Lupita Nyong’o, Peter Dinklage, Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Sandra Oh have been cast in Shakespeare in the Park‘s summer 2025 production of Twelfth Night.
The show will mark the return of the Public Theater‘s summertime mainstay after an overhaul of its Central Park home, the Decacorte Theater. For decades, the Public has offered productions of Shakespeare and sometimes other classics at no charge to audience members willing to start lining up many hours before curtain time.
Saheem Ali, The Public’s Associate Artistic Director and Resident Director and a Tony Award nominee, is directing the production. Dinklage is playing Malvolio; Ferguson will be Andrew Aguecheeck; Nyong’o is playing Viola; and Oh is Olivia. Additional casting and details of the creative team will be announced this fall, the Public said.
The Delacorte is being significantly upgraded in the $110 million renovation, its first since it opened in 1962. Its seating capacity will remain at 1,872 but the seats themselves will be enhanced, along with extensive improvements to lighting, audio and the backstage area, as well as better wheelchair access and repositioned bathrooms.
The 2025 production of Twelfth Night will be the seventh go-round for the comedy at the Delacorte.
The production was initially announced in May when the Public revealed its full roster of 2024-25 shows.
“Twelfth Night is the epitome of joy,” Ali said in a statement. “It also happens to be the first production I ever saw at the Delacorte, as a college student taking the Chinatown bus from Boston. I’m delighted to be reuniting with my dear friend Lupita Nyong’o, joined by fellow Public Theater alums Peter Dinklage, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and Sandra Oh. Shakespeare in the Park is a gift to our city. I’m honored to be helming this production as we reopen The Delacorte after an extensive and essential revitalization.”