papp spent much of his career promoting his idea of free shakespeare in new york city. his 1956 production of "taming of the shrew", outdoors in the east river amphitheatre on new york's lower east side, was pivotal for papp, primarily because critic brooks atkinson endorsed papp's vision in "the new york times". actress colleen dewhurst, who played the leading character, kate, recalled the effect of this publicity (in an autobiography published posthumously as a collaboration with tom viola):