A Play in the Park

New York Classical Theatre, founded in 2000, offers free and accessible theatre performances, and reinvents classic drama by performing in non-traditional public spaces throughout New York City.

Their signature staging style, dubbed the 'Panoramic Theatre', adapts each play to work in harmony with the natural architecture of the venue, often outdoors. Performances have taken place in Battery Park, on ferry boats, on Governors Island, Castle Clinton, and of course, Central Park. The audience participates in the performance by physically entering the world of the play. As the drama unfolds before them, the audience must get up and follow the actors from scene to scene throughout the venue.

To date, New York Classical Theatre has staged 29 productions including, A Midsummer Night's Dream, King Ubu, Twelfth Night, The Taming of the Shrew, Much Ado About Nothing, The Triumph of Love, The Feigned Courtesans, As You Like It, Scapin, Mary Stuart, The Comedy of Errors, Love's Labour's Lost, The Recruiting Officer, Cymbeline, King Lear, and many more.

Tonight, we enjoyed a delightful performance of Chekhov's The Seagull. I had the pleasure of attending this performance with my dear friends Brooke and Mindee and their boys, as well as my boy, Tai! How fun it was to have actors dashing in and out amongst the audience. How exciting when instructed to turn around where we sat, so those in the back were suddenly seated at the front!

We enjoyed a delicious picnic dinner before tonight's show began, but hadn't quite finished when it was time for all of us to get up and walk to another area in the park where the play continued. The New York Times has described New York Classical Theatre as "...a movable feast!". This certainly described us as well this evening, when we had to quickly pack up our meal and go!

Will Masha ever love Medvedyenko?

More photos from today.