Matt Damon, Christine Baranski Join for Public Theater's Public Forum Lineup at The Delacorte, 6/17

The Public Theater (Artistic Director, Oskar Eustis; Executive Director, Patrick Willingham) and the Aspen Institute Arts Program (Director, Damian Woetzel) announced today that Christine Baranski, Gloria Reuben and Matt Damon will join the free Public Forum, WHAT ARE WE WORTH? SHAKESPEARE, MONEY, AND MORALS, on Monday, June 17 at 8:00 p.m. at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park.

This one-night-only, free Public Theater event will include Shakespeare readings about money and justice with the previously announced Alan Alda, Marsha Stephanie Blake, Raúl Esparza, Hamish Linklater, Jesse L. Martin, Lily Rabe, Vanessa Redgrave, and others, as well as a lively town-hall conversation with the audience conducted by Harvard professor and best-selling author Michael Sandel about the way the language of money has been taking over our lives - the subject of his recent book, What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets.

Now in its third year, Public Forum is a series of lectures, conversations, and performances featuring leading voices in politics, media, and the arts. Are there some things money can't buy? Do we have obligations to each other as citizens? In the spirit of free exchange, epitomized by more than 50 years of The Public's free Shakespeare in the Park, this Public Forum will host a lively public debate and evening of theater.

Free Public Forum tickets will be distributed, two per person, at 12:00 p.m. on June 17 at the Delacorte Theater. Free tickets will also be available via the Virtual Ticketing drawing at www.shakespeareinthepark.org on the day of the event. Public Forum Supporter tickets are also available for a tax-deductible donation of $75 each. For information and to donate, call 212-967-7555.

"The Delacorte is ideally suited for town-hall meetings, and we are delighted to be partnering with the Aspen Institute and the brilliant Michael Sandel to create this lively and passionate evening," said Public Theater Artistic Director Oskar Eustis. "Shakespeare was writing at the birth of the modern economy, and his searing insights into money and value will be the perfect frame for this exhilarating event."

"The ethical dilemmas relating to individual rights and the power of wealth have not changed in the centuries since Shakespeare wrote the texts which can still brilliantly spur argument over today's issues," said Aspen Institute Arts Program Director Damian Woetzel. "It is an exciting occasion to join with The Public in bringing Shakespeare's immortal words together with Michael Sandel's genius for provoking public debate."

Alan Alda is a six-time Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award winner. He has appeared on Broadway in Glengarry Glen Ross, The Play What I Wrote, QED, Art, Jake's Women, The Apple Tree, The Owl and the Pussycat, among others. His film and television credits include Wanderlust, Tower Heist, Nothing But the Truth,"The Big C," "30 Rock," "The West Wing," "ER," and "M*A*S*H."

Christine Baranski is a two-time Tony, Emmy, SAG, American Comedy, and Drama Desk Award winner, whose Public Theater credits include the role of the Nurse in The Public's 50th Anniversary Gala reading of Romeo and Juliet. Her additional Public Theater credits Hamlet and A Midsummer Night's Dream. Her Broadway credits include Boeing-Boeing, The Real Thing, Rumors, HurlyBurly, and The House of Blue Leaves. Her Off-Broadway credits include the Encores! production of Follies; Promises, Promises; On Your Toes; Regrets Only; Lips Together, Teeth Apart; and The Loman Family Picnic. She has been seen at the Kennedy Center in Sweeny Todd and Mame. Her film and television credits include Mamma Mia!; Chicago; How The Grinch Stole Christmas; Cruel Intentions; The Birdcage; Bulworth; Bowfinger; Odd Couple II; The Ref; Welcome to Mooseport; Relative Strangers; Bonneville, The Bounty Hunter; "The Good Wife"; "The Big Bang Theory"; "Cybil"; "Happy Family"; "Welcome To New York"; "Recipe For A Perfect Christmas"; "Eloise at Christmas"; and "Playing for Time."

Marsha Stephanie Blake appeared on Broadway as Nerissa in The Public Theater's The Merchant of Venice and in the 2002 Shakespeare in the Park production of Twelfth Night. Her other Broadway credits include Joe Turner's Come and Gone and The Crucible. Her Off-Broadway credits include Luck of the Irish, Bullet for Adolf, Hurt Village, This Beautiful City, Queens Boulevard, Speak Truth to Power and Aunt Dan and Lemon. Her film and television credits include Stand Clear of the Closing Doors (Best Feature Jury Award, Tribeca 2013), Django Unchained, The Architect, A-Alike, Lifted, "Law & Order," "Law & Order: SVU," "The Big C," "Gifted Man," and "ElemeNtarY."

Matt Damon is an Academy Award-winning actor, screenwriter and producer whose extensive film credits include Good Will Hunting, which he co-wrote and starred in with Ben Affleck. Damon and Affleck won the Academy Award and Golden Globe in 1997 for Best Original Screenplay. Additionally, he's appeared in Saving Private Ryan, The Talented Mr. Ripley, The Brothers Grimm, Ocean's Eleven, Ocean's Twelve, Ocean's Thirteen, The Departed, Syriana, The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum, Invictus, True Grit, The Adjustment Bureau, Contagion, We Bought a Zoo, Promised Land, and most recently in Steven Soderburgh's Behind the Candelabra, opposite Michael Douglas.

RAÚL ESPARZA appeared in The Public's Shakespeare in the Park production of Twelfth Night in 2009 and in The Normal Heart in 2004, which was hosted by The Public. He was recently seen on Broadway in Leap of Faith. His other Broadway credits include Arcadia, Speed-the-Plow, The Homecoming, Company, Taboo, Cabaret, and The Rocky Horror Show. His select film and television credits include My Soul to Take, Find Me Guilty, "Hannibal," "Pushing Daisies," and "Law & Order: SVU."

Hamish Linklater's credits for The Public Theater include the current production of The Comedy of Errors; The Merchant of Venice; The Winter's Tale; Twelfth Night, for which he received a Drama Desk nomination; Hamlet; The Square; and Love's Fire. He was recently seen on Broadway in Seminar, and his additional Off-Broadway credits include the play The Vandal, which Linklater wrote; The School for Lies, earning him an Obie Award and Lortel and Outer Critics Circle nominations;The Busy World Is Hushed, earning him a Drama League nomination; Recent Tragic Events; and Good Thing. His film and television credits include 42, The Angriest Man in Brooklyn, Lola Versus, Battleship, The Future, Groove, Fantastic Four, "The Good Wife," "The Newsroom," "The Big C," and "The New Adventures of Old Christine."

Jesse L. Martin has appeared at The Public in the 50th Anniversary Gala reading of Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice (on Broadway and at the Delacorte) and The Winter's Tale. His additional Broadway credits include Rent, Timon of Athens, and The Inspector General. Martin's other theater credits include Ain't Yo Uncle, The Arabian Nights, The Butcher's Daughter, Romeo & Juliet, and Two Gentlemen of Verona. His film and television credits include Rent; Peter and Vandy; Cake Eaters; Season of Youth; The Restaurant; nine years on "Law & Order"; "The Philanthropist"; "The X-Files"; "Ally McBeal"; "413 Hope Street"; "New York Undercover"; and "Deep In My Heart."

Lily Rabe recently appeared in The Public's free Shakespeare in the Park production of As You Like It, for which she received a Drama League nomination. Her additional Public Theater credits include the Shakespeare in the Park and Broadway production of The Merchant of Venice (Tony, Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk nominations; Callaway Award). Her Broadway credits include Seminar, The American Plan, Heartbreak House (Outer Critics Circle nomination, Callaway Award), andSteel Magnolias (Drama Desk nomination). Her Off-Broadway and regional credits include A Doll's House, Crimes of the Heart, Colder Than Here, Proof, The Crazy Girl, and Speaking Well of the Dead. Rabe's film credits include All Good Things, Letters from the Big Man, Weakness, Aftermath, What Just Happened, The Toe Tactic, No Reservations, A Crime, Mona Lisa Smile, Never Again, and Beyond Redemption (upcoming). She recurs on "American Horror Story" and "The Good Wife," and has guest starred on "Saving Grace," "Nip/Tuck," "Medium," "Law & Order," Law & Order: CI," and "Law & Order: SVU."

Vanessa Redgrave recently performed and directed The Public Theater production of A World I Loved, presented in association with the Miller Theatre at Columbia University. Her additional Public Theater credits include Antony and Cleopatra, which she directed and performed in. She trained at the Ballet Rambert School and graduated from the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. She took lessons with singing coach Jani Strasser and dance with Litz Pisk, who later choreographed the dance for the Karel Reisz film Isadora, available on DVD. On September 24, 2012, Vanessa and the Redgrave family were honored by the American Theater Wing. On November 5, 2012, Vanessa was nominated for her role as Marion in the film, Song For Marion, which stars Terence Stamp, by the BIFA awards in the UK. Since 1959, Vanessa has played many of Shakespeare's women: Helena, Virgilia, Rosalind, Imogen, Katharina.. She also played Volumnia in Ralph Fiennes film Coriolanus (2011/2012). She will be playing Beatrice with James Earl Jones as Benedict, in the autumn of 2013. Vanessa has worked with Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, Wallace Shawn. Martin Sherman, and recently performed with Jesse Eisenberg in his new play The Revisionist.

Gloria Reuben, who has appeared in Public Theater Productions of Stuff Happens and Conversations in Tusculum, is an actress, singer and social activist, who many also remember as the HIV+ health care professional "Jeanie Boulet" on the hit NBC series "ER," a role that garnered her two Emmy nominations and a Golden Globe nomination. Since then, she has had multiple regular starring roles in a variety of other television series, including the TV movie Betty & Coretta, in which she played the role of Myrlie Evers alongside Mary J. Blige and Angela Bassett, and will soon be seen in a recurring role on the third season of TNT'S hit series, "Falling Skies." Most recently Reuben portrayed "Elizabeth Keckley" alongside Daniel Day-Lewis and Sally Field in the Steven Spielberg film Lincoln, appeared alongside Paul Rudd and Tina Fey in Paul Weitz's Admission, and will soon be seen opposite Samuel L. Jackson in Reasonable Doubt. Reuben's portrayal of Condoleezza Rice in David Hare's play Stuff Happens garnered her a Lucille Lortel Award for Best Actress. Her music career includes being a backup singer for Tina Turner in 2000, which led her to record her solo record Just For You. Reuben is also an activist, committing her time to the global climate change crisis through her participation with The Climate Reality Project, and to human rights issues with the RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights.

MICHAEL SANDEL teaches political philosophy at Harvard. He has been described as "perhaps the most prominent college professor in America," (Washington Post);"the most relevant living philosopher" and a "rock-star moralist," (Newsweek); and "the most famous teacher of philosophy in the world," (New Republic). His writings have been translated into 22 languages. His course "Justice" is the first Harvard course to be made freely available online and on television. It has been viewed by millions of people around the world, including in China, where Sandel was named the "most influential foreign figure of the year" (China Newsweek). Sandel's new book is What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets. It takes up one of the most important ethical questions of our time: Do money and markets dominate more of life than they should, and if so, what should we do about it? Critics have called it "a brilliant, indispensable book on the relationship between morality and economics," (The Times London); and one of the most important exercises in public philosophy in many years," (New Statesman). Like his previous book Justice, an international best seller, What Money Can't Buy has generated interest around the world. Sandel recently completed book tour that took him to dozens of cities on 5-continents and packed venues such as St. Paul's Cathedral in London and the Sydney Opera House. In Seoul, 14,000 people filled an outdoor stadium to hear him speak.

Damian Woetzel (Director of the Aspen Institute) has taken on multiple roles in arts leadership since retiring from a 20-year career as Principal Dancer with New York City Ballet. Since June 2011, Woetzel has been the Director of the Aspen Institute Arts Program, where he creates programs aiming to further the role of the arts in society. Woetzel also currently serves as the Artistic Director of the Vail International Dance Festival and as the Founding Director of the Jerome Robbins New Essential Works Program. Outside these roles, Woetzel is active as a director and producer: among his recent projects were the first performance of the White House Dance Series, Lil Buck @ Le Poisson Rouge, and culminating year-end performances for the Silk Road Connect program, in collaboration with Yo-Yo Ma, with whom he works on education projects nationally. Woetzel holds a Master in Public Administration Degree from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and has taught as a Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School. Woetzel was appointed to the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities by President Obama in 2009.

PUBLIC FORUM, now in its third year, presents the theater of ideas. Curated by Jeremy McCarter, this series of lectures, conversations, and performances features leading voices in politics, media, and the arts. Alec Baldwin, Anne Hathaway, Cynthia Nixon, Michael Stuhlbarg, Sam Waterston, and former NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman have hosted its programs, which have featured the insights of Kurt Andersen, Carl Bernstein, David Brooks, David Byrne, Mary Schmidt Campbell, Nathan Englander, Hendrik Hertzberg, Arianna Huffington, Bill Irwin, Tony Kushner, Wynton Marsalis, Jay McInerney, Suzan-Lori Parks, Francine Prose, Reihan Salam, David Simon, Anna Deavere Smith, Ben Smith, Stephen Sondheim, Emma Straub, Sam Tanenhaus, Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson, Marc Tracy, Damian Woetzel, the culture writers of New York Magazine, and young veterans of the war in Afghanistan - plus performances by Anne Hathaway, Michael Friedman, Gabriel Kahane, and Michael Cerveris, among others.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride