Deirdre O'Connell & More to Star in GLASS. KILL. WHAT IF IF ONLY. IMP. at The Public
Performances will begin on Thursday, April 3 and run through Sunday, May 4.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Feb. 05, 2025
The Public Theater has revealed the complete cast for GLASS. KILL. WHAT IF IF ONLY. IMP., a quartet of inventive new works written by groundbreaking playwright Caryl Churchill and directed by Obie Award winner James Macdonald. The first time the four plays will be presented together, GLASS. KILL. WHAT IF IF ONLY. IMP. begins performances in The Public’s Martinson Hall with a Joseph Papp Free Performance on Thursday, April 3. The production officially opens on Wednesday, April 16 and runs through Sunday, May 4.
A girl made of glass. Gods and murders. A pack of ghosts. And a secret in a bottle. A kaleidoscope of stories, each short play is a testament to how playwright Caryl Churchill has “remade the landscape of contemporary drama—and earned herself a place among the greats” (The Guardian). James Macdonald directs these wildly inventive new works.
GLASS. KILL. WHAT IF IF ONLY. IMP. marks Churchill’s return to The Public Theater, continuing a four-decade-long relationship with The Public Theater that began with the Obie Award-winning North American premiere of Top Girls in 1982. The Public has since produced Fen, Serious Money, Ice Cream with Hot Fudge, The Skriker, and Drunk Enough to Say I Love You?.
The complete cast of GLASS. KILL. WHAT IF IF ONLY. IMP. includes Japhet Balaban, Ruby Blaut, John Ellison Conlee, Adelind Horan, Maddox Morfit-Tighe, Deirdre O'Connell, Cecilia Ann Popp, Sathya Sridharan, Junru Wang, and Ayana Workman. Kyle Cameron and Anya Whelan-Smith will serve as understudies.
GLASS. KILL. WHAT IF IF ONLY. IMP. features scenic design by Miriam Buether, costume design by Enver Chakartash, lighting design by Isabella Byrd, sound design by Bray Poor, stunt coordination by Michael Rossmy, and dialect coaching by Amanda Quaid. Caroline Englander will serve as production stage manager and Luisa Sánchez Colón as stage manager.
GLASS, KILL, and IMP were first presented by the English Stage Company at the Royal Court Theatre on September 18, 2019. WHAT IF IF ONLY was first presented by the English Stage Company at the Royal Court Theatre on September 29, 2021. WHAT IF IF ONLY had its North American premiere in 2021 with remote live performances presented by the National Asian American Theatre Company (NAATCO), realized by Les Waters and Jared Mezzocchi.
Previews begin this month for SUMO, written by Lisa Sanaye Dring, directed by Ralph B. Peña, and co-produced with Ma-Yi Theater Company and La Jolla Playhouse. After GLASS. KILL. WHAT IF IF ONLY. IMP., the season will conclude with the New York Premiere of GODDESS, a new musical and a rousing tale of romance, the supernatural, and the quest towards one’s truest self. The production is conceived and directed by Associate Artistic Director/Resident Director Saheem Ali, features music and lyrics by Michael Thurber, a book by Tony Award nominee Jocelyn Bioh, and choreography by Darrell Grand Moultrie.
Following a significant revitalization, The Delacorte Theater, home of Free Shakespeare in the Park, will reopen in Summer 2025 with a production of Shakespeare’s classic comedy TWELFTH NIGHT, also directed by The Public’s Associate Artistic Director/Resident Director, Tony Award nominee Saheem Ali, and featuring Public Theater alumni Bill Camp, Khris Davis, Peter Dinklage, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Lupita Nyong’o, Sandra Oh, and Daphne Rubin-Vega and Public debuts b, Junior Nyong’o, and Moses Sumney. Free Shakespeare will also be accessible across the city through Mobile Unit’s MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, in a production directed by Rebecca Martinez that will tour the five boroughs, and a new Public Works adaptation of PERICLES, with music and lyrics by Troy Anthony and directed by Carl Cofield, at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine.
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