The Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park season begins May 21 with a production of Much Ado About Nothing, directed by Tony winner Kenny Leon, followed by Tony winner Daniel Sullivan helming Coriolanus.
The first version of Shakespeare in the Park began over 60 years ago with a production of Julius Caesar in 1956, before the Delacorte Theatre was even constructed. In 1962, the theatre opened with The Merchant of Venice, starring George C. Scott and James Earl Jones. Ever since then the theatre has brought free Shakespeare to the public every summer.
Flip through many of the productions that have played the Delacorte Theatre since 1962 below:
Delacorte Theater during construction.
Courtesy of The Public Theater
The line for Shakespeare in the Park
Joe Papp
George C. Scott in The Merchant of Venice
Richard Jordan and Kathleen Widdoes in The Tempest : 1962
Frank Silvera in King Lear: 1962
James Earl Jones in The Merchant of Venice: 1962
Colleen Dewhurst and Michael Higgins in Antony and Cleopatra: 1963
Julienne Marie and James Earl Jones in Othello: 1964
Charlotte Rae and Martin Sheen in Romeo and Juliet: 1968
Sam Waterston in Henry IV: Part II: 1968
Jose Perez, Jerry Stiller, Raul Julia, and Clifton Davis in Two Gentlemen of Verona: 1971
George E. Joseph/©The New York Public Library
Stacy Keach and Colleen Dewhurst in Hamlet: 1972
James Earl Jones and Paul Sorvino in King Lear: 1973
Sam Waterston in Hamlet: 1975
Sam Waterston and Meryl Streep in Measure for Measure: 1976
Meryl Streep and Peter Phillips in Henry V: 1976
Deborah Rush and Meryl Streep in The Taming of the Shrew: 1978
Morgan Freeman and Gloria Foster in Coriolanus: 1979
George Rose, Linda Ronstadt, Rex Smith, and Kevin Kline in The Pirates of Penzance: 1980
Raul Julia in the The Tempest : 1981
Martha Swope/©The New York Public Library
Kevin Kline in Richard III: 1983
Kevin Kline and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio in Henry V: 1984
George Rose in The Mystery of Edwin Drood: 1985
Blythe Danner and Kevin Kline in Much Ado About Nothing: 1988
Kate Mulgrew and Keith David in Titus Andronicus: 1989
Jeff Goldblum and Michelle Pfeiffer in Twelfth Night: 1989
Denzel Washington in Richard III: 1990
Martha Swope/©The New York Public Library
Morgan Freeman and George Guidall in The Taming of the Shrew: 1990
Blair Underwood, Lisa Gay Hamilton, and Kevin Kline in Measure for Measure: 1993
Patrick Stewart in The Tempest : 1995
Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Lea DeLaria in On The Town: 1997
Michael C. Hall, Liev Schreiber, and Frank Raiter Cymbeline: 1998
Kristen Johnston and John Goodman in The Skin of Our Teeth: 1998
Michal Daniel
Jay O. Sanders and Mario Cantone in The Taming of the Shrew: 1999
Jeffrey Wright in Julius Caesar: 2000
Sanaa Lathan and Billy Crudup in Measure for Measure: 2001
Natalie Portman and Philip Seymour Hoffman in The Seagull: 2001
Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline in The Seagull: 2001
Michal Daniel
Jimmy Smits, Julia Stiles, Kathryn Meisle, and Zach Braff in Twelfth Night: 2002
Liev Schreiber in Henry V: 2003
Jimmy Smits and Kristen Johnston in Much Ado About Nothing: 2004
Renee Elise Goldsberry and Norm Lewis in Two Gentlemen of Verona: 2005
Liev Schreiber in Macbeth : 2006
Glenn Fleshler, Meryl Streep, and Frederick Weller in Mother Courage and Her Children: 2006
Kevin Kline and Meryl Streep in Mother Courage and Her Children: 2006
Jay O. Sanders, Jon Michael Hill, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson in Midsummer Night's Dream: 2007
Lauren Ambrose and Oscar Isaac in Romeo and Juliet : 2007
Sam Waterston and Lauren Ambrose in Hamlet: 2008
Tommar Wilson, Will Swenson, and Bryce Ryness in HAIR : 2008
Patina Miller and Tribe in HAIR: 2008
Michal Daniel
Michael Stuhlbarg in Hamlet: 2008
Raúl Esparza and Anne Hathaway in Twelfth Night: 2009
Jonathan Groff and Anthony Mackie in The Bacchae by Euripides: 2009
Audra McDonald and Anne Hathaway in Twelfth Night: 2010
Lily Rabe and Al Pacino in The Merchant of Venice: 2010
Linda Emond, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, and Jesse L. Martin in The Winter's Tale: 2010
Hamish Linklater and Jesse Tyler Ferguson in The Winter's Tale: 2010
Lily Rabe, Byron Jennings, and Al Pacino in The Merchant of Venice: 2010
Jesse L. Martin, Lily Rabe and Hamish Linklater in The Merchant of Venice: 2010
Tonya Pinkins in All's Well That Ends Well: 2011
Lorenzo Pisoni and Danai Gurira in Measure for Measure: 2011
David Furr and Lily Rabe in As You Like It: 2012
Shakespeare in the Park: 2012
Cast of Into the Woods: 2012
Hamish Linklater and Jesse Tyler Ferguson in The Comedy of Errors: 2013
Company of Love’s Labour’s Lost: 2013
Hamish Linklater and Lily Rabe in Much Ado About Nothing: 2014
Jay O. Sanders, Annette Bening, and John Lithgow in King Lear: 2014
Lily Rabe and Hamish Linklater in Cymbeline: 2015
Francesca Carpanini and Sam Waterston in The Tempest: 2015
Cush Jumbo and Janet McTeer in Taming of the Shrew: 2016
Andrew Burnap, John Glover, and Ismenia Mendes in Troilus and Cressida: 2016
Corey Stoll and the company in Julius Caesar: 2017
Kyle Beltran, Annaleigh Ashford, and Alex Hernandez in A Midsummer Night's Dream: 2017
Heather Lind and Chukwudi Iwuji in rehearsal for Othello: 2018
Joan Marcus
The Delacorte Theater
Joseph Moran
