The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Andrew D. Hamingson) announced that the 2010 Shakespeare in the Park summer season will present two Shakespeare plays in repertory giving audiences eight straight weeks of free Shakespeare. Under directors Daniel Sullivan and Michael Greif, the same company of actors will perform in both THE WINTER'S TALE and THE MERCHANT OF VENICE on rotating nights.
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE will be directed by Daniel Sullivan and THE WINTER'S TALE will be directed by Michael Greif. Previews for Shakespeare in the Park 2010 will begin on Wednesday, June 9 and run through Sunday, August 1. Casting and design teams to be announced at a later date.
Shakespeare in the Park 2010 is not The Public Theater's first foray into rotating repertory. Henry IV, Parts One and Two were performed in rep in the Newman Theater in 1991, and 20 years earlier, the Henry VI plays and Richard III were condensed into The War of the Roses which was presented in rep and then performed in one all-night marathon in Central Park.
"This is a major step for The Public," said Artistic Director Oskar Eustis. "Continuity of work is the key to great theater of all kinds; this is especially true for Shakespeare. The particular delights of repertory for an audience are meaningful; the depth of artistic work it allows for actors is inimitable."
Bank of America will return as the 2010 season sponsor, supporting The Public's mission to keep Shakespeare in the Park free.
Daniel Sullivan (Director, The Merchant of Venice) directed the 2009 Shakespeare in the Park production of Twelfth Night. Also at The Public, he has directed A Midsummer Night's Dream (2007), Stuff Happens (2006), and The Merry Wives of Windsor (1994). His Broadway credits include Accent on Youth, Top Girls, Come Back Little Sheba, The Homecoming, Prelude to a Kiss, Rabbit Hole, After the Night and the Music, Julius Caesar, Brooklyn Boy, Sight Unseen, The Retreat From Moscow, Morning's at Seven, Proof, Major Barbara, A Moon for the Misbegotten, Ah, Wilderness!, An American Daughter, The Sisters Rosensweig, Conversations With My Father, The Heidi Chronicles, and I'm Not Rappaport. His numerous off-Broadway credits include Intimate Apparel, In Real Life, Dinner With Friends, Proof, Ten Unknowns, Ancestral Voices and Spinning Into Butter. From 1981 to 1997, Sullivan served as Artistic Director of Seattle Repertory Theatre, where he directed more than 60 productions. Sullivan's film and television credits include The Substance of Fire and "Far East."
Michael Greif (Director, The Winter's Tale) directed the 2007 Shakespeare in the Park revival of Romeo and Juliet at The Public, as well as Diana Son's Satellites, the launch performance of Suzan-Lori Parks's 365 Days / 365 Plays, Fucking A, Dogeaters (Obie), Marisol, Pericles, Casanova, A Bright Room Called Day, and Machinal (Obie). His other recent work includes Next to Normal and Grey Gardens on Broadway, Tony Kushner's The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism With a Key to the Scriptures at the Guthrie, Boy's Life (Second Stage), A Very Common Procedure (MCC), and John Guare's Landscape of the Body (Signature Theater). Greif's Broadway credits include Jonathan Larson's Rent (Obie Award, Tony nom.) and Next to Normal (Tony nomination). He is an Artistic Associate at New York Theatre Workshop, where his credits include Cavedweller, Bright Lights, Big City, and Rent. His other Off-Broadway credits include Neal Bell's Spatter Pattern (Playwrights Horizons), Neal LaBute's The Distance from Here (MCC), Betty Rules (Zipper), Guare's A Few Stout Individuals (Signature Theatre), and Bell's Monster (CSC). La Jolla (Artistic Director 1995-1999): Our Town, Sweet Bird of Youth, Diana Son's Boy, Randy Newman's Faust (also Goodman), Kushner's Slavs (also Taper), and Thérèse Raquin.
