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Nude Shakespeare Coming to Prospect Park

 Actors Xila Noir, Erin Michelle, Max Arsenault in an all-female nude production of Shakespeare's
Actors Xila Noir, Erin Michelle, Max Arsenault in an all-female nude production of Shakespeare's "The Tempest" in Central Park. The show, by Torn Out Theater, will come to Prospect Park on Sept. 7, 8, 9 and 10.
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Charles Ardai

They're baring it all for the Bard.

An all-female theater group will perform William Shakespeare's "The Tempest" in the nude in Prospect Park next month as a way to bring a "body positive" message to the 400-year-old rom-com.

  Actresses Kara Lynn and Marisa Roper in Torn Out Theater's nude production of "The Tempest" in Central Park in May 2016. Credit: Valerie Pinkerton

Torn Out Theater will perform the full frontal production at 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 7, 8, 9 and 10 at the park's Music Pagoda. The same group performed "The Tempest" in the buff in Central Park in May.

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"In nearly all of his plays, Shakespeare touched in one way or another on the collision between old and new, ordinary and radical," said director Pitr Strait. "His final play is no exception. Because of that, 'The Tempest' will always speak to an audience ready for new ideas. We hope our audience will leave our 'Tempest' as transformed as our characters."

  Actresses Layne Tisdel Martin, Sarah Sutliff, Suzannah Gratz and Clara Kundin in Torn Out Theater's all-female production of "The Tempest" in Central Park in May 2016. Credit: Valerie Pinkerton

The nudity will help uncover the play's themes of identity and liberation, and "builds on a long tradition of free expression in theatrical productions held in outdoor settings," organizers said in announcing the show. Shows in Central Park such as "Hair" and "Henry V" featured "full nudity in a similarly artistic, non-sexual context," organizers said.

The May production of "The Tempest" in Central Park was produced in association with The Outdoor Co-ed Topless Pulp Fiction Appreciation Society, a reading club that hosts al fresco reading sessions for shirtless women.

All performances of "The Tempest" in Prospect Park are free, with no tickets required. For more information click here.