‘Shakespeare in the Parking Lot’ Debuts Thursday with New Venue at the CSV Center

This image has been archived or removed.

Shakespeare in the Parking Lot rehearsal, July 2015

If Essex Crossing is the greedy landlord, then “Shakespeare in the Parking Lot” could be considered the harassed rent regulated tenant. The long-running troupe – the Drilling Company – spent twenty seasons entertaining locals in the former municipal car park at Ludlow and Broome Streets. That run ended with a performance of Othello last August, one that was overshadowed by imminent development.

The community feared the worst, thinking it impossible to find another location in kind with its name. Luckily, however, the thespians shacked up with an organization more sympathetic to the arts, ushering in a new chapter for Shakespeare in the Parking Lot. The Clemente Soto Velez Center and its enormous rear lot.

This image has been archived or removed.

Essex Crossing Site 1, former home of “Shakespeare in the Parking Lot”

The 2015 summer season kicks off this Thursday (July 9) with a rendition of As You Like It directed by Hamilton Clancy; it runs through July 26. Macbeth takes the torch four days later for shows through August 15, directed by Jesse Ontiveros.

Meanwhile, a drilling company of another sort has taken up residence in its former HQ at SPURA Lot 1. The parcel is headlong into development mode, and will eventually birth a 14-story condo tower with luxury bowling alley and condos. Essex Crossing has plunged the area into a war zone for the next decade.