All the world’s a stage, but if you want real drama, go for some Shakespeare!
In Brooklyn this summer, you can’t settle down for a park picnic without stumbling across a company declaiming in iambic pentameter. But the grandfather of all al fresco theater is the Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park program, in the distant isle of Manhattan’s Central Park — and Brooklynites will get the first crack at seeing its latest production “Coriolanus.” Shakespeare’s historical drama, about a bloody Roman general who gets elected to high office by a population that wants change, and which quickly regrets its choice, will have its debut on July 16 — and free tickets for that show (and for five other nights later in the run) will be released right here in Brooklyn.
The distribution points in Brooklyn typically attract fewer people than the Public Theater’s home base across the river, which means your chance of getting a pair of tickets is much higher.
How to score your passes:
First, you will need a Public Theater Patron ID. Follow this link: http://publictheater.org/Programs–Events/Shakespeare-in-the-Park/register, and type in your email address. You will get an email with your Patron ID number. Bring it with you to the distribution site.
On the days and locations listed below, ticket distribution will start at noon, but the line starts a few hours in advance. Show up early and bring a book.
Each person who reaches the front of the line can get a voucher for two tickets to that night’s show.
Finally, go to the Delacorte Theater in Central Park in Manhattan (enter at 81st Street and Central Park West), between 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. that evening to exchange your voucher for a pair of tickets. The show will start at 8 p.m.
Where to go:
July 16 at King’s Highway Library (2115 Ocean Ave. between Kings Highway and Quentin Road in Sheepshead Bay).
July 17 at Brownsville Recreation Center (1555 Linden Blvd. at Mother Gaston Boulevard in Brownsville).
July 26 at Clinton Hill Library (380 Washington Ave. between Lafayette and Greene avenues in Clinton Hill).
July 30 at Brooklyn Children’s Museum (145 Brooklyn Ave. at St. Marks Avenue in Crown Heights).
Aug. 1 at Macon Library (361 Lewis Ave. at Macon Street in Bedford-Stuyvestant)
Aug. 11 at Brooklyn College’s Leonard & Claire Tow Center for the Performing Arts (2920 Campus Road at Hillel Place in Midwood)
Free tickets are also available by lottery through the TodayTix app.
