The Drilling Company will be back in the Clemente parking lot and Bryant Park with free presentation of Two Noble Kinsmen (photo by Hamilton Clancy)
Who: The Drilling Company
What: Free summer Shakespeare
Where: Parking lot of the Clemente, 107 Suffolk St., and Bryant Park
When: July 15-30, free, 7:00 or 7:30
Why: Indoor theater is back after the pandemic lockdown, and so is outdoor theater, including free summer Shakespeare, a birthright of New Yorkers. Among the many entries this season is the beloved Shakespeare in the Parking Lot, which has been presented by the Drilling Company since 1995. This year the troupe is staging the rarely performed Two Noble Kinsmen, what might be William Shakespeare’s final work, a collaboration with John Fletcher based on Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Knight’s Tale” from The Canterbury Tales. Founding artistic director Hamilton Clancy has reimagined the play, which is set in the aftermath of a war between Athens and Thebes, as a contemporary drama involving Russian spies, Interpol, and corporate espionage. The two-hour show, which stars Brad Frost as Palemon, Jane Bradley as the Jailer’s Daughter, John Caliendo as Arsite, and Liz Livingston as Emilia, with Lucas Rafael, Mary Linehan, Jaqwan Turner, and Remy Souchon, will take place July 15-17 and 28-30 in the Clemente parking lot and July 19-21 in Bryant Park, with admission first come, first served.