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This open-air performance venue hosts The Public Theater’s “Shakespeare in the Park” series of free, crowd-pleasing and often celebrity-studded summer theater. Imagine Kristen Johnston, Jimmy Smits, and Sam Waterston in Much Ado About Nothing; Patrick Stewart in The Tempest; or Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Natalie Portman, and Philip Seymour Hoffman in The Seagull (in this case, Chekov, not Shakespeare). Built in 1962 as a “temporary structure,” the Delacorte has definitively established itself as a park fixture over the last four decades. Surely Shakespeare is that much more spectacular with the stars and Turtle Pond for a backdrop, and the horseshoe-shaped seating allows for a universally clear view of the stage. — Raven Snook