News: Shakespeare Downtown Celebrates 10 Seasons of Free Performances with “Uncle Vanya,” June 11–21

Billie Andersson, Juan Pablo Toro, Evan Olson, Scarlett Strasberg. Photo by Amy Goossens.
Lower Manhattan’s Shakespeare Downtown  is celebrating its 10th season of free performances with Geoffrey Horne’s translation of Uncle Vanya - Anton Chekhov’s timeless tragicomedy of longing, frustration, and fading dreams, performed within the open-air stone walls of Castle Clinton National Monument June 11–21, 2026. Free tickets are available at the door beginning at 5:45 p.m. on the day of each performance.
 
In Uncle Vanya, love, regret, and the quiet ache of unrealized lives simmers beneath the surface of a crumbling 1800s Russian country estate. As a family and their restless visitors collide over long-held frustrations and unexpected passions, this timeless masterwork unfolds with dark humor and piercing heartbreak.

Uncle Vanya is directed and translated by Geoffrey Horne, who studied acting and directing with Lee Strasberg, became a member of the Actors Studio, and is influenced by directors Elia Kazan and Arthur Penn. He was in the first Actors Studio production, Strange Interlude, with Geraldine Page and Jane Fonda. He also studied Shakespeare with John Barton. He worked with directors Harold Clurman, Jose Quintero, and John Houseman in the theatre, and Delbert Mann and Sidney Lumet in television. He appeared on television in “The Hitchcock Hour,” “The Outer Limits,” and “The Twilight Zone.” He was in “The Bridge on the River Kwai,” “Bonjour Tristesse,” and “The Tempest.” Horne worked with directors Michelangelo Antonioni, Otto Preminger, David Lean, James Bridges, Roger Vadim, and Mike Nichols as assistant to the director. He did many plays on and Off-Broadway, including Stephen Sondheim’s “Merrily We Roll Along.” Horne studied at Stanford University and graduated from U.C. Berkeley. He is the co-founder of Shakespeare Downtown.

Uncle Vanya features Billie Andersson (Yelena Andreevna Serebryakova), Karl Bateman (Ilya Ilyich Telegin), Narque Cyriaque (Yefim/Hired Man), Timothy Nolan (Aleksandr Vladimirovich Serebryakov), Evan Olson (Ivan Petrovich Voynitsky "Vanya"), Elizabeth Ruf (Maria Vasilyevna Voynitskaya), Scarlett Strasberg (Sofya Alexandrovna Serebryakova "Sonya"), Juan Pablo Toro (Mikhail Lvovich Astrov), and Chantal Van Zyl (Marina Timofeevna).

Set and costume Design is by Amy Goossens, lighting design is by G. Scott Designs, Inc., sound design is by Carlos Ponce, and the Production Stage Manager is Chantal Van Zyl. 

Performances are:
6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 11
6:30 p.m. Friday, June 12
6:30 p.m. Saturday, June 13
6:30 p.m. Sunday, June 14
6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 18
6:30 p.m. Friday, June 19
6:30 p.m. Saturday, June 20
6:30 p.m. Sunday, June 21

RUNNING TIME: 120 minutes, no intermission.

All performances are at the Castle Clinton National Monument, The Battery (Battery Park) New York, NY 10004

Free tickets are available the day of the performance at Castle Clinton starting at 5:45 p.m.

Uncle Vanya is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

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