The free summer theater season kicked off this month with Molière in the Park’s The Imaginary Invalid (photo by Russ Rowland)
The Public Theater is back presenting Shakespeare in the Park at the Delacorte after a yearlong revitalization, but there are plenty more places to catch the Bard and others for free as well, listed below. Note that some productions strongly suggest advance RSVP and involve moving to multiple locations during the performance.
Through May 25
Molière in the Park: Molière’s The Imaginary Invalid, starring Tony nominee Sahr Ngaujah, the LeFrak Center at Lakeside, Prospect Park, free with RSVP, 3:00 or 7:30
Thursday, May 29
through
Sunday, June 22
Hudson Classical Theater Company: Julius Caesar, Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument, West Eighty-Ninth St. & Riverside Dr., Riverside Park, 6:30
Thursday, May 29
through
Sunday, June 29
The Public Theater’s Mobile Unit: Much Ado About Nothing, directed by Rebecca Martínez, with music and lyrics by Julián Mesri, Astor Plaza (May 29-31), the New York Public Library & Bryant Park (June 3-8), Wolfe’s Pond Park (June 11), J. Hood Wright Park (June 12-14), the Cathedral Church of St. John The Divine (June 15), Sunset Park (June 17-18), A.R.R.O.W. Field House (June 20), Queens Night Market (June 21), Roy Wilkins Park (June 22), Maria Hernandez Park (June 25), St. Mary’s Park (June 26), Travers Park (June 27), the Peninsula in Prospect Park (June 28-29)
Saturday, May 31
Barefoot Shakespeare Company: Unrehearsed! The Comedy of Errors, Summit Rock, Central Park, 5:30
Tuesday, June 3
through
Sunday, July 6
NY Classical: All’s Well That Ends Well, Central Park (June 3-22), Carl Schurz Park (June 24-29), Battery Park (July 1-6), free with RSVP, 7:00
Wednesday, June 4
through
Sunday, June 29
Smith Street Stage: Shakespeare in Carroll Park: Henry V, Carroll Park
Thursday, June 12
through
Sunday, June 22
Shakespeare Downtown: Tennessee Williams’s Tiger Tail, Castle Clinton, Battery Park, 6:30
Saturday, June 21
through
Sunday, July 20
Boomerang Theatre Company: Richard II, Central Park West & Sixty-Ninth St., Central Park, $1.70, 2:00
Thursday, June 26
through
Sunday, July 20
Hudson Classical Theater Company: Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument, West Eighty-Ninth St. & Riverside Dr., Riverside Park, 6:30
Saturday, July 5
through
Sunday, July 27
The Classical Theatre of Harlem: Memnon, by Will Power, starring Eric Berryman, Richard Rodgers Amphitheater, Marcus Garvey Park
Thursday, July 24
through
Sunday, August 17
Hudson Classical Theater Company: Henrik Ibsen’s The Lady from the Sea, Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument, West Eighty-Ninth St. & Riverside Dr., Riverside Park, 6:30
Tuesday, August 5
through
Saturday, August 23
Hip to Hip Theater: Hamlet and The Tempest, preceded by children’s workshop, nine locations
Thursday, August 7
through
Sunday, September 14
Shakespeare in the Park: Twelfth Night, starring Lupita Nyong’o, Sandra Oh, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Peter Dinklage, Khris Davis, Junior Nyong’o, Moses Sumney, b, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Delacorte Theater, Central Park, 8:00
Saturday, August 23
Barefoot Shakespeare Company: Unrehearsed! The Comedy of Errors, Summit Rock, Central Park, 4:00
Friday, August 29
through
Tuesday, September 2
Pericles: A Public Works Concert Experience, the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, music and lyrics by Troy Anthony, directed by Carl Cofield
[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]