A round-up of stories about Shakespeare in the news this summer from theater, film, and science.
The return of Free Shakespeare in Central Park
The Delacorte Theater reopened on August 7, 2025, following an 18-month renovation that expanded accessibility for audiences and artists alike, made the space more weather and raccoon resistant (but hopefully friendly to the two coyotes named Romeo and Juliet who have watched the renovation), and added a sustainable new façade, inspired by the theater’s natural surroundings, using reclaimed redwood from decommissioned city water towers. The vertical planks curve at a slight outward angle—a wooden O, of sorts.
“The Delacorte embodies the idea that culture belongs to everyone,” said Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director of The Public Theater in a statement. “Now this iconic theater will not only be revitalized for the next generation of theatergoers, but in the process will be made more accessible to artists and audiences alike. Returning from the pandemic, we are recommitting to a fiercely democratic theater that belongs to all the people.”
For this summer’s Shakespeare in the Park, The Public Theater is performing Twelfth Night starring Lupita Nyong’o, Sandra Oh, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson. It performs through September 14.
Can’t make it to Central Park this summer?
PBS’s Tony Award-winning Great Performances series to broadcast Twelfth Night on November 14.
You may also enjoy…
NYC Comptroller Brad Lander’s original sonnet for the Delacorte reopening
Upstaged by Raccoons? Actors Who Have Played Shakespeare in the Park
Keep exploring
Joe Papp and Shakespeare in the Park, with Kenneth Turan
Joe Papp was responsible for some of modern American theater’s most iconic institutions: New York City’s free Shakespeare in the Park. The Public Theater. The whole idea of “Off-Broadway.” We spoke with Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth…
Patrick Page on King Lear and Shakespeare's Villains
Patrick Page tells us how he gets inside the mind of Lear in the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s 2023 production.
In the News: In Rare Books, Centuries-Old Proteins Can Reveal the Past
Recent news about proteomics (the study of proteins) in the humanities has included a Folger Shakespeare Library project, irreverently called Project Dustbunny, that studies proteins in rare books to learn about those who once handled or read them.
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