Barefoot Shakespeare Company and Occupy Verona Presents ALL ONE FOREST

Barefoot Shakespeare Company ?and Occupy Verona are teaming up for "She Doth Persist," a season celebrating feminism and activism. First up is All One Forest, a new play that explores what happens when famous characters from Shakespeare's plays meet each other outside of their stories. All performances will be held at Summit Rock in Central Park and admission is free.

In All One Forest, three young women from different places and times cross paths in the forest. Before the day is out they will have to contend with the elements, with each other, and with a whole Faery Kingdom. One thing is certain: this is no ordinary forest. Some of Shakespeare's most beloved characters from plays including A Midsummer Night's Dream, As You Like it, and Twelfth Night all come together in this fun, comic tale of friendship and courage in the face of great danger.

All One Forest explores generational themes of identity and accountability. Playwright Joe Raik, co-founder of Occupy Verona, is thrilled that his play has been chosen as Barefoot's first ever production of a fully-staged original work, and is proud to be collaborating on a season that speaks to the world we live in, and the fight to make it a better one.

This summer's cast includes both alumni and newcomers: Laurel Andersen, Tessa Barlow, Tay Bass, Essence Brown, Daniel Cabrera, Ashil Lee, Nia Calloway, Robin Johnson, Theo McKenna, Jerry Raik, Jason Weiner, and Simone Stadler. Original music will be written by William Bednar.

All shows will take place at Summit Rock in Central Park on the following dates and times: Thursday, June 7, 2018 at 6 PM; Friday, June 8, 2018 at 6 PM; Saturday, June 9, 2018 at 4 PM; Thursday, June 14, 2018 at 6 PM; Friday, June 15, 2018 at 6 PM; Saturday, June 16, 2018 at 4 PM; Sunday, June 17, 2018 at 4 PM. Admission for all performances is free. About Barefoot Shakespeare Company.

Barefoot Shakespeare Company was formed in 2012 with the mission of bringing Shakespeare's work to a wide and diverse audience with a pedestrian, engaging, and modern outlook on the works of the Bard. They strive to create work that is grounded, accessible and applicable and seek to approach all of Shakespeare's texts with energy, enthusiasm, and excitement. Located in New York City, Barefoot Shakespeare Company takes full advantage of the beauty of Manhattan's central park to bring Shakespeare alive against a backdrop of a specifically American time and place.

Occupy Verona has been bringing live, vital, spontaneous theatre to the streets of New York since its founding in 2012. Combining a bare bones, text-driven approach to the classics with a flash mob-style performance sensibility, they make the city their stage and its denizens their unwitting audience. In addition to full length Shakespeare plays performed in public spaces, they are known for the Brawl Crawl, a hilariously violent Shakespeare pub crawl, and for their irreverent, original Bard-inspired comedies