Drilling Company Celebrates 10 Years Of Shakespeare In Bryant Park With A Greatest Hits Retrospective May 25

On May 25 beginning at 7:00 PM at The Upper Terrace of Bryant Park, The Drilling Company and Bryant Park Shakespeare will celebrate ten years of their Shakespeare co-productions with a 'greatest hits' retrospective, "A Celebration! Looking back on 10 Years of Free Bryant Park Shakespeare with The Drilling Company."

This free program will feature songs, scenes and monologues from the Bard's leading plays, excerpted from Drilling Company performances there since 2014 and featuring original cast members.

The Drilling Company, known for its intrepid, bare-boned Shakespeare in the Parking Lot productions, is exclusive producer of Bryant Park's Shakespeare offerings. Typically, full-length productions of one or two different plays are offered each year, staged in areas from the steps of the NYC Public Library to the Fountain to the Terrace. All performances are free and open to the public. Classics are mounted with a modern spin to make them more relatable to contemporary audiences. Examples are "The Taming of the Shrew" set in a New England fishing village, "Two Gentlemen of Verona" set in an Italian Restaurant, "Much Ado About Nothing" set in the 20th century Suffragette movement and "As You Like It" set in the Victorian era with everything becoming Steampunk when the scene shifts to the Forest of Arden.

Shakespeare in Bryant Park began with "Hamlet" in 2014 starring Alessandro Colla in the title role. The tragedy was produced again in 2019 with Jane Bradley as a female Hamlet. Other productions have included "Macbeth," "As You Like It," "The Tempest," "Two Noble Kinsmen," "A Winter's Tale," "Two Gentlemen of Verona," "Twelfth Night," "A Midsummer Night's Dream," "The Merchant of Venice," "Measure for Measure," "The Merry Wives of Windsor" and several Shakespeare's Birthday Bashes.

The Drilling Company is known for nontraditional casting, employing actors of different races and breaking gender barriers. Outdoor performances like these are considered relatively safe in the current COVID-19 climate, making them an important source of community and entertainment for New Yorker City residents. Food kiosks serve affordable meals in Bryant Park, capacious rest rooms are close at hand and there is seating for unlimited crowds on bistro chairs. Best of all, there is never any waiting in line for tickets.

The program will be directed by Drilling Company Artistic Director Hamilton Clancy and will feature performances by core members Alessandro Colla, David Marantz, Una Clancy, Katherine O'Sullivan, Emmanuel Elpenord, Karla Hendrick, Ivory Aquino, Drew Valins, Evangeline Fontaine, Michael Lind, Remy Souchon and Natalie Smith.

The event will run 75 minutes and no reservations are required. Seating is plentiful and chairs are available on a first come first serve basis. For more information go to www.drillingcompany.org.

This summer, The Drilling Company's Shakespeare in the Parking Lot will present "The Comedy of Errors," directed by Hamilton Clancy, July 13-22 in the Parking Lot of The Clemente, 114 Norfolk Street (betw. Rivington & Delancey Streets).

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