Shakespeare in the Park
Every summer the Public Theater puts on a play written by Shakespeare or some other notable scribe, at the open air Delacorte Theater in Central Park. Unlike most New York activities…it is completely free, and it is usually performed by a number of well known celebrites. This year among others, Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline lend their talents to the anti-war play, “Mother Courage” by Bertolt Brecht.
If the weather is right, it is always one of the highlights of a summer spent in Gotham. Especially since part of the fun is spending hours in line. I mean it, and not in sarcastic way. Some of the best times I’ve had in New York were spent camping out on a city block downtown, or in Central Park the night before, to make sure that I could get my hands on my two free tickets.
You are never alone. You usually spend your time among at least five hundred others the night before, and a thousand more who show up early the next morning to wait in line.
There’s a lot you can see when you spend the night sitting on a sidewalk. Even if the heat and humidity are grueling, there a peace that decends when the street lamps go on. They just make everything look so much more vibrant and less harsh. You realize how much you miss when you are simply another hurried pedestrian trying to get somewhere. Day to day you don’t have time to take it all in. 
You also get to know the people in line with you, and generally they’re nice, culturally aware folks like yourself. This year my friend Robin made friends with the two travelers from Spain, who later gave us their spare tickets so we could invite more of our friends. She in turn gave them a tour of the television studio where we work. They were thrilled to have another story to take back home with them.
However the best moment this year was the flute player who serenaded our line with songs from the soundtracks of several classic movies. My favorite was his rendition of “Eye of Tiger” from the early eighties boxing movie “Rocky”. Don’t worry if you have a hard time visualizing what that would sound like. I’m attaching a photo to this post as proof.
In the end, it was a gorgeous day to spend outside. The heated has finally abated and the trees provided all the shade that we needed. And although the play was painfully long (3.5 hours) and the dialog of the play was somewhat stymied by the sounds police helicopters and sirens on the upper westside, it could not have been a more perfect summer evening.
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