Daniel Sullivan to Take Part in Public Theater Salon Series, 5/10

The Public Theater will continue its popular Shakespeare Salon Series this month with an engaging conversation with Director Daniel Sullivan, who will talk about this summer's upcoming Shakespeare in the Park production of AS YOU LIKE IT. Moderated by Shakespeare Initiative Director Barry Edelstein, this intimate event will be held on Thursday, May 10 at 6:30 p.m. at Chinatown Brasserie (380 Lafayette Street). Member tickets, priced at $20, and single tickets, priced at $25, are on sale now and include a complimentary glass of wine.

The Shakespeare Salon is a regular series of conversations with the acclaimed artists whose charge is to interpret the works of Shakespeare on the stages of The Public Theater. These exciting events provide The Public's audience with intimate behind-the-scenes access to the extraordinary talents whose work help make The Public Theater one of the leading producers of Shakespeare in America.

"Daniel Sullivan's Shakespeare productions in Central Park have been highlights of The Public's recent seasons," said Barry Edelstein. "His participation in The Shakespeare Salon while he is in rehearsal with As You Like It will afford audiences a rare glimpse of the mind and creative process of a master director at work."

AS YOU LIKE IT, directed by Daniel Sullivan, will kick off the 50th Anniversary season of free Shakespeare in the Park at the Delacorte in June with a cast that includes MacIntyre Dixon (Adam), David Furr (Orlando), Renee Elise Goldsberry (Celia), Robert Joy (Le Beau, Lord), Omar Metwally (Oliver), Oliver Platt (Touchstone), Lily Rabe (Rosalind), and Stephen Spinella (Jaques). AS YOU LIKE IT will begin previews on Tuesday, June 5 and continue for four weeks through Saturday, June 30.

In AS YOU LIKE IT, Rosalind, Shakespeare's most breathtaking heroine, and her boyfriend Orlando find themselves in the enchanted Forest of Arden, where all the world's a stage, and where sudden infatuation is as confusing as it is beautiful. Along with other "country copulatives," they discover that nothing transforms, redeems, or enriches experience quite as powerfully as love. AS YOU LIKE IT has everything we adore about Shakespearean comedy: mistaken identity, cross-dressing, madness, mayhem, rage, lust, laughter, and of course plenty of romance, both heartbreaking and joyous.

Grammy® and Emmy winning actor/comedian/musician and bestselling author Steve Martin will compose original music for AS YOU LIKE IT which will feature a live Bluegrass band. AS YOU LIKE IT is Shakespeare's most musical play, containing more songs than any other. Sullivan will set the play's famous Forest of Arden in the rural American South, circa 1840, where folk and roots music perfectly capture the mood of the time.

Barry Edelstein (Moderator and Shakespeare Initiative Director). For The Public, Edelstein has directed Timon of Athens, Julius Caesar, The Merchant of Venice (1995), WASP and Other Plays. Shakespeare Initiative: Love's Labor's Lost, Titus Andronicus, All's Well That Ends Well, Measure for Measure, Winter's Tale, Merchant of Venice (also Broadway), Hamlet, Twelfth Night, Othello. He also directs the Shakespeare Lab and The Public's Shakespeare-related education and outreach programs. He has served as dramaturg for three seasons of Joseph Papp's "Shakespeare Marathon." Off-Broadway: Artistic Director, Classic Stage Company, 1998-2003. Author: Thinking Shakespeare (2007), Bardisms: Shakespeare for All Occasions (2009).

Daniel Sullivan (As You Like It Director). For The Public Theater, Sullivan directed All's Well That Ends Well, The Merchant of Venice (Broadway/Shakespeare in the Park), Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Stuff Happens, and The Merry Wives of Windsor. Among his Broadway credits are The Columnist, Good People, Time Stands Still, Accent on Youth, The Homecoming, Prelude to a Kiss, Rabbit Hole, After the Night and the Music, Julius Caesar, Brooklyn Boy, Sight Unseen, I'm Not Rappaport, Morning's at Seven, Proof, the 2000 production of A Moon for the Misbegotten, Ah, Wilderness!, The Sisters Rosensweig, Conversations With My Father, and The Heidi Chronicles. Among his Off-Broadway credits are Intimate Apparel, Far East, Spinning into Butter, Dinner With Friends, and The Substance of Fire. From 1981 to 1997, he served as Artistic Director of Seattle Repertory Theatre. Sullivan has received six Tony Award nominations for Best Direction of a Play and won for his direction of Proof.

The revitalization of The Public Theater's downtown home will physically manifest 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, 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, designed by the Rockwell Group; expansion and remodeling of restroom facilities; and comprehensive exterior restoration, ensuring stability of the landmark façade.

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, which houses five theaters and Joe's Pub; the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, home to the beloved, free Shakespeare in the Park; and the Mobile Shakespeare 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 its downtown home, 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 receives annual support from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. www.publictheater.org

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / Retna Ltd.