Fall Forum Line-Up Announced at The Public Theater

The Public Theater (Artistic Director, Oskar Eustis; Executive Director, Patrick Willingham) has announced the 2017 Fall Public Forum line-up for 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. This exciting series of one-night-only events and expanded audience engagement programming will explore the ideas and themes presented on The Public Theater's stages. Highlights of the upcoming Forum season include a look at 50 years of New York's vibrant downtown culture scene, a conversation on justice in Shakespeare's Measure for Measure with Elevator Repair Service, a celebration of 50 years of The Fortune Society's work with the incarcerated, and the fifth annual Public Forum Christmas reading of Thornton Wilder's classic one-act The Long Christmas Dinner.

Public Theater Partner and Member tickets for the Fall PUBLIC FORUM Season can be accessed now. Single tickets, starting at $35, will be available Thursday, August 10 by calling (212) 967-7555, visiting www.publictheater.org, or in person at the Taub Box Office at The Public Theater at 425 Lafayette Street.

The Fall Public Forum season will kick off in September with a celebration of the last 50 years of downtown New York City culture with PUBLIC FORUM: 50 YEARS DOWNTOWN on Sunday, September 17 at 7:00 p.m. in Joe's Pub at The Public. 'Downtown' has become synonymous with innovation and experimentation in music, art, performance, cuisine, and society. On the eve of The Public's 50th Anniversary at Astor Place, Public Forum takes a look back at the last half-century of radical creation right here in our own backyard.

On Sunday, October 1 at 7:00 p.m. Public Forum will present PUBLIC FORUM: AND JUSTICE FOR ALL in Joe's Pub. What is our duty of care to our fellow citizens? When the law seems unjust, how are we to respond? Shakespeare pondered these questions over 400 years ago in Measure for Measure but they remain of vital importance in the present. As Elevator Repair Service presents their take on Shakespeare's 'problem play,' Public Forum collaborates with The Public's Shakespeare Initiative to bring together a cast of artists, activists and intellectuals to grapple with how we approach the idea of justice today.

Public Forum will continue in November with PUBLIC FORUM: PEOPLE, NOT PRISONS on Monday, November 13 at 7:00 p.m. in the Anspacher Theater. A longstanding Public Theater community partner, Fortune Society has been working with currently and formerly incarcerated populations for as long as The Public has been at Astor Place. To celebrate the last 50 years of incredible work, Public Forum presents an evening honoring Fortune's vision of "a world where all who are incarcerated or formerly incarcerated will thrive as positive, contributing members of society."

Public Forum's holiday tradition, PUBLIC FORUM: THE LONG CHRISTMAS DINNER, returns with a brand new cast on Sunday, December 10 at 7:00 p.m. in Joe's Pub! Thornton Wilder's beautiful play takes place over 100 years of Christmas dinners with the Bayard family, where they see triumph and heartbreak, birth and death, and a changing world-while some things, like family and tradition, remain constant. The cast will feature Thornton's nephew and literary executor Tappan Wilder and more.

Public Forum, now in its eighth season, is also the home of The Public's audience engagement activities, which include Artist Talkbacks, Audience Conversations, Speaker Series panels, and the online resource Digiturgy.

In Artist Talkbacks, members of the cast and creative team will take questions from the audience about the show and their process following selected performances during the season. Speaker Series presents 20-to-30-minute panel discussions after the performance with experts discussing a topic from the show and Audience Conversations feature a member of The Public's artistic staff leading the audience in a conversation with each other about the show and its themes and ideas. For the most up-to-date schedule of Public Forum programming, please visit www.publictheater.org.

Public Forum brings the larger conversations of The Public's stages online as well with Digiturgy, an online resource exploring the themes and ideas of The Public's plays via byte-sized digital content- photos, links, songs, videos, GIFs, and more-pulled together to make a collage of information and experiences that extends beyond the edge of the stage. For more info, visit thepublic.nyc/digiturgy.

ABOUT The Public Theater:

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.

Public Theater Partner and Member tickets for the Fall PUBLIC FORUM Season can be accessed now. Single tickets, starting at $35, will be available Thursday, August 10 by calling (212) 967-7555, visiting www.publictheater.org, or in person at the Taub Box Office at The Public Theater at 425 Lafayette Street.

There is no food or drink minimum for the Public Forum series in Joe's Pub. Please note the final line-up is subject to change. The Library at The Public is open nightly for food and drinks, beginning at 5:30 p.m., and Joe's Pub at The Public continues to offer some of the best music in the city. For more information, visit www.publictheater.org

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