Shakespeare in New York

New York's signature Shakespeare experience is Free Shakespeare in the Park, staged each summer by The Public Theater at the open-air Delacorte Theater in the middle of Central Park. For more than sixty years the Delacorte has presented large-scale Shakespeare — often with major stage and screen actors — entirely free, with tickets given out by lottery rather than sold. An evening there, under the sky beside Turtle Pond with the park around you, is one of the city's defining cultural experiences.

The Public's summer programming reaches well beyond the Delacorte: its Mobile Unit tours free productions to parks and community venues across all five boroughs, and the company's downtown home on Astor Place runs a separate year-round season. Because the headline productions are free, New York is a high-value destination for any Shakespeare lover visiting in summer — the main thing to plan around is the ticket lottery, which is worth registering for in advance. Outside the summer season, Broadway and the city's many theatres regularly stage Shakespeare and Shakespeare-adjacent work too.