Free arts and culture this week in NYC

Classical Theatre of Harlem's annual series of free outdoor performances in Marcus Garvey Park—also known as Uptown Shakespeare in the Park—presents an original neoclassical work by playwright Will Power and director Carl Cofield, who also collaborated on CTH's 2021 summer offering, the Richard III riff Seize the King. The play focuses on a figure who is often overlooked in tales of the Trojan War: the Ethiopian king and demigod Memnon—not to be confused with the Greek king Agamemnon—who led a large contingent in Troy's defense before falling to that notorious heel Achilles. Eric Berryman essays the title role, flanked by a cast that includes Andrea Patterson, Jesse J. Perez as Priam, David Darrow and Jesse Corbin. Tickets are free but reservations are strongly suggested.

For the middle show of its summer schedule, Hudson Classical Theater Company presents an outdoor production of Jane Austen's 1811 debut novel, in which sisters of meager fortune and markedly different temperaments seek husbands of suitable station. The adaptation is by the company's executive artistic director, Susane Lee, who has a penchant for 19th-century books. (She also adapted the company's suite of plays based on the adventure tales of Alexandre Dumas, père.) Attendance is free and reservations are not required.

The Drilling Company's beloved Shakespeare in the Parking Lot returns for its 30th season of free classical theater on the Lower East Side. This year's offering, directed by Hamilton Clancy, is the Bard's perennially popular forest farce, in which a bossy Bottom falls into a wild world of drugged-up fairy sex; the company last mounted this show in 2016. (Seating is provided for the first audience members to claim it, but spectators can also bring their own chairs.) 

The longevous Boomerang Theatre Company returns—as, true to its name, it is wont to do!—with a free Central Park staging of Shakespeare's lyrical portrait of the last Plantagenet king, a unfortunate weakling who gets sent to the Tower after making an unpopular land deal (setting off a splitting of heirs that eventually leads to the War of the Roses, as chronicled in Shakespeare's other history plays). Aimee Todoroff directs the production, which stars Broken Box Mime Theater's Tasha Milk in the title role. Performances are at 2pm on weekends, and tickets can be reserved in advance.