Smith Street Stage Celebrates 15 Years of Free Shakespeare With HENRY V All June Long

Celebrating fifteen years of making Shakespeare's classic stories new and accessible for Brooklyn audiences, Smith Street Stage, will return to Carroll Park this summer, June 5–29, with a bold new production of Henry V.

This milestone season brings a fresh and urgent take on one of Shakespeare's most powerful and most unsettling histories. Directed by Artistic Director Jonathan Hopkins, Henry V captures both the soaring ambition and the shadowed compromises of its legendary king. With a female actor, McLean Peterson, stepping into the crown, this production asks urgent questions about leadership, loyalty, and the fragile myths we build around power. Beginning with a chorus that speaks directly to the audience, Henry V invites viewers into a vast world of kingdoms, battlefields, and epic feats brought to life through words, performance, and the collective spirit that fills Carroll Park every summer night.

Though often remembered as a rousing call to patriotism, Henry V is, at its core, a reckoning with the fragility of power and the moral complexities of ambition. In an era of political spectacle, nationalism, and high-stakes leadership battles, its questions feel eerily current: What makes a good leader?
Can charisma excuse cruelty? Is victory worth it when the cost is high and the gains uncertain?
Rather than offering easy answers, Smith Street Stage's Henry V invites audiences to wrestle with these enduring questions—together.

“For fifteen years we've refined how to best present this author in this space and explored the multi-faceted nature of Shakespeare's plays and how they illuminate our present times,” says Hopkins. “So much of how we've worked feels like it leads up to this play, which addresses its own theatrical conventions to the audience before diving into a complicated look at a national crisis,” he continues. “This production of Henry V isn't just a celebration of a milestone—it's a reflection of how far we've come as artists, as a company, and as a community. It's a reminder that theater at its best invites people to imagine together, to wrestle with complexity together, and to find meaning together.”

What began in 2010 as a five-actor Romeo and Juliet, funded by a Shakespeare trivia night, has grown into one of Brooklyn's most beloved free summer traditions. Today, Smith Street Stage performs for thousands each season, supports a company of over 30 artists, and continues to deepen its ties to the Carroll Gardens community it calls home. Their unwavering commitment to making classical theater alive, accessible, and deeply human has, over fifteen years, transformed both the company and the neighborhood they serve. Fittingly, this year's production will feature 15 performances—one for each year Smith Street Stage has been part of Brooklyn's artistic landscape.

Smith Street Stage presents Henry V, June 7–29, Thursdays through Sundays at 7:30 p.m., with preview performances June 5 and 6. If needed, a rain-date performance will be held Wednesday, June 18.

A limited amount of seating will be provided, and guests are encouraged to bring chairs or blankets to set up near the stage. No reservations are required, and admission is FREE.