Off-Broadway News Phylicia Rashad and More Join Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park Season The Tony winner will play Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

By Ryan McPhee

May 05, 2017

Rashad, who starred in the Public's Head of Passes in 2016, will play fairy queen Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream. She, as well as Austin Durant as Snug, Bhavesh Patel as Theseus, and Vinie Burrows as Fairy, join the previously announced Annaleigh Ashford as Helena, Kristine Nielsen as Puck, De’Adre Aziza as Hippolyta, Kyle Beltran as Lysander, Danny Burstein as Nick Bottom, Shalita Grant as Hermia, Alex Hernandez as Demetrius, Jeff Hiller as Francis Flute, Robert Joy as Peter Quince, David Manis as Egeus, Patrena Murray as Tom Snout, and Joe Tapper as Robin Starveling.

Performances will run July 11–August 13, with an official press opening July 31. The Public Theater's Public Works program's founder Lear deBessonet will direct.

Prior to then, the Public will present the Bard's Julius Caesar, beginning May 23 for a June 12 opening night. The production, helmed by Artistic Director Oskar Eustis, will feature Yusef Bulos in the role of Cinna the Poet; Bulos takes over the previously announced Stephen Adly Guirgis, who departs the production due to writing conflicts.

Julius Caesar will also feature Gregg Henry as Caesar, Nikki M. James as Portia, Tina Benko as Calpurnia, Corey Stoll as Marcus Brutus, John Douglas Thompson as Cassius, Teagle F. Bougere as Casca, Eisa Davis as Brutus, Robert Gilbert as Octavius, Edward James Hyland as Lepidus, Popilius, Christopher Livingston as Titinis and Cinna, Elizabeth Marvel as Antony, Chris Myers as Flavius, Messala, and Ligarius, Marjan Neshat as Metullus Cimber, and Natalie Woolams-Torres as Marullus.