free tickets are common sights near the Great Lawn of Central Park
Great Lawn and Turtle Pond, Central Park
The Great Lawn and Turtle Pond, Central Park, are inseparable features of New York City's Central Park.-History:The lawn and pond occupy the almost flat site of the rectangular, thirty-five-acre Lower Reservoir constructed in 1842, which was an unalterable fixture of the location of Central Park as...
, particularly during the last weekend of a show's run and during productions with big name stars. Patrick Stewart
Patrick Stewart
Sir Patrick Hewes Stewart, OBE is an English film, television and stage actor, who has had a distinguished career in theatre and television for around half a century...
, Meryl Streep
Meryl Streep
Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep is an American actress who has worked in theatre, television and film.Streep made her professional stage debut in 1971's The Playboy of Seville, before her screen debut in the television movie The Deadliest Season in 1977. In that same year, she made her film debut with...
, Natalie Portman
Natalie Portman
Natalie Hershlag , better known by her stage name Natalie Portman, is an actress with dual American and Israeli citizenship. Her first role was as an orphan taken in by a hitman in the 1994 French action film Léon, but major success came when she was cast as Padmé Amidala in the Star Wars prequel...
, Jimmy Smits
Jimmy Smits
Jimmy Smits is an American actor. Smits is perhaps best known for his roles as attorney Victor Sifuentes on the 1980s legal drama L.A. Law, as NYPD Detective Bobby Simone on the 1990s police drama NYPD Blue, and as Congressman Matt Santos on The West Wing...
, Allison Janney
Allison Janney
Allison Brooks Janney is an American actress, best known for her role as C.J. Cregg on the television series The West Wing.- Personal life :...
, Oliver Platt
Oliver Platt
Oliver James Platt is a Canadian-American actor. He is currently starring in the Showtime original series, The Big C with Laura Linney.-Early life:...
, Sam Waterston
Sam Waterston
Samuel Atkinson "Sam" Waterston is an American actor and occasional producer and director. Among other roles, he is noted for his Academy Award-nominated portrayal of Sydney Schanberg in 1984's The Killing Fields, and his Golden Globe- and Screen Actors Guild Award-winning portrayal of Jack McCoy...
, Jesse L. Martin
Jesse L. Martin
Jesse L. Martin is an American theatre, film, and television actor. He is known for originating the role of Tom Collins in the Broadway theatrical production of Rent, and for his portrayal of NYPD Detective Ed Green on the NBC drama television series Law & Order.-Early life:Martin, the third of...
, Kevin Kline
Kevin Kline
Kevin Delaney Kline is an American theatre, voice, film actor and comedian. He has won an Academy Award and two Tony Awards, and has been nominated for five Golden Globe Awards, two BAFTA Awards and an Emmy Award.- Early life :...
, Anne Hathaway
Anne Hathaway (actress)
Anne Jacqueline Hathaway is an American actress. After several stage roles, she appeared in the 1999 television series Get Real. She played Mia Thermopolis in The Princess Diaries...
and Al Pacino
Al Pacino
Alfredo James "Al" Pacino is an American film and stage actor and director. He is famous for playing mobsters, including Michael Corleone in The Godfather trilogy, Tony Montana in Scarface, Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice in Dick Tracy and Carlito Brigante in Carlito's Way, though he has also appeared...
are among the actors who have graced the Delacorte stage in recent years.
The 2011 season presents Measure for Measure
Measure for Measure
Measure for Measure is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1603 or 1604. It was classified as comedy, but its mood defies those expectations. As a result and for a variety of reasons, some critics have labelled it as one of Shakespeare's problem plays...
and All's Well That Ends Well
All's Well That Ends Well
All's Well That Ends Well is a play by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1604 and 1605, and was originally published in the First Folio in 1623....
in repertory, playing on alternate nights.
History of the Festival
The festival was originally conceived by director—producer Joseph Papp in 1954. Papp began with a series of Shakespeare workshops, then moved on to free productions on the Lower East SideLower East Side
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....
. Eventually, the plays moved to a lawn in front of Turtle Pond
Great Lawn and Turtle Pond, Central Park
The Great Lawn and Turtle Pond, Central Park, are inseparable features of New York City's Central Park.-History:The lawn and pond occupy the almost flat site of the rectangular, thirty-five-acre Lower Reservoir constructed in 1842, which was an unalterable fixture of the location of Central Park as...
in Central Park. In 1959, parks commissioner Robert Moses
Robert Moses
Robert Moses was the "master builder" of mid-20th century New York City, Long Island, Rockland County, and Westchester County, New York. As the shaper of a modern city, he is sometimes compared to Baron Haussmann of Second Empire Paris, and is one of the most polarizing figures in the history of...
demanded that Papp and his company charge a fee for the performances to cover the cost of "grass erosion." A court battle ensued. Papp continued to fight Moses, winning his enduring respect and the quote "well, let's build the bastard a theater." Following this, Moses requested funds from the city for the construction of an amphitheater in the park. In 1961, the Delacorte Theater
Delacorte Theater
The Delacorte Theater, established in 1962, is an open-air theater located in Manhattan's Central Park and has a seating capacity of 1,800. The Delacorte is owned by the City of New York and operated by The Public Theater. It is an open-air amphitheater, with the Turtle Pond and Belvedere Castle...
was built. The first performance held in the theater in 1962 was Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice
The Merchant of Venice
The Merchant of Venice is a tragic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. Though classified as a comedy in the First Folio and sharing certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, the play is perhaps most remembered for its dramatic...
, starring George C. Scott
George C. Scott
George Campbell Scott was an American stage and film actor, director and producer. He was best known for his stage work, as well as his portrayal of General George S. Patton in the film Patton, and as General Buck Turgidson in Stanley Kubrick's Dr...
and James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones is an American actor. He is well-known for his distinctive bass voice and for his portrayal of characters of substance, gravitas and leadership...
.
Recent Seasons
The 2007 season productions were Romeo and JulietRomeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
, directed by Michael Greif, who directed Rent
Rent (musical)
Rent is a rock musical with music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson based on Giacomo Puccini's opera La bohème...
, and A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
featuring Jon Hill and Mallory Portnoy.
The 2008 season began with Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
(27 May - 29 June), with Michael Stuhlbarg
Michael Stuhlbarg
Michael S. Stuhlbarg is an American theatre, film and television actor.-Life and career:Stuhlbarg was born in Long Beach, California and raised in Reform Judaism. He trained at Juilliard School and also studied acting at the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain, University of London and UCLA...
in the title role, under the Public Theater's Artistic Director Oskar Eustis
Oskar Eustis
Oskar Eustis is the artistic director at the Public Theater and has worked as a director, dramaturg, and artistic director for theaters around the country.-Career:...
. Sam Waterston
Sam Waterston
Samuel Atkinson "Sam" Waterston is an American actor and occasional producer and director. Among other roles, he is noted for his Academy Award-nominated portrayal of Sydney Schanberg in 1984's The Killing Fields, and his Golden Globe- and Screen Actors Guild Award-winning portrayal of Jack McCoy...
, who played Hamlet the last time the tragedy was presented at the Theater (1975), played Polonius
Polonius
Polonius is a character in William Shakespeare's Hamlet. He is King Claudius's chief counsellor, and the father of Ophelia and Laertes. Polonius connives with Claudius to spy on Hamlet...
. The second presentation was James Rado's, Gerome Ragni
Gerome Ragni
Gerome Bernard Ragni was an American actor, singer and songwriter, best known as the co-author of the groundbreaking 1960s Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical.-Early life:...
's, and Galt MacDermot
Galt MacDermot
Galt MacDermot is a Canadian composer, pianist and writer of musical theatre. He won a Grammy Award for the song African Waltz in 1960. His most successful musicals have been Hair and Two Gentlemen of Verona...
's Hair
Hair (musical)
Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical is a rock musical with a book and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot. A product of the hippie counter-culture and sexual revolution of the 1960s, several of its songs became anthems of the anti-Vietnam War peace movement...
(22 July - 14 September) led by Jonathan Groff and Will Swenson. Christopher J. Hahnke took over the role of Claude when Mr. Groff left to film "Taking Woodstock". Hair made its original debut in October 1967 at Joseph Papp
Joseph Papp
Joseph Papp was an American theatrical producer and director. Papp established The Public Theater in what had been the Astor Library Building in downtown New York . "The Public," as it is known, has many small theatres within it...
's Public Theater, the initial presentation of the theater.
The 2009 season offered Twelfth Night (June 9 to July 12), with Anne Hathaway
Anne Hathaway (actress)
Anne Jacqueline Hathaway is an American actress. After several stage roles, she appeared in the 1999 television series Get Real. She played Mia Thermopolis in The Princess Diaries...
playing Viola
Viola (Twelfth Night character)
Viola is a fictional character from the play Twelfth Night, written by William Shakespeare around 1599 or 1600.Viola's actions produce all of the play's momentum. She is a young woman of Messaline, a fictional country invented by Shakespeare, although some believe that this country really did exist...
, and Euripides
Euripides
Euripides was one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, the other two being Aeschylus and Sophocles. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him but according to the Suda it was ninety-two at most...
' The Bacchae
The Bacchae
The Bacchae is an ancient Greek tragedy by the Athenian playwright Euripides, during his final years in Macedon, at the court of Archelaus I of Macedon. It premiered posthumously at the Theatre of Dionysus in 405 BC as part of a tetralogy that also included Iphigeneia at Aulis, and which...
(August 11 to September 6), with music by Philip Glass
Philip Glass
Philip Glass is an American composer. He is considered to be one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century and is widely acknowledged as a composer who has brought art music to the public .His music is often described as minimalist, along with...
.
The 2010 season (June 9 - August 1) featured The Merchant of Venice
The Merchant of Venice
The Merchant of Venice is a tragic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. Though classified as a comedy in the First Folio and sharing certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, the play is perhaps most remembered for its dramatic...
and The Winter's Tale
The Winter's Tale
The Winter's Tale is a play by William Shakespeare, originally published in the First Folio of 1623. Although it was grouped among the comedies, some modern editors have relabelled the play as one of Shakespeare's late romances. Some critics, among them W. W...
performed in repertory. Al Pacino
Al Pacino
Alfredo James "Al" Pacino is an American film and stage actor and director. He is famous for playing mobsters, including Michael Corleone in The Godfather trilogy, Tony Montana in Scarface, Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice in Dick Tracy and Carlito Brigante in Carlito's Way, though he has also appeared...
starred as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. The season's repertory company also featured Jesse Tyler Ferguson
Jesse Tyler Ferguson
Jesse Tyler Ferguson is an American actor who portrays Mitchell Pritchett on the ABC sitcom Modern Family. Previously he played the role of Richie Velch in the CBS sitcom The Class. He is openly gay.-Life and career:...
(as Solanio in Merchant and the Young Shepherd in The Winter’s Tale); Jesse L. Martin
Jesse L. Martin
Jesse L. Martin is an American theatre, film, and television actor. He is known for originating the role of Tom Collins in the Broadway theatrical production of Rent, and for his portrayal of NYPD Detective Ed Green on the NBC drama television series Law & Order.-Early life:Martin, the third of...
(Gratiano/Polixenes); Lily Rabe
Lily Rabe
Lily Rabe is an American actress. She is the daughter of the late actress Jill Clayburgh and playwright David Rabe and attended Northwestern University and the Hotchkiss School....
(Portia
Portia
-Biology:*Portia , a genus of jumping spiders*Anaea troglodyta, a brush-footed butterfly commonly known as the Florida Leafwing, Florida Goatweed, or Portia*Portia tree, a plant native to Polynesia*Ctt...
/First Gentlewoman); Ruben Santiago-Hudson (Prince of Morocco/Leontes
Leontes
King Leontes is the father of Perdita and husband to Queen Hermione in Shakespeare's play The Winter's Tale. He becomes obsessed with the belief that his wife has been having an affair with Polixenes, his childhood friend and King of Bohemia. Because of this, he tries to have his friend poisoned,...
); and Max Wright (Old Gobbo/the Old Shepherd). Daniel Sullivan
Daniel Sullivan
Daniel "Pegleg" Sullivan was a Chicagoan who is often credited with being the first to sound the alarm when a fire broke out in Catherine O'Leary's barn on October 8, 1871, the beginning of the Great Chicago Fire...
directed Merchant of Venice and Michael Greif
Michael Greif
Michael Greif is a stage director and producer, born in Brooklyn, New York. He has received three Tony Award nominations and won the Obie Award....
direceds The Winter’s Tale.
The plays
Works by Shakespeare are always included in the festival's seasonal lineup; generally three productions with two-week runs. However, other playwrights have been featured, including Anton ChekhovAnton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
, Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S...
, Eric Bogosian
Eric Bogosian
Eric Bogosian is an American actor, playwright, monologist, and novelist of Armenian descent.-Personal life:Bogosian, an Armenian-American, was born in Woburn, Massachusetts, the son of Edwina, a hairdresser and instructor, and Henry Bogosian, an accountant. After graduating from Oberlin College,...
, Sam Shepard
Sam Shepard
Sam Shepard is an American playwright, actor, and television and film director. He is the author of several books of short stories, essays, and memoirs, and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1979 for his play Buried Child...
, and Samuel Beckett
Samuel Beckett
Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. He wrote both in English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most...
. The 2006 season featured Mother Courage
Mother Courage
Mother Courage is a character from a Grimmelshausen novel Lebensbeschreibung der Ertzbetrügerin und Landstörtzerin Courasche dating from around 1670...
by Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
.
A notable exception came in the year a dispute occurred between Joseph Papp and the City of New York over public funding for his productions at the Delacorte. In a dramatic move of independence and zest, Joseph Papp denied the city any Shakespeare at the Delacorte for a summer, instead moving the Public's production of Pirates of Penzance to the uptown location. There have been few altercations between the city and the Public since, though the Public relies heavily on private funding. In 2005, the theater company was among 406 New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
arts and social service institutions to receive part of a $20 million grant from the Carnegie Corporation, which was made possible through a donation by New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Rubens Bloomberg is the current Mayor of New York City. With a net worth of $19.5 billion in 2011, he is also the 12th-richest person in the United States...
.
Popularity and acclaim
Many plays from the summer festival have gone on to BroadwayBroadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
, including Wilford Leach
Wilford Leach
Carson Wilford Leach was an American theatre director, set designer, film director, screenwriter, and college professor.-Biography:...
's staging of The Mystery of Edwin Drood
The Mystery of Edwin Drood (musical)
Drood is a musical based on the unfinished Charles Dickens novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood. It is written by Rupert Holmes, and was the first Broadway musical with multiple endings . Holmes received Tony Awards for Best Book and Best Original Score...
from the 1984-1985 season and The Tempest
The Tempest
The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1610–11, and thought by many critics to be the last play that Shakespeare wrote alone. It is set on a remote island, where Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place,...
from the 1995-1996 season. The festival has also attracted many well-known actors, such as Meryl Streep
Meryl Streep
Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep is an American actress who has worked in theatre, television and film.Streep made her professional stage debut in 1971's The Playboy of Seville, before her screen debut in the television movie The Deadliest Season in 1977. In that same year, she made her film debut with...
, Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman is an American actor, film director, aviator and narrator. He is noted for his reserved demeanor and authoritative speaking voice. Freeman has received Academy Award nominations for his performances in Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption and Invictus and won...
, Martin Sheen
Martin Sheen
Ramón Gerardo Antonio Estévez , better known by his stage name Martin Sheen, is an American film actor best known for his performances in the films Badlands and Apocalypse Now , and in the television series The West Wing from 1999 to 2006.He is considered one of the best actors never to be...
, and Al Pacino
Al Pacino
Alfredo James "Al" Pacino is an American film and stage actor and director. He is famous for playing mobsters, including Michael Corleone in The Godfather trilogy, Tony Montana in Scarface, Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice in Dick Tracy and Carlito Brigante in Carlito's Way, though he has also appeared...
- the latter two of whom appeared as Brutus and Marc Antony in a toga-clad historical production of Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
, directed by Stuart Vaughan in 1987, in the first of the NYSF's Shakepeare Marathon - Papp's endeavor to present all of Shakespeare's works over a period of years.
Since its inception, the festival has become popular with both New York natives and visitors to the city, and while the Delacorte Theater has 1,872 seats http://www.nyc24.org/2005/centralpark/art/shakespeare.html, prospective theatergoers can expect to sit in line for hours before the early afternoon ticket distribution. Approximately 80,000 people attend Shakespeare in the Park every year.http://www.nyc24.org/2005/centralpark/art/shakespeare.html.
Staging and casting
The New York Shakespeare Festival was known for years as a means to develop new talent, and many actors, including Meryl Streep, attribute their performances at the Delacorte as a key bolt in their rise to stardom. There have been times where casting will rely heavily on known names in the film and theater industries, as a means to attract audience and sponsors. This has resulted in occasional miscasting, and not all film actors are adept at live performance.A variety of arrangements have been employed to modify the Delacorte Theater stage over the years. In recent years, the Public has been known for its elaborate sets at the Delacorte, with broad metaphors and reference to contemporary events. While they have rarely strayed from the Shakespearean script, such staging and costuming has riled traditionalists. The current trend at the Delacorte has been away from original Elizabethan costuming and sets, and more toward a directorial impression of how a show can be re-interpreted. Depending on the show, this trend has led to mixed critical reviews.
Sponsorship of other theatres
Over the years, the New York Shakespeare Festival supported other theatre companies throughout New York, helping to foster the growth of Off Broadway, as well as specific theatre programs and projects. Among these companies that benefited from NYSF during critical periods of their development was the Theatre for a New Audience. The Theatre for a New Audience developed a number of productions sponsored by the NYSF, including A Midsummer Nights Dream, presented at the Ansbacher Theatre, and through this sponsorship, the company was able to grow and expand its outreach to new audiences. Another such company was the Riverside Shakespeare CompanyRiverside Shakespeare Company
The Riverside Shakespeare Company of New York City was founded in 1977 as a professional theatre company on the Upper West Side of New York City, by W. Stuart McDowell and Gloria Skurski...
. The Festival, under Papp's leadership, sponsored several Riverside Shakespeare Company productions at a critical stage in its development, beginning with Riverside's New York premiere production of Brecht's Edward II in 1982 at The Shakespeare Center
The Shakespeare Center
The Shakespeare Center was the home of the Riverside Shakespeare Company, an Equity professional theatre company in New York City, beginning in 1982, when the then six-year-old theatre company established its center of theatre production and advanced actor training at the 90 year-old West Park...
on the Upper West Side (dedicated by Joseph Papp in 1982), followed by Equity parks tours of free Shakespeare throughout the five borroughs of New York City - much as the NYSF had done for years before. Riverside Shakespeare Company summer parks tour of Free Shakespeare sponsored by the NYSF began with A Comedy of Errors in 1982, followed by The Merry Wives of Windsor, featuring Anna Deavere Smith
Anna Deavere Smith
Anna Deavere Smith is an American actress, playwright, and professor. She is currently the artist in residence at the Center for American Progress.-Early life:...
in her New York stage debut as Mistress Quickly, Romeo and Juliet, and The Taming of the Shrew. During the NYSF period of support, the Riverside Shakespeare Company expanded greatly, offering for the first time The Shakespeare Project
The Shakespeare Project
In October 1983, the Riverside Shakespeare Company, then New York City's only year-round professional Shakespeare theatre company, inaugurated The Shakespeare Project, based at the theatre company's home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, The Shakespeare Center...
in 1983, and serving a wide range of audiences in the five borroughs.
Most of this kind of developmental support by the NYSF came under the initiation of Joseph Papp
Joseph Papp
Joseph Papp was an American theatrical producer and director. Papp established The Public Theater in what had been the Astor Library Building in downtown New York . "The Public," as it is known, has many small theatres within it...
- as part of his commitment to foster the development of theater in New York, from revenues derived from successful NYSF productions, such as the Broadway production of A Chorus Line
A Chorus Line
A Chorus Line is a 1975 musical about Broadway dancers auditioning for spots on a chorus line. The book was authored by James Kirkwood, Jr. and Nicholas Dante, lyrics were written by Edward Kleban, and music was composed by Marvin Hamlisch....
, which had been developed at the NYSF and transferred to Broadway for the longest run of a Broadway musical up till then.
Location and allure
The Delacorte Theater is an open-air amphitheater located on the southwest corner of the Great Lawn in Central Park, closest to the entrance at 81st Street and Central Park West. It was built in 1961 and named for George T. Delacorte, Jr., who donated money for its creation. Belvedere CastleBelvedere Castle
Belvedere Castle is a building in Central Park in New York, New York, that contains exhibit rooms and an observation deck.-Early history:Built as a Victorian folly in 1869, the castle caps Vista Rock, the park's second-highest natural elevation Constructed of Manhattan schist quarried in the park...
and Turtle Pond provide a backdrop for the shows at the Delacorte. As shows at the Delacorte begin in the early evening, shows usually start in daylight; as the play rolls on, the sun sets and the audience is drawn into the illuminated action on the stage. Since 1962 the Public has had the privilege of its exclusive use.
Ticket distribution
Tickets are given out at 1 pm, two per person, at the Delacorte Theater. People begin to queue at dawn, and snaking lines are prominent every show day.Tickets are also distributed on selected days in the other boroughs of the city. In 2009, the Public tested distribution online through a Virtual Line and a Senior Line, but the majority of tickets are still distributed at Delacorte, according to their FAQ.
Tickets cannot be exchanged in the event of a rainout. Late seating is at the discretion of the director, and permission for late seating may not be granted until 30–40 minutes into the show.
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