
As Shakespeare in the Park’s gears up to perform Twelfth Night, it has been confirmed by Central Park that the 2025 performances will return to the Delacorte Theater this summer.
The 2024 season was a little nontraditional after Shakespeare in the Park had to find new venues while the Delacorte Theater underwent a historic revitalization. Of course, the show must go on, so the free programming adapted with pop-up performances across the five boroughs. However, the Delacorte Theater will officially reopen this summer, just in time for the 2025 season.
Delacorte Theater was first built in 1962. Over the years, the famous theater has hosted more than five million people from around the world.
Ahead of the 2025 season, Public Theater promised the reopening to be “more welcoming, more accessible, and more sustainable than ever before.” Moreover, the redesign will address outstanding safety needs, infrastructure and backstage efficiency and so on.
As of December 2024, six new lighting towers were installed around the grandstand. The installment was no easy feat, requiring a special crew and crane to lift each tower. The new towers will aid the production team in conducting safer and more efficient work as they climb them.
Key upgrades include:
- Audience ramps and more accessible seating
- Accessible box office and concessions booths
- Modified stage and work areas for artists, company members, and staff
- Improved building and wayfinding signage
- New facade of reclaimed redwood from decommissioned water tanks across New York City
- Water protection and drainage systems to reduce flooding and improve water mitigation
- Newly designed lighting towers
The 2025 season will bring Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night to life. The play follows twins, Sebastian and Viola, separated after a shipwreck and all that ensues thereafter. Tony Award nominee, Saheem Ali, will be directing the production, with the cast including Bill Camp, Khris Davis, Junior Nyong’o, Lupita Nyong’o, Daphne Rubin-Vega, and Moses Sumney, Peter Dinklage, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and Sandra Oh. The production will run from August 7th through September 14th, 2025. Learn more on Public Theater’s website.