The Public Theater Free Shakespeare in the Park production of OTHELLO beginning Tuesday, May 29 at the Delacorte Theater

Time for the 2018 free Shakespeare in the Park with OTHELLO.

Heads up, New York.  It's time for the 2018 free Shakespeare in the Park. This year it's the production of OTHELLO beginning Tuesday, May 29 at the Delacorte Theater.

The Public Theater Artistic Director, Oskar Eustis and Executive Director, Patrick Willingham will begin previews for the 2018 Free Shakespeare in the Park production of OTHELLO beginning Tuesday, May 29 at the Delacorte Theater, continuing a 57-year tradition of free theater in Central Park. Directed by Tony Award winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson, OTHELLO will officially open on Monday, June 18 and will run through Sunday, June 24.

The complete cast of OTHELLO features Peter Jay Fernandez (Duke of Venice); Motell Foster (Roderigo); Andrew Hovelson (Lodovico); Chukwudi Iwuji (Othello); David Kenner (Ensemble); Heather Lind (Desdemona); Tim Nicolai (Ensemble); Flor De Liz Perez (Bianca); Miguel Perez (Brabantio); Thomas Schall (Montano); Caroline Siewert (Ensemble); Corey Stoll (Iago); Babak Tafti (Cassio); Peter Van Wagner (Gratiano); and Alison Wright (Emilia). The non-equity ensemble will feature Kevin Rico Angulo, Christopher Cassarino, Lily Santiago, and Allen Tedder.

Set amid war and palace intrigue in the 17^th-century Mediterranean, this classic drama about a noble Black Venetian general whose marriage is sabotaged by theater’s most infamous villain, Iago, remains Shakespeare’s most urgent and relevant tragedy today. A lush, romantic vision gives way to the violent tangle of love and jealousy, race and revenge in this must-see production of Shakespeare’s great tragedy, OTHELLO.

OTHELLO will feature scenic design by Rachel Hauck, costume design by Toni-Leslie James, lighting design by Jane Cox, sound design by Jessica Paz, hair and wig design by Matthew B. Armentrout, music composition by Derek Wieland, fight direction by Thomas Schall, and movement direction by Adesola Osakalumi.

Free Shakespeare in the Park continues in July with a reimagining of the 2016 Public Works musical adaptation TWELFTH NIGHT. The show features Ato Blankson-Wood (Orsino), Nikki M. James (Viola), Andrew Kober (Malvolio), Jacob Ming-Trent (Sir Toby Belch), and Shaina Taub (Feste) along with two rotating ensembles of community members from all five boroughs. The show features music and lyrics by critically-acclaimed songwriter Shaina Taub and is co-directed by Oskar Eustis, The Public’s Artistic Director, and Kwame Kwei-Armah, incoming Artistic Director of London’s Young Vic with choreography by Lorin Latarro. It will run from Tuesday, July 17 through Sunday, August 19 with an official opening on Tuesday, July 31.

This season, The Public proudly welcomes the return of The Jerome L. Greene Foundation and Bank of America as season sponsors. The generous support of Bank of America and The Jerome L. Greene Foundation helps to sustain The Public’s mission of inclusion, creating great theater, boldly conceived, and free for all.

Since 1962, over five million people have enjoyed more than 150 free productions of Shakespeare and other classical works and musicals at the Delacorte Theater. Conceived by founder Joe Papp as a way to make great theater accessible to all, The Public’s Free Shakespeare in the Park continues to be the bedrock of the Company’s mission to increase access and engage the community.

Tickets to The Public Theater’s Free Shakespeare in the Park are distributed, two per person, at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park on the day of the show. The Public continues its partnership with TodayTix, who will again be offering the exclusive Mobile Ticket Lottery for Free Shakespeare in the Park. Tickets will be distributed by mobile lottery on the TodayTix app each date that there is a public performance at the Delacorte Theater. On each public performance date, a limited number of vouchers for that night’s performance will also be distributed via an in-person lottery at The Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street at Astor Place. 

For OTHELLO, ticket vouchers will be distributed, while supplies last, on Tuesday, May 29 in  Queens at the Queens Library Elmhurst (86-07 Broadway); Thursday, May 31 in Brooklyn at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum (145 Brooklyn Avenue); Saturday, June 2 in the Bronx at the Bronx Library: Hunts Point (877 Southern Blvd); Tuesday, June 5 in Brooklyn at Brooklyn Library: Clinton Hill (380 Washington Ave); Saturday, June 9 in Staten Island at Snug Harbor (1000 Richmond Terrace); Thursday, June 14 in Queens at the Queens Library: Central (89-11 Merrick Blvd); Saturday, June 16 in Brooklyn at the Brooklyn Library: King’s Highway (2115 Ocean Ave); Wednesday, June 20 in the Bronx at DreamYard (1085 Washington Ave); Friday, June 22 in Staten Island at the Staten Island Library: St. George (5 Central Ave); and on Sunday, June 24 in Queens at the NY Hall of Science (47-07 111^th Street). 

THE PUBLIC is theater of, by, and for the people. Artist-driven, radically inclusive, and fundamentally democratic, The Public continues the work of its visionary founder Joe Papp as a civic institution engaging, both on-stage and off, with some of the most important ideas and social issues of today. Conceived over 60 years ago as one of the nation’s first nonprofit theaters, The Public has long operated on the principles that theater is an essential cultural force and that art and culture belong to everyone. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Patrick Willingham, The Public’s wide breadth of programming includes an annual season of new work at its landmark home at Astor Place, Free Shakespeare in the Park at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, The Mobile Unit touring throughout New York City’s five boroughs, Public Forum, Under the Radar, Public Studio, Public Works, Public Shakespeare Initiative, and Joe’s Pub. 

Since premiering HAIR in 1967, The Public continues to create the canon of American Theater and is currently represented on Broadway by the Tony Award-winning musical Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Their programs and productions can also be seen regionally across the country and around the world. 

The Public has received 59 Tony Awards, 169 Obie Awards, 53 Drama Desk Awards, 54 Lortel Awards, 32 Outer Critic Circle Awards, 13 New York Drama Desk Awards, and 6 Pulitzer Prizes. publictheater.org