Video: Annie Leibovitz Spotlights Shakespeare in the Park

Tony Kushner and Annie Leibovitz photograph and interview the team behind Delacorte Theater's Shakespeare in the Park and some of its biggest stars, including James Earl Jones, Oscar Eustis, Audra McDonald, Blythe Danner, Kevin Kline, Mandy Patinkin, Jonathan Groff, Tyler Ferguson and more! Watch the Vanity Fair video feature HERE.

The Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park is celebrating its 50th Anniversary at The Delacorte this summer. Shakespeare in the Park officially opened in Central Park on June 18, 1962 with The Merchant of Venice, featuring then-unknown actors George C. Scott and James Earl Jones. Since 1962 more than 150 productions have been presented for free by The Public Theater at the Delacorte and more than five million people have enjoyed productions of Shakespeare, other classical works, and musicals at the Delacorte over the last 50 years.

The Public Theater (Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director; Patrick Willingham, Executive Director) was founded by Joseph Papp in 1954 and is now one of the nation’s preeminent cultural institutions, producing new plays, musicals and productions of classics at its downtown home and at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. The Public Theater’s mandate to create a theater for all New Yorkers continues to this day on stage and through extensive outreach and education programs. Each year, more than 250,000 people attend Public Theater-related productions and events at six downtown stages, including Joe’s Pub, and Shakespeare in the Park. The Public Theater’s productions have won 42 Tony Awards, 158 Obies, 42 Drama Desk Awards and four Pulitzer Prizes. Fifty-four Public Theater Productions have moved to Broadway, including Sticks and Bones; That Championship Season; A Chorus Line; For Colored Girls…; The Pirates of Penzance; The Tempest; Bring in ’da Noise, Bring in ’da Funk; The Ride Down Mt. Morgan; Topdog/Underdog; Take Me Out; Caroline, or Change; Passing Strange; the revival of HAIR; Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson and The Merchant of Venice.

For more information, visit www.shakespeareinthepark.org.