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The Public Theater's free Shakespeare in the Park will be back at full steam next summer. Having closed for renovations to Central Park's Delacorte Theater in 2023, and came back at half power this year with a single production—Twelfth Night, starring Lupita Nyong'o, Sandra Oh and Peter Dinklage—the series is set to return in 2026 with two full Shakespeare productions at the Delacorte: Romeo and Juliet and The Winter's Tale. The Public's Mobile Theater Unit will also travel through all five boroughs with an outdoor version of As You Like It.
These selections represent three very different approaches to romance: one is a tragedy, one is a comedy, and the third is a bittersweet mixture of the two.
Romeo and Juliet, the earliest of Shakespeare's major tragedies, is the timeless story of teenagers who, in rebellion against their disapproving parents, have sex and then die after scoring drugs from a local priest. This version will be helmed by the Public’s resident director and associate director, Saheem Ali, whose credits include this year's Twelfth Night in the Park as well as Broadway's Buena Vista Social Club.
The Winter's Tale, by contrast, is one of the last plays that Shakespeare ever wrote, and it offers somewhat happier hopes for lovers. A sweeping story of jealousy, love, repentance, angry bears and magic statuary, it begins in deep suffering but ends, like winter itself, with the prospect of healing and rebirth. It will be directed by that old master Daniel Sullivan—who, at 85, has directed eleven previous Shakespeare in the Park, along with such Broadway favorites as The Heidi Chronicles, Good People and Proof.
As You Like It is lighter fare: an ardent comedy about the forest romps of an ousted duke, his cross-dressing daughter, her lovestruck swain and various others. Up-and-comer Emma Rosa Went, the Public's first Directing Fellow, will direct a stripped-down, travel-ready version of the play for the Mobile Theater Unit.
In addition to these three productions, the Public will also continue its civic-minded Public Works series, which collaborates with multiple New York communities to create a large-scale theater production. The series will return to the Delacorte in August after getting bumped to a different location with its Pericles this summer. The identity of the 2026 offering has not yet been revealed.
Details about these productions, including casting and schedules, are yet to come. But it's not too soon to start dreaming about a summer of Shakespearean romance.
