This past May, we put on an all-female, fully nude production of Shakespeare’s final play, The Tempest, outdoors in Central Park. It was a huge success, attracting not only an audience of hundreds to the park but also coverage all over the world, from NBC News here in New York (and the New York Post, and the Daily News, and New York Newsday, and many more) to four of the five major newspapers in the UK (Daily Mail, Independent, Guardian, and Times), and from Jezebel and Salon online to The Huffington Post and The American Spectator. We were covered in Oregon. We were covered in India. We were one of the “photos of the week” chosen by The Atlantic. For an hour or two, we were one of the top 3 trending topics on Facebook.
But despite all that attention, not everyone who wanted to see the show was able to.
Well — now’s your chance. Our Tempest is coming back, this time to Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, for four nights only: September 7-10, at 5:30pm each day. You can find information about the show and directions to the location in the park here.
The cast and creative team is mostly the same, though we have a new Miranda and Gonzalo joining us, and a new painter doing the body art for our supernatural characters.
We’ve already started to get attention — CBS News ran this story last night, and local Brooklyn publications have been all over it.
If you’re in the New York area on the dates in question, we hope you’ll join us in Prospect Park for some open-air Shakespeare and to celebrate the freedoms we enjoy as New Yorkers. And needless to say, if you do come, you’re welcome to watch the show topless yourself. 🙂
Fabulous. And right now London is hot enough to put on a fully nude show in Hyde Park or Kensington Gardens – British prudery permitting. (Adult) Peter Pan in the buff, anyone?
I’m not sure the Barrie Estate would approve, given how they reacted to Alan Moore’s graphic novel a few years back. But naked Peter Pan sounds great to us!
Was it the Barrie Estate? I thought that, in all but certain circumstances, Peter Pan was out of copyright; it’s just that Old Ormond Street hospital has certain rights that still earn them royalties and these were written into British law.
Interesting to learn that the Barrie Estate might still have a say in these matters.
I thought it was out of copyright in the U.S. but still under copyright in the UK — at some point that was the case. But the time period may now have run and it may finally be out of copyright in the UK as well.
Is this an abridged version, or the whole play?
Judiciously abridged.
Damn! That’s awesome – sure wish I could see it, but I’m already traveling those days. Time for a tour?
Selected out of town performances next year might be a possibility — we’ll let everyone know if we do schedule any. But currently this is the last planned set of performances.
May I ask how do you handle the dress rehearsals?
We do some outdoors in the park, just with bottoms on; we do some indoors in a rehearsal space, fully nude.
What about taping the production and making it available on line for those of us a 1000 miles away?
Like most Broadway shows or other live theater performances, we don’t have plans to videotape the production and release it in that format. If that changes, we’ll certainly let people know.
A bit far away for me. Have you considered taking it on tour? You would fit in well at the Edinburgh fringe!
We have considered it and will consider it — but needless to say, taking a dozen-person cast plus crew, costumes and set pieces to other cities (never mind other countries) is no simple matter, especially when you’re performing for free! If any performances outside NYC do happen, we’ll certainly let people know, but I wouldn’t bet on our getting as far as Edinburgh.
Hey Girls! You have been news at Brazil! Congratulations for your courage and determination to create a better world without pre-concepts and teach people that women´s bodies is not an object, but every women have be respected as they are. See the link in a big site here: http://blogs.oglobo.globo.com/pagenotfound/post/peca-de-shakespeare-com-todas-atrizes-nuas-causa-polemica-em-nova-york.html They talk about the polemics in yours Shakespeare presentation.
May your second run be blessed in every possible way!
Glad to hear it. I found out about the Central Park performances just too late to attend and signed up for your blog specifically in case you might have some similar events in the future. I never guessed there’d be another chance to see The Tempest, knowing how rare Shakespeare 400th Anniversaries are.
The performance was great! I liked the use of the largest performing space I’ve ever seen, with the characters in the background at the far end of the field or even across the street, much farther away than is possible on a stage in an indoor theater, making use of all the freedom that’s available.