Shakespeare in the Park's MEASURE FOR MEASURE and ALL'S WELL Close 7/30

The 2011 Shakespeare in the Park summer season featuring MEASURE FOR MEASURE, directed by David Esbjornson, and ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL, directed by Daniel Sullivan, will end on July 30 at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park.

MEASURE FOR MEASURE began performances on Monday, June 6 and officially opened on Thursday, June 30. ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL began performances on Saturday, June 11 and officially opened on Saturday, June 25. Tickets to both shows are free and distributed the day of the performance. All performances are at 8:00 p.m. For ticket information and performance schedule, visit www.shakespeareinthepark.org or call 212-539-8750. The Delacorte Theater in Central Park is accessible by entering at 81 Street and Central Park West or at 79th Street and Fifth Avenue.

The 2011 repertory company for MEASURE FOR MEASURE and ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL consecutively, includes Kristen Connolly (Juliet/Diana), John Cullum (Escalus/King of France), Carson Elrod (Pompey/Interpreter), Joe Forbrich (Friar Peter/Duke of Florence), Danai Gurira (Isabella in Measure for Measure), Michael Hayden (Angelo/Second Brother Dumaine), André Holland (Claudio/Bertram), Jordan Lund (Abhorson/Rinaldo), David Manis (Elbow/Lavatch), Dakin Matthews (Provost/Lafew), Caitlin O'Connell (Nun/Widow,Isbel), Annie Parisse (Mariana/Helena), Tonya Pinkins (Mistress Overdone/Countess), Lorenzo Pisoni (Duke/First Brother Dumaine), Reg Rogers (Lucio/Parolles), and Lucas Caleb Rooney (Barnardine/Gentleman).

The summer's non-Equity ensemble features Bill Army, Lauren Ferguson, Edena Hines, Zoey Martinson, Adam McNulty, Katie Meister, Charlie Francis Murphy, Carra Patterson, James Rees, Aleque Reid, Benjamin Thys, Brendan Titley, Katie Tuminelly, Zachary Unger, Benjamin Perry Wenzelberg, Katie Wieland, and Roger Yeh.

MEASURE FOR MEASURE (last staged in the Park in 2001) and ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL (last staged in the Park in 1993) are as enthralling, theatrical, and transporting as any works in the canon. Together the two plays offer an extraordinary sense of Shakespeare's scope and power, humor and insight. Their vivid characters, searingly intense emotions, magnificent flights of metaphor, and riveting stories will showcase a thrilling Central Park season of American Shakespeare of the highest caliber.

MEASURE FOR MEASURE sweeps from the corridors of national power to the intimate confines of the bedroom, and from the convent's chapel to the executioner's block. It is Shakespeare at his grittiest: a bracing and bawdy glimpse of what happens when those in power allow their basest human impulses to range unchecked.

ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL is a fairytale for grown-ups. This beguiling fable follows the low-born Helena, one of Shakespeare's most resourceful heroines, as she inventively surmounts obstacle after impossible obstacle in order to win the love of the aristocratic and haughty Count Bertram.

MEASURE FOR MEASURE and ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL will feature scenic design by Scott Pask; costume design by Elizabeth Hope Clancy (Measure for Measure) and Jane Greenwood (All's Well That Ends Well); lighting design by Peter Kaczorowski; original music and sound score by John Gromada (Measure for Measure) and original music by Tom Kitt (All's Well That Ends Well); sound design by ACME Sound Partners; and hair and wig design by Charles LaPointe (Measure for Measure) and Tom Watson (All's Well That Ends Well).

Tickets to Shakespeare in the Park are FREE and are distributed, two per person, at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park at 1:00 p.m. the day of the show. This summer, The Public Theater will again offer free tickets through our Virtual Ticketing, available at www.shakespeareinthepark.org.

Photo Credit: Joan Marcus