Lily Rabe, Hamish Linklater & John Lithgow to Headline The Public Theater's 2014 Shakespeare in the Park Season

Tony nominee Lily Rabe, Hamish Linklater and Tony winner John Lithgow will headline The Public Theater’s line-up for the 2014 free Shakespeare in the Park season at the Delacorte Theater. Rabe and Linklater will star as Beatrice and Benedick respectively in Much Ado About Nothing. Lithgow will play the titular role in King Lear.

Helmed by Jack O’Brien, Much Ado About Nothing will run June 3 through July 6. Rabe’s Broadway credits include Seminar, The Merchant of Venice (for which she received a Tony nomination), The American Plan, Heartbreak House and Steel Magnolias. Her screen credits include All Good Things, No Reservations, Mona Lisa Smile, American Horror Story, The Good Wife and Nip/Tuck. Her upcoming films include Pawn Sacrifice and Mockingjay. Linklater’s stage credits include Seminar, The Comedy of Errors, Twelfth Night, Hamlet and The School for Lies. His screen credits include 42, The Angriest Man in Brooklyn, Battleship, The Future, The Crazy Ones ,The Good Wife, The Newsroom, The Big C and the upcoming Magic in the Moonlight.

Directed by Daniel Sullivan, King Lear will play July 22 through August 17. Lithgow received Tony awards for his performances in Sweet Smell of Success and The Changing Room. His other Broadway credits include My Fat Friend, Comedians, Anna Christie, Once in a Lifetime, Spokesong, Bedroom Farce, Requiem for a Heavyweight, The Front Page, M. Butterfly, Beyond Therapy, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, All My Sons and The Columnist. His screen credits include All That Jazz, Terms of Endearment, Footloose, Shrek, This Is 40 and Dexter.

This summer marks the 52nd year of free theater in Central Park.