Public Works' Public Record at the Delacorte Theater
New York makes a live album, on stage in Central Park.
Join more than 100 New Yorkers from all five boroughs on the Delacorte Theater stage for Public Works' Public Record, five nights only, September 4 through 8, 2026, at 8:00 PM. It's free, it closes out this year's Free Shakespeare in the Park season, and it turns the Delacorte into a working recording studio in front of a live audience: music, dance, and storytelling captured as it happens.
The production comes from Public Works, the Public Theater's long-running program that puts community members and professional artists on the same stage. This is Public Works' first production at the Delacorte since 2023.
The concept comes from Dan Canham and Emily Lim, who also co-directs alongside Canham's choreography. Lisa Sanaye Dring wrote the piece, with original orchestrations and music supervision by Michael Thurber. The cast draws performers from nine community partner organizations across the city, including Brownsville Recreation Center, DreamYard, and the Fortune Society, alongside professional dancers and guest musicians.
About the show
The company built Public Record around a single question: what does New York sound like, move like, and tell stories about right now, in 2026. Rather than a scripted narrative about the city, the piece assembles the voices, music, and movement of the people performing it into something closer to a recording session staged live.
The Public Theater says the resulting album will be preserved permanently by the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
Getting in without a ticket cost
Public Record is free, like the rest of Free Shakespeare in the Park. The Public Theater does not run a borough-based ticket distribution for this show the way it does for its main Shakespeare productions. Free tickets are available same-day through in-person distribution in Central Park, an in-person lottery at the Public Theater's Astor Place building, a digital lottery through the TodayTix app, and a standby line at the Delacorte itself.
Reserved seating is available only to Public Theater members at the Supporter Plus, Young Partner, and Partner levels.
Getting to the Delacorte
The Delacorte Theater sits inside Central Park, not at the Public Theater's downtown building. Enter the park at 81st Street and Central Park West, or at 79th Street and Fifth Avenue, and follow the path to the theater. Wheelchair access is available via ramp at Gate 1, though the curb ramps near 81st Street include some steep sections worth planning around if mobility is a concern.
Every performance this run includes audio description and open captioning.
Catch it before it closes
Public Record closes the entire 2026 Shakespeare for the City season at the Delacorte, and it only runs five nights. Past Public Works productions, including As You Like It and Twelfth Night, have drawn some of the strongest word of mouth of the Public Theater's summer season precisely because the people on stage are your neighbors, not just professional performers playing New Yorkers.
With the run ending September 8, this is the last chance to see it this year.