Elevator Repair Service's MEASURE FOR MEASURE Bows This Sunday at The Public

A friendly reminder! The Public Theater will begin previews this Sunday, September 17 for Measure for Measure, created by Elevator Repair Service, part of The Public's Astor Anniversary Season at their landmark downtown home on Lafayette Street, celebrating 50 years of new work at 425 Lafayette Street and the 50th Anniversary of HAIR.

Directed by John Collins, the show continues performances through Sunday, November 5, with an official press opening on Tuesday, October 10. Continuing The Public's mission to make great theater accessible to all, The Public's First Performance "Free for All" continues this fall; free tickets to the first preview on Sunday, September 17 at 7:00 p.m. are available now via TodayTix mobile lottery.

The complete cast of Elevator Repair Service's Measure for Measure includes Rinne Groff (Isabella); Lindsay Hockaday (Pompey, Juliet); Maggie Hoffman (Provost): Mike Iveson (Lucio); Vin Knight (Escalus); April Matthis (Francisca, Mariana); Gavin Price (Froth, Friar, Boy, Barnardine, Messenger); Greig Sargeant (Claudio); Scott Shepherd (the Duke); Pete Simpson (Angelo) and Susie Sokol (Mistress Overdone, Elbow, Varrius, Abhorson).

With athletic theatricality and Marx-Brothers-inspired slapstick, the ERS ensemble brings exciting new life to this story of impossible moral choices in 17th-century Vienna. Radical experiments with speed set the play's combination of the comically absurd and the tragically serious in stark relief, and deliver a remarkable new show that marries the company's unique performance style with the Bard's exquisitely lyrical language. ERS Founder and Artistic Director John Collins directs.

MEASURE FOR MEASURE features scenic design by Jim Findlay; lighting design by Mark Barton and Ryan Seelig; sound design by Gavin Price; production designer by Eva Von Schweinitz; specialty and prop designer by Amanda Villabos; and costume design by Kaye Voyce.

The world-renowned Public Theater, under the leadership of Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Patrick Willingham, is the only theater in New York that produces Shakespeare, the classics, musicals, contemporary and experimental pieces in equal measure. This fall begins The Public's Astor Anniversary Season celebrating 50 years of new work at 425 Lafayette Street and the 50th Anniversary of HAIR which opened the landmark theater in October 1967. The Public continues the work of its visionary founder, Joe Papp, by acting as an advocate for the theater as an essential cultural force, and by leading and framing dialogue on some of the most important issues of our day. Creating theater for one of the largest and most diverse audience bases in New York City for nearly 60 years, today the Company engages audiences in a variety of venues-including its landmark downtown home at Astor Place, which houses five theaters and Joe's Pub; the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, home to Free Shakespeare in the Park; and the Mobile Unit, which tours productions for underserved audiences throughout New York City's five boroughs. The Public's wide range of programming includes Free Shakespeare in the Park, the bedrock of the Company's dedication to making theater accessible to all; Public Works, an expanding initiative that is designed to cultivate new connections and new models of engagement with artists, audiences and the community each year; the Under the Radar Festival, a yearly festival celebrating diverse and cutting-edge performance from the U.S. and abroad; and audience and artist development initiatives that range from the Emerging Writers Group to the Public Forum series. The Public's work is also seen on tour throughout the U.S. and internationally and in collaborations and co-productions with regional and international theaters. The Public is located on property owned by the City of New York and receives annual support from The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. The Public is currently represented on Broadway by the Tony Award-winning acclaimed American musical Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda. The Public has received 59 Tony Awards, 169 Obie Awards, 53 Drama Desk Awards, 54 Lortel Awards, 32 Outer Critics Circle Awards, 13 New York Drama Critics Awards, and six Pulitzer Prizes. www.publictheater.org.