Free Mobile Unit's THE COMEDY OF ERRORS Begins at The Public Theater This Week

The Public Theater will begin performances for the acclaimed MOBILE UNIT’s production of THE COMEDY OF ERRORS at its Astor Place home on Thursday, May 25. The free engagement at The Public follows a three-week tour of the five boroughs that brought Shakespeare to audiences in their own communities, breaking down barriers of cost and location. The new bilingual adaptation by Rebecca Martínez and Julián Mesri of Shakespeare’s classic comedy includes music in both English and Spanish, inspired by musical styles across Latin America. THE COMEDY OF ERRORS will run in the Shiva Theater through Sunday, June 11, with free tickets available on TodayTix.

Furthering the mission of making great theater accessible to all, tickets to the MOBILE UNIT’s run at The Public are FREE. Free tickets will be distributed on each performance date via mobile lottery on the TodayTix app. Lottery winners will be notified at 12:00 p.m. Free tickets will also be distributed two hours before each performance through an in-person standby line at The Public. Visit publictheater.org for more information.

Mobile Unit’s free tours bring Shakespeare and other works to audiences who have limited or no access to the arts, traditionally by visiting correctional facilities, homeless shelters, social service organizations, and other community organizations. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Mobile Unit has expanded its tour locations to primarily outdoor venues, returning to long-standing partners and visiting new locations around the five boroughs. Mobile Unit continues its relationships with NYC’s Department of Parks & Recreation, Department of Transportation, and local community groups to bring this hybrid indoor-outdoor tour to accessible spaces around the city.

Mobile Unit embarks on a new tour with a musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. Conceived by director Rebecca Martínez and composer Julián Mesri, a member of The Public’s 2022-23 Emerging Writers Group, this new adaptation rigorously embraces music from all over Latin America in this tale of separation and joyous reunion. With songs in English and Spanish, this new musical adaptation brings an energetic vibe to this age-old tale of two sets of twins separated by stormy seas as they overcome a baffling case of mistaken identity—and the mayhem and hilarious confusion that follows.

The all-Latine cast of THE COMEDY OF ERRORS includes Varín Ayala (Angelo/Egeon/Pinch), Danaya Esperanza (Adriana), Rebecca Jimenez (Understudy), Keren Lugo (Luciana), Alan Mendez (Understudy), Sara Ornelas (Troubadour), Gían Pérez (Dromio of Syracuse/Ephesus), Joel Perez (Antipholus of Syracuse/Ephesus), and Desireé Rodriguez (Courtesan/Emilia).

THE COMEDY OF ERRORS includes scenic design by Emmie Finckel, costume design by Lux Haac, sound design by Charles Coes, fight direction by Sean Griffin, prop management by Claire Kavanah, voice coaching by Julie Congress, and dramaturgy by Christin Eve Cato. Jacinta Clusellas serves as musician and music director. Luisa Sánchez Colón serves as production stage manager and Caren Celine Morris serves as stage manager.

Now in its 13th year, The Public Theater’s MOBILE UNIT is a modern reimagining of Joseph Papp’s Mobile Theater. Mobile Unit reaches across economic and geographic barriers to the arts by meeting our communities where they are—staging free professional theater productions and programs in local neighborhood venues such as libraries, homeless shelters, correctional facilities, and community centers across all five New York City boroughs. Mobile Unit has served thousands of audiences with critically acclaimed productions, including a 2018 National tour of Lynn Nottage’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play Sweat. In 2020, Mobile Unit received a Special Drama Desk Award for its program. During the pandemic, Mobile Unit launched a digital workshop inside the NYC Department of Corrections called Hip-Hop vs. Shakespeare, where participants were encouraged to write their own stories. In summer 2021, Mobile Unit returned in-person with Mobile Unit’s Summer of Joy, co-produced with National Black Theatre, popping up at public plazas in neighborhoods hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. Mobile Unit believes theater is its most powerful when it reflects and connects to the lives of our community.

In keeping with guidance from city, state, and federal officials, proof of vaccination against COVID-19 and the use of face masks are no longer mandated for entry into The Public's theaters, restaurant, or the facility. The use of face masks is encouraged at all performances, but will only be required at Saturday and Sunday matinee performances, Tuesday evening performances, as well as Joseph Papp Free Performances. These mask required performances are to accommodate those who are immunocompromised or uncomfortable in an unmasked environment. Learn more at Safe At The Public.

The Library at The Public serves food and drink Tuesday through Sunday beginning at 5:00 p.m. and closing at midnight. The Library will be closed on Mondays. For more information, visit publictheater.org.

BIOS:

REBECCA MARTÍNEZ 

(Director, Choreographer, Adapter, Lyrics) (she/her) is a multidisciplinary director and the BOLD Associate Artistic Director at WP Theater. Recent projects include Sancocho (WP Theater), Living and Breathing (Two River), Los Complicados (EST Marathon), Randy’s Dandy Coaster Castle (Egg & Spoon Collective), Songs About Trains (Working Theater and Radical Evolution), and Somewhere Over the Border (Syracuse Stage and Geva Theatre). Martínez has developed new work with The Public Theater, Amas Musical Theater, the O’Neill, Latinx Playwrights Circle, the Sol Project, NAMT, INTAR, Working Theater, and The Playwrights Realm, among others. Affiliations include Sojourn Theatre Ensemble, 2021 TCG Rising Leaders of Color, Sol Project Collective, Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab, INTAR’s Unit52, New Georges Affiliated Artist, WP Lab, Drama League Directing Fellow, and member of SDC. Martínez’s awards include Colorado Henry Award for Directing; four Portland, Oregon Drammy Awards; and Lilla Jewel Award for Women Artists. Martínez is originally from Colorado with deep ancestral roots in the Southwest. rebeccamartinez.org

JULIÁN MESRI 

(Music & Lyrics, Adapter, Music Director, Spanish Translations) is a New York-based Argentinean-American playwright and composer who makes multilingual plays and musicals in the U.S. and around the world. He is a member of the 2020-2023 Public Theater Emerging Writers Group and a 2022-2023 Dramatists Guild Fellow. He received an EST/Sloan Commission in 2021 for his musical Favaloro: A Heart in Pieces. Recent work includes Telo (O’Neill NMTC finalist), Bartolomé de las Casas Ruins My Pool (O’Neill NPC finalist), and Immersion (Columbia/Roundabout finalist, BAPF semi-finalist). Other work includes music directing and arranging Songs About Trains with Radical Evolution and music directing and co-orchestrating Brian Quijada’s Somewhere Over the Border (Syracuse Stage, Geva Theater). Mesri has been an Emerging Artist of Color Fellow and Usual Suspect at NYTW and a Van Lier fellow at Repertorio Español. He has also translated dramatic works for the Lark U.S./Mexico Exchange and PEN World Voices. He received his MFA in Playwriting from Columbia University.

ABOUT The Public Theater:

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 Lab, 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 and the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Fat Ham by James Ijames. Their programs and productions can also be seen regionally across the country and around the world. The Public has received 60 Tony Awards, 190 Obie Awards, 57 Drama Desk Awards, 61 Lortel Awards, 36 Outer Critics Circle Awards, 13 New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards, 62 AUDELCO Awards, 6 Antonyo Awards, and 6 Pulitzer Prizes. publictheater.org

The Public Theater stands in honor of the first inhabitants and our ancestors. We acknowledge the land on which The Public and its theaters stand—the original homeland of the Lenape people—and the painful history of genocide and forced removal from this territory. We honor the generations of stewards, and we pay our respects to the many diverse Indigenous peoples still connected to this land.

The LuEsther T. Mertz Legacy Trust provides leadership support for The Public Theater's year-round activities. 

Mobile Unit is made possible by Abrams Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc., Corey & Michelle Jassem, Gina Maria Leonetti, The McLaughlin Children’s Trust, and The Tow Foundation.  

TICKET INFORMATION

THE COMEDY OF ERRORS began its tour of New York City on Tuesday, May 2 and concluded on Sunday, May 21. The production will return to The Public Theater and run in the Shiva Theater from Thursday, May 25 to Sunday, June 11.

Furthering the mission of making great theater accessible to all, tickets to the MOBILE UNIT’s run at The Public are FREE. Free tickets will be distributed on each performance date via mobile lottery on the TodayTix app. Lottery winners will be notified at 12:00 p.m. Free tickets will also be distributed two hours before each performance through an in-person standby line at The Public. Visit publictheater.org for more information.

The performance schedule at The Public is Tuesday through Friday at 8:00 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.

There will be a Latiné Community Night on Friday, June 2 at 8:00 p.m. We invite anyone who self-identifies as Latiné to attend this performance. The Open Captioned performance will be at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, June 3.

The full performance calendar and complete ticket distribution details can be found at publictheater.org.

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