By Gus Saltonstall
For those disappointed by missing out on the chance to watch Shakespeare in Central Park this summer because the Delacorte Theater is being renovated, there is still an outdoor Upper West Side option to watch the work of the Bard of Avon performed by a long-running and popular theater company.
The Hudson Classical Theater Company will be returning to its outdoor location behind the Soldiers and Sailors Monument within Riverside Park near West 89th Street for its 21st season of Shakespeare.
Here are the three Shakespeare productions the company will perform this summer.
- The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged): May 30-June 23
- Coriolanus, by William Shakespeare: June 27-July21
- Twelfth Night, by William Shakespeare: July 25-Aug 18
The first of those shows will be particulary unique, as three actors will perform all of Shakespeare’s 37 plays in 97 minutes!
All the shows take place Thursdays to Sundays at 6:30 p.m., with the first performance slated for May 30. There are no reservations or tickets; the theater company, which provides cushions, just recommends that you show up by 6:15 p.m. for a good seat.
The company also passes a basket around after the show so the audience can “Pay What You Can,” with the proceeds going to the artists and production costs.
“As we embarked on our 21st season, we really explored what our audiences would enjoy – and what we’d love to really immerse ourselves with,” said Executive Artistic Director, Susane Lee, in a news release. “We produced “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)” in 2013 and our audiences have been asking for it since. We figured, after eleven years, it’s time to bring it back!”
The Hudson Classical Theater Company is partnering with Riverside Park Conservancy as part of its “Summer on the Hudson Programming.”
The theater company has been nominated for multiple New York Innovative Theater Awards ,and has received a Proclamation from the City of New York for “strengthening our community with vibrant, relevant, and engaging outdoor theater for all.”
You can find out more — HERE.
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Wonderful – what an exciting season! Can’t wait to see all Shakespeare plays in 97 minutes!
Congratulations to this wonderful theater company. Small world, in August 1977, the New York Times posted “the Riverside Shakespeare Company is taking up where Joseph Pat left off by presenting free Shakespeare in the parks this summer. “I was head of that company that joyous summer, and we opened with Romeo and Juliet in that exact same spot, north side of the soldiers and sailors monument!