04/03/2025

Citizens Announces Multi-Year Partnership with The Public Theater as Presenting Partner of Shakespeare For The City

Citizens’ first major arts partnership in New York expands access to world-class theater across all five boroughs

New York, NY (April 3, 2025) – New Yorkers will enjoy expanded access to free programming under a multi-year partnership between Citizens and The Public Theater, the bank announced today. Citizens will serve as the Presenting Partner of Shakespeare for the City, the Theater’s free summer programming that brings world-class performances to audiences across New York City. Citizens’ support will help expand access to The Public’s celebrated productions, including Free Shakespeare in the Park’s Twelfth Night at the newly revitalized Delacorte Theater, the Mobile Unit’s Much Ado About Nothing touring across all five boroughs, and Public Works’ Pericles at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.

“Free Shakespeare in the Park is a beloved tradition that brings people together to celebrate the creativity, diversity, and vibrancy that make New York City so special,” said Rebecca O’Connell, NYC Metro Market President at Citizens. We look forward to working with The Public Theater to support its summer programming and help expand access so that more communities can experience the magic of live theater.”

Bringing Theater to All New Yorkers

As part of its support of Free Shakespeare in the Park, Citizens’ sponsorship will help ensure more New Yorkers than ever before can experience these iconic performances. Free ticket distribution at borough partner sites will begin on Friday, August 8, and continue through September 14 at select Citizens branches and other community locations. Details will be announced in April, and performance calendars can be found at PublicTheater.org.

“We believe that culture belongs to everyone, and Citizens shares that commitment to community-first access,” said Patrick Willingham, Executive Director of The Public Theater. “Reopening The Delacorte Theater is a tremendous milestone in a summer full of programming for audiences in all five boroughs. ‘Shakespeare for the City’ represents our mission to keep Shakespeare’s work free and accessible to every New Yorker, forever.”

Summer 2025 Free Programming Highlights

  • Mobile Unit’s Much Ado About Nothing – Celebrating its 15th anniversary, The Public Theater’s acclaimed Mobile Unit will tour a free production of Much Ado About Nothing, directed by Rebecca Martinez, across NYC’s public plazas, parks, and landmarks from May 29 to June 29. Performance locations will be announced on April 15.
  • Public Works’ Pericles – This beloved program unites professional artists and community members to present a choral adaptation of Pericles, with music and lyrics by Troy Anthony and direction by Carl Cofield. Performances will run from August 28 to September 2 at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.
  • Free Shakespeare in the Park’s Twelfth Night – Following an extensive revitalization, The Delacorte Theater will reopen in Summer 2025 with Twelfth Night, directed by Tony Award nominee Saheem Ali and featuring Public Theater alumni Khris Davis, Peter Dinklage, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Lupita Nyong’o, Sandra Oh, and Daphne Rubin-Vega, alongside Public debuts from Junior Nyong’o, b, and Moses Sumney.

Citizens’ Commitment to New York City

Since expanding into New York in 2022, Citizens has been committed to becoming part of the city’s fabric, building partnerships that expand economic opportunity, invest in workforce development, and celebrate the culture, resilience, and entrepreneurial spirit of New Yorkers. Through collaborations with organizations like New York Road Runners, Queens Night Market, LISC, Pursuit, and New York Restoration Project, Citizens is dedicated to helping create a stronger, more vibrant future for the city.

By partnering with The Public Theater, Citizens is proud to support one of New York’s most treasured cultural institutions and ensure that the power of live theater remains accessible to all.

ABOUT CITIZENS:

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. is one of the nation’s oldest and largest financial institutions, with $217.5 billion in assets as of December 31, 2024. Headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, Citizens offers a broad range of retail and commercial banking products and services to individuals, small businesses, middle-market companies, large corporations and institutions. Citizens helps its customers reach their potential by listening to them and by understanding their needs in order to offer tailored advice, ideas and solutions. In Consumer Banking, Citizens provides an integrated experience that includes mobile and online banking, a full-service customer contact center and the convenience of approximately 3,100 ATMs and approximately 1,000 branches in 14 states and the District of Columbia. Consumer Banking products and services include a full range of banking, lending, savings, wealth management and small business offerings. In Commercial Banking, Citizens offers a broad complement of financial products and solutions, including lending and leasing, deposit and treasury management services, foreign exchange, interest rate and commodity risk management solutions, as well as loan syndication, corporate finance, merger and acquisition, and debt and equity capital markets capabilities. More information is available at www.citizensbank.com or visit us on X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn or Facebook.

ABOUT THE PUBLIC THEATER:

THE PUBLIC continues the work of its visionary founder Joe Papp as a civic institution engaging, both on-stage and off, with some of the most important ideas and social issues of today. Conceived over 60 years ago as one of the nation’s first nonprofit theaters, The Public has long operated on the principles that theater is an essential cultural force and that art and culture belong to everyone. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Patrick Willingham, The Public’s wide breadth of programming includes an annual season of new work at its landmark home at Astor Place, Free Shakespeare in the Park at The Delacorte Theater in Central Park, the Mobile Unit touring throughout New York City’s five boroughs, Public Lab, Public Works, Public Shakespeare Initiative, and Joe’s Pub. Since premiering HAIR in 1967, The Public continues to create the canon of American Theater and is currently represented on Broadway by the Tony Award-winning musicals Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Hell’s Kitchen by Alicia Keys and Kristoffer Diaz. Their programs and productions can also be seen regionally across the country and around the world. The Public has received 64 Tony Awards, 194 Obie Awards, 62 Drama Desk Awards, 61 Lortel Awards, 36 Outer Critic Circle Awards, 13 New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards, 65 AUDELCO Awards, 6 Antonyo Awards, and 6 Pulitzer Prizes. publictheater.org The Public Theater stands in honor of the first inhabitants and our ancestors. We acknowledge the land on which The Public and its theaters stand—the original homeland of the Lenape people. We acknowledge the painful history of genocide and forced removal from this territory. We honor the generations of stewards and we pay our respects to the many diverse indigenous peoples still connected to this land.