The Delacorte Theater is the summer home of the Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival. Fueled by philanthropy and royalties from certain Broadway hits,  the Public Theater has brought great open-air theater free to New Yorkers each summer.  All you need is the patience to wait in line for a ticket — a process that has become a New York tradition. The Public Theater also distributes tickets from its Astor Place home downtown at 425 Lafayette Street.