Anne Hathaway, Candia Fisher & More Join Public Theater's Board of Trustees

Public Theater Artistic Director Oskar Eustis, Executive Director Patrick Willingham, and Chairman of the Board Warren Spector have announced the addition of seven new members to The Public's Board of Trustees. Candia Fisher, Anne Hathaway, Debby Landesman, Barbara Manocherian, and Audrey Wilf were appointed to the 40-person board in April for three-year terms, and Charlotte Relyea and Anne Clarke Wolff were appointed in June for three-year terms. A recent loss to the Board is the passing of long time Board member Nora Ephron who was honored for her service to the organization and the field at The Public's 2013 Gala this past June.

"The Public is lucky to have these seven as new Board Members," said Artistic Director Oskar Eustis. "Even as we recently honored the passing of our beloved Nora Ephron, we are uplifted by the addition of these extraordinary women."

Fisher is an active member of The Whitney Museum and helps manage The Fisher Landau Center for Art in Long Island City. An Academy Award winner, Hathaway appeared in The Public's 2009 free Shakespeare in the Park production of Twelfth Night and joins fellow thespians Kevin Kline, Sam Waterson and Liev Schreiber who also serve on The Public's board. Landesman is a philanthropy professional who will be returning to The Public's Board of Trustees following an absence while her husband, Rocco Landesman, was head of the National Endowment for the Arts. Manocherian was a producer on The Public's Tony Award-winning production of Hair and is currently represented on Broadway with Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. Relyea is a Partner in McKinsey & Company's New York Office and a leader in McKinsey's Media & Entertainment and Marketing & Sales practices. Wilf is an active trustee of The Wilf Family Foundations and has been a major presence in New York and New Jersey philanthropy for 50 years. She and her husband are owners of the Minnesota Vikings. Clarke Wolff is Head of Global Corporate Banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Other recent changes include the recognition of Pat Fili-Krushel, Chairman of NBCUniversal News Group, and Arielle Tepper Madover, President of Tepper Productions, as Vice-Chairs of the Board of Trustees. As Vice-Chairs Fili-Krushel and Tepper Madover will collaborate with Board Chair, Warren Spector (Co-Chairman, InSolve Global Capital), in Board leadership matters including strategic planning and board governance. Fili-Krushel joined the Board in 2006 and serves as Chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee. Tepper Madover joined in 2009 and serves as Chair of the Commercial Projects Committee. Both are members of the Executive Committee.

The Public Theater Board of Trustees includes Chairman Warren Spector; Vice-Chairs Pat Fili-Krushel and Arielle Tepper Madover; Treasurer Jim Steinberg; Secretary Gail Merrifield Papp; and Trustees Renée Beaumont; Andrea E. Bernstein; Zach Buchwald; Mary Schmidt Campbell; Gordon J. Davis, Esq.; Eric Ellenbogen; Oskar Eustis; Stephen L. Feinberg; Hilary C. Feshbach; Candia Fisher; Faith E. Gay; Anne Hathaway; Kevin Kline; Debby Landesman; Barbara Manocherian; Charlotte Relyea, Jed Root; Wendi Rose; Lizanne Rosenstein; Mark Rosenthal; Liev Schreiber; Alexandra Shiva; Andrew Shiva; Tom Slaughter; Steven C. Taub; Grace Lyu Volckhausen; Robin Wagner; Sam Waterston; Audrey Wilf; Frances Wilkinson; Patrick Willingham, and Anne Clarke Wolff.

"We are so pleased to welcome these seven extraordinary leaders to The Public Theater board," said Executive Director Patrick Willingham. "They are all strong members of the community who are passionate about The Public Theater and committed to supporting the arts."

CANDIA FISHER is a significant factor in the philanthropic activities of the Fisher family with a natural focus on her mother, Emily Fisher Landau's, art collecting and curating. Fisher is an active member of The Whitney Museum in New York and helps manage The Fisher Landau Center for Art in Long Island City, which houses a contemporary art collection that spans from 1960 to the present and includes many celebrated artists of our time. She lends her time to many worthy causes and in addition to painting, photography and sculpture, has a passion for theater and has co-produced Broadway shows, including Equus, Passing Strange and Evita. She has two children, ages 22 and 32, and retains her strong and loving commitment to them.

Anne Hathaway, an Academy Award winner, starred most recently in Tom Hooper's LES MISERABLES opposite co-stars Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Eddie Redmayne and Amanda Seyfried. For this performance, Hathaway received an Oscar, Golden Globe, SAG award, and BAFTA award. Last summer, Hathaway starred as Selina Kyle in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises, alongside Christian Bale, Marion Cotillard, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. In 2014, Hathaway will reunite with Christopher Nolan for sci-fi film Interstellar. In 2008, Hathaway starred in Jonathan Demme's critically acclaimed Rachel Getting Married for which she was nominated for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, an Independent Spirit Award, and a SAG Award in the "Best Actress" category. The National Board of Review, the Chicago Film Critics Association, and the Broadcast Film Critics Association all named Hathaway "Best Actress" for her performance in the film. Other recent film credits are Lone Scherfig's One Day (based on the novel written by David Nicholls); Ed Zwick's Love and Other Drugs (for which Anne received her second Golden Globe nomination); Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland Garry Marshall's Valentine's Day; Bride Wars; Get Smart; Becoming Jane; Rodrigo Garcia'sPassengers; The Devil Wears Prada opposite Meryl Streep; and Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain. Early career credits include Garry Marshall's The Princess Diariesand The Princess Diaries 2: The Royal Engagement; HAVOC; Ella Enchanted; Nicholas Nickleby; and The Other Side of Heaven. Hathaway first gained Hollywood's attention for her turn in the television series "Get Real." She has also lent her vocal talents to animated films Rio and Hoodwinked in addition to her vocal cameos on television series including "The Simpsons" for which she received an Emmy Award. Theater credits include The Public's free Shakespeare in the Park's Twelfth Night(2009); Andrew Lloyd Webber's workshop of Woman in White. In 2002, she appeared in the Lincoln Center Encore series presentation of Carnival for which she won the prestigious 57th Annual Clarence Derwent Award. As an actress, Hathaway studied at the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey, the Barrow Group in New York City, and at NYU's Collaborative Arts Projects "CAP 21" (where she focused on her musical theater training). In April 2005, the award-winning Barrow Group honored Hathaway for her achievements on behalf of the organization as the first and only teen ever admitted to their intensive acting program. Hathaway is an Ambassador for the Nike Foundation's The Girl Effect, and serves on the advisory board for Lollipop Theater Network, which is an organization that screens movies in hospitals for pediatric patients suffering from chronic or life-threatening illness. Hathaway currently resides in both Los Angeles and New York.

Debby Landesman has extensive leadership experience in philanthropy and the non-profit sector. She is an independent consultant who works as a philanthropic advisor to private foundations, corporations, and non-profit organizations. Prior to beginning her consulting business, Landesman was the Executive Director of the Levi Strauss Foundation. She currently serves on the boards of the McKnight Foundation and the Partnership for a Healthier America.

Barbara Manocherian is a three time Tony Award-winning Broadway Producer for Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Hair and The Norman Conquests. Her other Broadway productions include Next Fall, The 39 Steps, Sunday in the Park with George, Cyrano de Bergerac, Butleyand The Best Man. She is currently a lead Producer on a new project intended for Broadway in 2014. Her numerous Off-Broadway productions includes Tribes. Manocherian is also a Partner in her family's real estate, development and management company. The business's primary focus is residential properties. She is a New York Stage & Film board member and a Broadway League member. She has one son, Ian, and lives in Manhattan.

CHARLOTTE RELYEA is a Partner in McKinsey & Company's New York office. She is a leader in the Media & Entertainment and Marketing & Sales practices and co-leads McKinsey's client capability building efforts in Marketing & Sales. Since joining the firm in 2003, Relyea has served a number of the world's top publishing, broadcasting, cable, online media and information services companies on topics including marketing and sales effectiveness, go-to-market strategy, strategic growth, new business building and acquisition integration. Relyea also leads McKinsey's Women's Initiative for the Northeast office complex, whose mission is to create an exceptional experience, foster a close community and increase recruiting and retention of women. Prior to joining McKinsey, Relyea was a consultant in the strategy group of AppNet / CommerceOne, an e-commerce internet consulting firm, and a Director at Juno Online Services, an internet service provider. She also spent two years as an investment banking analyst at Robinson-Humphrey. Relyea holds a BA in English from Princeton University and an MBA with high distinction from Harvard Business School, where she was a Baker, Siebel and Ford Scholar.

AUDREY WILF is a New York and New Jersey-based philanthropist and producer of independent films. She has ventured successfully into the film world with her close relationship to Super Crispy Entertainment, a Los-Angeles based Production Company. Audrey and her husband Zygi, executive produced two of director Drake Doremus' films, including Sundance Best Picture winner Like Crazy, as well as Sundance festival Jury Prize winner SMASHED. Their latest project, The Wilderness of James, recently completed production in Portland. Wilf currently serves on the boards of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, The Pingry School and the Jewish Museum. She is an active trustee of The Wilf Family Foundations, which have been a major presence in New York and New Jersey philanthropy for fifty years. Recent examples of the foundations' philanthropic support are grants to New York University, Princeton University, Yeshiva University, New York Presbyterian Hospital and the Albert Einstein School of Medicine. In the arts, the Wilf Family Foundations have provided important recent support to the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, The Jewish Museum and the Museum of the Holocaust in Los Angeles.

ANNE CLARKE WOLFF is Head of Global Corporate Banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. In this role, she is responsible for the firm's corporate banking coverage efforts globally which touch over 4,000 clients across a range of credit, financing, treasury and risk solutions. Prior to joining Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Clarke Wolff was head of Global Sales for Treasury and Securities Services at JP Morgan Chase & Co., and spent over 20 years with Citigroup in a variety of senior roles including head of NA Corporate Banking. Clarke Wolff holds a BA from Colby College and an MBA for Northwestern University. She served on the board for Colby for eight years and remains a Trustee Emeritus. In addition, Clarke Wolff serves on the board of the Brooklyn Historical Society.

Completed in October 2012, the revitalization of The Public Theater's downtown home at Astor Place physically manifests the Company's core mission of sparking new dialogues and increasing accessibility for artists and audiences by dramatically opening up its landmark building to the street and community, and transforming the lobby into a public piazza for artists, students, and audiences. Designed by Ennead Architects and constructed by Westerman Construction, the project encompasses enhancements to the building's interior and exterior while preserving the historic structure. Key elements of the design include infrastructure updates to the 158-year old building, as well as construction of new exterior entry stair and glass canopy; installation of ramps for improved accessibility; an expanded and refurbished lobby; the addition of a mezzanine level with a new lounge, The Library at The Public, designed by the Rockwell Group; expansion and remodeling of restroom facilities; and comprehensive exterior restoration, ensuring stability of the landmark façade.

Under the leadership of Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Patrick Willingham, The Public Theater is the only theater in New York that produces Shakespeare and the classics, musicals, contemporary and experimental pieces in equal measure. The Public continues the work of its visionary founder, Joe Papp, by acting as an advocate for the theater as an essential cultural force, and leading and framing dialogue on some of the most important issues of our day. Creating theater for one of the largest and most diverse audience bases in New York City for nearly 60 years, today the Company engages audiences in a variety of venues-including its landmark downtown home at Astor Place, which houses five theaters and Joe's Pub; the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, home to its beloved, free Shakespeare in the Park; and the Mobile Unit, which tours Shakespearean productions for underserved audiences throughout New York City's five boroughs. The Public's wide range of programming includes free Shakespeare in the Park, the bedrock of the Company's dedication to making theater accessible to all, new and experimental stagings at The Public at Astor Place, and a range of artist and audience development initiatives including its Public Forum series, which brings together theater artists and professionals from a variety of disciplines for discussions that shed light on social issues explored in Public productions. The Public Theater is located on property owned by the City of New York and receives annual support from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. The LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust provides leadership support for The Public Theater's year-round activities. www.publictheater.org

Photo by Erik Pendzich / Greg Allen/ Rex USA