free & dirt cheap con't.

The Public Theater is of course not the only summer Shakespeare in NYC. Care to guess how many free productions each New York summer sees? No. Guessing is annoying. Just tell us. I don't find it annoying. I find it kind of fun. Well, that's you. To a T. Fine. 8. The answer is 8. Eight free summer Shakespeares! Just 8? Okay, there's 9. But you irritated me so I thought I would cross you up. Jesus, the heat. I'm all punchy.

Here's your Shakespeares, on top of the Papp:

Shakespeare in the Park(ing) Lot Ludlow St., between Broome and Delancey sts. [tel] 212/877-0099. July–Aug Thurs–Sat 8pm. Subway: F to Delancey St.; J/M/Z to Essex St.

Boomerang Theatre Riverside, Central, and Prospect parks. [tel] 212/501‑4069.

Hudson Warehouse Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, Riverside Park, 89th St. at Riverside Dr. [tel] 212/560-6579. Subway: 1 to 86th St., 2/3 to 96th St.

Inwood Shakespeare Festival Inwood Hill Park Peninsula, Isham St. at Seaman Ave. [tel] 917/918-0394. Subway: A to 207th St.; 1 to 215th St.

Piper Theatre Productions J.J. Bryne Park, 3rd St. at Fifth Ave., Park Slope, Brooklyn. [tel] 718/768-3195. Subway: F/M/R to 9^th St./Fourth Ave.

Shakespeare on the Hudson Clinton Cove, 55th St. at the Hudson. [tel] 212/757-0981. 1/A/B/C/D to 59th St./Columbus Circle.

New York Classical Theatre[tel] 212/252‑4531. Usually 3 plays per summer, no tickets or reservations required. June–Aug Thurs–Sun 7pm. Subway: B/C to 103rd St. Battery Park. Check website for showtimes. Subway: 4/5 to Bowling Green; R/W to Whitehall; 1 to South Ferry.

Your 9th bonus pick is http://dziecitheatre.org/, which can be found at the 6B Garden this Friday night, doing Makbet.

Admittedly, some of this stuff can be fairly marginal, but that Makbet looks freaky, and Castle Clinton is a great backdrop for the NYCT stuff. Big City Mom would be remiss to not at least stop by the Hudson Warehouse production. I of course will be paying cold hard cash for my next summer Shakespeare, but that's just 'cause I'm classy that way.