As big-name cultural institutions from the City Opera to the 92nd Street Y jockey for a place—and for money—in the revitalization of Downtown, a lone Battery Park City resident is vying for a home for the biggest name of all.

Shakespeare.

Ron Destro, an actor, director, playwright and teacher, sees it now—an Elizabethan playhouse in Lower Manhattan, where Shakespeare plays and other classics will be performed year-round, and young Oliviers and Gielguds can be trained by masters. There would be a drama academy, a resident acting company, a museum, and a research center, all devoted to Shakespeare, as well as an Elizabethan-style tavern. Destro can even see all the details, right down to the “wenches serving mead,” he quipped.

		Destro has yet to raise a penny for his “Oxford Shakespeare Centre,” but during an interview in his apartment on South End Avenue, where he moved with his wife, Siching Song, in January, he sweeps aside any doubts about whether his dream will get built. “People say, ‘Who is going to come to this? Is there a big enough audience?’” Edging forward on the couch, Destro seems ready to leap up and launch into a Hamlet soliloquy. “I think there’s an audience out there,” he says. “The new Globe is the second-biggest tourist attraction in London!” The 46-year-old Destro, who has studied with directors from the Royal Shakespeare Company,
is a Shakespeare fanatic. An entire bookcase in his living room is filled with works by or about the bard—the plays, in multiple editions, the sonnets, numerous critical essays—and paraphernalia, from a signed photo of Laurence Olivier as Hamlet to the bust of a dog labeled “Shakespaniel.” In particular, Destro is obsessed with the debate over the playwright’s identity (he’s in the Earl of Oxford camp), and he now divides his days between writing a film script on the authorship question and developing the Shakespeare center. Destro envisions a round theater similar to London’s historic Globe, with a thrust stage, an audience around three sides and three tiers of seats. “I’ve seen so many Shakespeare plays performed in these awful modern sterile theaters,” he says. “Let’s give people the feeling of being in an Elizabethan theater. I think it’s the best way to experience a Shakespeare play. It makes the work come alive in a different way.” Destro estimates that he will need $5 to $10 million for the venture, depending on the costs of renting or buying a building and doing construction. Lower Manhattan would be a perfect fit, Destro says, because it is the oldest part of town. Last month he was in discussions with a landlord about a building near historic Stone Street, at the southern end of the Financial District. He has also spoken to the city about renting space on a Lower Manhattan pier. What he has so far, he proudly points out, are endorsements from such thespians as Michael York, Judi Dench, F. Murray Abraham and Maggie Smith, and words of encouragement from elected officials and cultural leaders. “It’s a wonderful idea,” says Liz Thompson, director of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, who has discussed the project with Destro. “He’s very realistic about creating the combination of a popular attraction and good art.” “I think we would be an asset to any neighborhood, a magnet,” Destro said. This is Shakespeare! It’s a no-brainer.”