NEWSLETTER
Free Shakespeare in the Park Ticket Voucher Distributions Return to Citizens Branches and Community Sites Across All Five Boroughs with Expanded Access
Kickoff Celebration and Summer Fridays Celebrate the People of New York City and the Revitalized Delacorte Theater
New York, N.Y. (April 21, 2026) – The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Patrick Willingham), alongside returning Shakespeare For the City Presenting Partner Citizens, will welcome more New Yorkers than ever this summer to SHAKESPEARE FOR THE CITY taking place in parks and plazas across New York City and at the revitalized Delacorte Theater in Central Park. Running from May 22 through September 8, the summer celebration will bring free world-class theater to more than 130,000 people across the city, with productions of ROMEO & JULIET, THE WINTER’S TALE, and AS YOU LIKE IT, with an original Public Works production to be announced. The Jerome L. Greene Foundation returns as Lead Sponsor of Free Shakespeare in the Park.
Through its popular ticket voucher distribution program for FREE SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK, spanning all five boroughs and including twelve Citizens branches, The Public continues its commitment to expanding access and civic participation across New York with 50 distribution locations scheduled this summer.
“At Citizens, our branches play an important role as trusted, welcoming spaces in the communities we serve,” said Yajaira Hafley, Tri-State Metro Retail Market Executive at Citizens. “By offering city wide ticket distributions at our branches, we’re expanding access to Free Shakespeare in the Park, making it easier for more New Yorkers to experience this iconic cultural tradition and enjoy world class theater right here in their community.”
The Public celebrates the launch of SHAKESPEARE FOR THE CITY with a KICKOFF event, a free afternoon of family-friendly festivities at the revitalized Delacorte Theater on Saturday, May 30, from 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM. Nothing says “summer in the city” like the reopening of the Delacorte in Central Park because it is New Yorkers who realize the potential of this civic space, especially as they join in community around these shared cultural experiences. Visitors can enjoy concessions and a pop-up from Wonder, meet-and-greets with Romeo the Raccoon and giveaways. Partners activating on-site include Citizens, JetBlue, Venchi, Nordstrom, Montblanc, New York Road Runners, Starbright Floral Design, and TodayTix.
SUMMER FRIDAYS AT THE DELACORTE invites New Yorkers to experience their revitalized theater. On select Fridays (June 5 & 19; August 7, 14 & 21), The Public will host Delacorte Open Houses from 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., featuring self-guided tours, onstage photo opportunities, family programming, and a pet-friendly atmosphere. Evenings continue with picnics from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM, featuring music, giveaways, and special guests.
FREE SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK
ROMEO & JULIET
Directed by Saheem Ali
Begins May 22
The Public’s Associate Artistic Director and Resident Director Saheem Ali brings Shakespeare’s legendary star-crossed lovers to Central Park for the first time in nearly 20 years. Never was there a story of more woe, or more romance, than the Bard’s timeless tale of two young lovers from warring families. As the Montagues and Capulets are torn apart by ideology and simmering violence spills into the streets of the border town of Verona, Romeo and Juliet dare to defy a world determined to keep them apart. In this bold new staging, the play unfolds in English, but Romeo and Juliet speak to one another in Spanish, a language reserved only for their shared world. Don’t miss this thrilling new production, essential viewing for lovers of Shakespeare, theater, and the enduring power of love itself.
THE WINTER’S TALE
Directed by Daniel Sullivan
Begins July 25
Tony Award-winning director Daniel Sullivan returns to Free Shakespeare in the Park with a spellbinding new production of THE WINTER’S TALE. When the King of Sicilia becomes convinced his pregnant wife has been unfaithful, the royal baby is smuggled to the coast of Bohemia where an old shepherd finds her and renames her Perdita. Sixteen years later, Perdita falls in love with another young shepherd, Doricles, who turns out to be a prince in disguise. Honesty is a fool and true love the only answer in this mysterious, romantic tale of defiance and destiny.
FREE SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK
BOROUGH DISTRIBUTION SCHEDULE:
Throughout the summer, a limited number of vouchers for that night’s performance will be distributed at a location in one of New York’s five boroughs beginning at 12 p.m. Vouchers will be redeemed at The Delacorte Theater for tickets. Dates and locations are subject to change.
With ongoing support from Citizens, more borough locations than ever before will expand access to tickets. 12 Citizens branches in all five boroughs will host distributions this summer.
May 23: Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden (Staten Island)
May 24: New York Hall of Science (Queens)
May 26: Citizens, Williamsburg (Brooklyn)
May 27: Clason’s Point Library (Bronx)
May 28: The Leonard & Claire Tow Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College (Brooklyn)
May 29: Macomb’s Bridge Library (Manhattan)
May 30: Stapleton Library (Staten Island)
May 31: Brooklyn Children’s Museum (Brooklyn)
June 2: St. George Library Center (Staten Island)
June 3: Kings Highway Library (Brooklyn)
June 4: Sunset Park Library (Brooklyn)
June 5: Long Island City Library (Queens)
June 6: Jamaica Center for the Arts and Learning (Queens)
June 7: Bronx Community College (Bronx)
June 9: Citizens, Tribeca (Manhattan)
June 12: Macon Library (Brooklyn)
June 13: Elmhurst Library (Queens)
June 16: Citizens, Montague (Brooklyn)
June 17: THE POINT Community Development Center (Bronx)
June 18: Citizens, Pomonok (Queens)
June 20: Clinton Hill Library (Brooklyn)
June 21: Queens Museum (Queens)
June 23: Central Library (Queens)
June 24: Citizens, 86th Street (Brooklyn)
June 25: DreamYard (Bronx)
June 26: Flushing Library (Queens)
June 27: Windsor Terrace Library (Brooklyn)
July 26: New York Hall of Science (Queens)
July 28: Citizens, Bulls Head (Staten Island)
July 29: Clason’s Point Library (Bronx)
July 30: Citizens, Tribeca (Manhattan)
July 31: Macomb’s Bridge Library (Manhattan)
August 1: Clinton Hill Library (Brooklyn)
August 2: Brooklyn Children’s Museum (Brooklyn)
August 4: Citizens, 3rd and 92nd (Brooklyn)
August 5: St. George Library Center (Staten Island)
August 6: Citizens, Woodside (Queens)
August 7: Kings Highway Library (Brooklyn)
August 8: DreamYard (Bronx)
August 9: Brownsville Recreation Center (Brooklyn)
August 12: Citizens, Park Slope (Brooklyn)
August 13: Bay Ridge Library (Brooklyn)
August 14: Stapleton Library (Staten Island)
August 15: Flushing Library (Queens)
August 16: Bronx Community College (Bronx)
August 18: Citizens, Riverdale (Bronx)
August 19: Long Island City Library (Queens)
August 20: Citizens, Williamsburg (Brooklyn)
August 21: Elmhurst Library (Queens)
August 22: Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden (Staten Island)
This year, Nordstrom NYC is proud to host three in-person ticket lottery events at its flagship location at 57th and Broadway, on June 23, July 28, and August 18.
In addition to the expanded borough locations and our Nordstrom NYC partnership, The Public will continue to distribute tickets for Free Shakespeare in the Park through its popular in-person distributions in Central Park, in-person lottery at The Public Theater’s flagship, and digital lottery with TodayTix. For more information about the 2026 ticket distribution and performance calendars, visit PublicTheater.org.
MOBILE UNIT
AS YOU LIKE IT
Directed by Emma Rosa Went
Begins June 4
Bringing free Shakespeare to parks and correctional facilities across the city, The Public’s acclaimed Mobile Unit will tour in 2026 with a joyful new production of AS YOU LIKE IT. When Duke Frederick exiles her father, Rosalind and her cousin Celia flee to the forest. Disguised as a young man, Rosalind encounters the heart-sick Orlando, who is desperately seeking none other than Rosalind. While the two young lovers role-play their way back into each other's arms, the forest of Arden is abuzz with lovelorn shepherds, pining jesters, and battling brothers. True lovers, strange capers, and fools in the forest go heart-in-heart in Shakespeare’s classic romantic comedy, directed by Emma Rosa Went.
PUBLIC WORKS
Returns to The Delacorte Theater in September 2026.
Title, creative team, and schedule to be announced soon.
ABOUT CITIZENS FINANCIAL GROUP, INC.
Citizens Financial Group, Inc. is one of the nation’s oldest and largest financial institutions, with $227.9 billion in assets as of March 31, 2026. Headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, Citizens offers a broad range of retail, private banking, wealth management and commercial banking products and services to individuals, small businesses, middle-market companies, large corporations and institutions. Citizens helps its customers reach their potential by listening to them and by understanding their needs in order to offer tailored advice, ideas and solutions. In Consumer Banking, Citizens provides an integrated experience that includes mobile and online banking, a full-service customer contact center and the convenience of approximately 3,000 ATMs and approximately 1,000 branches in 14 states and the District of Columbia. Consumer Banking products and services include a full range of banking, lending, savings, wealth management and small business offerings. Consumer Banking includes Citizens Private Bank and Private Wealth, which integrate banking services and wealth management solutions to serve high- and ultra-high-net-worth individuals and families, as well as investors, entrepreneurs and businesses. In Commercial Banking, Citizens offers a broad complement of financial products and solutions, including lending and leasing, deposit and treasury management services, foreign exchange, interest rate and commodity risk management solutions, as well as loan syndication, corporate finance, merger and acquisition, and debt and equity capital markets capabilities. More information is available at www.citizensbank.com or visit us on X, LinkedIn or Facebook.
ABOUT JEROME L. GREENE FOUNDATION
The Jerome L. Greene Foundation supports select programs that make a significant impact on the lives of all New Yorkers in the areas of the arts, education, medicine, and social justice. Its 40-year history is grounded in the vision of its founder, Jerry Greene, to give back to the city he loved. Today, the Foundation honors this commitment by continuing to fund quality programs and by identifying new ways to increase access to the arts and to education, create opportunities for ground-breaking medical research, and help ensure social justice for all. www.jlgreene.org
ABOUT THE PUBLIC THEATER
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 Works, 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 64 Tony Awards, 197 Obie Awards, 62 Drama Desk Awards, 64 Lortel Awards, 36 Outer Critic Circle Awards, 13 New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards, 70 AUDELCO Awards, 6 Antonyo Awards, and 6 Pulitzer Prizes. publictheater.org
The Public Theater stands in honor of the first inhabitants and our ancestors. We acknowledge the land on which The Public and its theaters stand—the original homeland of the Lenape people. We acknowledge the painful history of genocide and forced removal from this territory. We honor the generations of stewards and we pay our respects to the many diverse indigenous peoples still connected to this land.
The Public also gives our respect to the people of Seneca Village, a community of Black property owners who were removed from their land and whose village was destroyed in the creation of Central Park. We recognize the sacrifice that these ancestors made and honor Seneca Village’s legacy.
Citizens is the presenting partner of Shakespeare for the City.
Jerome L. Greene Foundation is the lead sponsor of FREE SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK.
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