The Public Theater's free Shakespeare in the Park, all-female staging of The Taming of the Shrew officially opens June 13. Performances kicked off May 24 with a cast that features Janet McTeer, Cush Jumbo, Donna Lynne Champlin and Candy Buckley. Phyllida Lloyd, who was behind the recent all-female staging of Henry IV at St. Ann's Warehouse, directs the comedy at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park.
In The Taming of the Shrew, the fiery and clever Katherina, played by Jumbo, is to be married off. McTeer stars as Petruchio, the wild outsider she must outwit. The Shakespearean classic is set to continue through June 26, billed by The Public as an “original screwball comedy showing the lengths men will go to for their legacy, what women will do to break free and the outrageous things we all do for the human heart.”
The cast features Buckley as Vincentio and Champlin as Hortensio, along with Rosa Gilmore (Lucentio), Judy Gold (Gremio), LaTanya Richardson Jackson (Baptista), Teresa Avia Lim (Biondello), Adrienne C. Moore (Tranio), Anne L. Nathan (Pedant), Gayle Rankin (Bianca), Pearl Rhein (Ensemble), Leenya Rideout (Ensemble), Jackie Sanders (Ensemble) and Stacey Sargeant (Grumio).
The production features set and costume design by Mark Thompson, lighting design by Robert Wierzel, sound design by Mark Menard, music composition by Sam Davis and movement direction by Ann Yee.
Tickets are distributed, two per person, at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park on the day of the show. For the first time ever, free tickets are also available via the TodayTix app.
