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Inwood Shakespeare Fest May End 15-Year Run Due to Park Crowding

 The festival organizers may no longer be able to reserve space in Inwood Hill Park.
Inwood Shakespeare Festival
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INWOOD — It may be curtains for a long-running outdoor theater series in Inwood Hill Park due to an influx of visitors to the green space who the city may no longer clear out to accommodate the performances.

The Inwood Shakespeare Festival, now in its 15th year, offers audiences the chance to take in two of The Bard’s plays each summer for free in the park’s peninsula area. However, the show can't go on if the Parks Department doesn’t allow the theater group to clear the area of picnic-goers to set up before the plays, said festival director Ted Minos.

Minos said that traditionally he and other group members have come to the area a few hours before show time to clear the space with the help of Parks Department workers and set up for the performances, which kick off in June and run Wednesday through Saturday nights.

But this past Saturday, the final performance date of the season, Minos said a Parks Department supervisor informed him that may no longer be possible.

“He said if people are just sitting there and having a picnic, we can’t ask them to move because it’s a public space,” said Minos, who secures a permit each year from the Parks Department for use of the space.

Minos was surprised by the news, saying the Parks Department has always been very supportive of the festival. He added that clearing the area of people is essential to both setting up for the show and the performance itself.

“If you’re saying that we can’t ask people to move, it would make it absolutely impossible to set up for productions,” said Minos, noting that his group puts up a small stage, lights and a sound system for each performance. 

In addition, if the theater company can’t set aside a designated area for the audience, the actors would have to contend with sound from picnics and barbecues set up around the stage, he said.

Minos continued that use of that section of the park has become more contentious since the Parks Department opened it up to barbecuing about five years ago.

“What’s happened over time is that the amount of people has drastically increased and the element has changed,” he said, noting that park-goers now regularly throw parties with alcohol and amplified sound in that section.

Minos is not the only one to notice the changes.

Some residents have taken to community Facebook groups to complain about large parties on the park’s peninsula and messes that are left in the aftermath of these events.

If the theater group cannot get permission to clear the space, Minos said he couldn’t see a way to continue the performances.

“It would feel like going backwards,” he said, of having to share the space immediately around the stage with parties. “The community deserves more than going backwards. They deserve to go forward.”

When news of the possible end of the festival spread on Facebook, many commenters voiced their support for the program.

“It’s the only good thing on that peninsula in the summer since they seem so intent on ensuring it’s full of garbage every weekend A.M.," said Stephanie Diable Katz. "We need this program.”

A spokeswoman for the Parks Department said that because parks are shared spaces, the department does not prohibit public use during operating hours. However, she said that Parks does its best to accommodate the program on show nights.

"NYC Parks would gladly welcome another successful season of the Inwood Shakespeare Festival," spokeswoman Crystal Howard said, confirming that the group's permit would be renewed, but declining to say whether staff would continue to help reserve space for the shows. 

Parks Rangers are posted every Saturday to make sure the plays go undisturbed by music outside of the performance area, she said, adding that that practice would continue in future seasons.

"Ted Minos and the Moosehall Theatre Company have been great partners and we are grateful that they share their passion and talents with the Inwood Community," Howard said.