NYCPlaywrights August 16, 2025
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NYCPlaywrights
Aug 16, 2025, 5:38:37 PMAug 16
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Greetings NYCPlaywrights
*** FREE THEATER IN NYC ***
HOME SWEET HOME or A Life in New York
Theater for the New City’s award-winning Street Theater Company will open its 2025 annual tour Saturday, August 2 with “Home Sweet Home, or A Life In New York,” a rip-roaring original musical which tells a story of a young orphan, born in America but longing to understand his roots, as deportations shake the lives of his immigrant friends. Book, lyrics and direction are by Crystal Field, Artistic Director of Theater for the New City (TNC). The musical score is composed and arranged by Peter Dizozza. Free performances will tour parks, playgrounds and closed-off streets throughout the five boroughs through September 14.
Saturday, August 23 · 2 - 3pm EDT
Washington Square New York, NY 10012
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/tncs-street-theater-home-sweet-home-or-a-life-in-new-york-tickets-1528033061019?aff=ebdssbdestsearch
*** OPPORTUNITIES FOR PLAYWRIGHTS ***
The Actors Theatre Playhouse of West Chesterfield, New Hampshire, and Brattleboro, Vermont, is accepting ten-minute play submissions for its festival in June of 2026. The goal of the festival is both to encourage the production of new works, while exposing our actors and directors to the techniques and practices of working with playwrights and producing new plays.
***
Request for Proposals: *snap* Festival 2026 - 15 minute stories told from your perspective
The Flynn is committed to using the arts to build connections and strengthen communities. The *snap* Festival is a celebration of the power of first-person narratives. We believe everyone has stories to tell and that sharing these stories teaches empathy by allowing us to recognize commonalities and learn about each other’s unique experiences.
***
Kairos Italy Theater and the Calandra Institute are seeking submissions from Italian American playwrights for unproduced, contemporary plays written within the last never staged (Readings and workshops are fine). This initiative aims to spotlight authentic Italian American voices and stories that reflect the diverse experiences, heritage, and cultural intersections of the Italian American community.
*** FOR MORE INFORMATION about these and other opportunities see the web site at https://www.nycplaywrights.org ***
***
In 1957, Papp and Parks Commissioner Robert Moses battled over whether the Public Theater could use Central Park. The fight took an ugly turn when Moses alleged that Papp had communist links (Papp had refused to admit to the House Un–American Activities Committee whether he was—or knew anyone who was—a communist). Under pressure from the public and Mayor Robert Wagner, Moses eventually relented and allowed Papp to stage free Shakespeare in the park. (The writer Robert Caro pointed to this embarrassing episode as one of the pivotal turning points in Moses' career in The Power Broker.)
Shakespeare in the Park only became more popular when the Delacorte Theatre opened in 1962 in Central Park. The theater's opening performance was The Merchant of Venice, directed by Papp and featuring George C. Scott, James Earl Jones, and William Devane. In 1966, Papp's company bought and began renovating the landmarked former Astor Place Library at 425 Lafayette Street; the conversion of the building was handled by architect Giorgio Cavaglieri, who also designed the Delacorte Theatre.
More...
https://www.nycgovparks.org/about/history/theater
***
Free Shakespeare: For Who, and Why? | Joe Papp in Five Acts
Learn about Joseph Papp's vision for a free mobile theater in New York City.
https://ny.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/papp22-freeshakespeare/free-shakespeare-for-who-and-why-joe-papp-in-five-acts/
New Yorkers were devastated last spring when it was announced that this year's free Shakespeare In the Park festival would have to be canceled because of the pandemic. "It’s just clear to us at this point that there’s no way we can responsibly prepare, build and rehearse to get shows open in a timing that might match the quarantine’s timing," Oskar Eustis, the artistic director of the Public Theater, which founded and runs the festival, said at the time.
We're hopeful that the Public Theater will be able to put shows back on next summer, but in the meantime, it's the perfect time to take a look back at the origins of the annual festival, thanks to the New York Public Library's treasure trove of early photos documenting its start in the early 1960s.
***
Raccoons, rainstorms and now, a transformative renovation. Since 1962, the Delacorte Theater in Central Park has hosted fuzzy critters and leaking rafters alongside production crews, stage actors and bands of New Yorkers braving the elements for Free Shakespeare in the Park. Now, after an 18-month, $85 million makeover, the Delacorte, which is operated by the Public Theater, will reopen on Thursday with a starry production of “Twelfth Night.”
Covered in blood, soaked by rain, adorned with crowns and capes: A who’s who of the acting world has crossed the Delacorte stage, and over the past few decades the New York Times photographer Sara Krulwich has captured many of them. We spoke to actors, directors and others about their memories of working en plein air. “There’s nothing more magical,” Oscar Isaac said.
More...
https://archive.ph/7N2oD
***
List of Shakespeare in the Park productions at the Delacorte Theater
1956
Julius Caesar 1956 with J. D. Cannon, Walter Massey
The Taming of the Shrew J. D. Cannon, Colleen Dewhurst
1957
Romeo and Juliet with Stephen Joyce, Bryarly Lee Robert Blackburn, Roscoe Lee Browne, J. D. Cannon, Hal England, Edwin Sherin, Jerry Stiller
The Two Gentlemen of Verona with Robert Blackburn, Paul Stevens, J. D. Cannon, Hal England, Robert Gerringer, Anne Meara, Jerry Stiller
1958
Othello with Peter Bogdanovich, Steven Gilborn, Ellen Holly, George Morfogen, Edwin Sherin, Paul Shyre
MORE...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Shakespeare_in_the_Park_productions_at_the_Delacorte_Theater
*** FREE THEATER IN NYC ***
HOME SWEET HOME or A Life in New York
Theater for the New City’s award-winning Street Theater Company will open its 2025 annual tour Saturday, August 2 with “Home Sweet Home, or A Life In New York,” a rip-roaring original musical which tells a story of a young orphan, born in America but longing to understand his roots, as deportations shake the lives of his immigrant friends. Book, lyrics and direction are by Crystal Field, Artistic Director of Theater for the New City (TNC). The musical score is composed and arranged by Peter Dizozza. Free performances will tour parks, playgrounds and closed-off streets throughout the five boroughs through September 14.
Saturday, August 23 · 2 - 3pm EDT
Washington Square New York, NY 10012
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/tncs-street-theater-home-sweet-home-or-a-life-in-new-york-tickets-1528033061019?aff=ebdssbdestsearch
*** OPPORTUNITIES FOR PLAYWRIGHTS ***
The Actors Theatre Playhouse of West Chesterfield, New Hampshire, and Brattleboro, Vermont, is accepting ten-minute play submissions for its festival in June of 2026. The goal of the festival is both to encourage the production of new works, while exposing our actors and directors to the techniques and practices of working with playwrights and producing new plays.
***
Request for Proposals: *snap* Festival 2026 - 15 minute stories told from your perspective
The Flynn is committed to using the arts to build connections and strengthen communities. The *snap* Festival is a celebration of the power of first-person narratives. We believe everyone has stories to tell and that sharing these stories teaches empathy by allowing us to recognize commonalities and learn about each other’s unique experiences.
***
Kairos Italy Theater and the Calandra Institute are seeking submissions from Italian American playwrights for unproduced, contemporary plays written within the last never staged (Readings and workshops are fine). This initiative aims to spotlight authentic Italian American voices and stories that reflect the diverse experiences, heritage, and cultural intersections of the Italian American community.
*** FOR MORE INFORMATION about these and other opportunities see the web site at https://www.nycplaywrights.org ***
*** SHAKESPEARE IN CENTRAL PARK ***
In 1957, Papp created a mobile theater that traveled to neighborhood parks, ball fields, and playgrounds in all five boroughs. It was a thirty-five-foot trailer pulled by a retrofitted sanitation truck. The stage would unfold and would transform the park into a theater, complete with a stage, dressing rooms, lighting, and seating for more than two thousand people.
A Times review in 1964 of a mobile performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream said, “Civil rights and other weighty problems receded into the darkness for a few hours in Harlem last night as Shakespeare’s wit and humor took over and captivated an audience. . . . An old woman, who refused to identify herself, said that she had been a resident of the community for 26 years. ‘This is the first time that people have cared to come in here,’ she declared. She asked for handbills to distribute to her friends and neighbors, and wanted one to put in her window.”
Papp was one of the first to cast Black and Hispanic actors in major classical roles. “Joe wanted to fill the stage with the same kind of people he was going to fill the audience with, all the people of the city,” says actor James Earl Jones. “He tried everything to open up the whole issue that you’re casting human beings. He would cast Hamlet as a woman.”
In the summer of 1957, after putting on shows throughout the city, the mobile theater was headed for Central Park. When it arrived near Belvedere Castle, the truck broke down. Papp decided to leave the truck there on a patch of civic grass, claimed squatter’s rights, and staged Romeo and Juliet, Two Gentlemen of Verona, and Macbeth on a temporary stage. Thus a beloved New York tradition was born—free Shakespeare in the Park—drawing thousands for every performance, then and now.
After two successful seasons of free Shakespeare in Central Park, Papp ran afoul of the infamous Robert Moses, the most powerful politician in New York at the time. Moses claimed that theatergoers trampled the grass and Papp needed to charge admission to pay for the replanting. Papp categorically refused. In retaliation, Moses leaked to the press that Papp was a Communist.
More...
https://www.villagepreservation.org/2022/07/21/joe-papp-created-a-theater-by-and-for-the-people/
In 1957, Papp created a mobile theater that traveled to neighborhood parks, ball fields, and playgrounds in all five boroughs. It was a thirty-five-foot trailer pulled by a retrofitted sanitation truck. The stage would unfold and would transform the park into a theater, complete with a stage, dressing rooms, lighting, and seating for more than two thousand people.
A Times review in 1964 of a mobile performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream said, “Civil rights and other weighty problems receded into the darkness for a few hours in Harlem last night as Shakespeare’s wit and humor took over and captivated an audience. . . . An old woman, who refused to identify herself, said that she had been a resident of the community for 26 years. ‘This is the first time that people have cared to come in here,’ she declared. She asked for handbills to distribute to her friends and neighbors, and wanted one to put in her window.”
Papp was one of the first to cast Black and Hispanic actors in major classical roles. “Joe wanted to fill the stage with the same kind of people he was going to fill the audience with, all the people of the city,” says actor James Earl Jones. “He tried everything to open up the whole issue that you’re casting human beings. He would cast Hamlet as a woman.”
In the summer of 1957, after putting on shows throughout the city, the mobile theater was headed for Central Park. When it arrived near Belvedere Castle, the truck broke down. Papp decided to leave the truck there on a patch of civic grass, claimed squatter’s rights, and staged Romeo and Juliet, Two Gentlemen of Verona, and Macbeth on a temporary stage. Thus a beloved New York tradition was born—free Shakespeare in the Park—drawing thousands for every performance, then and now.
After two successful seasons of free Shakespeare in Central Park, Papp ran afoul of the infamous Robert Moses, the most powerful politician in New York at the time. Moses claimed that theatergoers trampled the grass and Papp needed to charge admission to pay for the replanting. Papp categorically refused. In retaliation, Moses leaked to the press that Papp was a Communist.
More...
https://www.villagepreservation.org/2022/07/21/joe-papp-created-a-theater-by-and-for-the-people/
***
In 1957, Papp and Parks Commissioner Robert Moses battled over whether the Public Theater could use Central Park. The fight took an ugly turn when Moses alleged that Papp had communist links (Papp had refused to admit to the House Un–American Activities Committee whether he was—or knew anyone who was—a communist). Under pressure from the public and Mayor Robert Wagner, Moses eventually relented and allowed Papp to stage free Shakespeare in the park. (The writer Robert Caro pointed to this embarrassing episode as one of the pivotal turning points in Moses' career in The Power Broker.)
Shakespeare in the Park only became more popular when the Delacorte Theatre opened in 1962 in Central Park. The theater's opening performance was The Merchant of Venice, directed by Papp and featuring George C. Scott, James Earl Jones, and William Devane. In 1966, Papp's company bought and began renovating the landmarked former Astor Place Library at 425 Lafayette Street; the conversion of the building was handled by architect Giorgio Cavaglieri, who also designed the Delacorte Theatre.
More...
https://www.nycgovparks.org/about/history/theater
***
Free Shakespeare: For Who, and Why? | Joe Papp in Five Acts
Learn about Joseph Papp's vision for a free mobile theater in New York City.
https://ny.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/papp22-freeshakespeare/free-shakespeare-for-who-and-why-joe-papp-in-five-acts/
***
Ms. Sheaffer, a sales manager for Salem Media, a conservative-leaning media group, saw a performance on June 3. Three days later she described her dismay over the production in a conversation with the conservative radio host and comedian Joe Piscopo, then voiced her concern again to the media and politics site Mediaite, declaring “I don’t love President Trump, but he’s the president. You can’t assassinate him on a stage.” Mediaite made the most of the story, posting it with the headline “Senators Stab Trump to Death in Central Park Performance of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.”
The reaction from the artistic community could not have been more different. “It’s an odd reading to say that it incites violence, because the meat of the tragedy of the play is the tragic repercussions of the assassination,” said Bill Rauch, the artistic director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, which is presenting a “Julius Caesar” throughout this year. “The play could not be clearer about the disastrous effects of violence.”
Still, the wheels of conservative media — as well as some other outlets — were already in motion. Breitbart and The Blaze jumped in, citing Ms. Sheaffer, along with Newsbusters, a conservative media watchdog. Television’s “Inside Edition” quoted an unidentified audience member on camera saying, “I didn’t like that they made this person who looks like Trump get assassinated.”
On Sunday, “Fox and Friends,” the Trump-friendly morning show on Fox News, gave the outrage its largest platform, running multiple segments on the story. “Notice, nobody has a problem with it on the left,” said Pete Hegseth, a “Fox and Friends” host who appeared with Mr. Trump during his presidential campaign. “Nobody seems to care. It’s only us talking about it.”
More...
https://archive.ph/LPAMB
***
Ms. Sheaffer, a sales manager for Salem Media, a conservative-leaning media group, saw a performance on June 3. Three days later she described her dismay over the production in a conversation with the conservative radio host and comedian Joe Piscopo, then voiced her concern again to the media and politics site Mediaite, declaring “I don’t love President Trump, but he’s the president. You can’t assassinate him on a stage.” Mediaite made the most of the story, posting it with the headline “Senators Stab Trump to Death in Central Park Performance of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.”
The reaction from the artistic community could not have been more different. “It’s an odd reading to say that it incites violence, because the meat of the tragedy of the play is the tragic repercussions of the assassination,” said Bill Rauch, the artistic director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, which is presenting a “Julius Caesar” throughout this year. “The play could not be clearer about the disastrous effects of violence.”
Still, the wheels of conservative media — as well as some other outlets — were already in motion. Breitbart and The Blaze jumped in, citing Ms. Sheaffer, along with Newsbusters, a conservative media watchdog. Television’s “Inside Edition” quoted an unidentified audience member on camera saying, “I didn’t like that they made this person who looks like Trump get assassinated.”
On Sunday, “Fox and Friends,” the Trump-friendly morning show on Fox News, gave the outrage its largest platform, running multiple segments on the story. “Notice, nobody has a problem with it on the left,” said Pete Hegseth, a “Fox and Friends” host who appeared with Mr. Trump during his presidential campaign. “Nobody seems to care. It’s only us talking about it.”
More...
https://archive.ph/LPAMB
***
New Yorkers were devastated last spring when it was announced that this year's free Shakespeare In the Park festival would have to be canceled because of the pandemic. "It’s just clear to us at this point that there’s no way we can responsibly prepare, build and rehearse to get shows open in a timing that might match the quarantine’s timing," Oskar Eustis, the artistic director of the Public Theater, which founded and runs the festival, said at the time.
We're hopeful that the Public Theater will be able to put shows back on next summer, but in the meantime, it's the perfect time to take a look back at the origins of the annual festival, thanks to the New York Public Library's treasure trove of early photos documenting its start in the early 1960s.
Raccoons, rainstorms and now, a transformative renovation. Since 1962, the Delacorte Theater in Central Park has hosted fuzzy critters and leaking rafters alongside production crews, stage actors and bands of New Yorkers braving the elements for Free Shakespeare in the Park. Now, after an 18-month, $85 million makeover, the Delacorte, which is operated by the Public Theater, will reopen on Thursday with a starry production of “Twelfth Night.”
Covered in blood, soaked by rain, adorned with crowns and capes: A who’s who of the acting world has crossed the Delacorte stage, and over the past few decades the New York Times photographer Sara Krulwich has captured many of them. We spoke to actors, directors and others about their memories of working en plein air. “There’s nothing more magical,” Oscar Isaac said.
More...
https://archive.ph/7N2oD
***
List of Shakespeare in the Park productions at the Delacorte Theater
1956
Julius Caesar 1956 with J. D. Cannon, Walter Massey
The Taming of the Shrew J. D. Cannon, Colleen Dewhurst
1957
Romeo and Juliet with Stephen Joyce, Bryarly Lee Robert Blackburn, Roscoe Lee Browne, J. D. Cannon, Hal England, Edwin Sherin, Jerry Stiller
The Two Gentlemen of Verona with Robert Blackburn, Paul Stevens, J. D. Cannon, Hal England, Robert Gerringer, Anne Meara, Jerry Stiller
1958
Othello with Peter Bogdanovich, Steven Gilborn, Ellen Holly, George Morfogen, Edwin Sherin, Paul Shyre
MORE...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Shakespeare_in_the_Park_productions_at_the_Delacorte_Theater
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