Public Theater cancels Shakespeare in the Park and remaining 2019-2020 season

The 2020 Shakespeare in the Park season was to include new productions of Richard II and As You Like It.

The Public Theater has now canceled the remainder of its 2019-2020 season, including the free Shakespeare in the Park productions at the Delacorte Theater.

The previously announced season in Central Park was scheduled to include a new staging of Richard II (from May 19 through June 21) and a return of the 2017 Public Works musical adaptation of As You Like It (from July 14 through August 8).

The affected productions at the Public Theater itself at 425 Lafayette Street include the eagerly awaited world premiere musical The Visitor, featuring music by Tom Kitt, lyrics by Brian Yorkey, and a book by Kwame Kwei-Armah & Brian Yorkey, with a cast that included Tony Award winner David Hyde Pierce. It was originally scheduled to play the Public's Newman Theater from March 24 through May 10. In addition, the New York premiere of Mona Mansour's The Vagrant Trilogy and the world premiere of Erika Dickerson-Despenza's Cullud Wattah, both scheduled to play the LuEsther Hall (from March 17 through April 26 and from July 7 through August 16, respectively), have also been canceled.

Finally, all programming at the Public's performance space known as Joe's Pub have also been canceled for this current season.

^{(Photo courtesy of The Public Theater)}