Hip to Hip, Sunnyside Gardens Park
July 31, 2014 By Michael Florio
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.
Hip to Hip Theatre Company, a non-profit arts organization that specializes in family friendly productions, will be bringing “Free Shakespeare in the Park” to Sunnyside and Long Island City this weekend and next.
The theater company will present Cymbeline, a fairy tale about the daughter of a King who marries against her father’s wishes, to Sunnyside Gardens Park on Friday, Aug. 1, at 7:30 p.m.
The company will then perform Two Gents, a slap-stick comedy about love and betrayal, at the same Sunnyside location the following Friday. It too will be held at 7:30 p.m.
The company will also be going to Long Island City where it will present Two Gents on the northern lawn of Gantry Plaza State Park on Saturday, Aug. 2, and then Cymbeline on Saturday, Aug. 9. Both shows will be at 7:30 p.m.
The theater company will also perform Two Gents at Socrates Sculpture Park on Sunday, August 3, and Cymbeline the following Sunday. Both events are at 5:o0 pm.
Many residents bring blankets and folding chairs to these events and pack something to eat. Hundreds of residents typically attend each show.
Hip to Hip theatre Company was founded in 2007 by Sunnyside residents Jason and Joy Marr, who started performing in Woodside’s Windmuller Park and Sunnyside’s All Saint’s Church.
The audience for these events continues to grow yearly, with approximately 6,000 people coming out to see the performances in 2013.
For more details, please click here.
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21 Comments
Yup, not good productions. Suggestions for anybody who likes good theater: The Queens Players; Shakespeare in the Parking Lot; The Secret Theatre; the Pearl Theatre. I didn’t know I had a twin! Good cop/bad cop! There is also a theatre on 8th Avenue near Uncle Vanya’s restaurant which sometimes has good productons and is inexpensive but can’t recall the name.
The production was fine for the price. The behavior of kids & parents was appalling. I will never understand why parents think this is a great show to bring little kids to. Guess what — Cymbeline’s entire plot is sex and violence. There are plenty of explicit sex jokes and a severed head. But even if it were G-rated, of course no five-year-old could sit still through two hours of Shakespeare.
Kids standing directly in front of other audience members who are seated on the ground, totally blocking their view. Kids screaming. Kids playing tag and soccer through the audience. Kids climbing onstage during the show. Kids yelling “WHEN’S THE SWORDFIGHT” for half the performance, then when it happens, bursting into screaming tears. Kids climbing across other people’s blankets and going through their stuff.
It isn’t cute or funny. Control your kids. If you don’t have the good judgment to avoid the show in the first place, then when it becomes obvious they can’t handle it, take them home. The pre-show is for kids. The main production is obviously not.
Anyone else getting the vibe that Julia Assange and Luvu2 are one and the same?
The director is very snotty and has told people they have no right go an opinion also very jealous of the secret theater in Lic which is far more professional I can’t take jealous theater people
Julia,
I like reading your posts and think your ‘username’ is really interesting.
I wonder why this particular issue gets you so riled up. So maybe it’s not up to the standards of Broadway or a well-funded highschool play, it’s still free and cool? Don’t be a Scrooge. Just ignore it if it bothers you, no? (I’m assuming you don’t actually attend.)
I would love to see any works or productions you are working on or any recommendations you may have in the arts world.
Thanks
And bring ear plugs for the kids who run on the “stage” while the parents ignore them.
@Nat anyone can go.
Anyone who does go, bring bug spray!!
@Julia
You can always ask for your money back if you don’t like the show.
Oh wait, it’s free.
Why would you want to see bad theater?
i see no people holding up iphones taking video. people are actually sitting and watching an event live, on the grass… no headphone in ears. what kind of sick demeneted event is this?? they confiscate iphones at the gate?
can anyone go to the show in sunnyside gardens park, or only if you’re lucky enough to be a member?
Congrats to the Marrs for keeping this going each year! Awesome, positive contribution to the community!
For those of you complaining about this perfectly fine, local theater group: if your standards are so high and your taste so refined, pony up the $$$ and take a trip to London to see the Royal shakespeare Company at the Barbican.
It’s free Shakespeare…in…in… Sunnyside for Christ’s sakes! There’s absolutely no need to be such a mean-spirited naysayer! Did you somehow magically transport yourself into the future and post from next Monday??!
Maybe we just have good taste!
All you haters are dicks.
“Order Viagra without Prescription” is what I am seeing as first line in this article on my reader…
events like this make Sunnyside a community and not just a convenient place to live.
Is she gaby cinnebar? Lol
Worst acting evah and arrogant to boot director has nerve to tell critics they have no right to opinion
Poorly acted and directed and the costumes are an eyesore. If you want to see good theater, go to the Secret Theatre in Long Island City. Even having Giborne Cinnabon, or whatever her name is, on the board won’t help them. (The lady who was in Precious).