The Public Theater Announces 365NYC July Fest

The Public Theater's Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Mara Manus in association with playwright Suzan-Lori Parks (Topdog/Underdog, Venus) and Producer Bonnie Metzgar's 365 National Festival has announced 365NYC JulyFest - a festival that will offer an explosion of innovative presentations of Suzan-Lori Parks' "365 Days/365 Plays" during the month of July.  In response to the overwhelming demand by theater artists throughout the city to participate in 365NYC, each week of JulyFest will spotlight four different theater companies and over 100 theater artists performing that week's plays - creating over the course of the month a vibrant kaleidoscope of theatrical work in New York City. 

Participants in 365NYC JulyFest include 3-d, Blue Box Productions, Boomerang Theatre Company, Collaborationtown, Dixon Place, Engine37, The Faux-Real Theater Company, Gansfeld Theater Company, Genesius Theatre Group, Lucid Theatre, Partial Comfort Productions, Racca's Seaport Salon, Robot vs. Dinosaur, Shakespeare Lab at The Public, Slant Theatre Project, The Tank, The Team , Temporary Theatre Company, Untitled Theater Company #61, and Vortex Theater Company.

Highlights of the festival include:

Unusual Locations

3-d will be performing in various unexpected site-specific spaces around the city.  Faux-Real Theater Co. will perform in the Judson Memorial Church. Genesius Theater Company will bring 365 to the grand theater lobby of the Vivian Beaumont Theater in Lincoln Center .  Robot vs. Dinosaur will be performing in unannounced public spaces all over the city. The TEAM will text the secret locations 24 hours prior to the event to the cell phones of audience members who sign up on their website. 

Central Park

The Public Theater's Shakespeare Lab alumni will perform for the people waiting for Shakepeare in the Park tickets at The Delacorte in Central Park and at 425 Lafayette Street.  Boomerang Theatre Company, which produces plays in parks and green spaces, will present 365 in Central Park on the lawn between Strawberry Fields and Tavern on the Green. 

Different Languages

Gansfeld Theater Company will produce 365 with an ensemble of ten actors from diverse cultural backgrounds who will explore the cross-cultural dimension of 365 via several foreign languages commonly spoken in New York City, including Chinese, Korean, Spanish, Greek, Urdu, Bengali, and Haitian Creole. 
 
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. 

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.

The 'First Sunday' for 365NYC JulyFest will take place on August 5th at 2:00PM and 7:00PM.  Tickets are free and available by reservation beginning July 9th at 212-967-7555 or at The Public Theater Box Office. 

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.  For the full performance schedule, visit www.publictheater.org/365/schedule4.php.

Photo - Suzan-Lori Parks