Photo of the Day: ‘Shakespeare in the Park,’ Indeed!

I’ve seen productions of the Bard in all kinds of places in North America: in Washington, DC, the Berkshires of Massachusetts, Staunton, Va., Madison, NJ, and even in Canada, in Stratford and Vancouver. But, despite its illustrious history since its founding by Joseph Papp, I’ve never gotten around to Shakespeare in the Park. So I’m afraid that this statue of William Shakespeare, by the eminent 19^th-century sculptor John Quincy Adams Ward, is the closest I’ll get to that Central Park institution.

I took this photograph while I was strolling through Central Park late one afternoon this spring. This bronze statue is one of several dedicated to authors along what has become known as “Literary Walk” in the southern end of the park’s mall (other authors there include Sir Walter Scott and Robert Burns).