The Drilling Company’s annual production of Shakespeare in the Parking Lot is moving to the Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center (CSV). After 20 summers in the municipal parking lot at Ludlow and Broome streets, the quirky theatrical happening was displaced by Essex Crossing, the large development project breaking ground this summer.
This year’s performances will take place in the parking lot at 114 Norfolk St., located behind the local arts center. Hamilton Clancy, the company’s artistic director told the New York Times that he stumbled across the space while walking around the neighborhood in search of a new home. “We’re committed to the Lower East Side, because that’s where the heart of our audience was,” he explained.
This year’s productions include “As You Like It” (July 9 to 26) and “Macbeth” (July 30 to August 15). “The Drilling Company,” Clancy said, “is looking forward eagerly to establishing another island of adventure and creativity in the shadow of CSV, which is, itself, a home to much creative theater on the Lower East Side.”
The Ludlow Street parcel is the future home of 55 condominium apartments, a bowling alley/entertainment complex and a community facility still to be determined. The Andy Warhol Museum recently backed out of a commitment to build an annex on the site.
The public parking lot is set to close by the middle of this month.
