March & April 365 Days/365 Plays Shows Announced

The Public Theater's Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Mara Manus in association with Playwright Suzan-Lori Parks' and Producer Bonnie Metzgar's 365 National Festival have announced that March / April schedule of the New York presentations of Suzan-Lori Parks' 365 Days/365 Plays.  Nine theaters – Banana Bag and Bodice, The Civilians, Blessed Unrest, Epic Theatre Center, Lightbox, Naked Angels, New Georges, New York Neo-Futurists, and Pregones Theater – will offer a variety of innovative, dynamic and idiosyncratic presentations of weeks 17-25 of this year-long play cycle.  Highlights of 365 NYC in March and April include:

Unusual Public Spaces

Lightbox will perform 365 in Central Park, beginning at the Central Park Bandshell and journeying to places yet unknown; New Georges will take 365 into office settings including cafeterias, conference rooms and entry areas; 

NYC Public School Collaborations

Epic Theatre will perform 365 with a company of professional and student artists from NYC public schools, along with 7 short plays written by the students in response to Suzan-Lori's plays. 

365 In the South Bronx

Pregones Theater will perform The Constants of 365 inside the First Wednesdays Bronx Culture Trolley that loops the South Bronx Cultural Corridor; 

'365 First Sundays Series at The Public' will take place on March 4th, April 1st, and May 6th.  Tickets are free and available by reservation at 212-967-7555 or at The Public Theater Box Office.  Please note: reservations for the March 4th performance are full. A standby line for unclaimed tickets will begin one hour before presentation.

In November 2002, the Pulitzer prize-winning Suzan-Lori Parks sat down and committed to writing a play a day for the next 365 days.  This play cycle is called 365 Days/365 Plays.  Over 600 theaters have joined a grassroots premiere of the plays in Atlanta, Austin,  Chicago, Colorado, Greater Texas, Los Angeles, Minnesota, New York, The Northeast, San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, The Southeast, Universities (365U), Washington D.C. and the Western U.S. The 365 National Festival is produced by Suzan-Lori Parks and Bonnie Metzgar.  For information on the 365 National Festival, visit www.365days365plays.com. 

Spearheading the New York component of 365 Days/365 Plays, The Public has gathered together a diverse cross-section of New York City's theater companies to participate in this project. Sixty-five theaters - selected by The Public and the 365 Days/365 Plays National Festival - will perform these brief, brilliant snapshots from the imagination of one of America's leading playwrights in numerous locations throughout the city.

Each week one participating theater will produce one week (seven plays) in the 365 Days/365 Plays cycle. Participants will produce their work in traditional theater spaces or site-specific locations. They may be staged readings or fully produced – but all will be in the spirit of celebrating the vibrancy of New York's theater tradition with audiences and artists from every corner of the city.  Each month, participants will be invited to share their work at First Sundays, a free public performance series at The Public the first Sunday of every month that will showcase the previous month of the play cycle. For the month of July only, each week of the month's plays will be performed by up to five theaters in The July Festival, which will spotlight on over 20 up-and-coming theater companies and artists.

For the most up-to-date information on the upcoming weekly presentations, call the 365 NYC Hotline at 212-539-8760 or visit www.publictheater.org/365.  Visit this link for a complete performance schedule: www.publictheater.org/365/schedule2.php.

Photo of Oskar Eustis by Linda Lenzi