Bare Bard: Torn Out Theater’s Nude, All-Male ‘Hamlet’ At Prospect Park

After showcasing a well-received, all-female, nude production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest in Prospect Park last summer, Torn Out Theater will present an all-male, nude Hamlet in August.

While the mission of Torn Out’s production of The Tempest was to project body positivity and normalize the nude female form through themes of identity and liberation found in the play, Hamlet will “turn its eye to the fraught, complex world of male body image,” and question “how the male body is perceived in America today,” the theater company’s website states.

Founded by Pitr Strait and Alice Mottola in August 2016, Torn Out Theater produces projects that “push the boundaries of how we see the human body and what we assume about modern sexuality.”

The company takes classics and creates unique experiences for audiences—to raise questions about society and “navigate a culture where private and public blur together, where the shocking and common trade places, and where magic is real.”

Following Torn Out’s production of The Tempest last year, debates were sparked about nudity and society’s attitudes toward male and female bodies—inspiring Torn Out to give the guys a chance to bare all for the sake of art this summer.

Hamlet
Presented by Torn Out Theater
Prospect Park, The Music Pagoda
Thursday – Saturday, August 10, 11, 12 at 5:30pm
Sunday, August 13 at 2pm
Free