It’s a New York tradition to secure one of the most coveted but free tickets in town: lining up before sunrise in Central Park to ensure a seat inside the Delacorte Theater for Shakespeare in the Park.
Mary Patterson was the first in line for Thursday’s opening night.
“Half of the fun is the line,” Patterson said. “You get to know wonderful people. You kind of bond, you look out for each other, you hold each other’s places in line, make sure nobody cuts, and you just kind of get to know your fellow New Yorkers.”
Some people were seasoned veterans, packing gear to be comfortable and plenty of entertainment to pass the time.
Others did their research to make sure they were best prepared for the more than six hours of waiting until the box office began distributing tickets at noon.
“Here we are as Shakespeare would want it, and as Joe Papp would want it, outdoors, free for all,” Daphne Gregory-Thomas said while waiting in line. “It’s such a community event. I mean, it’s a big city, but it really helps people understand how much of a community it is here, and how important theater is.”
Each summer, Shakespeare in the Park sometimes includes two productions. This year, it is just one: “Twelfth Night.”
Big stars like Peter Dinklage, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Lupita Nyong’o, Sandra Oh and Daphne Rubin-Vega will take the stage for the comedy centered around mistaken identities and love triangles.
“I love Sandra Oh, and Lupita Nyong’o. I’ve been such fans of them for so long. So it’s so amazing to get to see them live in person,” Upper West Side resident Malia Munley said.
It has been two years since Shakespeare in the Park took the stage at the Delacorte. The production traveled around the city after the stage closed in 2023 for renovations.
The was long overdue, and now allows the theater to be better equipped to handle the popular shows.
“I’m just really excited to see what they’ve done with the renovations,” Harlem resident Gigi Principe said. “And I’m a huge Shakespeare fan, so I’m always here to see, like, what they’re going to put on this year.”
So how do you get tickets? There is a show every day except Mondays through Sept. 14. And each performance day, you can line up and get a ticket that way, or take a chance on a standby line closer to performance time.
There is also a digital and in-person lottery, and on various dates throughout the summer, there are different distribution locations in each of the boroughs.
But no matter how you get your ticket, you need a .
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