Danai Gurira and Shaina Taub

The Public Theater announces 2022 Shakespeare in the Park season

The season includes an all-new production and a show rescheduled from 2020.

Gillian Russo
Gillian Russo

Shakespeare in the Park hath returned! The Public Theater has announced the productions for its 60th anniversary Shakespeare in the Park season at the Delacorte Theater. This is the first Shakespeare in the Park season to go up since before the Covid-19 pandemic.

The first production will be Richard III, featuring Black Panther star and veteran Public playwright Danai Gurira in the titular role. Tony nominee Robert O'Hara, who helmed Slave Play on Broadway and Audible Theater's current Long Day's Journey into Night revival, will direct the story of a wannabe monarch who determines to kill, manipulate, or oust anyone in the way of the throne.

The season will continue with a musical adaptation of As You Like It, a production originally scheduled for the 2020 Shakespeare in the Park season before it was canceled. First seen as part of the Public's Public Works program in 2017, the show features music and lyrics by Shaina Taub, a book by Taub and Laurie Woolery, and choreography by Sonya Tayeh, a Tony winner for choreographing Moulin Rouge! The Musical. Woolery will direct, As You Like It, in which a Duke is usurped by his brother and he, his family, and other residents of his kingdom are banished to the Forest of Arden. There, they find a welcoming community and perhaps love.

Casting and performance dates have yet to be announced.

All tickets to Shakespeare in the Park productions are free. In-person locations for ticket distribution in the five boroughs have yet to be announced, and tickets are also made available via a lottery on TodayTix.

Originally published on

Subscribe to our newsletter to unlock exclusive New York theatre updates!

Special offers, reviews and release dates for the best shows in town.

You can unsubscribe at any time. Privacy Policy