Meryl Streep..

Mother Courage will be the second offering of this summer's Shakespeare in the Park series starring Streep, directed by George Wolfe (multiple Tony winner and until recently the longtime artistic director of the Public Theater), in a translation by Tony Kushner with music by Jeanine Tesori. Performances begin August 8th and the production closes September 3rd.

As with ALL Shakespeare in the Park productions, tickets are free. They're distributed on a first come-first serve basis(max of two per person) at the Public Theatre and also at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park, where the show will be playing, beginning at 1pm.

Now the major caveat is, with a star as popular as Streep, people start lining up for tickets VERY early -- with her last appearance in the Park 5 years ago in a production of Chekhov's the Seagull, co-starring Kevin Kline, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Natalie Portman and others, the line started before midnight the night before and dozens of people literally slept out on the street overnight. For those who arrived any later than 8 or 9 am, there were no tickets left. It's quite possible a similar situation may occur this year.

There is also a cancellation line which begins forming later in the afternoon at the Delacorte (you probably should get there no later than 4 or 5) where returned tickets are distributed beginning around 7:45 or so (max of one ticket per person). If you're in the first couple of dozen people on line, you might have a shot, but beyond that, it varies (mind you, the people who showed up at 1pm for tickets are given vouchers, have theor own separate line and have priority for the cancellation seats, so they are taken care of first and sometimes there are several dozen of them who return).

Your only other option that I know about -- other than having a connection with access to tickets -- is the Summer Patrons program where in exchange for a donation of $150 to the Public, you receive one (usually very good) seat for a Park production (and you just give them a list of dates you would prefer to go). If you have the extra cash, it is by far the easiest way to go (I did it and I'm sitting second row center for the show).

Good luck.

---

Updated On: 6/24/06 at 04:49 PM

Once again, ALL seats for Shakespeare in the Park are free (unless you or your company donated money as a sponsor). That was Papp's vision 50 years ago and that's still the case. The number of tickets they give out at each site (at the Public and at the Delacorte) varies from day to day, but there's no charge for any of them.

People complain that many tickets go to the corporate sponsors, but without that support, these productions wouldn't happen at all. The amount the government (NEA, NY State Council on the Arts etc) gives only covers a small portion of the budget and it costs millions to put on and run two Broadway caliber productions (with Tony and Oscar winning actors and designers) in a summer, so the money has to come from somewhere. A majority of the seats still go for free to the people who wait in line as well as to many local high school students and school groups.

---