Celebrating 30 Years of Shakespeare on the Common

By Ricardo Rodriguez

Some traditions earn their place in a city. Free Shakespeare on the Common is one of them. On April 11, I attended the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company's annual gala, "What a Dream!" at The Newbury Boston, an evening celebrating CSC's 30th anniversary season, and left feeling exactly the way I always do after spending time with this organization: grateful to be part of it, and more convinced than ever that what they have built here matters.

I have supported CSC for more than 15 years. Over that time, I have had the privilege of serving as a Gala Co-Chair on multiple occasions alongside Michael Kelley, and in 2025, CSC honored me with the Philanthropic Visionary Award, a recognition that meant more to me for what it represented than for the award itself: a shared belief that the arts are not a supplement to a city's life. They are part of its foundation.

The April 11 gala was chaired by Paul and Melissa Karger, Alex and Lianne Leventhal, and Melissa Steffy and Jean-Rémy Behaeghel, and brought together CSC's community for an evening of performances, a live auction, and celebration of everything this organization has sustained across three decades. It was a night that reflected the warmth and ambition that has always defined this community.

In the summer of 1996, CSC Founding Artistic Director Steven Maler collaborated with the City of Boston, the Boston Parks and Recreation Department, and the Mayor's Office for Cultural Affairs to bring a free outdoor production of A Midsummer Night's Dream to Copley Square. Ed Siegel of the Boston Globe described it as "fully engaging, with one of the most diverse audiences ever seen in Boston" and the Globe named it one of the top ten productions of the year. Maler received the Elliot Norton Award for his direction.

The following summer, CSC moved to the Parkman Bandstand on Boston Common, where it has performed every summer since. Over nearly three decades on that stage, the company has brought Richard III, King Lear, Hamlet, Twelfth Night, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and more than twenty other productions to the people of this city, free of charge. More than one million audience members have come through over its history, with between 50,000 and 100,000 people attending each season.

This summer, CSC returns to A Midsummer Night's Dream, the same play, the same Common, directed once again by Steven Maler. The play that launched all of this, coming back to mark 30 years of it. It will run at the Parkman Bandstand in partnership with the City of Boston, Mayor Michelle Wu, Boston Parks and Recreation, and the Mayor's Office of Arts and Culture. Free, as it has always been, to anyone who wants to come.

I have lived in Boston for more than 30 years. I have watched this city through every kind of market and moment, and certain things have remained constant in what makes it worth loving. Free Shakespeare on the Common is one of them.

What CSC has done for 30 years is make world-class theater genuinely accessible. No ticket required, no barrier, just the Parkman Bandstand on a summer night and Shakespeare performed at the highest level. Supporting this work has never felt like a separate activity from the work I do in real estate. Both are rooted in the same thing: a belief in this city, in the people who live here, and in the institutions that make it worth calling home.

Boston has given me everything: my career, my community, my life. Congratulations to Steven Maler, to the entire CSC company, and to everyone who has kept this tradition alive and extraordinary for 30 years. Here’s to many more summers on the Common.

Reach out to Ricardo Rodriguez & Associates to learn more about life in Boston and what it means to be truly invested in this city. You can also watch our post on Instagram.