The Public Theater (Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director; Joey Parnes Interim Executive Director) has just announced the complete line-up for the third Public Forum event of the season, "Does Culture Make Us Who We Are?" This dynamic evening, hosted by Anne Hathaway and in association with the Aspen Institute Arts Program, will feature noted author and New York Times columnist David Brooks; Dr. Mary Schmidt Campbell, the Dean of the Tisch School of the Arts and the Vice-Chair of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities; Bill Irwin, acclaimed actor currently playing The Fool in The Public's production of King Lear; and Damian Woetzel, former principal dancer at New York City Ballet and the new Director of the Aspen Institute Arts Program. The evening will also feature remarks by Public Theater Artistic Director Oskar Eustis on the arts and our democracy. Tickets, priced at $25, are on sale now.
On Monday, November 21 at 8:00 p.m., the third program in the fall Public Forum season draws its inspiration from Thomas Jefferson's remark that a sense of filial duty is better instilled by King Lear than all the volumes on ethics ever written. To coincide with The Public's production of Shakespeare's great tragedy, The Public Forum will ask: "Does Culture Make Us Who We Are?"
The Public Forum season will continue in January with "Sondheim/Kushner." In one of the highlights of The Public Forum's inaugural season, Stephen Sondheim and Tony Kushner held a dazzling one-on-one conversation about their work, their inspirations, and the theatrical life. To mark the publication of the second volume of Sondheim's memoir and lyric anthology, Look, I Made a Hat, Sondheim and Kushner will continue their conversation, with a special focus on the shows covered in the new book, including the masterful Sunday in the Park with George, the politically charged Assassins, and more. The Public Forum on Tuesday, January 17, 2012 at the NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts will be hosted by Rocco Landesman, the Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. Tickets for "Sondheim/Kushner" go on sale in December.
THE PUBLIC FORUM is a high-profile series of lectures, debates, and conversations now in its second season. Curated by Jeremy McCarter, the Forum features leading voices in politics, media, and the arts. Alec Baldwin, Sam Waterston, Cynthia Nixon, and NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman hosted programs in its inaugural season, which featured the insights of Stephen Sondheim, Jay McInerney, Arianna Huffington, Richard Foreman, Hendrik Hertzberg, and young veterans of the war in Afghanistan -- plus performances by Anne Hathaway and Michael Cerveris, among others.
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY'S Jack H. Skirball CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS is the premier venue for the presentation of cultural and performing arts events for NYU and lower Manhattan. Led by Executive Producer Jay Oliva (President Emeritus, NYU) and Director Michael Harrington, the programs of the Skirball Center reflect NYU's mission as an international center of scholarship, defined by excellence and innovation and shaped by an intellectually rich and diverse environment. A vital aspect of the Center's mission is to build young adult audiences for the future of live performance. www.skirballcenter.nyu.edu
