Fall Line-Up Announced For Public Forum And Public Shakespeare Initiative at The Public Theater

The Public Theater has announced the Public Forum and Public Shakespeare Initiative fall line-up that will explore the intersection of art, ideas, and action. Highlights of the upcoming season include the return of the monthly Civic Salon gatherings and Election Night Hootenanny, a closer look at Shakespeare's famous tyrants and the Mobile Unit's A Midsummer Night's Dream, our post-show Speaker Series following performances of Eve's Song and Wild Goose Dreams, and a collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Center on the intersection of Shakespeare and the work of Duke Ellington.

The fall season will kick off with the return of CIVIC SALONS on Sunday, September 16 at 12:00 p.m. in Joe's Pub. In a climate of divisiveness and seclusion, Public Forum is opening its doors to invite audiences to join us every month for Civic Salons: a monthly gathering where we can come together in the spirit of community to nurture our minds and our bodies. Each month will feature a different theme and different participants who will bring readings, songs, and a keynote address- all chosen in the hopes of inspiring civic engagement and social change. Joe's Pub will offer a full brunch menu available for purchase. Additional upcoming CIVIC SALONS will take place on Sunday, October 14 at 7:00 p.m. and Sunday, November 18 at 12:00 p.m. Civic Salons are free and open to the public with an RSVP through The Public Theater's website. RSVPs will open four weeks prior to the event date.

On Tuesday, October 2 at 8:00 p.m. the Public Shakespeare Initiative begins its second season with PUBLIC SHAKESPEARE PRESENTS: TYRANT in the Newman Theater. As an aging, tenacious Elizabeth I clung to power, William Shakespeare probed the social causes, the psychological roots, and the twisted consequences of tyranny. With uncanny insight, his plays shine a spotlight on the infantile psychology and unquenchable narcissism of demagogues-as well as the cynicism and opportunism of the various enablers and hangers-on who surround them. Incisive commentary from Stephen Greenblatt (Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics) combined with readings by Elizabeth Marvel and others from Richard III, Macbeth, King Lear, and Coriolanus, will illuminate the ways in which Shakespeare exposes and explores the lust for absolute power and the catastrophic consequences of its execution.

The season continues on Monday, October 29 at 7:00 p.m. with PUBLIC SHAKESPEARE TALKS: THIS PLAYER HERE in the Anspacher Theater. "Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you" Hamlet entreats; and so begins some of the most famous acting advice ever given, immortalized by a playwright whose work is imbued with an intimate knowledge of, sense of humor about, and reverence for the player's art. In turn, actors find in Shakespeare's works a linguistic, dramatic, and philosophical feast that, once tasted, keeps them coming back for more. Public Shakespeare Initiative Director Michael Sexton will sit down with special guest actors from The Public Theater's past and present to explore what working with Shakespeare has taught them about the magic of theater, their own craft, and being a human.

On Election Night 2018, Public Forum will take over Joe's Pub with live performances, updates, projections, debates, diatribes, analyses, and more for PUBLIC FORUM: ANOTHER ELECTION NIGHT HOOTENANNY on Tuesday, November 6 at 8:00 p.m. in Joe's Pub at The Public. A hotly contested midterm should make for a riveting night of political theater and theatrical politics, with special guests stopping by to say their peace, perform a song, or even just color in a big map.

On Sunday, November 11 at 7:00 p.m. the Public Shakespeare Initiative and the Mobile Unit will join forces for PUBLIC SHAKESPEARE TALKS: RARE VISIONS in the Shiva Theater. What dream do we take part in when we watch a play? Have you ever woken up from a dream you didn't know you were in? How does art challenge us to dream of selves and worlds beyond those we already know? Come dream, explore, and play our way through these big questions with director Jenny Koons, Professor Jenny Mann, and cast members from the Mobile Unit's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. At heart, Shakespeare's Dream is a cultural mash-up of classical myth, English folklore, inside jokes, and images from the bustling life of his own extraordinary city. Together, we'll explore how this "rare vision" continues to speak to our city, community, and each of us in ways both wonderful and unexpected.

The Public Shakespeare Initiative will collaborate with Jazz at Lincoln Center for PUBLIC SHAKESPEARE PRESENTS: SUCH SWEET THUNDER on Thursday, December 6 at 7:00 p.m. at NYU Skirball. In 1957, on the brink of attaining near mythic status, Duke Ellington drew inspiration from another artist who'd made the same ascent - William Shakespeare - and composed a sweeping suite of songs that celebrate the verbal pyrotechnics, pathos, and power of some of Shakespeare's most indelible characters. Join us as we revel in this musical-theatrical meeting of the minds and its dazzling results, as the Jazz at Lincoln Center Youth Orchestra performs selections from Ellington's "Such Sweet Thunder." Expert commentary will reveal how Ellington and his collaborator, Billy Strayhorn, came to create the piece, set off by readings from the plays that are its undeniable, irrepressible source.

Lastly, Public Forum's beloved holiday tradition PUBLIC FORUM: THE LONG CHRISTMAS DINNER returns on Sunday, December 9 at 7:00 p.m. in Joe's Pub with a new cast, including author Heidi Julavits and Thornton Wilder's nephew and literary executor Tappan Wilder, as the Bayard family experiences 100 years of Christmas dinners, experiencing triumph and heartbreak, birth and death, and a changing world - while some things, like family and tradition, forever remain constant.

ONGOING POST-SHOW PROGRAMMING:

Additional Public Forum programming includes Artist Talkbacks, Speaker Series panels, Audience Conversations, 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. Digiturgy provides byte-sized digital content used to further explore the themes and ideas present in The Public Theater's plays. For the most up-to-date schedule of post-show programming, please visit www.publictheater.org.

On Thursday, November 1, following the 8:00 p.m. performance of Eve's Song by playwright Patricia Ione Lloyd, join Public Forum for a post-show Speaker Series titled The Virgin, The Monster, and The Victim. Lloyd and others will participate in an intimate conversation about women horror writers, the stereotypes they face on the page and in the world, and more things that go bump in the night. Audio of this Speaker Series conversation will also be available on the Public Forum's website one week after the event.

On Tuesday, November 13, following the 7:30 p.m. performance of Wild Goose Dreams by playwright Hansol Jung, join Public Forum for a post-show Speaker Series titled Connection. Public Forum will lead an intimate conversation about connecting to our devices and to each other, both online and off. Audio of this Speaker Series conversation will also be available on the Public Forum's website one week after the event.

ABOUT PUBLIC FORUM AND PUBLIC SHAKSPEARE INITIATIVE:

The Public Theater's Public Forum is a space where art, ideas, and action collide. Public Forum creates exciting opportunities for communities to engage deeply with current events, explosive ideas, and the most pressing questions of our time. We energize civic responsibility by inviting people from all backgrounds to share, converse, and connect with each other in person and digitally.

Public Forum hosts one-night-only events, special performances, post-show conversations, and town hall conversations, as well as programming curated with the Public Shakespeare Initiative.

Public Shakespeare Initiative offers a wide range of programming which includes larger Public Shakespeare Presents evenings, blending incisive commentary by scholars and other thinkers with compelling live performances by artists of all disciplines; intimate Public Shakespeare Talks, giving audiences unique insight into the artistic and intellectual processes of leading Shakespeare practitioners working in the theater; Artist Development Programs, to cultivate some of the most visionary artistic minds working on Shakespeare today; and Education Programs, including the Hunts Point Children's Shakespeare Ensemble, which The Shakespeare Society co-founded with the Hunts Point Alliance for Children over a decade ago, and which has offered hundreds of elementary and middle school students the opportunity to develop their confidence, knowledge, and creativity through the transformative experience of bringing Shakespeare's words to life onstage in the 10 Shakespeare productions the Ensemble has presented.

Support for the collaboration of The Shakespeare Society and Public Theater provided by the New York Merger, Acquisition, and Collaboration Fund.

The New York Merger, Acquisition, and Collaboration Fund (NYMAC) encourages and supports mergers, acquisitions, joint-ventures, and other types of formal, long-term collaborations between nonprofits in New York City. NYMAC's funders include Altman Foundation, The Booth Ferris Foundations, The Clark Foundation, The Heckscher Foundation for Children, The Lodestar Foundation, The New York Community Trust, SeaChange Capital Partners, and a number of philanthropic individuals.

ABOUT The Public Theater:

THE PUBLIC is theater of, by, and for all people. Artist-driven, radically inclusive, and fundamentally democratic, The Public continues the work of its visionary founder Joe Papp as a civic institution engaging, both on-stage and off, with some of the most important ideas and social issues of today. Conceived over 60 years ago as one of the nation's first nonprofit theaters, The Public has long operated on the principles that theater is an essential cultural force and that art and culture belong to everyone. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Patrick Willingham, The Public's wide breadth of programming includes an annual season of new work at its landmark home at Astor Place, Free Shakespeare in the Park at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, The Mobile Unit touring throughout New York City's five boroughs, Public Forum, Under the Radar, Public Studio, Public Works, Public Shakespeare Initiative, and Joe's Pub.

Since premiering HAIR in 1967, The Public continues to create the canon of American Theater and is currently represented on Broadway by the Tony Award-winning musical Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Their programs and productions can also be seen regionally across the country and around the world. The Public has received 59 Tony Awards, 170 Obie Awards, 53 Drama Desk Awards, 54 Lortel Awards, 32 Outer Critic Circle Awards, 13 New York Drama Desk Awards, and 6 Pulitzer Prizes. publictheater.org

Public Theater Partner, Public Supporter and Member tickets for the Fall Public Forum or Public Shakespeare Initiative Event line-up are available now. Single tickets, starting at $20 for the season will be available on Thursday, August 23 and can be accessed 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 or Public Forum or Public Shakespeare Initiative 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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