Full Cast Set for THE ALLY at The Public Theater Starring Josh Radnor & More

The Public Theater has revealed the complete cast for the world premiere of THE ALLY written by Tony Award-winning playwrightItamar Moses (The Band’s Visit) and directed by Drama Desk winner Lila Neugebauer (Appropriate). Moses returns to The Public after writing the book for The Fortress of Solitude (2014), and Neugebauer makes her Public Theater debut with THE ALLY. Previews begin in the Anspacher Theater with a Joseph Papp Free Performance on Thursday, February 15 and performances continue through Sunday, March 10. The production officially opens on Tuesday, February 27.

THE ALLY is a fierce drama that gives voice to some of the most contentious and important questions of our time. When college professor Asaf (Josh Radnor) is asked by a student to sign a social justice manifesto, what seems at first like a simple choice instead embroils him in an increasingly complex web of conflicting agendas that challenge his allegiances as a progressive, a husband, an artist, an academic, an American, an atheist, and a Jew. With tensions at an all-time high, Asaf is forced to confront the age-old question: “If I am only for myself, what am I?” THE ALLY is a passionate, provocative, and unflinching new play about the vanishing line between the personal and the political.

"I feel so extraordinarily lucky be working with Lila, The Public, and this incredibly gifted group of actors on my play,” shared playwright Itamar Moses. “I began working on this script years ago to wrestle with a set of questions that felt very personal to me and to which I did not have any clear answers. I still don't, but I couldn't ask for a braver and more talented group to delve into the uncertainty with."

Joining the previously announced Josh Radnor (Asaf) in the world premiere of THE ALLY are Cherise Boothe (Nakia/Rabbi), Elijah Jones (Baron), Michael Khalid Karadsheh (Farid), Joy Osmanski (Gwen),  Ben Rosenfield (Reuven), and Madeline Weinstein (Rachel).

The production includes scenic design by Lael Jellinek, costume design by Sarita Fellows, lighting design by Reza Behjat, sound design by Bray Poor, and prop management by Claire M. Kavanah. Roxana Khan serves as the production stage manager.

At the start of 2024, The Public’s season begins with Devised Theater Working Group Suites beginning on Saturday, January 12, where audiences will experience five of the artists’ devised works in the intimate Shiva Theater, providing an overview of the artists’ process over the past year. The Public’s spring season continues after THE ALLYwith Pulitzer Prize winner and writer-in-residence Suzan-Lori Parks’ return with SALLY & TOM, an edgy dramedy about art, history, and politics, directed by Steve H. Broadnax III. Emerging Writers Group alumnus Ife Olujobi makes her professional stage debut with the bold, bitingly funny play JORDANS. Directed by Obie Award winner Whitney White, the world premiere play is a piercing exploration of assimilation, racial capitalism, success, and survival. 

The Library at The Public serves food and drink Tuesday through Sunday, beginning at 5:00 p.m. and closing at midnight. The Library is closed on Mondays. For more information, visit publictheater.org.

BIOS:

Itamar Moses (Playwright) is a Tony Award-winning author of the plays Outrage, Bach at Leipzig, The Four of Us, Celebrity Row, Back Back Back, Yellowjackets, Completeness, The Whistleblower, and the short play collection Love/Stories and the musicals Nobody Loves You, The Fortress of Solitude, The Band’s Visit, Dead Outlaw, and An American Tail. Awards for his work include Tony, Lortel, Drama Critics Circle, Outer Critics Circle, Obie, Portland, San Diego, Dallas, and Bay Area Theatre Critics Circles. Television work includes “Men of a Certain Age,” “Boardwalk Empire,” and “The Affair.” He holds an MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU, has taught playwriting at Yale and NYU, and is a proud member of the Dramatists’ Guild and the Writer’s Guild of America. Born in Berkeley, CA, he now lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Lila Neugebauer (Director). Broadway credits include Kenneth Lonergan’s The Waverly Gallery and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Appropriate. Recent Off-Broadway credits include Simon Stephens’ Morning Sun (MTC); Tracy Letts’Mary Page Marlowe (Second Stage); Annie Baker’s The Antipodes, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Everybody, Edward Albee’s Homelife/The Zoo Story (Signature Theatre); Sarah DeLappe’s The Wolves, and Zoe Kazan’s After the Blast (Lincoln Center). As co-Artistic Director of The Mad Ones, Neugebauer has directed Mrs. Murray’s Menagerie (Ars Nova) and Miles for Mary (Playwrights Horizons), among others. TV credits include “Maid,” “The Last Thing He Told Me,” “The Sex Lives of College Girls,” and “Room 104.” Neugebauer’s directorial feature debut Causeway, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Brian Tyree Henry (Oscar nomination), is available on Apple TV+. She is an Obie, Drama Desk, and Princess Grace Award recipient.

Cherise Boothe she/her (Nakia Clark, Rabbi) is an Obie Award recipient for Fabulation Or, The Re-Education of Undine (Signature) and Milk Like Sugar (Playwrights Horizons/WP/La Jolla Playhouse). Other New York credits include Ruined (Goodman/MTC) and Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3) (Public Theater Lab). Regional credits include Barbecue (Geffen, NAACP Best Ensemble Cast) and Familiar (Yale Rep). Film credits includeRicki and the Flash (opposite Meryl Streep) and 42. TV credits include “Dispatches From Elsewhere,” “The Good Doctor,” “Westworld,” and “Law and Order: SVU.” Boothe has an MFA from NYU Graduate Acting.

Elijah Jones he/him (Baron) previously performed with The Public in Richard II (Free Shakespeare on the Radio with WNYC). Off-Broadway credits include Confederates (AUDELCO Award for Outstanding Ensemble, Signature Theatre). Regional credits include Bonez (People’s Light). Jones can currently be seen starring opposite Tom Holland, Sasha Lane, and Amanda Seyfried in Apple TV+’s “The Crowded Room.” Jones holds degrees from Julliard and Penn State.

MICHAEL KHALID KARADSHEH (Farid). New York credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Classical Theatre of Harlem) and The Most Oppressed of All (Target Margin Theater). Regional credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare on the Sound), Tomorrow Will Be Sunday (Chautauqua Theatre Company), and Sabra Falling(In the Heart of the Beast). Karadsheh has been featured in “Everything’s Trash” (Freeform). He is a graduate of Columbia University MFA Acting.

Joy Osmanski she/her (Gwen) is thrilled to make her debut at The Public. Osmanski has worked regionally at the Mark Taper Forum, La Jolla Playhouse, and San Jose Rep. Recent TV work includes roles in the DC series “Stargirl,” FOX’s “Duncanville,” and Taylor Sheridan’s “1923.” She has narrated over 160 titles on Audible and is a multiple Earphones Award winner. Osmanski received her MFA from the acting program at UCSD.

Josh Radnor (Asaf) Broadway credits include Disgraced and The Graduate. Off-Broadway credits include Richard Greenberg’s The Babylon Line at Lincoln Center, Manhattan Theatre Club, and Vineyard Theatre. Radnor wrote, directed, and starred in Liberal Arts (Sundance 2012) opposite Elizabeth Olsen, Richard Jenkins, and Allison Janney and happythankyoumoreplease (Sundance Audience Award 2010). He was also featured in Social Animals and Afternoon Delight. Upcoming film credits include All Happy Families and 3 Birthdays. Radnor’s TV credits include ‘Fleishman Is in Trouble,” “Hunters,” “Centaurworld,” “Rise,” “Mercy Street,” “How I Met Your Mother,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Six Feet Under,” and “ER.” He has released two albums: Eulogy: Volumes 1 & 2 and One More Then I’ll Let You Go.

Ben Rosenfield (Reuven) can most recently be seen in Amazon’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” Additional screen credits include: “Mrs. America” (FX), “Twin Peaks” (Showtime), Mark, Mary & Some Other People, Mickey and the Bear, 6 Years (Netflix), “Boardwalk Empire” (HBO), and JC Chandor’s A Most Violent Year. On stage, Ben starred inThrough a Glass Darkly with Carey Mulligan, Atlantic's On the Shore of the Wide World, Roundabout’s Love, Love Love, and Atlantic's Cornelia Street.

Madeline Weinstein (Rachel). Broadway credits include Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and The Real Thingdirected by Sam Gold. Additional theater credits include Medea directed by Simon Stone (BAM) and the world premiere of Tracy Letts's Mary Page Marlowe directed by Anna D. Shapiro (Steppenwolf). Film credits includeBetween the Temples (upcoming selection Sundance 2024), Beach Rats (official selection Sundance 2017), the Netflix feature film Alex Strangelove, and Queen of Glory. TV credits include “Mare of Easttown,” “Blue Bloods,” “Elementary,” and “Shades of Blue.”

ABOUT The Public Theater:

THE PUBLIC continues the work of its visionary founder Joe Papp as a civic institution engaging, both on-stage and off, with some of the most important ideas and social issues of today. Conceived over 60 years ago as one of the nation’s first nonprofit theaters, The Public has long operated on the principles that theater is an essential cultural force and that art and culture belong to everyone. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Patrick Willingham, The Public’s wide breadth of programming includes an annual season of new work at its landmark home at Astor Place, Free Shakespeare in the Park at The Delacorte Theater in Central Park, the Mobile Unit touring throughout New York City’s five boroughs, Public Lab, Public Works, Public Shakespeare Initiative, and Joe’s Pub. Since premiering HAIR in 1967, The Public continues to create the canon of American Theater and is currently represented on Broadway by the Tony Award-winning musical Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda and the upcoming 2024 productions of Suffs and Hell's Kitchen. Their programs and productions can also be seen regionally across the country and around the world. The Public has received 60 Tony Awards, 190 Obie Awards, 57 Drama Desk Awards, 61 Lortel Awards, 36 Outer Critic Circle Awards, 13 New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards, 65 AUDELCO Awards, 6 Antonyo Awards, and 6 Pulitzer Prizes. publictheater.org

The Public Theater stands in honor of the first people and our ancestors. We acknowledge the land on which The Public and its theaters stand—the original homeland of the Lenape people. We acknowledge the painful history of genocide and forced removal from this territory. We honor the generations of stewards and we pay our respects to the many diverse indigenous peoples still connected to this land.

The LuEsther T. Mertz Legacy Trust provides leadership support for The Public Theater's year-round activities.

TICKET INFORMATION

THE ALLY begins performances in the Anspacher Theater on Thursday, February 15 and will run through Sunday, March 10, with an official press opening on Tuesday, February 27.

Public Theater Partner, Supporter, and full-price single tickets can be accessed online, calling 212.967.7555, or in person at the Taub Box Office at The Public Theater at 425 Lafayette Street.

The Public’s Joseph Papp Free Performance initiative will offer free tickets to the performance on Thursday, February 15 through TodayTix. The lottery will open for entries on Thursday, February 8 and Will Close at 12:00 p.m. on the day of the performance. Winners will be notified by email and push notification anytime from 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., and if selected, winners will have one hour to claim their tickets.

The performance schedule is Tuesday through Sunday at 7:00 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday at 1:00 p.m. (There will be no 1:00 p.m. performance on Saturday, February 17 and Sunday, February 18.)

The Open Captioned performance will be at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 2. The Audio Described performance will be at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 9.  

The full performance calendar can be found at publictheater.org.