Sullivan and Greif Helmed Productions of THE WINTER'S TALE and THE MERCHANT OF VENICE to Unfold for 2010 Shakespeare in the Park Summer Season

The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Andrew D. Hamingson) announced that the 2010 Shakespeare in the Park summer season will present two Shakespeare plays in repertory giving audiences eight straight weeks of free Shakespeare. Under directors Daniel Sullivan and Michael Greif, the same company of actors will perform in both THE WINTER'S TALE and THE MERCHANT OF VENICE on rotating nights.

THE MERCHANT OF VENICE will be directed by Daniel Sullivan and THE WINTER'S TALE will be directed by Michael Greif. Previews for Shakespeare in the Park 2010 will begin on Wednesday, June 9 and run through Sunday, August 1. Casting and design teams to be announced at a later date.

Shakespeare in the Park 2010 is not The Public Theater's first foray into rotating repertory. Henry IV, Parts One and Two were performed in rep in the Newman Theater in 1991, and 20 years earlier, the Henry VI plays and Richard III were condensed into The War of the Roses which was presented in rep and then performed in one all-night marathon in Central Park.

"This is a major step for The Public," said Artistic Director Oskar Eustis. "Continuity of work is the key to great theater of all kinds; this is especially true for Shakespeare. The particular delights of repertory for an audience are meaningful; the depth of artistic work it allows for actors is inimitable."

Bank of America will return as the 2010 season sponsor, supporting The Public's mission to keep Shakespeare in the Park free.

Daniel Sullivan (Director, The Merchant of Venice) directed the 2009 Shakespeare in the Park production of Twelfth Night. Also at The Public, he has directed A Midsummer Night's Dream (2007), Stuff Happens (2006), and The Merry Wives of Windsor (1994). His Broadway credits include Accent on Youth, Top Girls, Come Back Little Sheba, The Homecoming, Prelude to a Kiss, Rabbit Hole, After the Night and the Music, Julius Caesar, Brooklyn Boy, Sight Unseen, The Retreat From Moscow, Morning's at Seven, Proof, Major Barbara, A Moon for the Misbegotten, Ah, Wilderness!, An American Daughter, The Sisters Rosensweig, Conversations With My Father, The Heidi Chronicles, and I'm Not Rappaport. His numerous off-Broadway credits include Intimate Apparel, In Real Life, Dinner With Friends, Proof, Ten Unknowns, Ancestral Voices and Spinning Into Butter. From 1981 to 1997, Sullivan served as Artistic Director of Seattle Repertory Theatre, where he directed more than 60 productions. Sullivan's film and television credits include The Substance of Fire and "Far East."

Michael Greif (Director, The Winter's Tale) directed the 2007 Shakespeare in the Park revival of Romeo and Juliet at The Public, as well as Diana Son's Satellites, the launch performance of Suzan-Lori Parks's 365 Days / 365 Plays, f-ing A, Dogeaters (Obie), Marisol, Pericles, Casanova, A Bright Room Called Day, and Machinal (Obie). His other recent work includes Next to Normal and Grey Gardens on Broadway, Tony Kushner's The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism With a Key to the Scriptures at the Guthrie, Boy's Life (Second Stage), A Very Common Procedure (MCC), and John Guare's Landscape of the Body (Signature Theater). Greif's Broadway credits include Jonathan Larson's Rent (Obie Award, Tony nom.) and Next to Normal (Tony nomination). He is an Artistic Associate at New York Theatre Workshop, where his credits include Cavedweller, Bright Lights, Big City, and Rent. His other Off-Broadway credits include Neal Bell's Spatter Pattern (Playwrights Horizons), Neal LaBute's The Distance from Here (MCC), Betty Rules (Zipper), Guare's A Few Stout Individuals (Signature Theatre), and Bell's Monster (CSC). La Jolla (Artistic Director 1995-1999): Our Town, Sweet Bird of Youth, Diana Son's Boy, Randy Newman's Faust (also Goodman), Kushner's Slavs (also Taper), and Thérèse Raquin.

For additional information about Shakespeare in the Park, visit The Public Theater website at www.publictheater.org

THE PUBLIC THEATER (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Andrew D. Hamingson) was founded by Joseph Papp in 1954 as the Shakespeare Workshop and is now one of the nation's preeminent cultural institutions, producing new plays, musicals, productions of Shakespeare, and other classics at its headquarters on Lafayette Street and at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. The Public's mandate to create a theater for all New Yorkers continues to this day on stage and through its extensive outreach and education programs. Each year, over 250,000 people attend Public Theater-related productions and events at six downtown stages, including Joe's Pub, and Shakespeare in the Park. The Public has won 42 Tony Awards, 149 Obies, 40 Drama Desk Awards, 24 Lucille Lortel Awards and 4 Pulitzer Prizes.

Building on a long-standing tradition of investing in the communities it serves, Bank of America is in its fourth year of achieving an unprecedented 10-year goal to donate $1.5 billion to nonprofit organizations engaged in improving the health and vitality of their neighborhoods. Funded by Bank of America, the Bank of America Charitable Foundation will give more than $225 million in 2008, making the bank the most generous financial institution in the world and the second largest donor of all U.S. corporations in cash contributions. Bank of America approaches giving through a national strategy called "neighborhood excellence" under which it works with local leaders to identify and meet the most pressing needs of individual communities. Through Team Bank of America, bank associate volunteers contributed more than 650,000 hours in 2007 to enhance the quality of life in their communities nationwide. For more information about Bank of America Corporate Philanthropy, please visit www.bankofamerica.com/foundation.

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

The Public's 2009-2010 downtown season is made possible with the generous support of both The Philip and Janice Levin Foundation and The Ian Madover and Arielle Tepper Madover Family Foundation.

Time Warner is the Supporting Sponsor of The Public's 2009-2010 season.

Bank of America is the proud Season Sponsor of Shakespeare in the Park.

Major support for The Public Theater is provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Shubert Foundation, the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Susan Stein Shiva Foundation, the George T. Delacorte Fund at the New York Community Trust-Fund for Performances at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, and by Warren Spector and Margaret Whitton.

Additional generous support is provided by Apollo Management, the Horace W.

Goldsmith Foundation, New York Magazine, and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.

Public support is provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs; the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency; and the National Endowment for the Arts, an independent federal agency.

New York Magazine is the official print and online sponsor of The Public Theater's downtown 2009-2010 season.

Special thanks to Continental Airlines, the official airline of The Public Theater.