REFLECTING ON THE ’17-18 SEASON
HAIR TURNS
There are many values that define The Public’s work, but none more ingrained and inalienable than this: we believe that theater MATTERS because democracy MATTERS – that theater is the essential art form of democracy. We know this because theater and democracy were born of the same breath, in the same place and time, and because they require the same foundational agreements: that truth is best discovered through the conflict of ideas, that the emotional muscle of empathy is a necessary tool, and that the ultimate goal is to create a more connected community where everyone has a voice. Each year as we put together a season of work, we hold these agreements at the fore – and we ask questions. What conflicts are most alive in our world, and what new truths can we glean? Our answers start with our artists: with Julia Cho struggling to make sense of America’s epidemic of gun violence in OFFICE HOUR. With Sarah Burgess interrogating the slippery ethics of money in government in KINGS. With Bruce Norris unsnarling the history of financial systems in THE LOW ROAD, and with David Ireland training a hard lens on the absurd horrors of tribalism in CYPRUS AVENUE. With Quiara Alegría Hudes sharing, through a constellation of hurting, hoping characters, the very human toll of vacillatory and punitive immigration systems in MISS YOU LIKE HELL. And who better to expand our understanding of truth than Lynn Nottage, whose MLIMA’S TALE showed us how an originating sin like ivory poaching stains every system and community it touches. We ask soul-deep questions about empathy, about who we reserve it for and who we leave out. Who do we turn to for stories that will bring us closer to our humanity? The answer must be Luis Alfaro, whose OEDIPUS EL REY brought Sophocles’ tragedy of circumstance and fate into ringing resonance with Latinx stories. It must be Elevator Repair Service and Ruben Santiago-Hudson, whose MEASURE FOR MEASURE and OTHELLO both helped us hear new music inside plays whose songs we have sung for centuries. And it must certainly be Daniel Alexander Jones, who gave us BLACK LIGHT, and Nia Vardalos, who returned with her adaptation of Cheryl Strayed’s TINY BEAUTIFUL THINGS – both of which proposed stunning intimacy as a path to revelation and revival. And we ask questions about how to truly stand as a theater of, by, and for all people. How can we make our stages feel more like genuine reflections of our city, and help our city feel more connected to our stages? Rinne Groff’s FIRE IN DREAMLAND helped us see Coney Island anew, illuminating how its pleasures, madness, devastations, and rebirths echo the life of all of New York. Our Mobile Unit helped us celebrate the fullness of our neighborhoods, and every tour stop of Robert O’Hara’s HENRY V and Lee Sunday Evans’ THE WINTER’S TALE – be it park or prison – was a thread of connectivity helping weave us closer to the fabric of the city we share. And when hundreds of New Yorkers took the stage at the Delacorte in Shaina Taub and Laurie Woolery’s glorious Public Works adaptation of AS YOU LIKE IT, we got a sense of what it might feel like to be one public. Democracy was created as a means to ensure that the power and responsibility of governance belongs to all, and 2,500 years later Joe Papp showed us that a thriving democracy so too demands that culture belong to everyone. The pillars of The Public Theater are promises: Free Shakespeare in the Park, a commitment to sharing our greatest wealth freely; and our downtown home at Astor Place, which last season celebrated its 50th anniversary, an offering of space and amplification for new voices. Richard Nelson’s ILLYRIA gave us a glimpse into those early days of The Public, and the bumpy, fraught path that led to Free Shakespeare in the Park. And watching, we wondered: as Joe Papp prepared to mount TWELFTH NIGHT in 1958, could he have imagined Public Works and the radically inclusive TWELFTH NIGHT to come? Could he have foreseen that 60 years later, hundreds of citizens from his beloved New York would fill the stage at Free Shakespeare in the Park, offering their show as a gift freely given to their city? We hope so. Because to us, the stewards of that vision, it feels very much like a promise fulfilled.
Arielle Tepper Board Chair
Oskar Eustis Artistic Director
Pictured: Oskar Eustis, Arielle Tepper, and Patrick Willingham, photo by Simon Luethi.
Pictured: Allison Case in HAIR, photo by Joan Marcus.
Patrick Willingham Executive Director
– A.O. SCOTT, THE NEW YORK TIMES
1,521 18,221 2,095 FREE TICKETS DISTRIBUTED FOR SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK
6, 6 27 2,553 ARTISTS EMPLOYED
MEMBERS
209
PUBLIC THEATER PARTNERS, YOUNG PARTNERS, AND MAJOR DONORS
2,230
FULL TIME STAFF
FREE SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK TICKETS DISTRIBUTED IN NYC’S OUTER BOROUGHS & THROUGH PUBLIC WORKS’ COMMUNITIX PROGRAM
46
381,237 1,748 8
FREE FIRST PREVIEW TICKETS DISTRIBUTED
TICKETS SOLD
PUBLIC SUPPORTERS
PERFORMANCES
AWARDS
NOMINATIONS
Pictured: Jomama Jones in BLACK LIGHT, photo by Joan Marcus.
SEASON AFTER SEASON, THE PUBLIC IS A WHIRRING CAROUSEL OF DIVERSE, AMBITIOUS AND POLITICALLY URGENT THEATER.
92,130
While camped out in The Public’s conference room experimenting with new ways to represent text visually on stage, the ERS artistic team developed a new projection technique that proved a core inspiration for their remarkable production of Shakespeare’s most distressing tragicomedy, MEASURE FOR MEASURE.
MEASURE
FOR MEASURE
SEPTEMBER 17 – NOVEMBER 12, 2017 WRITTEN BY William Shakespeare CREATED AND PERFORMED BY Elevator Repair Service DIRECTED BY John Collins FEATURING Rinne Groff, Lindsay Hockaday, Maggie Hoffman, Mike Iveson, Vin Knight, April Matthis, Gavin Price, Greig Sargeant, Scott Shepherd, Pete Simpson, and Susie Sokol SET DESIGNER: Jim Findlay COSTUME DESIGNER: Kaye Voyce LIGHTING DESIGNERS: Mark Barton & Ryan Seelig SOUND DESIGNER: Gavin Price PROJECTION DESIGNER: Eva Von Schweinitz SPECIALTY & PROP DESIGNER: Amanda Villalobos TELEPROMPTER SOFTWARE DESIGNER: Scott Shepherd PRODUCTION MANAGER: David Nelson ERS PRODUCER: Ariana Smart Truman PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER: Maurina Lioce ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER: Spencer Armstrong The creation of interactive digital tools to modulate the tempo of the performance was supported by a Magic Grant from the David and Helen Gurley Brown Institute for Media Innovation.
Pictured: Reza Salazar, Brian Quijada, Juan Castano, and Joel Perez in OEDIPUS EL REY, photo by Joan Marcus.
Eager to adapt the book Tiny Beautiful Things for the stage, Nia Vardalos reached out to author Cheryl Strayed via Direct Message on Twitter. This social media connection proved fruitful: Vardalos’s adaptation debuted in The Public’s Shiva Theater in 2016 and was so successful that the production was immediately remounted the following season in our largest house, the Newman Theater, so more audiences could experience this moving show.
WINTER
FALL
WE DEDICATE THE 2017-2018 ASTOR PLACE SEASON TO MICHAEL FRIEDMAN.
ENCORE ENGAGEMENT
TINY BEAUTIFUL
NEW YORK PREMIERE Luis Alfaro developed OEDIPUS EL REY, a powerful adaptation of the classic Greek tragedy that opens in a modern-day Los Angeles prison, based on extensive conversations and interviews with formerly incarcerated people. The play was produced at The Public in collaboration with The Sol Project, a national theater initiative to amplify Latinx playwrights.
TINY BEAUTIFUL THINGS was made possible with the generous support of The Edgerton Foundation New Play Award and The Ted and Mary Jo Shen Charitable Gift Fund.
REY
OCTOBER 3 – DECEMBER 3, 2017 WRITTEN BY Luis Alfaro DIRECTED BY Chay Yew IN COLLABORATION WITH The Sol Project FEATURING Juan Castano, Sandra Delgado, Julio Monge, Joel Perez, Brian Quijada, Reza Salazar, and Juan Francisco Villa SCENIC DESIGN: Riccardo Hernandez COSTUME DESIGN: Anita Yavich LIGHTING DESIGN: Lap Chi Chu ORIGINAL MUSIC & SOUND DESIGN: Fabian Obispo FIGHT & INTIMACY DIRECTOR: UnkleDave’s Fight-House PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER: Buzz Cohen STAGE MANAGER: Janelle Caso
OFFICE
HOUR
OCTOBER 17 – DECEMBER 3, 2017 WRITTEN BY Julia Cho DIRECTED BY Neel Keller FEATURING Greg Keller, Sue Jean Kim, Ki Hong Lee, and Adeola Role SCENIC DESIGN: Takeshi Kata COSTUME DESIGN: Kaye Voyce LIGHTING DESIGN: Christopher Akerlind ORIGINAL MUSIC & SOUND DESIGN: Bray Poor FIGHT DIRECTOR: Sordelet Ink PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER: Jennifer Rae Moore STAGE MANAGER: Jenny Kennedy WORLD PREMIERE PLAY
An intimate portrait of a young Joe Papp and the early years of the New York Shakespeare Festival, Richard Nelson’s ILLYRIA was an ideal play to celebrate The Public’s 50th Anniversary at Astor Place. In keeping with the spirit of Papp’s vision and the ongoing tradition of Free Shakespeare in the Park, The Public offered free tickets for every performance of the show. 3,373 audience members were able to attend ILLYRIA entirely for free through this program.
ILLYRIA
OCTOBER 22 – DECEMBER 10 , 2017 WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY Richard Nelson FEATURING Rosie Benton, Will Brill, Kristen Connolly, Blake DeLong, Emma Duncan, Naian González Norvind, Fran Kranz, John Magaro, John Sanders, and Max Woertendyke SCENIC DESIGN: Susan Hilferty & Jason Ardizzone-West COSTUME DESIGN: Susan Hilferty LIGHTING DESIGN: Jennifer Tipton SOUND DESIGN: Scott Lehrer PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER: Theresa Flanagan STAGE MANAGER: Jared Oberholtzer Additional support for ILLYRIA provided by the Leon Levy Foundation.
JANUARY 30 – APRIL 1, 2018 WRITTEN BY Sarah Burgess DIRECTED BY Thomas Kail FEATURING Aya Cash, Eisa Davis, Zach Grenier, Gillian Jacobs, and Rachel Leslie SCENIC DESIGN BY Anna Louizos COSTUME DESIGN BY Paul Tazewell LIGHTING DESIGN BY Jason Lyons ORIGINAL MUSIC & SOUND DESIGN BY Lindsay Jones PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER: CJ LaRoche STAGE MANAGER: Christopher R. Munnell
AT JOE’S PUB AT THE PUBLIC Originally commissioned as part of the New York Voices series at Joe’s Pub and premiered during the 2017 Under the Radar festival, BLACK LIGHT is a deeply personal piece told through the voice of Jomama Jones – legendary singer and alter-ego of longtime Public family member Daniel Alexander Jones.
NEW YORK PREMIERE Written as a response to the 2007 mass shooting at Virginia Tech, Julia Cho’s OFFICE HOUR asks how we might bring radical empathy to conversations about gun violence and mass shootings in our country.
KINGS
Additional support for KINGS provided by an Edgerton Foundation New Play Award and the Laurents/Hatcher Foundation.
OEDIPUS EL REY was made possible with the generous support of David Frederick & Sophia Lynn and the Time Warner Foundation.
THINGS
SEPTEMBER 19 – DECEMBER 10, 2017 BASED ON THE BOOK BY Cheryl Strayed ADAPTED FOR THE STAGE BY Nia Vardalos CO-CONCEIVED BY Marshall Heyman, Thomas Kail, and Nia Vardalos DIRECTED BY Thomas Kail FEATURING Teddy Cañez, Ceci Fernandez, DeLance Minefee, Hubert Point-Du Jour, Nia Vardalos, and Natalie Woolams-Torres SCENIC DESIGN: Rachel Hauck COSTUME DESIGN: Jennifer Moeller LIGHTING DESIGN: Jeff Croiter SOUND DESIGN: Jill BC Du Boff PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER: Diane DiVita STAGE MANAGER: Rachel A. Zucker
OEDIPUS EL
A biting examination of the power that money can buy in American politics, KINGS saw playwright Sarah Burgess and director Thomas Kail reunited. The two previously worked together at The Public in 2016 on Burgess’s first play, DRY POWDER.
WORLD PREMIERE
BLACK
LIGHT
FEBRUARY 12 – MARCH 25, 2018 CREATED BY Daniel Alexander Jones ORIGINAL SONGS BY Jomama Jones, Laura Jean Anderson, Bobby Halvorson, Dylan Meek, and Josh Quat FEATURING Jomama Jones, Tariq Al-Sabir, Trevor Bachman, Sean Dixon, Michelle Marie Osbourne, Samora Abayomi Pinderhughes, Josh Quat, and Vuyo Sotashe MUSICAL DIRECTION: Samora Abayomi Pinderhughes CREATIVE & DRAMATURGICAL SUPPORT: Helga Davis, Kaneza Schaal, and Korde Tuttle COSTUME DESIGN BY Oana Botez LIGHTING DESIGN BY Ania Parks PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER: Kimiko MatsudaLawrence BLACK LIGHT is a part of the Joe's Pub commissioning program NEW YORK VOICES. Support for NEW YORK VOICES is provided by The National Endowment for the Arts.
AMERICAN PREMIERE An unflinching examination of race, capitalism, and American self-interest, THE LOW ROAD’s ambitious vision spanned four centuries and featured 17 actors in 50 roles, 99 costumes, 420 props, one musician, and two giant bees from outer space.
THE LOW
ROAD
FEBRUARY 13 – APRIL 8, 2018 WRITTEN BY Bruce Norris DIRECTED BY Michael Greif FEATURING Tessa Albertson, Max Baker, Kevin Chamberlin, Daniel Davis, Crystal A. Dickinson, Gopal Divan, Harriet Harris, Jack Hatcher, Josh Henderson, Chukwudi Iwuji, Johnny Newcomb, Chris Perfetti, Susannah Perkins, Richard Poe, Dave Quay, Aaron Michael Ray, Joseph Soeder, and Danny Wolohan SCENIC DESIGN BY David Korins COSTUME DESIGN BY Emily Rebholz LIGHTING DESIGN BY Ben Stanton SOUND DESIGN BY Matt Tierney WIG, HAIR, AND MAKEUP DESIGN BY J. Jared Janas & Dave Bova COMPOSER: Mark Bennett MUSIC COORDINATOR: Wayne Barker FIGHT DIRECTOR: Thomas Schall PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER: Laura Smith STAGE MANAGER: Shae Candelaria
SPRING NEW YORK PREMIERE
MISS
YOU LIKE HELL
MARCH 20 – MAY 13, 2018 BOOK & LYRICS BY Quiara Alegría Hudes MUSIC & LYRICS BY Erin McKeown CHOREOGRAPHY BY Danny Mefford DIRECTED BY Lear deBessonet FEATURING Marinda Anderson, Danny Bolero, Andrew Cristi, Latoya Edwards, Shawna M. Hamic, Marcus Paul James, Gizel Jiménez, David Patrick Kelly, Michael Mulheren, Daphne Rubin-Vega, and Martín Solá SCENIC DESIGN BY Riccardo Hernandez COSTUME DESIGN BY Emilio Sosa LIGHTING DESIGN BY Tyler Micoleau SOUND DESIGN BY Jessica Paz HAIR & MAKEUP DESIGN BY J. Jared Janas & Dave Bova CO-ORCHESTRATIONS BY Charlie Rosen & Erin McKeown MUSIC COORDINATOR: Michael Aarons MUSIC DIRECTOR: Cody Owen Stine MUSIC SUPERVISOR & ADDITIONAL ARRANGEMENTS: Julie McBride PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER: Scott Taylor Rollison STAGE MANAGER: Samantha Fremer
Pictured: Sahr Ngaujah in MLIMA’S TALE, photo by Joan Marcus.
MISS YOU LIKE HELL is made possible with the support from the Time Warner Foundation and an Anonymous donor. Generous support provided by Ted & Anne Clarke Wolff and Wayne Zink & Christopher Schout.
WORLD PREMIERE
MLIMA’S
TALE
MARCH 27 – JUNE 3, 2018 WRITTEN BY Lynn Nottage BASED ON THE ARTICLE “The Ivory Highway” by Damon Tabor DIRECTED BY Jo Bonney FEATURING Ito Aghayere, Bjorn DuPaty, Jojo Gonzalez, Kevin Mambo, Irungu Mutu, and Sahr Ngaujah SCENIC DESIGN BY Riccardo Hernandez COSTUME DESIGN BY Jennifer Moeller LIGHTING DESIGN BY Lap Chi Chu SOUND DESIGN BY Darron L West HAIR & MAKEUP DESIGN BY Cookie Jordan COMPOSER & MUSIC DIRECTOR: Justin Hicks MOVEMENT DIRECTOR: Chris Walker FIGHT DIRECTOR: Thomas Schall PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER: Linda Marvel & Michael Wilhoite STAGE MANAGER: Janelle Caso
SUMMER
Centered on a transformative mother-daughter road-trip, MISS YOU LIKE HELL thoughtfully and powerfully explored the fraught, too-often dehumanizing conversation about immigration and family separation – sending a love letter to the US’s National Parks along the way.
Inspired by Damon Tabor’s article “The Ivory Highway,” MLIMA’S TALE illuminates the tangled web of – and the unseen human connections within – the global poaching market. To prepare to tell this powerful story, playwright Lynn Nottage traveled to Kenya to research elephant families and habitats.
After touring through Ireland, Northern Ireland, and England, CYPRUS AVENUE made The Public its last and only American stop. The play brutally satirizes tribalist hatred built up through centuries of BritishIrish conflict.
Generous support for MLIMA’S TALE was provided by an Edgerton Foundation New Play Award and Susan & David Edelstein.
THE PUBLIC THEATER PRESENTS THE ABBEY THEATRE AND THE ROYAL COURT THEATRE’S CO-PRODUCTION OF
CYPRUS AVENUE
JUNE 2 – JULY 29, 2018 WRITTEN BY David Ireland DIRECTED BY Vicky Featherstone FEATURING Ronke Adékoluejo, Chris Corrigan, Andrea Irvine, Amy Molloy, and Stephen Rea SCENIC & COSTUME DESIGNER: Lizzie Clachan LIGHTING DESIGNER: Paul Keogan SOUND DESIGNER: David McSeveney FIGHT DIRECTOR: Bret Yount PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER: Brett Anders & Patrick David Egan STAGE MANAGER: Lizzie Donaghy DEPUTY STAGE MANAGER: Osnat Koblenz Additional Support for CYPRUS AVENUE was provided by Culture Ireland.
FIRE NEW YORK PREMIERE
After performing in ERS’s MEASURE FOR MEASURE at the beginning of The Public’s 2017-18 season, Rinne Groff returned at the end as a playwright with FIRE IN DREAMLAND. Groff is a longtime Public family member; her play THE RUBY SUNRISE was the first play Oskar Eustis directed upon joining the theater as Artistic Director in 2005.
IN DREAMLAND
JUNE 19 – AUGUST 5, 2018 WRITTEN BY Rinne Groff DIRECTED BY Marissa Wolf FEATURING Kyle Beltran, Enver Gjokaj, and Rebecca Naomi Jones SCENIC & COSTUME DESIGN BY Susan Hilferty LIGHTING DESIGN BY Amith Chandrashaker ORIGINAL MUSIC & SOUND DESIGN BY Brendan Aanes PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER: Buzz Cohen STAGE MANAGER: Chris Waters
From Shanta Thake & Alex Knowlton, Director & Incoming Director of Joe’s Pub
JOE’S PUB PRESENTS
JOE’S PUB WORKING GROUP
Pictured: Nona Hendryx, photo by Kevin Yatarola.
DAN FISHBACK DANA LYN JULIETTE JONES SAMORA ABAYOMI PINDERHUGHES TORI SCOTT JOE’S PUB WORKING GROUP (JPWG) aims to enrich, sustain, and grow the careers of emerging and established artists by providing administrative resources, physical space and curatorial services, and a supportive community environment in which to cultivate new and developing work.
VANGUARD RESIDENCY
The Vanguard Residency is an award and yearlong residency that celebrates the career of a singular artist who has contributed to American life and pop culture, is a part of the Joe’s Pub family of artists, and leads their own artistic community while creating a body of work that stands apart from their peers. Additionally, the award answers to the music industry’s widening gaps in funding. In 2018, Grammy Award-nominated funk, art rock, and new wave pioneer Nona Hendryx was named the inaugural recipient of the Vanguard. Joe’s Pub honored her career as a performer, producer, writer, curator, innovator, and mentor with a year of monthly programming. Throughout the year, Hendryx has curated and performed in shows featuring not only her own body of work but also those of the many multidisciplinary artists she has influenced – and who continue to influence her. “In our mission to support artists at every phase of their careers, we created this award to celebrate the work and narratives of the iconic American artists of our time. As we developed the program, the name that kept coming up was Nona Hendryx. She is not only a vanguard artist who has changed the form and field of American pop culture but is also deeply connected to Joe’s Pub and its larger community of artists.” – Shanta Thake, Director of Joe’s Pub
WHEN YOU THINK OF THE PUBLIC 50 YEARS FROM NOW WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO SEE? The music industry has changed significantly in the last two decades. There’s no longer the will or the money to support developing artists in a substantial way. Joe’s Pub aims to fill the gaps that the larger industry has left behind. Over the next 50 years, we envision ourselves continuing to support broad communities of artists not just at the beginning, the middle, or the heights of their careers, but for the duration. We’ll continue staying in constant conversation with artists over years and years, producing hundreds of shows over a long period of time, and supporting them holistically throughout their professional lives in order to nurture work that is flexible, responsive, and urgent.
JOE’S PUB
CELEBRATING ARTISTS AT THE INTERSECTION OF MUSIC AND THEATER
Animated by a commitment to diversity, community, and artistic freedom, Joe’s Pub offers live music and performances nightly.
730+
SHOWS LAST SEASON, INCLUDING:
NONA HENDRYX & THE VANGUARD GALA BASSEM YOUSSEF THIS ALIEN NATION JOE’S PUB @ ASTOR PLACE BLACK LIGHT THICKER THAN WATER CATHERINE COHEN ALAN CUMMING THE ILLUSTRIOUS BLACKS WORDS WITH IKE ON IFC JOE’S PUB DC MAKE MUSIC NY SAMORA ABAYOMI PINDERHUGHES CHOIR! CHOIR! CHOIR! FEAT. DAVID BYRNE MOBILE UNIT: THURBER THEATER IN TRANSIT COLE ESCOLA SHAINA TAUB
100,000+
Programming partnerships with arts presenters & promoters beyond our walls. SOUND VIEW (North Fork, Long Island) MAKE MUSIC NEW YORK (New York, NY) IFC (New York, NY) VILLAGE ALLIANCE (Greenwich Village, NYC) THE KIMMEL CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS (Philadelphia, PA) THE KENNEDY CENTER (Washington, DC)
WHAT WERE SOME HIGHLIGHTS FOR YOUR PROGRAM THIS YEAR? As Joe’s Pub ventures further beyond its physical walls, we’ve been looking at – and working to break down – other kinds of borders that separate our communities. This year, we focused a lot of energy on creating platforms to amplify immigrant and under-represented voices in New York City and beyond. This included curating "This Alien Nation," an ongoing series celebrating immigration, and illuminating the work of artists who challenge our assumptions about what it means to belong – or not – like Bassem Youssef, Alan Cumming, and TerryandTheCuz. Likewise, the Joe’s Pub Block Party, hosted in partnership with Make Music New York, saw us bursting out of our own space onto Astor Place Plaza to celebrate NYC’s immigrant and international communities. It was a particular highlight during an extraordinary year, and offered a powerful model for future community collaborations.
JOE’S PUB AUDIENCE MEMBERS
20 70
DEVISED THEATER WORKING GROUP: KAREEM LUCAS
FLAKO JIMENEZ ANNIE SAUNDERS & BECCA WOLFF ANISA GEORGE JULIA MOUNSEY & PETER MILLS WEISS KRISTINE HARUNA LEE
NEW COMMISSIONS IN 2017-2018 MORE THAN
71 READINGS & WORKSHOPS
SYNCING INK by NSangou Njikam (The Flea) DRAW THE CIRCLE by Mashuq Mushtaq Deen (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater) THE VAGRANT by Mona Mansour (Mosaic Theater Company of DC) MANAHATTA by Mary Kathryn Nagle (Oregon Shakespeare Festival)
OSCAR A.L. CABRERA DANIELLA DE JESÚS RYAN J. HADDAD OBEHI JANICE DIANA OH IFE OLUJOBI JOSHUA YOUNG DAVID ZHENG Time Warner is the Founding Sponsor of the Emerging Writers Group, and provides program support through the Time Warner Foundation.
ACTIVE COMMISSIONS
MAX
MARCH 15 – 18, 2018 WRITTEN BY MJ Kaufman DIRECTED BY Dustin Wills FEATURING Ty Defoe, Patrena Murray, Shakina Nayfack, Mary Neufeld, Aneesh Sheth, and Luke Zimmerman SCENIC DESIGN BY Kimie Nishikawa COSTUME DESIGN BY Ntokozo Fuzunina Kunene LIGHTING DESIGN BY Kate McGee SOUND DESIGN BY Emma Wilk FIGHT DIRECTOR: UnkleDave’s Fight-House PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER: Buzz Cohen STAGE MANAGER: Patrick David Egan
MARCH 29 – APRIL 1 , 2018 WRITTEN BY Jordan E. Cooper DIRECTED BY Stevie Walker-Webb FEATURING Fedna Jacquet, Christian O. Jiménez, Crystal Lucas-Perry, Ebony Marshall-Oliver, Blake Anthony Morris, and Simone Recasner SCENIC DESIGN BY Kimie Nishikawa COSTUME DESIGN BY Ásta Bennie Hostetter LIGHTING DESIGN BY Kate McGee SOUND DESIGN BY Emma Wilk HAIR & WIG DESIGN BY Cookie Jordan FIGHT DIRECTOR: UnkleDave’s Fight-House PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER: Geoff Boronda STAGE MANAGER: Erin McCoy
FROM PUBLIC STUDIO TO THE MAIN STAGE: 4 shows last year and in our upcoming 2018-19 season started their lives in Public Studio TEENAGE DICK by Mike Lew (Public Studio 2016) EVE’S SONG by Patricia Ione Lloyd (EWG Alum, Public Studio 2016) WILD GOOSE DREAMS by Hansol Jung (Public Studio 2017) AIN’T NO MO’ by Jordan E. Cooper (Public Studio 2018)
PUBLIC STUDIO was founded with support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Time Warner Foundation. Continued support for Public Studio is provided by the Time Warner Foundation. The Harold and Mimi Steinberg New Play Development Fund at The Public Theater supports the creation and development of new plays.
NEW PROJECTS BEING ACTIVELY DEVELOPED
40
MASCULINITY
EMERGING AIN’T WRITERS GROUP: BRITTANY K. ALLEN NO MO’ Selected from more than 485 applicants!
FROM EWG TO THE WIDER WORLD: plays first developed in EWG that had major productions this year
PUBLIC STUDIO
From Andrew Kircher, Director of the Devised Theater Initiative & Associate Dramaturg, Devised Theater
From Jeanie O’Hare, Director of New Work Development
WHAT WERE SOME HIGHLIGHTS FOR YOUR DEPARTMENT THIS YEAR ? This year’s Public Studio offered dynamic new ways to think about the relationship between artists and audiences. Our post-show moments of bonding with audience members in The Public’s foyer after AIN’T NO MO’, for instance, were charged with an electricity that I have never experienced before. No one wanted to go home. Everyone knew they had seen something very special – it felt like we had rocket fuel in our veins. That is the feeling we all live for in theater. AIN’T NO MO’s writer, cast, and creative team gave us a kind of nirvana.
HOW DOES THE NEW WORK DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT REFLECT THE PUBLIC’S POWERFUL 50-YEAR LEGACY? New Work is where new plays and musicals are crafted, hot-housed, developed, imagined, re-imagined, thrown up in the air, caught again, massaged into shape, edited, re-drafted, composed, and choreographed. It is where raw material with the potential to become a theatrical force as powerful as HAMILTON takes its first awkward steps. Everything that is in the as-yet undreamed of future of The Public will come through the New Work department.
WHEN YOU THINK OF THE PUBLIC 50 YEARS FROM NOW WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO SEE? I hope it is unrecognizable. The Public should be an institution that always responds to its moment – through its programming, institutional structure, and initiatives – even as the mission remains constant. If the world around us transforms into something new and rich and strange, so should The Public.
Under the Radar 2018 was one of the most wide-ranging of our 14 years as a festival. We took over The Public’s Lobby and offered a variety of free performances for our whole community – including a mass sing-a-long with CHOIR! CHOIR! CHOIR! featuring special guest David Byrne. We also presented one of our most ambitious shows to date – OCTAVIA E. BUTLER’S PARABLE OF THE SOWER – by Toshi Reagon and Bernice Johnson Reagon. PARABLE is a genre-defying opera and could not be more resonant during these dark times.
AFTER (USA) CREATED BY Andrew Schneider
IN COLLABORATION WITH Alessandra Calabi, Bobby McElver, Alicia ayo Ohs, and with Kedian Keohan and Peter Musante
MARGARETE (Poland) CREATED & PERFORMED BY
Janek Turkowski
RE-MEMBER ME (UK) CREATED & PERFORMED BY Dickie Beau
DIRECTED BY Jan-willem van den Bosch
THE GATES: AN EVENING OF STORIES WITH ADAM GOPNIK
(USA) DIRECTED BY Catherine Burns, Artistic
Director of The Moth
PUSHING THE FORM AND CONTENT OF THEATER Under The Radar is a two-week festival tracking new theater from around the globe.
HOW TO BE A ROCK CRITIC (USA) BASED ON THE WRITINGS OF Lester Bangs
BY Jessica Blank & Erik Jensen
THUNDERSTORM 2.0 (China) BY Théâtre du Rêve Expérimental
DIRECTED BY Wang Chong CO-PRESENTED BY The Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival & NYU Skirball
OCTAVIA E. BUTLER’S
PARABLE OF THE SOWER CREATED BY Toshi Reagon & (USA)
Bernice Johnson Reagon MUSIC & LYRICS BY Toshi Reagon & Bernice Johnson Reagon DIRECTED BY Eric Ting BASED ON THE NOVELS Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler
ANTIGONÓN, UN
CONTINGENTE ÉPICO
(Cuba) BY Rogelio Orizondo
DIRECTED BY Carlos Díaz of Teatro El Público
Pictured: ANTIGONÓN, UN CONTINGENTE ÉPICO, photo by Lessy Montes de Oca.
WE’RE ONLY ALIVE
UTR + JOE’S PUB IN CONCERT
AMOUNT OF TIME
PARALLEL LIVES:
2018 FESTIVAL
SHASTA GEAUX POP (USA) WRITTEN & PERFORMED BY Ayesha Jordan
DIRECTED & CO-CREATED BY Charlotte Brathwaite
FOR A SHORT (USA) WRITTEN & PERFORMED BY David Cale
SONGS BY David Cale ARRANGED BY Matthew Dean Marsh DIRECTED BY Tony Speciale
THE HENDRIX
PROJECT (USA) CONCEIVED & DIRECTED BY
Roger Guenveur Smith DEVELOPED IN COOPERATION WITH Experience Hendrix, LLC CO-PRESENTED BY The Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival, CalArts Center for New Performance, and BRIC
PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS BY Nature Theater of Oklahoma (USA/Slovenia)
& EnKnapGroup AN EN-KNAP PRODUCTION CO-PRESENTED BY The Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival & NYU Skirball PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS was co-produced by Théâtre de la Ville & steirischer herbst
BILLIE HOLIDAY
& EDITH PIAF (USA)
CREATED & DIRECTED BY Nona Hendryx FEATURING Joey Arias, Tamar Kali, Liza Jesse Peterson, and Etienne Stadwjck
ERIN MARKEY’S RAINBOW CAVERNS:
GREATEST HITS OF
ALL TIME INCLUDING
THE FUTURE (USA)
WRITTEN & CREATED BY Erin Markey MUSIC* BY Emily Bate & Erin Markey LYRICS BY Erin Markey DIRECTED BY Jordan Fein & Ellie Heyman *Kenny Mellman is also a co-composer for songs from A Ride On the Irish Cream
THE TRANSFORMATIONS
SUITE
UNEXPLODED
ORDNANCES (UXO) (USA/UK) BY Split Britches
PERFORMED BY Lois Weaver & Peggy Shaw A La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club production in association with Split Britches
MUGEN NOH OTHELLO
(Japan) PERFORMED BY Shizuoka Performing Arts
Center (SPAC) DIRECTED BY Satoshi Miyagi PRESENTED BY Japan Society
The Under the Radar Festival was made possible with the generous support of the Trust for Mutual Understanding, Select Equity Group, Inc., the JKW Foundation, the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, British Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts.
MISSION HAMLET BY George & Co. DIRECTED BY Anisa George
MEMORY
RETROGRADE BY harunalee WRITTEN BY Kristine Haruna Lee DIRECTED BY Andrew J. Scoville
¡OYE! FOR MY DEAR BROOKLYN BY Modesto Flako Jimenez DIRECTED BY Artem Yatsunov
CREATED BY Samora Abayomi Pinderhughes
OUR COUNTRY
NOT LEASHED
BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL,
(USA)
PANORAMA LASHED BUT
(Italy/USA) DEVISED & DIRECTED BY Enrico Casagrande & Daniela Nicolò DRAMATURGY BY Erik Ehn & Daniela Nicolò WITH THE ACTORS OF La MaMa’s Great Jones Repertory Company A La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club coproduction with Motus
INCOMING!
(USA)
SONGS BY Dito van Reigersberg, David Sweeny, Eliza Hardy Jones, and Vince Federici with Andrew Nelson on bass and Charlie Heim on drums DIRECTED BY Joanna Settle
CHOIR! CHOIR! CHOIR!
CREATED & DIRECTED BY Annie Saunders & Becca Wolff
BUT IT AIN’T ALWAYS PRETTY A New Epic Poem WRITTEN & PERFORMED BY Kareem M. Lucas
[50/50] old school
animation CREATED BY Peter Mills Weiss & Julia Mounsey
(Canada)
WITH Nobu Adilman & Daveed Goldman From Mark Russell, Director of Under the Radar Festival
HOW DOES UTR REFLECT THE PUBLIC’S POWERFUL 50-YEAR LEGACY? The Under the Radar Festival is directly linked to the legacy of Joe Papp and his embrace of downtown experimental theater alongside new playwrights and Shakespeare. UTR manifests The Public’s core values of pushing the form and content of theater, giving theater-makers from all walks of life a chance to add their work to this great history, and offering space for artists at the vanguard of the field the opportunity to meet a wider audience. International artists such as the Belarus Free Theatre, Tania El Khoury, and Rimini Protokoll have been introduced by the Festival to New York audiences, in addition to many more – Tarell Alvin McCraney, Elevator Repair Service, Young Jean Lee, among others – who have gone on to have great impact on
American theater. For two weeks every year, The Public looks straight towards the future of theater and becomes a living celebration of the wealth of this work. WHEN YOU THINK OF THE PUBLIC 50 YEARS FROM NOW WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO SEE? When I dream of The Public Theater in 50 years, I envision it as an institution as crucial to the make-up of our city as the subway. I imagine a place where all New Yorkers and visitors feel comfortable, a place they own and take pride in as much as the Library or the Museum of Natural History – an institution that supports and centers voices that would otherwise be marginalized and gives them platforms like the Under the Radar Festival to find their audience and tell their stories.
Public Shakespeare Talks in collaboration with Public Forum
AND JUSTICE
FOR ALL
OCTOBER 1, 2017 Joe’s Pub A reading of scenes from MEASURE FOR MEASURE and discussion featuring Ames Grawert, Zainab Jah, Jefferson Mays, Jesse Perez, and Lauren Robertson. Hosted by Michael Sexton.
PEOPLE,
NOT PRISONS: FORTUNE @ 50
NOVEMBER 13, 2017 Anspacher Theater Performances by Erick Betancourt, Cinthia Candelaria, Osi Gerald, Jon Runowicz, Tiffany Rachelle Stewart, and Guy Woodard. Remarks from David Rothenberg. A Conversation with Lemon Anderson, Stanley Richard, Brittany Smith, and Daveen Trentman. Hosted by Stephanie Ybarra.
“THE LONG CHRISTMAS DINNER” BY THORNTON WILDER
DECEMBER 7, 2017 Joe’s Pub A reading and discussion featuring Chukwudi Iwuji, Florencia Lozano, MJ Kaufman, Jay O. Sanders, Aneesh Sheth, Sam Soule, and Tappan Wilder. Hosted by Stephanie Ybarra. The Aspen Institute and Cooper Union present
WHO NEEDS
TRUTH?
IN ASSOCIATION WITH Public Forum FEBRUARY 5, 2018 Cooper Union Performances from Elizabeth Alexander, Kate Davis, Brandon Victor Dixon, Michelle Dorrance, Savannah Harris, Bill Irwin, Carmen de Lavallande, John Lithgow, Paola Mendoza, Gabe Schnider, and Jose Antonio Vargas. A town hall discussion led by Prof. Michael Sandel. Directed and hosted by Damian Woetzel.
Public Forum with the U.S. Department of Arts & Culture
THE 2018 POETIC ADDRESS TO THE
Pictured: Aneesh Sheth in THE 2018 POETIC ADDRESS TO THE NATION, photo by Simon Luethi.
Public Forum explores the questions raised on our stages by bringing together surprising combinations of artists, audiences, activists, and experts.
WHAT WERE SOME HIGHLIGHTS FOR YOUR PROGRAM THIS YEAR? This year, Public Forum moved decisively into a civic space. One of my favorite manifestations of that impulse has been the new Civic Salons series, which really puts civic engagement at the core of our work at The Public, and demonstrates how crucial artists are to advancing civil discourse and dialogue. This summer’s Delacorte Forum WE RISE: A CELEBRATION OF RESISTANCE also captured the very core of that spirit in an especially potent way. It was not only inspiring to see so many incredible performers center civic engagement in their artistic practice – it was also an amazing, transformative experience to witness the Delacorte stage animated entirely by femaleidentified bodies and voices.
community to nurture our minds and our bodies. Each month features a different theme and different participants who bring readings, songs, and a keynote address – all chosen in the hopes of inspiring civic engagement and social change.
Civic Salon:
THE CITIZEN
NATION ARTIST
APRIL 15, 2018 Joe’s Pub Contributions from Hakim Bellamy, Jiréh Breon Holder, Bob Holman, MJ Kaufman, Diana Oh, Sofia Rei, and Sara Serpa. Performances by Bob Holman, Oscar Cabrera, Izzy Castaldi, Diana Oh, Erin Margaret Pettigrew, Sofia Rei, Sara Serpa, Aneesh Sheth, and Stevie Walker-Webb. Directed by Stevie Walker-Webb. Hosted by Stephanie Ybarra & Adam Horowitz.
DIGITAL EXCLUSIVE: THE COST OF IVORY
APRIL 19, 2018 The Library A conversation on wildlife conservation, poaching, and the illegal ivory trade featuring Chelsea Clinton, Lynn Nottage, and John F. Calvelli. Hosted by Oskar Eustis.
JANUARY 20, 2018 Featuring Eric Liu (keynote), Sofia Snow (poet), and Celisse Henderson (musician). Hosted by Stephanie Ybarra. Civic Salon:
FROM A PLACE OF
LOVE FEBRUARY 25, 2018 Featuring Paola Mendoza (keynote), Alejandro Rodriguez (poet), and Shaina Taub (musician). Hosted by Stephanie Ybarra. Civic Salon:
YOUTH IN
WE RISE: A CELEBRATION OF ACTION RESISTANCE
IN COLLABORATION WITH the Resistance Revival Chorus AUGUST 13, 2018 Delacorte Theater A series of performances, readings, and speeches featuring Jojo Abot, Jocelyn Bioh, Lori Brown-Niang, Abby Dobson, Flor de Toloache, Valerie June, Deva Mahal, Indya Moore, Angel Nafis, Shakina Nayfack, Adepero Oduye, Diana Oh, Moist Paula, members of the Rebel Verses ensemble from Developing Artists, Alysia Reiner, the Resistance Revival Chorus, and Shaina Taub.
ILLYRIA
NOVEMBER 19, 2017 Anspacher Theater A conversation on the history of the East Village and its historic landmarks with Andrew Berman, Felicia Mayro, and Ed Morales. Hosted by Drew Broussard. .
SPEAKER SERIES:
OFFICE HOUR
DECEMBER 3, 2017 Martinson Hall A conversation on student mental health and professor responsibility with Jason Frydman and Ethan Youngerman. Hosted by Drew Broussard.
SPEAKER SERIES:
THE LOW ROAD
MARCH 11, 2018 Anspacher Theater A conversation on capitalism, socialism, and the ethics of money with Westenley Alcenat, Siera Dissmore, and Sarah Ngu. Hosted by Drew Broussard.
SPEAKER SERIES:
MLIMA’S TALE
APRIL 29, 2018 Martinson Hall A conversation on the trafficking of goods, services, and people with R. Evon BensonIdahosa and Kathi Schaeffer. Hosted by Drew Broussard.
Civic Salon:
SPEAKER SERIES:
MADE FOR
YOU AND ME APRIL 22, 2018 Featuring Maria Hinojosa (keynote), Sonia Guiñansaca (poet), and Michael Thurber (musician). Hosted by Stephanie Ybarra.
LIFTING
THE LAMP WHEN YOU THINK OF THE PUBLIC 50 YEARS FROM NOW WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO SEE? I envision the Public Forum of the future as a physical and digital space for rigorous intellectual and civic dialogue – a place where people from all over go to make sense of the world. Imagine what would be possible if The Public Theater, in the form of Public Forum, became the first place people go when they receive a breaking news alert. Imagine if a theater became their first stop when they want to figure out how to engage and metabolize the events of the world. That would be a powerful thing.
SPEAKER SERIES:
MARCH 25, 2018 Featuring Aaliyah Johnson & Marlon Rajan (keynotes), William Lohier (poet), and Phoebe Rosenblum (musician). Hosted by Stephanie Ybarra.
Civic Salon:
From Stephanie Ybarra, Director of Special Artistic Projects
CENTERING ARTISTS AT THE HEART OF CIVIC DIALOGUE
CIVIC SALONS IN JOE’S PUB In a climate of divisiveness and seclusion, Public Forum opens its doors to invite audiences to join us every month for Civic Salons: a monthly brunch-time gathering where we can come together in the spirit of
MAY 20, 2018 Featuring Ravi Gurumurthy (keynote), Jessica Hagedorn (poet), and Dani Lencioni (musician). Hosted by Drew Broussard.
MISS YOU LIKE HELL
MAY 1, 2018 Newman Theater A conversation on National Parks and NYC Parks with Ranger Shelton Johnson and Ranger Adriana Caminero. Hosted by Drew Broussard.
SPEAKER SERIES: FIRE IN DREAMLAND
JULY 22, 2018 Anspacher Theater A conversation on the history and future of Coney Island with Charles Denson. Hosted by Drew Broussard.
The Public Theater and The Shakespeare Society have long shared a passionatelyheld belief that Shakespeare is for everyone. For 20 years, The Shakespeare Society realized this conviction through events combining commentary on and performances from Shakespeare’s works, as well as educational programs and artist development programs for theater professionals. In 2017 The Society found a new home at The Public as the PUBLIC SHAKESPEARE INITIATIVE. This groundbreaking initiative produces events and programs as multidimensional as the community it serves, including:
BRINGING NEW LIFE AND NEW CONTEXT TO SHAKESPEARE The Public Shakespeare Initiative aims to transform the study and performance of Shakespeare through a multi-dimensional lineup of events and programs.
PUBLIC SHAKESPEARE PRESENTS Evenings that blend incisive commentary by scholars and other thinkers with compelling live performances by artists of all disciplines.
TEACHING TEACHERS Professional development workshops for New York City school teachers that train them in dynamic, performance-based approaches to Shakespeare’s works.
PUBLIC SHAKESPEARE TALKS Intimate events offering audiences rare insight into the artistic and intellectual processes of leading theatermakers working on Shakespeare.
THE HUNTS POINT CHILDREN’S SHAKESPEARE ENSEMBLE Created and run in partnership with community-based organization The Hunts Point Alliance for Children, the Ensemble is a yearlong afterschool program that has helped hundreds of elementary and middle school students develop their confidence, knowledge, and creativity through bringing Shakespeare’s plays to life onstage.
ARTIST DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS Cultivating some of the most visionary artistic minds engaging with Shakespeare today.
Public Shakespeare Presents
THE OUTSIDERS WITHIN: SHYLOCK,
OTHELLO, AND SHAKESPEARE’S Public Shakespeare Talks in collaboration with Public Forum
AND JUSTICE
FOR ALL
OCTOBER 1, 2017 Joe’s Pub FEATURING Ames Grawert, Lauren Robertson, Jefferson Mays, and Zainab Jah Public Shakespeare Presents
JOE, WILL, & THE NAKED HAMLET
OCTOBER 16, 2017 Newman Theater A retrospective on Joe Papp’s vision for Shakespeare written by Adam Sheaffer and featuring Michael Stuhlbarg, Miriam A. Hyman, Jennifer Ikeda, Lucas Caleb Rooney, and Ceci Fernandez. Public Shakespeare Talks
EYELESS RAGE: ANGER IN KING LEAR
NOVEMBER 27, 2017 Anspacher Theater A conversation about anger and its consequences through the lens of KING LEAR featuring Tanya Pollard, Sam Waterston, James Earl Jones, and F. Murray Abraham. Public Shakespeare Presents
STRANGERS MARCH 8, 2018 Anspacher Theater
A conversation with Stephen Greenblatt, Kwame Anthony Appiah, and Michael Sexton, featuring performances by Mark Nelson, Peter Francis James, and Merritt Janson. Public Shakespeare Talks
HENRY V
IN PROGRESS
MARCH 19, 2018 LuEsther Hall An open rehearsal of and discussion about Mobile Unit’s HENRY V, featuring Stephanie Ybarra, Jenny C. Mann, Robert O’Hara, Leland Fowler, Carolyn Kettig, Ariel Shafir, Zenzi Williams, and Kim Wong. Public Shakespeare Talks
SHAKESPEARE WORKS:
TWELFTH NIGHT
APRIL 23, 2018 Martinson Hall A panel discussion opening up PSI’s artist development program, featuring Patricia Akhimie, Julie Congress, Jay O. Sanders, Michael Genet, Bhavesh Patel, Flor De Liz Perez, Reynaldo Piniella, Benja K. Thomas, and Natalie Woolams-Torres. Public Shakespeare Presents
TO IMAGINE SPEAK OF ME AN ANTONY: AS I AM: SHAKESPEARE’S INFINITE FANCY
DECEMBER 18, 2017 Kaye Playhouse An exploration of ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA featuring commentary by Jonathan Bate and performances from Phylicia Rashad, John Douglas Thompson, Chukwudi Iwuji, Jacob Fishel, Phumzile Sitole, and Nikki Massoud.
OTHELLO ON STAGE
MAY 14, 2018 Newman Theater A discussion with Jim Shapiro and Ayanna Thompson, featuring performances by Motell Foster, Alison Wright, Heather Lind, and Corey Stoll.
Pictured: Phylicia Rashad and John Douglas Thompson in TO IMAGINE AN ANTONY, photo by Joseph Augustein.
SLATE’S LEND ME YOUR EARS LIVE:
CORIOLANUS &
THE DEATH OF
DEMOCRACY
JUNE 20, 2018 Joe’s Pub A live podcast featuring conversation among Isaac Butler, Michael Sexton, Roy Tsao, John-Paul Spiro, and Helen Shaw, with readings by Emily Gardner Xu Hall and Geordie Broadwater. Public Shakespeare Presents
WISE FOOLS
& FOOLISH WITS JULY 23, 2018 Anspacher Theater Commentary on Shakespeare’s fools from Richard McCoy, with readings by Bill Irwin, Zachary Fine, Natalie Woolams-Torres, Flor De Liz Perez, and Oberon K.A. Adjepong.
The Hunts Point Children’s Shakespeare Ensemble Performances of
AS YOU LIKE IT
MAY 18 & 20, 2018 Bronx Academy for Multi-Media and New York Live Arts
Performances in the Bronx and Manhattan of Shakespeare’s beloved pastoral comedy by 50 fourth, fifth, and sixth graders who participated in the Hunts Point Children’s Shakespeare Ensemble program in 2017-18. DIRECTED BY Rhys McClelland & Eli Thacker Taylor SCENIC DESIGN BY Claire DeLiso COSTUME DESIGN BY Heather Stanley LIGHTING DESIGN BY Drew Florida ORIGINAL MUSIC & LYRICS BY Justin Ellington FEATURING the Hunts Point Children’s Shakespeare Ensemble Support for the merging of The Shakespeare Society and Public Theater provided by the New York Merger, Acquisition, and Collaboration Fund.
From Michael Sexton, Director of the Public Shakespeare Initiative
WHAT WERE SOME HIGHLIGHTS FOR YOUR PROGRAM THIS YEAR? No American institution outside of The Public has a department dedicated to making space for artists, scholars, and audience members to explore Shakespeare’s plays – not to produce plays or to solve or critique them, but simply to explore them openly and curiously. Bringing The Shakespeare Society under the umbrella of The Public Theater to form the
Public Shakespeare Talks
Public Shakespeare Initiative is particularly exciting because it has created such a powerful platform for launching, amplifying, and illuminating a new generation of theater-makers and scholars engaging with Shakespeare, including artists and thinkers of color and other people from communities traditionally underrepresented in Shakespeare studies.
TOURING THEATER TO EVERY CORNER OF THE CITY
The Mobile Unit tours free Shakespeare to prisons, homeless shelters, and community centers throughout all five New York City boroughs, and concludes each run at The Public Theater at Astor Place.
2017-2018 TOUR STOPS BEDFORD HILLS CORRECTIONAL
FACILITY BROWNSVILLE RECREATION CENTER CASITA MARIA CENTER FOR ARTS & EDUCATION DREAMYARD ARTS CENTER FABER PARK FIELD HOUSE FORTUNE SOCIETY HUDSON GUILD Mobile Unit’s THE WINTER’S JOE’S PUB LENOX HILL WOMEN’S SHELTER THE LESBIAN, GAY, NOVEMBER 26 – DECEMBER 17, 2017 WRITTEN BY William Shakespeare BISEXUAL & TRANSGENDER DIRECTED BY Lee Sunday Evans FEATURING Justin Cunningham, Christopher COMMUNITY CENTER Ryan Grant, Nina Grollman, Nicholas METROPOLITAN Hoge, Patrena Murray, Chris Myers, Sathya Sridharan, Ayana Workman, and CORRECTIONAL CENTER Stacey Yen METROPOLITAN SCENIC DESIGN: Mariana Sanchez COSTUME DESIGN: Ntokozo Fuzunina Kunene DETENTION CENTER PUPPET DESIGN: James Ortiz NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY FOR COMPOSER: Heather Christian PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER: Alfredo Macias THE PERFORMING ARTS STAGE MANAGER: Samantha Fremer NORTH BROOKLYN YMCA Mobile Unit’s PELHAM FRITZ REC CENTER QUEENSBORO CORRECTIONAL HENRY V APRIL 23 – MAY 13, 2018 FACILITY WRITTEN BY William Shakespeare QUEENS PUBLIC LIBRARY: DIRECTED BY Robert O’Hara FEATURING Michael Bradley Cohen, Leland CENTRAL BRANCH Fowler, Patrice Johnson, Carolyn Kettig, Ariel Shafir, David Ryan Smith, Joe Tapper, RIKERS ISLAND CORRECTIONAL Zenzi Williams, and Kim Wong FACILITY SCENIC & COSTUME DESIGN: Clint Ramos ROY WILKINS REC CENTER ORIGINAL MUSIC: Elisheba Ittoop PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER: Brett Anders ST. PAUL’S CHAPEL STAGE MANAGER: Fatimah Amill TACONIC CORRECTIONAL Mobile Unit + Joe’s Pub Presents FACILITY THURBER WILLIAMSBRIDGE OVAL THEATER REC CENTER (Westchester)
(Brooklyn)
(Bronx)
(Bronx)
(Staten Island)
(Manhattan)
(Manhattan)
TALE
(Manhattan)
(Manhattan)
(Manhattan)
(Manhattan)
(Brooklyn)
(Manhattan) (Brooklyn)
(Manhattan)
(Queens)
(Queens)
(Bronx)
(Queens)
(Manhattan)
(Westchester)
Pictured: Carolyn Kettig, Leland Fowler, and Kim Wong in HENRY V, photo by Joan Marcus.
IN TRANSIT WITH Michael Thurber JANUARY 26 – FEBRUARY 1 , 2018
The Mobile Unit is made possible with the support of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, The Ford Foundation, Stavros Niarchos Foundation, The Tow Foundation, The McLaughlin Children's Trust, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and JetBlue Airways. Additional support is provided by Susan & David Edelstein and The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. The Philip and Janice Levin Foundation provides lead support for The Public’s access and engagement programming. The LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust provides leadership support for The Public Theater’s year-round activities.
(Bronx)
From Stephanie Ybarra, Director of Special Artistic Projects
WHAT WERE SOME HIGHLIGHTS FOR YOUR PROGRAM THIS YEAR? I continue to be very proud of our Mobile Unit In Transit series, which this season featured Michael Thurber’s THURBER THEATER. This collaboration with Joe’s Pub enables us to expand the ways we serve our audiences, and we’ve found they’re really hungry for it. The scope of The Public’s artistic programming at Astor Place and the Delacorte Theater is very broad, but the Mobile Unit
has historically focused narrowly on Shakespeare. By widening the compass of our Mobile offerings, we’re able to extend the full range of The Public’s work to the communities all across the city – and soon, the rest of the country.
WHEN YOU THINK OF THE PUBLIC 50 YEARS FROM NOW WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO SEE? In 50 years, I hope there will be as much programming outside of The Public Theater as there is within
its walls. I hope that this kind of radical accessibility will prompt our audiences to think of The Public in the same way that they think of their family rec center down the street, their local YMCA, their neighborhood library. I hope that our whole country will think of theater in general and The Public in particular as nothing less than an essential public good.
A Musical Adaptation of William Shakespeare’s
BEYOND NYC Public Works is currently affiliated with several theaters throughout the US and the UK that are adopting the Public Works model. Current partner theaters in the US include the Dallas Theater Center in collaboration with SMU Meadows School of the Arts, and Seattle Repertory Theatre. In October 2017, the Public Works movement went international when London’s National Theatre announced the creation of PUBLIC ACTS, a UK-specific program inspired by Public Works. In partnership with The Public Theater, Public Acts launched a new staging of PERICLES, directed by National Theatre resident director Emily Lim and performed on the company’s Olivier stage, in August 2018. And here in New York, The Public Theater Public Works team hosted a convening of 22 theaters from across the country to discuss the Public Works model and how to build a culture where theater belongs to everyone.
AS YOU LIKE IT
SEPTEMBER 1 – 5, 2017 ADAPTED BY Shaina Taub & Laurie Woolery MUSIC & LYRICS BY Shaina Taub CHOREOGRAPHY BY Sonya Tayeh DIRECTED BY Laurie Woolery WITH Ato Blankson-Wood, Darius de Haas, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Joel Perez, and Shaina Taub CAMEO GROUPS: Bronx Wrestling Federation, Freedom Dabka Group, Harambee Dance Company, and The Sing Harlem Choir SCENIC DESIGN BY David Rockwell COSTUME DESIGN BY Andrea Hood LIGHTING DESIGN BY David Weiner SOUND DESIGN BY Jessica Paz PUPPET DESIGN BY James Ortiz HAIR, WIG, AND MAKEUP DESIGN BY Dave Bova & J. Jared Janas FIGHT DIRECTOR: Lisa Kopitsky MUSIC DIRECTOR: Andrea Grody MUSIC CONTRACTOR: Dean Sharenow CO-BANDLEADERS: Mike Brun & Shaina Taub BAND ARRANGEMENTS: Mike Brun VOCAL ARRANGEMENTS: Shaina Taub PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER: Michael Domue STAGE MANAGERS: Kristen Gibbs & Jason Pacella Lead support for Public Works is provided by Carnegie Corporation of New York, Ford Foundation, The Hearst Foundations, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Stavros Niarchos Foundation, and The Tow Foundation. Additional support is provided by Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc., The Estée Lauder Companies Inc., The One World Fund, Open Society Foundations, David Rockefeller Fund, The SHS Foundation, Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund, New York Community Trust, and New York State Council on the Arts. This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
COMMUNITY PARTNERS BROWNSVILLE RECREATION CENTER CENTER FOR FAMILY LIFE IN SUNSET PARK DREAMYARD THE FORTUNE SOCIETY MILITARY RESILIENCE FOUNDATION (Brooklyn)
(Brooklyn)
(Bronx)
(Queens)
(all boroughs)
ALUMNI PARTNERS CASITA MARIA CENTER FOR
ARTS AND EDUCATION CHILDREN'S AID DOMESTIC WORKERS UNITED
Pictured: Shaina Taub, Beluvid Ola-Jendai, Zion Finnie-Myers, and Rajeeyah Finnie-Myers in Public Works’ AS YOU LIKE IT, photo by Joan Marcus.
From Laurie Woolery, Director of Public Works
CREATING THEATER OF, BY, AND FOR ALL PEOPLE Public Works engages the people of New York City as creators, not just spectators, deliberately blurring the line between community members and professional artists. Working with partner organizations across the city, Public Works invites community members to take classes, attend performances, and join in the creation of ambitious works of participatory theater.
WHAT WERE SOME HIGHLIGHTS FOR YOUR PROGRAM THIS YEAR? During our first technical rehearsal for AS YOU LIKE IT, rain poured on the Delacorte stage for 12 hours straight. I worried about how I was going to be able to direct this show with one of my two tech days rained out, while making sure everyone stayed healthy and safe. But our 200-person Community Ensemble kept going, dancing in plastic ponchos with joy and full commitment. When the Public Works team was on the brink of despair trying to figure out how to continue tech, we looked up and saw the entire company from children to seniors dancing and singing “Purple Rain” in the rain. We witnessed their resilience and joy. In that moment, they taught me. They held me.
HOW DOES PUBLIC WORKS REFLECT THE PUBLIC’S POWERFUL 50-YEAR LEGACY? What is radical about Public Works is that it takes the vision Joseph Papp had all those years ago and builds upon it while maintaining our founder’s initial spark. Public Works places community at the very center of all our decision making, from the programs we create to partnerships we build, the artists we hire, and the plays we re-envision. The idea that theater and art-making belong to everybody is a cornerstone of all that Public Works does. And our community has continued to take more and more ownership of Public Works. Our last two productions have included more featured community ensemble roles and greater rehearsal commitments than ever. Our community’s confidence and leadership grows every year, and that both deepens and expands the legacy of The Public Theater.
FREE SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK
CUE THE DUSK & THE BALMY BREEZES. CUE THE SOFT ILLUMINATION ON BELVEDERE CASTLE IN THE DISTANCE. CUE THE OCCASIONAL RACCOON, SCRABBLING AROUND THE EDGE OF THE STAGE. AND, BECAUSE THERE’S NO SHUTTING OUT THE CITY WHEN YOU’RE IN THE MIDDLE OF IT, CUE ALSO THE HELICOPTERS THAT PASS THROBBINGLY OVERHEAD AND THE SIRENS WAILING ON THE STREETS. BUT EVEN THOSE INTRUSIONS CAN’T SHATTER THE ENCHANTMENT OF THE DELACORTE THEATER IN CENTRAL PARK. – The New York Times
This entirely free encore performance of Elizabeth Swados’ RUNAWAYS celebrated the 40th anniversary of the groundbreaking musical’s opening at The Public.
RUNAWAYS
JUNE 12, 2018 WRITTEN BY Elizabeth Swados DIRECTED BY Sam Pinkleton CHOREOGRAPHED BY Ani Taj MUSIC DIRECTOR: Kris Kukul CREATIVE ADVISER: Jeanine Tesori Presented by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc. FEATURING Frenie Acoba, Sumaya Bouhbal, Kenneth Cabral, Maxwell Cabral, Taylor Caldwell, Xavier Casmir, Jaiya Chetram, Adleesa Edwards, Aidan Gemme, Reyna Guerra, Dwany Guzman, Noelle Hogan, Christina Jimenez, Jari Jones, Esco Jouléy, Luka Kain, Kylie McNeill, Cele Pahucki, Sam Poon, Siena Rafter, Claudia Ramirez, Ren, Deandre Sevon, Jeremy Shinder, Ripley Sobo, Chris Sumpter, and Maxwell Vice SCENIC DESIGN BY Christopher Thompson COSTUME DESIGN BY Clint Ramos LIGHTING DESIGN BY Jane Cox SOUND DESIGN BY Jessica Paz DIRECTOR OF ARTISTIC SIGN LANGUAGE: Alexandria Wailes MUSIC DIRECTOR: Kris Kukul PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER: Linda Marvel STAGE MANAGER: Genevieve Kersh This production was initially produced by New York City Center’s Encores! Off-Center in July 2016.
FREE SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK After performing in THE LOW ROAD earlier in the season, Public Theater veteran Chukwudi Iwuji returned in the summer to play the title role in OTHELLO at Free Shakespeare in the Park. It was his fifth role at The Public. The production was also acclaimed actor and director Ruben Santiago-Hudson’s Shakespearean directorial debut.
OTHELLO
MAY 29 – JUNE 24, 2018 WRITTEN BY William Shakespeare DIRECTED BY Ruben Santiago-Hudson FEATURING Kevin Rico Angulo, Christopher Cassarino, Peter Jay Fernandez, Motell Foster, Andrew Hovelson, Chukwudi Iwuji, David Kenner, Heather Lind, Tim Nicolai, Flor De Liz Perez, Miguel Perez, Lily Santiago, Thomas Schall, Caroline Siewert, Corey Stoll, Babak Tafti, Allen Tedder, Peter Van Wagner, and Alison Wright SCENIC DESIGN BY Rachel Hauck COSTUME DESIGN BY Toni-Leslie James LIGHTING DESIGN BY Jane Cox SOUND DESIGN BY Jessica Paz HAIR & WIG DESIGN BY Matthew B. Armentrout COMPOSER: Derek Wieland FIGHT DIRECTOR: Thomas Schall MOVEMENT DIRECTOR: Adesola Osakalumi PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER: James Latus STAGE MANAGER: Rachel A. Zucker
As part of the 2018 Free Shakespeare in the Park season, we presented a re-imagining of Public Works’ 2016 musical adaptation of TWELFTH NIGHT for a full five-week run in Central Park. This extended production featured professional artists alongside two rotating ensembles of community members from all five NYC boroughs, and welcomed 50,000 more visitors than the original Public Works run.
A Public Works musical adaptation of William Shakespeare’s
TWELFTH
NIGHT
JULY 17 – AUGUST 19, 2018 CONCEIVED BY Kwame Kwei-Armah & Shaina Taub MUSIC & LYRICS BY Shaina Taub CHOREOGRAPHY BY Lorin Latarro DIRECTED BY Oskar Eustis & Kwame Kwei-Armah FEATURING Troy Anthony, Kim Blanck, Ato Blankson-Wood, Lori Brown-Niang, Nanya-Akuki Goodrich, JW Guido, Daniel Hall, Shuler Hensley, Javier Ignacio, Nikki M. James, Jonathan Jordan, Andrew Kober, Patrick J. O’Hare, and Shaina Taub SCENIC DESIGN BY Rachel Hauck COSTUME DESIGN BY Andrea Hood LIGHTING DESIGN BY John Torres SOUND DESIGN BY Jessica Paz HAIR & WIG DESIGN BY Cookie Jordan FIGHT DIRECTOR: Lisa Kopitsky ORCHESTRATIONS: Mike Brun MUSIC COORDINATOR: Dean Sharenow MUSIC SUPERVISOR: J. Oconer Navarro MUSIC DIRECTOR: Shaina Taub BANDLEADERS: Mike Brun & Shaina Taub PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER: Michael Domue STAGE MANAGERS: Kamra A. Jacobs & Jason Pacella COMMUNITY PARTNERS: Brownsville Recreation Center (Brooklyn), Center for Family Life in Sunset Park (Brooklyn), DreamYard (Bronx), The Fortune Society (Queens), and Military Resilience Foundation (all boroughs), along with alumni partners Casita Maria Center for Arts and Education, Children’s Aid, and Domestic Workers United
COMMUNITY CAST:
Troy Anthony, Monique Arrucci, H. Sebastian Arteta, Thomas Barzey, Eddie Bottoms, Adrienne Brammer, Lori Brown-Niang, Brianna Cabrera, Kelly Campbell, Clarimar Capellan, Samuel Caraballo, Janet Cardona, Chloe Chen, Fiona Chen, Irene Chen, Stephanie Chen, Nelson Chimilio, Carlson Clarke, Micarla Clarke, Michelle Clarke, Joseph Crowley, Joycelyn Cunningham, Maggie da Silva, Cora Dennis, Ibrahima Diallo, Rosa Downing, Laura Dukes, Ellie Dunn, Suzie Dunn, Elizabeth Ely, Ella Evans, Zion Finnie-Myers, Joel Frost, Pinnacle Garcia, Indigo Gaspard, Julie Geisler, Mersadez George, Nanjean Gonzalez, Nanya-Akuki Goodrich, Barbara Gordon, Giovanna Gordon, Opal Gordon, Pierre Graves, Lourdes Guzman-Mercado, Daniel Hall, Alma L. Hueston, Ervin “Easy” Hunt, Vivian Jett, Antoine Jones, Jonathan Jordan, Vivian Kogan, Fatemata Krubally, Aynisa Leonardo, Benjamin Levine, Jennifer Levine, Christine Yvette Lewis, Uwimana Liverpool, Jamie Maleszka, Shaun Ariel Mapp, Christina Marie, Tionna Martinez, Lucia Mason, Francis Mejia, Philip Milio, Aden Munassar, Karen Murphy, Terri Muuss, Aidan Omar Naranjo Sosa, Sarahi Naranjo Sosa, Ziara Naranjo Sosa, Jonpaul Niang, Patrick J. O’Hare, Andrea Olivares, Hélène Onserud, Lizeth Palencia, Malik Paris, Louise Parks, Anthony Michael Parmer, Rainer Pasca, Genesis Perdomo Santos, Mayelyn Perdomo Santos, Virginia Perry, Eric Pierre, Nancy Pierre, Nancy Hannah Pierre, Naomi Pierre, Natalie Pierre, Adi Présumé, Idania Quezada, Travis Raeburn, Siena Rafter, D. Michael Ramos, Madeline Ramos, Arianne Recto, Marcia Rose, Mili Shrestha, David Smith, Paul “P-Funk” Stallings, James P. Stanton, Roslyn Svendsen, Atiya Taylor, Johan Tejada, Lizbeth Tejada, Regine Tinsley, Losseni Toure, Traci, Holly Valentine, Dorothy Vazquez, Matthew Vazquez, Nisani Walser, Sanira Walser, Catherine Watson, Nicholas Watson, Sally Ann Williams, Tar-Shay Margaret Williams, Tommy Williams, Magdalen Wilson, Fabian Zarta, Annie Zhao, Yuan Ming Zhao
Public Works has been the most exciting new program The Public has created in a generation. Our Labor Day weekend pageants for the past five years were greeted with rapture and imitation, having spawned sister projects in Dallas, Seattle, and the National Theatre in London. This summer, we made a huge leap forward by presenting a full-length run of a Public Works show: Kwame Kwei-Armah and Shaina Taub's delightful and intoxicating musical version of TWELFTH NIGHT. Surrounded by a huge ensemble of community members, this production reached an enormously expanded audience with the deep Public Works message that everyone is an artist, and we are all in this together. – Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director of The Public Theater and Director of TWELFTH NIGHT
Pictured: the cast of Public Works’ musical adaptation of TWELFTH NIGHT, photo by Joan Marcus.
FREE ENCORE PERFORMANCE
BROADWAY LONDON CHICAGO TWO TOURING PRODUCTIONS
LONDON
BROADWAY
John Leguizamo was awarded a 2018 Special Tony Award for LATIN HISTORY FOR MORONS
Pictured: John Leguizamo in LATIN HISTORY FOR MORONS, photo by Joan Marcus.
JOE’S PUB PRESENTS: NORTH FORK, NY PHILADELPHIA, PA WASHINGTON, DC
DALLAS SEATTLE LONDON
Pictured: the staff of The Public Theater, photo by Mike Grippi
PUBLIC THEATER
Shakespeare Scholar In Residence: James Shapiro DIRECTOR OF SPECIAL ARTISTIC PROJECTS: STEPHANIE YBARRA Associate Director of Special Artistic Projects: Bryan Joseph Lee Special Artistic Projects Manager: Andrew Broussard Mobile Unit Program Manager: Roxanna Barrios
BOARD CHAIR Arielle Tepper VICE CHAIR Pat Fili-Krushel TREASURER Anne Clarke Wolff SECRETARY Matt Pincus TRUSTEES Kwame Anthony Appiah Patty Baker Renée Beaumont Andrea E. Bernstein Jason Blum Zach Buchwald Gordon J. Davis, Esq. David Droga Susan Edelstein Eric Ellenbogen Oskar Eustis Hilary C. Feshbach Candia Fisher Faith E. Gay Danai Gurira Anne Hathaway Debby Landesman Ashley Leeds Kenny Leon Grace Lyu-Volckhausen Luis Miranda, Jr. Gail Merrifield Papp Julia Pershan Julio Peterson Charlotte Relyea Julie Rice Wendi Rose Lizanne Rosenstein Mark Rosenthal Alexandra Shiva Jim Steinberg Steven C. Taub Teresa Tsai Sam Waterston
FOUNDER Joseph Papp† HONORARY COUNCIL Laurie Beckelman Colin Callender Joan K. Davidson Morgan Freeman Ruth W. Houghton Kevin Kline Liev Schreiber Gil Shiva Warren J. Spector Robin Wagner George C. Wolfe EX-OFFICIO Honorable Bill de Blasio Mayor of the City of New York Honorable Alicia Glen Mayor’s Representative and Deputy Mayor Honorable Corey Johnson Speaker of the New York City Council Honorable Robert Newman Speaker’s Representative Honorable Tom Finkelpearl Commissioner, Department of Cultural Affairs Honorable Mitchell Silver Commissioner, New York City Department of Parks and Recreation CHAIRMEN EMERITI H. Scott Higgins Kenneth B. Lerer Joseph B. Martinson LuEsther T. Mertz Robert Pittman George C. Scott Warren J. Spector †Deceased
STAFF ARTISTIC DIRECTOR: OSKAR EUSTIS
Assistant to the Director of Producing and Artistic Planning: Asha Nelson-Williams
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: PATRICK WILLINGHAM
Line Producers: Marie Cisco, Kelly Kerwin, Nidia Medina, Yuvika Tolani
Administrative Chief of Staff: Rosalind Barbour
Assistant Line Producer: Audrey Frischman
Director of Strategic Research and Planning: Ciara Murphy Artistic Content Curator, Mission Advancement: Alex Tonetta
General Manager: Angela Delaney Kircher Senior Company Manager: Rebecca Sherman
Director of Capital Projects & Construction: Laura O’Connell
General Management Planning and Programs Manager: Emily Hammond Cook
Executive Assistant to the Artistic Director: Jessica Slaght
Contracts Manager: Avita Delerme
Assistant to the Executive Director: Carla Bianco-Biagini Government Affairs Coordinator: Tiffany Bryant Master Writer Chair: Suzan-Lori Parks ASSOCIATE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR/DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC THEATER PRODUCTIONS: MANDY HACKETT Associate Director, Public Theater Productions: Leah Cloney-Matthes Assistant to the Associate Artistic Director/Director of Public Theater Productions: Lucie Ledbetter MANAGING DIRECTOR: JEREMY ADAMS
Company Dramaturg: Jesse Cameron Alick Associate Dramaturg, New Writing: Jack Phillips Moore
Performance Coordinators: Jessie Moore, Nuala O’Donovan, Hilary Surface, Emily Zemba
New Work Department Assistant: Phoebe Corde
Joe’s Pub Van Lier Fellow: Vuyo Sotashe
New Work Van Lier Fellows: Paola Lázaro-Muñoz, Janani Balasubramanian
House Photographer: Kevin Yatarola
Casting Associate: Rebecca Feldman
Associate Director of Public Works: Emily Sophia Knapp
Company Managers: Genee Coreno, Heather Fichthorn, Liza Witmer
Casting Assistants: Chalin Tulyathan, Claire Yenson
Manager of Community Partnerships, Public Works: Brisa Areli Muñoz
Assistant Company Managers: Cody Johnson, Rosie Kolbo House Seat Coordinator: Carlos Serrano Under the Radar General Management Associate: Alyssa Simmons
SENIOR DIRECTOR, ARTISTIC PROGRAMS: SHANTA THAKE DIRECTOR OF THE UNDER THE RADAR FESTIVAL: MARK RUSSELL
General Management Administrative Assistant: Chantal Thomson
Director of Joe’s Pub: Alex Knowlton
General Management Interns: Aaron Bertucio, Noah Hazzard
Artist Relations Manager: Ben Easton
Public Works Community Coordinators: Shariffa Ali, Ogemdi Ude Public Works Assistant: Hannah Schenk Community Impact Coordinator: Adrian Alea Community Assistants: Pablo Hernandez Basulto, Diego Gonzalez Interns: Victoria Davidjohn, Fiona Marie Maguire
Press Manager: Yuri Kwon DIRECTOR OF NEW WORK DEVELOPMENT: JEANIE O’HARE
Head Lighting Designer: Ania Parks
Resident Artists: Tarell Alvin McCraney, Daniel Sullivan
Production Manager: Jon Shriver
Director Of Voice And Speech: Andrew Wade
Development Research Associate: Rannie McCants Development Resident: Grace Riehl
Director of IT: Arthur Pinori
Public Shakespeare Initiative Associate: Jackie Tralies
General Management Assistant: Amy Lau Croyle
Development Operations Assistant: Rachel Canter
Special Artistic Projects Intern: Joshwald Martinez
Communications Assistant: Linda Diaz
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS: LAURIE WOOLERY
Manager, Development Operations: Taylor Logan
Director of Finance: Danny Williams
Marketing Manager: Sacha Wynne
Casting Director: Kate Murray
Marketing Assistant: Lindsay Hoffman
Special Projects Assistant: Karilyn Nuñez
Director of the Devised Theater Initiative and Associate Dramaturg, Devised Theater: Andrew Kircher
Founder of Public Works and Resident Director: Lear deBessonet
Senior Manager, Development Operations: Kelsey Moriarty
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER: PATRICIA HUIE
Education Manager, Public Shakespeare Initiative: Rhys McClelland
DIRECTORS OF CASTING: JORDAN THALER, HEIDI GRIFFITHS
Digital Marketing Assistant: Gracie Freeman Lifschutz
Mobile Unit National Project Leader: Chiara Klein
Director of Public Shakespeare Initiative: Michael Sexton Audrey Wilf Timothy Wilkins Frances Wilkinson Patrick Willingham Alisa Amarosa Wood
Strategic Communications Manager: Rebecca Fall
CHIEF ADVANCEMENT OFFICER: LAURENCE JAHNS Director of Development: Sandra Klass Hueskes Deputy Director of Development: Kristina Hoge Director of Institutional Partnerships: Kristen Gongora
Finance Associate: Jessica Fink Finance Assistant: Emily Caffery
Production Managers: Julie Ann Arbiter, Jonathan Grenay, Jeff Harris, Caity Joy Smith, Kelsey Martinez
Script Readers: Ben Beckley, Brendan Leonard, David Loewy, Jessica Owens, Suzanne Willett, Kylie Brown, Thomas Park, Dylan Pager, Bonnie Davis, Ana Verde
Lighting Office Administrator: Michael Rivera Director of Facilities and Operations Management: Ishmael (Izee) Figueroa Operations Manager: Helen Bennett Operations Associate: Mariana Ortiz
SPECIAL SERVICES
Assistant Production Managers: Peggy Carey, Hillary Luong, Barry Stagg
Assistant Building Engineer: Jefferson David Aguilar
Organizational Development Consultant: Susan Adam
Painter: Javier Morales
Production Administrator: Kelly Moore
Handyperson: Adonis Garcia
Managing Partner of Joe’s Pub LLC: Kevin Abbott
Production Logistics Coordinator: Carlton Sargeant
Housekeeping Supervisor: Rob Resto Assistant Housekeeping Supervisor: Amparo Lopez de Nova
HR Operations & Info Systems Manager: Natalie Wirshbo
Scenery Supervisor: Nick Moodey
Box Office Staff: Cliff Billings, Megan Fitzwater, Kevin Gallagher, Ada Karamanyan, Daniella Martinez, Travis Morse, Raquel Palmas, Marvin Rodriguez, Brian Wagner
Associate Scenery Supervisors: Mary Beth Griffin, Jason Paradine
Housekeepers: Frank Fried, Efrain Martinez, Alba Mendez, Aracelis Mendez-Leon, Luisa Vargas, Giordani Collado Lendof, Jose Paulino
Assistant Scenery Supervisor: Bradley Shaw
Front Desk Administrator: Jasmine Ford
Scenery Office Administrator: Laura Krassowski
Front Desk Attendants: Fabian Harvey, Jose PaulissenDougan, Hannah McCue
Human Resources Manager: Kraig Kehrer Payroll Administrator: Tiara Thornton Human Resources Assistant: Lauren Burcheri Network Administrator: Ian Malinowski
Director of Marketing: Jared Fine Associate Director of Marketing and Membership: Reynaldi Lindner Lolong Manager of Corporate Sponsors and Partnerships: Benjamin Orona
Director of Audience Services: Richard C. Denney III Call Center Manager: Kate Longosky Assistant Call Center Manager: Kaleda Davis Call Center Staff: David Armstrong, John Caswell Jr., Jon Cook, Dena Douglass, Bethany Fustos, Ada Karamanyan, Melana Lloyd, Michelle Maccarone, Josh Rozett, Sarah Underwood, Rodney West Associate Theater Manager: Chris Capozzi Assistant Theater Manager: Monica Keaton
Marketing and Graphics Project Manager: David Shum
Seasonal Assistant Theater Managers: Marissa Colon, Eric Ross
Marketing Managers: Justin Dewey, Fernando Masterson, Amanda Wah
Delacorte Box Office Supervisors: Sarah Czwartacky, Rob Gaetano
Marketing Assistant: Zachary Cohn
House Managers: Robert Ackerman, Samantha Colon, Sarah Czwartacky, Stefanie Febus, Jennifer Gaspard, Elizabeth Reagan, Sarah Taylor, Manuel Vega
Marketing Communications Assistant: Marivic Tagala Marketing Resident: Aoife Mahood
2018 Emerging Writers Group: Brittany K. Allen, Oscar A.L. Cabrera, Daniella De Jesús, Ryan J. Haddad, Obehi Janice, Diana Oh, Ife Olujobi, Joshua Young, David Zheng
Senior Building Engineer: Winslow Harrington
Associate Box Office Manager: Anthony Conty
SENIOR DIRECTOR OF MARKETING: TOM McCANN
Development Associate, Institutional Partnerships: Isabel Quinzaños Alonso
Associate Director of Production: Jonathan Pellow
Assistant Lighting Supervisors: Michael Bateman, Kate DeWall, Jennie Rodriguez
Finance Intern: Jordan Scott-Ruiz
Executive Assistant to the Chief Advancement Officer: Ann Marie Gong
Development Associate, Institutional Partnerships: Elizabeth Kipp-Giusti
Director of Ticket Services: Jimmy Godsey
Director of Theater Projects and Safety: Jim Szekely
Operations Intern: Cassidy Liz
Box Office Manager: Zac Ford
Tessitura Manager: Sheela Sur
Development Assistant, Individual Giving: Nina Sunderland
Press Associate: Danielle Ruff
PRODUCTION EXECUTIVE: RUTH E. STERNBERG
Lighting Supervisor: Zach Murphy
Production Associate: Rachel London
Major Gifts Officer: Gretchen H. Page
Special Events Gala Assistant: Jenny Morris
Press Manager: Lauren Alexander
Press Coordinator: Jana Zschoche
Web Developers: Peter Appleby, Christyn Budzyna
Development Assistant, Special Events: Brendan Tetro
Senior Press Manager: Laura Rigby
Staff Accountant: Hemisha Gala
Director of Individual Giving: Becca Niemeyer
Development Associate, Special Events: Frank Gambino
Director of Communications: Candi Adams
Playbill Coordinator: Emily White
Advisor, Leadership Giving: Jan Gura
Associate Director, Special Events: Melissa Poll
Graphic Designers: Katie Hodge, Gina Roi, Ze Wang
Controller: Stephen Hohne
Systems Administrator: Joe Reecher
Development Department Administrator: Vesta Cordero
Senior Graphic Designer & Photographer: Tammy Shell
Emergency Assistants: Rita Beck, Eric Bello, Megan Benjamin, Sandra Bligen-Doyle, Bonnie Davis, Rose Desena, Samantha Grubner, Cherie Marcus, Tara Mulligan, Carlos Vega, Neda Yeganeh
Charge Artist: Hugh Morris-Stan Scene Shop Foreperson: Aaron Treat Lead Show Carpenter: Luis Torres Costume Master: Luke McDonough Costume Shop Manager: Vanessa Watters Assistant Costume Shop Manager: Melinda Basaca Draper: Marie Stair Audio Supervisor: Corrine Livingston Associate Audio Supervisor: Malachy Kronberg Assistant Audio Supervisors: Kortney Barber, Rachel O’Connor Audio Office Administrator: Carrie Miller Freeman Music Manager/Audio Shop Foreperson: Sean Kraft Properties Master: R. Jay Duckworth Prop Shop Manager: Sara Swanberg Prop Shop Foreperson: Rebecca David
Operations Assistant/Front Desk Administrator: Eric Delgado Operations Assistant/Front Desk Attendant: Eric Glover Operations Assistants: Darnell Brown, Rafael Tinoco- Jimenez Seasonal Operations Associate for the Delacorte Theater: Ryan James Monroe Seasonal Operations Assistants: Harry Colon, Omar Egas, Guillermo Mota, Danny Muñoz, Andy Strachan Seasonal Housekeeping Staff: Ligia Altagracia Estrella de Dominguez, Clara Divina Mendez, Clarito Dominguez, Oscar Reynoso, Rafael Paulino Seasonal Gate Attendants: Sara Billeaux, Eamon Boylan, Chanel Byas, Teri-Ann Carryl, Madeline Charles, Kaleo Grant, Kurt Engh, Claire Fort, Joseph Fusco, Ashley Green, Andrew Martini, Lucas Melfi Golf Cart Drivers: Sara Billeaux, Madeline Charles, Kurt Engh, Duncan Gallagher, Austin Larkin, Alejandra Mangini, Lucas Melfi
Managers: K.B. Berton, Michelle Clay, Cooper D’Ambros, Jersey Katz, Jen Sherman Chef of The Public: John Ramirez Institutional Design: Pentagram/Paula Scher Photographers: George E. Joseph, Joan Marcus, Carol Rosegg, Martha Swope, Simon Luethi Attorneys: Davis Wright Tremaine LLP/Graham Coleman; Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP/Gerald T. Hathaway; Proskauer Rose LLP/Allan Bloom; Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP/ Andrew Lance; Venable LLP /Susan E. Golden, Sharon M. Connelly Accountants: Lutz & Carr LLP Architectural Consultant: Ennead Architects Insurance: GAB Associates Insurance Brokerage, Inc/ George Bellini
PUBLIC THEATER
CORPORATE & FOUNDATION PARTNERS THE LUESTHER T. MERTZ CHARITABLE TRUST Provides Leadership Support for the Public Theater’s Year-Round Activities
$500,000+
The McLaughlin Children’s Trust
The Grand Street Fund
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP
K. Ann McDonald
The Blavatnik Family Foundation
National Endowment for the Arts
Michael Greif
McKinsey & Company, Inc.
City of New York, Department of Cultural Affairs
Stavros Niarchos Foundation
Institute of International Education
Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc.
Matt Pincus & Sarah Min
Eileen O’Kane Kornreich
D.E. Shaw Group
Kate & Hans Morris
The Howard Gilman Foundation
Rockefeller Foundation
Judith & Douglas Krupp
Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP
New England Foundation for the Arts
Jerome L. Greene Foundation
The Ted & Mary Jo Shen Charitable Gift Fund
Debby & Rocco Landesman
Gordon J. Davis & Peggy Cooper Davis
Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation
The LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust
Ashley Leeds and Christopher M. Harland
MetLife Foundation
Debevoise & Plimpton LLP
The Jerome A. & Estelle R. Newman Assistance Fund
The George T. Delacorte Fund for Maintenance
One World Fund Wendi Rose
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Alexandra Shiva & Jonathan Marc Sherman
Arielle Tepper
Showtime Networks Inc.
Time Warner Foundation
The Shubert Foundation
Luis Miranda
The Tow Foundation
The Bernard & Anne Spitzer Charitable Trust
The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation
New York State Council on the Arts
Marcia Dunn & Jonathan Sobel
Lauren Rosenkranz
New York Community Trust
Endeavor Foundation
Pablo Salame
Open Society Foundations
The Estée Lauder Companies Inc.
The Scherman Foundation
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP
Barbara H. Freitag
Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP
Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP
Lisa Schultz
Penguin Random House Julie & Spencer Rice
Gail Furman
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP
Mark Rosenthal & Lisa Roumell RoundTable Cultural Seminars
The Ira and Leonore S. Gershwin Philanthropic Fund
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
The SHS Foundation
Roslyn Goldstein
Ellen & Samuel P. Sporn
$50,000 - $99,999
The Henry and Marilyn Taub Foundation
The Marc Haas Foundation
Sarah & Jeffrey Stafford
American Council of Learned Societies
The Starr Foundation
Steven & Benay Taub
The DuBose & Dorothy Heyward Memorial Fund
Susan & David Viniar
Christine & Robert Holo
Timothy A. Wilkins
IAC
Frances & Frank Wilkinson
Ironstone Partners
Wayne Zink & Christopher Schout
Joel Isaacson & Co., LLC
Anonymous (2)
The J. M. Kaplan Fund
$25,000 - $49,999
Sharon Karmazin
Amy & David Abrams
Ellen Kelson
The Lenore Annenberg Fellowship in the Performing and Visual Arts as a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, funded by the Annenberg Foundation
Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Eric Ellenbogen
The Hilaria & Alec Baldwin Foundation
Fritz & Lee Link
Ford Foundation
One57 & Extell Development Company
Renée Beaumont
Margaret & Daniel Loeb
David C. Frederick & Sophia Lynn
Pat Fili-Krushel & Kenneth Krushel
Garrard Beeney & Evan Mason
Frederick Loewe Foundation
Jetblue Airways
The Fan Fox & Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Inc.
The Boston Consulting Group
The MAE Private Foundation
Shawn and Brook Byers
Barbara Manocherian
Faith Gay
Jim Chervenak
Ryan J. Marshall & Mary G. Herms
Rebecca Gold
Linda & Adam Chinn
Sally Klingenstein Martell
Audrey & Zygi Wilf $100,000 - $499,999 Allen & Overy LLP American Express Company Arison Arts Foundation Bank of America Timothy and Michele Barakett Bloomberg Philanthropies Jason & Lauren Blum Barbara Broccoli and the Dana & Albert R. Broccoli Charitable Foundation Luigi Caiola & Sean McGill Julia Pershan and Jonathan Cohen The New York Community Trust – The George T. Delacorte Fund for Performance at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park Diana & Joe DiMenna Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Susan & David Edelstein Edgerton Foundation Robert and Mercedes Eichholz Foundation Hilary & Joe Feshbach Candia Fisher
JKW Foundation The Philip and Janice Levin Foundation
The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust Theatre Communications Group Tiger Baron Foundation TodayTix Teresa Tsai Ted & Anne Clarke Wolff Anonymous (2)
Jody & John Arnhold Laura & John Arnold Patty & Jay Baker Andi & Tom Bernstein The Brown Institute Zach Buchwald & Buddy Hammonds Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. Carnegie Corporation of New York Daniel & Rachel Craig David Droga The Ruth Easton Fund of the Edelstein Family Foundation
Herman Goldman Foundation
Leon Levy Foundation William & Aimee Maroney
Laurents / Hatcher Foundation The Lehoczky Escobar Family George S. Leoning & Kimbrough Towles Gary K. Lippman
Jerome Robbins Foundation
Proud Season Sponsor of Free Shakespeare in the Park
Proud Season Sponsor of Free Shakespeare in the Park
BLAVATNIK
FAMILY FOUNDATION
THE HAROLD AND MIMI STEINBERG NEW PLAY DEVELOPMENT FUND At The Public Theater Supports the Creation & Development of New Plays
THE PHILIP & JANICE LEVIN FOUNDATION Lead Supporter of The Public’s Access & Engagement Programming
Anne & Adam Shulman
Founding Sponsor of The Emerging Writers Group
Official Airline of The Public Theater
Jim & Lori Steinberg Betty Lee Stern Storico T. Christian Stracke Sullivan & Cromwell LLP Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation Robert Pohly & Julie Turaj The Walt Disney Company Alisa & Alastair Wood Julian Yap Anonymous (7)
Official Mobile Lottery Partner
Official Card of The Public Theater
GNITCELFER 81-71’ EHT NO NOSAES
Pictured: Shaina Taub, photo by Kevin Yatarola.