The Public Theater Announces 2021-22 Season Featuring World Premieres of THE VISITOR, CULLUD WATTAH and More

Public Theater Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Patrick Willingham announced the line-up today for The Public's 2021-22 Season, returning to their landmark home on 425 Lafayette Street after the year-long pandemic shutdown with a robust slate of new productions and ongoing programming. The iconic New York destination has been home to over 50 years of revolutionary theater, and continues this season with new plays and musicals by Erika Dickerson-Despenza, Daniel Alexander Jones, Tom Kitt, Kwame Kwei-Armah, Mona Mansour, Suzan-Lori Parks, Shaina Taub, and Brian Yorkey. The season will also feature co-productions by Jaclyn Backhaus, Sam Chanse, Mia Chung, James Ijames, Naomi Iizuka, Anna Ouyang Moench, and Lloyd Suh with renowned theater companies Barrington Stage Company & Ma-Yi Theater Company, NAATCO, and National Black Theatre.

"For the last 18 months, we have been unable to create the most basic requirement of our art form: gathering artists and audiences in one room. The return of theater is the return of community, a return to the city we love, a return to the vital mission we have to create, encourage, and promote cultural democracy," said Artistic Director Oskar Eustis. "Our 21-22 season is a response to all our values, restoring long-term relationships and creating new relationships that reflect the theater we want to become. We are working with artists with whom we have a long history, as well as artists who have never worked with The Public before. We have created a season that has over 50% BIPOC representation in all artistic leadership roles, en route to our goal of having artists, staff, and audiences fully represent the city we love."

Eustis continued, "We are offering partnerships and residencies to colleague theaters who have been hit particularly hard by the pandemic crisis, supporting not only artists of color, but theaters of color. And it's a season of brilliant and delightful shows. Along with our programs, which are at the heart of The Public, these shows embody what The Public is, and what it stands for. We are so glad to be back. The future is uncertain, but full of possibility. I'm glad we will walk into it together."

More important than ever, The Public also continues its year-round engagement through its vital programs: Joe's Pub, Mobile Unit, Public Works, Under the Radar, Public Forum, Public Shakespeare Initiative, #BARS, and Emerging Writers Group. This season, Joe's Pub will return with multi-night runs on Tuesdays-Saturdays and shows nightly on Sundays and Mondays beginning October 5, Mobile Unit will bring their work to correctional facilities with Mobile Unit in Corrections, Under the Radar will celebrate its 18th edition in January 2022, and Public Shakespeare Initiative's Hunts Point Children's Shakespeare Ensemble will present their own adaptation of Twelfth Night in Spring 2022.

"We couldn't think of a more perfect way to follow the return of Free Shakespeare in the Park this summer than the reopening of our landmark flagship on Astor Place this fall," said Executive Director Patrick Willingham. "After more than a year of mostly dark and empty theaters and spaces, we're excited to welcome New York back to The Public Theater for our incredible upcoming season. We're continuously grateful for the partnership of our unions, public health experts, and elected officials across the federal, State, and City level, who have made the reopening of culture and the performing arts possible across New York City and who have worked hard to ensure that we and our fellow non-profit performing arts organizations have the support necessary to push forward through the impact of the pandemic and the shutdown. We particularly want to thank Majority Leader Schumer and the members of Congress that made the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant possible. Without their visionary leadership in making this first of its kind grant possible, we would not be able to make such a robust slate of activity available to the people of the City of New York."

The Public Theater is committed to being a more just, more anti-racist, and more equitable organization. The Public's leadership and staff-led cultural transformation work is guided by a plan that is built on impactful commitments and goals and the actions needed to achieve them. Learn more about The Public's cultural transformation plan here.

Continuing The Public's mission to make great theater accessible to all, The Public's Joseph Papp Free Preview Initiative will return for all 2021-22 productions. Free tickets to the first performance of every production will be available via a digital lottery on the day-of-performance, powered by The Public's digital partner, Goldstar. To further increase accessibility, for the first time ever, from October through December, all tickets to Joe's Pub performances on Tuesdays will be $10. Tickets for the 2021-22 season will go on sale in the coming weeks.

The Public is excited to welcome our community back to its flagship home at Astor Place. To play our part in helping to protect everyone as we return, The Public will require proof of a complete FDA or WHO authorized vaccination for access into the facility for everyone-all staff, artists, and audiences. Proof along with a government issued photo I.D., such as a driver's license, passport, or IDNYC will also be required. A complete vaccination means having received a final FDA or WHO vaccination dose at least 14 days before the performance date. The access policy for anyone unvaccinated, those under 12 and those that require a reasonable accommodation due to a medical condition or religious belief, will be forthcoming shortly as information from New York City officials evolves. There will be no vaccination exemptions for anyone attending a performance in Joe's Pub. Approved face masks will be required at all times inside the facility and theaters, including while watching a performance, except while actively eating and drinking. For the latest health and safety protocols, visit thepublic.nyc/safeatthepublic. All policies are subject to change at The Public's sole discretion and without notice.

Become a Partner or a Supporter of The Public Theater today at publictheater.org.

The Public Theater'S 2021-22 SEASON:

THE VISITOR

World Premiere Musical
Music by Tom Kitt
Lyrics by Brian Yorkey
Book by Kwame Kwei-Armah & Brian Yorkey
Choreography by Lorin Latarro
Directed by Daniel Sullivan
October 7 - November 21, 2021; Opening Night: November 4

The cast of THE VISITOR will include Jacqueline Antaramian (Mouna), Robert Ariza (Ensemble), Anthony Chan (Ensemble), Alysha Deslorieux (Zainab), Delius Doherty (Ensemble), C.K. Edwards (Ensemble), Will Erat (Ensemble), Sean Ewing (Swing), Ahmad Maksoud (Ensemble), Dimitri Joseph Moïse (Ensemble), Takafumi Nikaido (Ensemble/Drummer), David Hyde Pierce (Walter), Paul Pontrelli (Ensemble), and Ari'el Stachel (Tarek). Complete casting will be announced at a later date.

With heart, humor, and lush new songs, Pulitzer Prize and Tony-winning team Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey and Kwame Kwei-Armah bring their soul-stirring new musical based on the acclaimed independent film, THE VISITOR by Thomas McCarthy, to The Public for its World Premiere. Widowed and living alone, Walter is a college professor whose life has lost a sense of purpose. When Tarek, a vivacious drummer, and Zainab, an iron-willed jewelry maker, enter his life in the most unexpected circumstances, Walter is swept up into their struggle to stay in an America that they have made their home, but seeks to cast them out. Tony winner Daniel Sullivan directs this unforgettable new musical about friends and lovers caught between two worlds.

THE VISITOR will feature scenic design by David Zinn; costume design by Toni-Leslie James; lighting design by Japhy Weideman; sound design by Jessica Paz and Sun Hee Kil; video design by David Bengali and Hana S. Kim; hair, wigs, and make-up design by Matthew Armentrout; orchestrations by Jamshied Sharifi; music direction by Meg Zervoulis; and music contracting by Tomoko Akaboshi. James Latus will serve as production stage manager.

CULLUD WATTAH

World Premiere
By Erika Dickerson-Despenza
Directed by Candis C. Jones
November 2 - December 5, 2021; Opening Night: November 17

The initial cast of CULLUD WATTAH features Crystal Dickinson (Marion), Lizan Mitchell (Big Ma), Andrea Patterson (Ainee), and Alicia Pilgrim (Plum). Complete casting will be announced at a later date.

2021 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize winner Erika Dickerson-Despenza's new Afro-surrealist play premieres at The Public about three generations of Black women living through the current water crisis in Flint, Michigan. It's been 936 days since Flint has had clean water. Marion, a third-generation General Motors employee, is consumed by layoffs at the engine plant. When her sister, Ainee, seeks justice and restitution for lead poisoning, her plan reveals the toxic entanglements between the city and its most powerful industry, forcing their family to confront the past-present-future cost of survival. As lead seeps into their home and their bodies, corrosive memories and secrets rise among them. Will this family ever be able to filter out the truth? Directed by Lilly Award winner Candis C. Jones, CULLUD WATTAH blends form and bends time, diving deep into the poisonous choices of the outside world, the contamination within, and how we make the best choices for our families' future when there are no real, present options. CULLUD WATTAH comes to us from the same playwright and director duo behind the thrilling digital production of shadow/land.

CULLUD WATTAH will feature scenic design by Adam Rigg; costume design by Kara Harmon; lighting design by Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew; sound design by Sinan Refik Zafar; hair, wigs, and make-up by Earon Nealy; original composition by Justin Hicks; and movement direction by Adesola Osakalumi. Janelle Caso will serve as production stage manager.

CULLUD WATTAH was developed by Erika Dickerson-Despenza as a Tow Playwright-in-Residence at The Public Theater. Lead support for CULLUD WATTAH provided by the Laurents / Hatcher Foundation. Additional support provided by the Edgerton Foundation and the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation.

JOE'S PUB RETURN

Joe's Pub reopens this fall, ushering in the return of the best in live music and performance to NYC. With multi-night runs on Tuesdays-Saturdays and shows nightly on Sundays and Mondays, the dynamic season line-up will kick off on Tuesday, October 5 with Justin Vivian Bond and The Illustrious Blacks. Laurie Anderson's Vanguard Award and Residency will be extended through summer 2022, as will the current cohort of the Joe's Pub Working Group, which includes Salty Brine, Sarah Elizabeth Charles, Jaime Lozano, Roopa Mahadevan, and Kirsten Maxwell. For the first time ever, from October through December, all tickets on Tuesdays will be $10 (limit two per person).

Upcoming Joe's Pub Performances Include:

October 5-9 | Justin Vivian Bond with opener The Illustrious Blacks
October 10 | Sondre Lerche
October 11 | Martha Redbone and Her Band of Funkateers
October 12-16 | Kludge: curated by Laurie Anderson, feat. Anne Carson, Arto Lindsay, Rubin Kodheli & Lafcadio Cass
October 17 | Queen Esther
October 18 | Malik Work
October 19-23 | Taylor Mac
October 24-25 | EPIC Players
October 26-30 | The Bad Plus
October 31 | The Bowery Boys
November 1 | The Skivvies
November 2-5 | Yacine Boulares & The Habibi Festival Band feat. Alsarah, Kinan Azmeh & Esraa Warda with opener Haig Papazian
November 7 | Kaoru Watanabe
November 8 | Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis & Friends
November 9-11 | Toshi Reagon & BIGLovely
November 12-13 | Toshi Reagon & Lizz Wright
November 14 | Nona Hendryx
November 15 | Kate Rigg
November 16-20 | Jazzmeia Horn and Her Noble Force
November 21 | Michael Mayo
November 28 | Reverend Billy & The Stop Shopping Choir
November 30 - December 4 | Bridget Everett & The Tender Moments with opener Celisse
December 5-6 | Peppermint
December 7-11 | Joe McGinty & The Loser's Lounge
December 14-18 | Murray Hill with opener Ike Ufomadu
December 21-23 | Yemen Blues with opener Ahmed Alshaiba
December 26-31 | Sandra Bernhard with opener Unitard

PLAYS FOR THE PLAGUE YEAR

By Suzan-Lori Parks
Directed by Niegel Smith

On March 13, 2020, as theaters shut their doors and so many of us went into lockdown, celebrated playwright Suzan-Lori Parks picked up her pen and set out to write a play every day. What emerged is a breathtaking chronicle of our collective experience throughout the troubling days and nights that followed. PLAYS FOR THE PLAGUE YEAR is at once a personal story of one family's daily lives as well as a sweeping account of all we faced as a city, a nation, and a global community. Brimming with humanity, Parks' groundbreaking new work bears witness to what we've experienced and offers inspiration as we look ahead. Working in collaboration with Niegel Smith as director, The Public Theater will plan to share this vital new work over the course of the season.

ALTAR NO. 1 - ATEN

Digital Album by Daniel Alexander Jones
Weekly Installments to be Released Beginning September 22

Acclaimed theater artist Daniel Alexander Jones' latest work, ALTAR NO. 1 - ATEN uses our solar system as both metaphor and method for an immersive journey through the celestial, within and without. The work invites you to take part in a dynamic new creative odyssey through the ever-expanding digital portal aten.life. ALTAR NO. 1 - ATEN unfolds through a series of weekly installments that include a new album of 15 original songs by Jones and Josh Quat; connected music videos; a series of probing podcast conversations with special guests; and invitations for visitors to engage on and offline. It is a site for you to return-to replenish, reflect, and contribute to a growing archive of shared reflection and inspiration. ALTAR NO. 1 - ATEN launches Daniel Alexander Jones' multivalent ALTAREDSTATES project, devised over the last two years in collaboration with the creative braintrust of Dr. Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Ebony Noelle Golden, Walter Kitundu, Josh Quat, and Sangodare Wallace.

ALTAR NO. 1 - ATEN is commissioned by The Public Theater, and created with support from CalArts Center for New Performance and New York Live Arts' Live Feed Residency, with funding from Rockefeller Brothers Fund, National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Stavros Niarchos Foundation, and the Partners for New Performance. This project is made possible with generous support from the New England Foundation for the Arts' National Theater Project, with lead funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and additional support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Produced by CalArts Center for New Performance.

MOBILE UNIT IN CORRECTIONS RETURNS THIS FALL

Mobile Unit Initiative Returns this Fall

The Public Theater is proud to continue MOBILE UNIT IN CORRECTIONS, its first long-term program that brings the tools of theater into the daily lives of incarcerated communities. As institutions begin to reinstate programming, Mobile Unit will release the second volume in the Hip-Hop vs. Shakespeare video series with the NYC Department of Corrections with a corresponding workshop. The second series was created and conceived by hip-hop theater artist Malik Work and Mobile Unit Community Programs Manager Praycious Wilson-Gay, and aims to activate creative thinking, develop skills of writing and performing verse, and encourage a life-long passion for learning. Participants are provided with supplemental materials administered through our corrections partners. The Public Theater's Mobile Unit remains community-driven, radically inclusive, and civically engaged; maintains a strong dialogue with communities across the five boroughs; and continues to deepen partnerships with corrections, community centers, and libraries, while developing new ways to create narratives about, for, and by our beloved communities.

UNDER THE RADAR FESTIVAL

18th Edition
January 12-23, 2022

January 2022 will bring a fully live in-person Under the Radar Festival back to The Public. A highlight of the festival will be performances by the Devised Theater Working Group who have been developing projects for the past two years. The pandemic has forced the theater field to question how it imagines a post-COVID theater; it has also led to leaps of innovation and reimagination-UTR will be a meeting ground to explore all of those questions and embrace new possibilities.

World Premiere Plays

OUT OF TIME

By Jaclyn Backhaus, Sam Chanse, Mia Chung, Naomi Iizuka, and Anna Ouyang Moench
Commissioned and Produced by NAATCO
Conceived and Directed by Les Waters
Presented by The Public Theater
February 2022

The Public and The National Asian American Theatre Company (NAATCO) join forces in presenting OUT OF TIME, a collection of brand-new monologues by five award-winning Asian American Playwrights, performed by an ensemble of actors all over the age of 60. Conceived and directed by Obie Award-winning director Les Waters and commissioned by NAATCO, OUT OF TIME is a theatrical tapestry exploring age, memory, motherhood, and identity in moving new works by writers Jaclyn Backhaus, Sam Chanse, Mia Chung, Naomi Iizuka, and Anna Ouyang Moench.

OUT OF TIME will feature scenic design by Kimie Nishikawa, costume design by Mariko Ohigashi, and sound design by Fabian Obispo.

THE CHINESE LADY

By Lloyd Suh
The Barrington Stage Company and Ma-Yi Theater Company Production
Directed by Ralph B. Peña
Presented by The Public Theater
February 2022

Inspired by the true story of the first Chinese woman to step foot in America, Lloyd Suh's critically-acclaimed play, THE CHINESE LADY, is a tale of dark poetic whimsy and a unique portrait of the United States as seen through the eyes of a young Chinese girl. In 1834, 16-year-old Afong Moy sailed into New York Harbor and was immediately put on display for a paying public who were mesmerized by her exotic ways and horrified by her tiny bound feet. As audiences follow Moy's travels through America as a living exhibit for decades, THE CHINESE LADY reveals centuries of America's shameful colonial history.

SUFFS

World Premiere Musical
Book, Music, and Lyrics by Shaina Taub
Choreography by Raja Feather Kelly
Directed by Leigh Silverman
March 2022

A musical event one hundred years in the making, SUFFS brings to life a complicated chapter in the ongoing battle for the right to vote: the American women's suffrage movement. Written by and featuring one of the most exciting new voices in theater, Shaina Taub, this epic new musical takes an unflinching look at these unsung trailblazers. In the years leading up to the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, an impassioned group of suffragists-"Suffs" as they called themselves-took to the streets, pioneering protest tactics that transformed the country. They risked their lives as they clashed with the president, the public, and each other. A thrilling story of brilliant, flawed women working against and across generational, racial, and class divides, SUFFS boldly explores the victories and failures of a fight for equality that is still far from over.

SUFFS will feature scenic design by Mimi Lien, costume design by Toni-Leslie James, lighting design by Natasha Katz, sound design by Sun Hee Kil and Palmer Hefferan, orchestrations by Mike Brun, and music direction and supervision by Andrea Grody. In addition to choreographer, Raja Feather Kelly will be creative consultant and Melanie Lisby will serve as production stage manager. Additional support for SUFFS provided by the Edgerton Foundation and the Laurents / Hatcher Foundation.

THE VAGRANT TRILOGY

New York Premiere Public Theater Commission
By Mona Mansour
Directed by Mark Wing-Davey
April 2022

Mona Mansour, award-winning playwright and alumna of The Public's Emerging Writers Group, delves into the Palestinian struggle for home and identity in THE VAGRANT TRILOGY, a single epic story told in three parts. In 1967, Adham, a Palestinian Wordsworth scholar, goes to London with his new wife to deliver a lecture. When war breaks out at home, he must decide in an instant what to do-a choice that will affect the rest of his life. The two parts that follow explore alternate realities based on that decision. Each part in the trilogy speaks to the others, together painting a rare and moving picture of Palestinian displacement and a refugee's life of permanent impermanence. Featuring six actors in 19 different roles, Mansour's drama spans four decades and three generations of a family uprooted by war and politics. Obie Award winner and Drama Desk Award nominee Mark Wing-Davey directs this sweeping new epic about the poetry and pain of losing the place called home.

THE VAGRANT TRILOGY will feature scenic design by Allen Moyer, costume design by Dina El-Aziz, lighting design by Reza Behjat, and video design by Greg Emetaz. Caroline Englander will serve as production stage manager.

FAT HAM

New York Premiere Play
Co-Production with National Black Theatre
By James Ijames
Directed by Saheem Ali
May 2022

Critically-acclaimed playwright James Ijames reinvents Shakespeare's masterpiece with his new drama, FAT HAM. Juicy is a queer, Southern college kid, already grappling with some serious questions of identity, when the ghost of his father shows up in their backyard, demanding that Juicy avenge his murder. It feels like a familiar story to Juicy, well-versed in Hamlet's woes. What's different is Juicy himself, a sensitive and self-aware young Black man trying to break the cycles of trauma and violence in service of his own liberation. From an uproarious family barbecue emerges a compelling examination of love and loss, pain and joy. FAT HAM is a delectable comic tragedy directed by The Public's Associate Artistic Director Saheem Ali.

TWELFTH NIGHT

Public Shakespeare Initiative and The Hunts Point Children's Shakespeare Ensemble
May 2022

A new season of the Hunts Point Children's Shakespeare Ensemble will begin early in October 2021 and culminate in May 2022 with a production of Twelfth Night. The Ensemble will meet in person with up to 60 young people and a full creative team for eight months of workshops and discovery around a variety of theater-making skills while also incorporating some new online learning tools discovered during the last 18 months of remote work.

Now in its 15th year, the Hunts Point Children's Shakespeare Ensemble represents an extraordinary collaborative effort between the Public Shakespeare Initiative and community partner, the Hunts Point Alliance for Children. Fourth, fifth, and sixth graders from schools in the Hunts Point community of the South Bronx spend a full academic year discovering, rehearsing, and ultimately performing a Shakespeare play. In May each year, the Ensemble's teamwork, creativity, and commitment come together in a celebratory production, complete with sets, lights, costumes, props, and live musicians. The Ensemble meets three times per week for eight months, working with a team of theater professionals to make Shakespeare's original text their own. In partnership with the Hunts Point Alliance for Children, this long-standing program supports young people in developing intellectual, social, and emotional confidence, while strengthening practical skills such as public speaking, listening, creativity, and teamwork.