Delacorte Theater

Originally built as a temporary structure in 1962, the Delacorte Theater is still in place. The setting is without peer. The audience sits in a horseshoe shape, just short of being in the round. The backdrop to the stage is Turtle Pond, bathed in a shifting shimmer of artificial lighting. Beyond the Pond is the velvety night green of the Great Lawn. And to the right, perched on Vista Rock, is Belvedere Castle, profiled in a spotlight.
The Delacorte Theater is the summer home of the Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival. Joseph Papp began Shakespeare in the Park on a shoestring budget in 1957. Fueled by philanthropy and royalties from certain Broadway hits — notably A Chorus Line — the Public Theater has brought great open-air theater free to New Yorkers each summer. All you need is the patience to wait in line for a ticket — a process that has become a New York tradition. The Public Theater also distributes tickets from its Astor Place home downtown at 425 Lafayette Street.