Delacorte Theater

The Delacorte restrooms will be open during The Public’s renovation of the Delacorte Theater until the Central Park Conservancy begins the renovation of the public restrooms, which is expected to occur in spring 2024. Explore a full list of public restrooms in Central Park here.
Please contact The Public Theater with any questions about the current project and to stay up to date with the latest news on the revitalization.

Located along the shore of Turtle Pond and fittingly near Shakespeare Garden, this is a popular cultural destination for New Yorkers and tourists alike, who wait in long lines that snake along a nearby path for coveted tickets.

Shakespeare in the Park began in 1957 when Joseph Papp, a theater producer and founder of the Shakespeare Workshop, began organizing series of Shakespeare plays that travelled to various City parks. In Central Park, plays were performed near Turtle Pond, using a portable stage, lighting, and seats. (Some sources suggest that this site was chosen because the truck carrying the production equipment broke down in this location.) The popularity of the festival in Central Park and the challenge making the festival portable led to it becoming an annual tradition in the Park, with increasingly more elaborate—but still temporary—setups. In 1962, the City completed construction of a permanent home for the productions, with funding from philanthropist George Delacorte. The first production in the new theater was The Merchant of Venice, starring George C. Scott and James Earl Jones.