Henry IV, Parts 1 & 2

Venue The Delacorte Theater

Written by William Shakespeare
Directed by Rachel Chavkin

The Free Shakespeare in the Park season will open with HENRY IV, PARTS 1 & 2, staged as one epic story at The Delacorte for the first time in nearly 60 years. At the heart of the story is Prince Hal who is struggling to find his place in the world, torn between rising to his father’s royal expectations and spending his days in the tavern with Falstaff—one of Shakespeare’s greatest and most beloved characters—and his raucous band of friends. The prince must learn to integrate these two worlds, which together form the widest representation of society in any Shakespeare play. Tony Award winner Rachel Chavkin directs this study on the true cost of a crown.

Free Shakespeare in the Park is part of The Public’s annual summer celebration of Shakespeare for the City. Free. For All. Forever.

Citizens Presenting Partner

Cast

Wendell Pierce

Falstaff

Wendell Pierce

Falstaff

WENDELL PIERCE (Falstaff) has worked across theater, television, and film for more than four decades. His Broadway portrayal of Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman earned him a Tony Award nomination for Lead Actor in a Play. He recently played the title role of Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Othello, directed by Simon Godwin. Pierce’s Broadway credits also include The Boys of Winter, The Piano Lesson, and Serious Money. Television audiences know him from "The Wire," "Treme," "Suits," "Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan," "Raising Kanan," and currently "Elsbeth." In film, Pierce can be seen in Waiting to Exhale, Malcolm X, Burning Cane (Best Actor, Tribeca Film Festival), and Selma. Pierce is the recipient of an honorary doctorate from The Juilliard School, his alma mater.

Creative

Rachel Chavkin

Director

Rachel Chavkin

Director

RACHEL CHAVKIN is a director, sometime writer, and founding artistic director of Brooklyn-based experimental collective, the TEAM (www.theteamplays.org) whose work has been seen all over NY, the U.S., and internationally, and whose consensus-driven writing process was the subject of a feature length documentary. She won the 2019 Tony Award for her work on Anaïs Mitchell’s Hadestown (Broadway, NYTW, National Theatre, London). She is a three-time Obie winner, and received Tony and Lortel nominations, and a Drama Desk Award for Dave Malloy’s Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 (Broadway, Ars Nova, A.R.T.). Select projects: The Bengson’s My Joy is Heavy (NYTW), a musical adaptation of Ritesh Batra’s glorious film The Lunchbox with composers Daniel and Patrick Lazour (Upcoming: Berkeley Rep), Sarah Gancher’s Eugene Onegin: A Bluegrass Musical (Upcoming: T2 in Arkansas), Carson Kreitzer’s and Matt Gould’s Lempicka (Broadway 2024), the TEAM’s Mission Drift (National Theatre), Arthur Miller’s American Clock (Old Vic), the TEAM’s RoosevElvis (Royal Court), Larissa Fasthorse’s The Thanksgiving Play (2ST, 1st play by a known Native American woman on Broadway), Lilianna Padilla’s How to Defend Yourself—co-directed with Padilla and Steph Paul (NYTW), Marco Ramirez’s The Royale (LCT; Obie Award, Drama Desk and Lortel nominations), Bess Wohl’s Small Mouth Sounds (Ars Nova and national tour), and multiple collaborations with Taylor Mac, Heather Christian, the Bengsons, and Manchester-based writer/performer Chris Thorpe. Her first short film, Remind Me, was an official selection of the Venice and Beverly Hills Film Festivals. 2017 Smithsonian Award for Ingenuity. @rachel.chavkin