In many ways, summer is a quiet stage for stages in New York City. Almost no new Broadway shows open until September, and there are also fewer Off Broadway and Off-Off Broadway shows and Dance performances to check out. Where the summer theater scene really comes to life is in the world beyond conventional venues: parks, parking lots and amphitheaters where—for free or for very cheap—savvy audiences can enjoy art in the great outdoors. The most famous example is the Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park, which returns this year after a season of renovations, but don’t sleep on the high-level offerings of New York Classical Theatre and Classical Theatre of Harlem, or the ambitious summer programming at Little Island, or the annual smorgasbord of movement known as the Battery Dance Festival. Here, in chronological order, are your ten best bets this summer.
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