Imani Uzuri's LOVE STORY: SONGS OF LAUGHTER, LOSS AND RESILIENCE to Tour the Boroughs

Joe's Pub at The Public and The Public Theater's Mobile Unit present Imani Uzuri's Love Story: Songs of Laughter, Loss and Resilience, a concert of the composer's own music, as part of the programs' collaborative series, In Transit.

A longtime presence at Joe's Pub, Uzuri came into the Mobile Unit fold when she scored the program's fall 2016 production of William Shakespeare's Hamlet. The Mobile Unit continues The Public's commitment to bring free Shakespeare to communities with limited or no access to the arts by taking plays on tour to correctional facilities, homeless shelters, social service organizations and more.

Uzuri will tour, Monday-Friday, February 6-10, to community venues and secure facilities, culminating with a show at Joe's Pub on Saturday, February 18 at 7:00PM.

Tickets ($15 Advance / $20 Door) for Joe's Pub are available via phone (212-967-7555), online or in-person at The Public's Box Office (425 Lafayette St, NYC). Performances at Pelham Fritz Recreation Center and Brownsville Recreation Center are free and open to the general public via RSVP.

Director of Special Artistic Projects, Stephanie Ybarra said, "The Public was built on the idea that culture belongs to everyone. This collaboration between the Mobile Unit and Joe's Pub takes that founding impulse one step further by bringing a beloved member of The Public Theater artist family into our communities. It's the kind of partnership that can only happen here. I think Joe Papp would be proud."

Uzuri is a composer, musician and vocalist known for her multi-faceted, earthy and enveloping compositions. For the Mobile Unit's production of Hamlet, director Patricia McGregor worked with Uzuri to use music to give texture and depth to the characters and scenes in the play. This collaboration was particularly poignant to Uzuri, who was a Park Avenue Armory Artist-in-Residence in 2015-2016, and maintains a close relationship with Lenox Hill Neighborhood House, a women's mental health shelter located at the Armory.

Associate Director of Joe's Pub, Alex Knowlton said, "Beyond her work for our fellow Public Theater programs, Mobile Unit and Public Works, the Pub has known Imani for years - both seeing her develop her own musical theater pieces and in concert with artists like Toshi Reagon. We meet her in the theater world with Love Story and couldn't be more thrilled to be collaborating once again with the Mobile Unit."

Tour Dates (February 6-10):

Monday, February 6 - Lenox Hill Neighborhood House / Women's Mental Health Shelter at Park Avenue Armory (Manhattan) is a women's shelter.

Tuesday, February 7 - Metropolitan Detention Center (Brooklyn) is a US federal administrative detention facility, which holds male and female prisoners of all security levels.

Wednesday, February 8, 11:30AM - Brownsville Recreation Center (Brooklyn) is a NYC Parks and Recreation center and Public Works Community Partner. Open to the general public.

Thursday, February 9, 6:30PM - Pelham Fritz Recreation Center (Manhattan) is a NYC Parks and Recreation center in Harlem. Open to the general public.

Friday, February 10 - Taconic Correctional Facility (Westchester) is a medium security women's state facility.

Imani Uzuri is a vocalist, composer and cultural worker who has been called "a post modernist Bessie Smith" by The Village Voice. She composes music that celebrates her rural North Carolina roots where she grew up singing spirituals and hymns with her grandmother and extended family. Time Out New York said, "[Imani Uzuri] never fails to mesmerize audiences with her narcotic blend of...ethereal sounds."

Her compositions for bands, choral ensembles, chamber orchestra, musical theater, theater and solo voice include influences from her travels around the world. Uzuri's most recent album, The Gypsy Diaries, draws on her roots as well as influences ranging from Sufi devotionals to Romany laments.

Uzuri composed and co-wrote lyrics for her new musical GIRL Shakes Loose, which was selected for the 2016 O'Neill National Music Theater Conference and was partially developed at Joe's Pub. She was a Park Avenue Armory Artist-In-Residence in 2015-2016 and was recently awarded a Map Fund to begin composing her contemporary opera Hush Arbor. In 2016, Uzuri made her Lincoln Center American Songbook debut and was a featured performer on BET for Black Girls Rock. Recently, she was composer for two Public Theater Productions: Public Works's Troy and the Mobile Unit's Hamlet. She is currently a 2016-17 Jerome Foundation Composer/Sound Artist Fellow.

The Mobile Unit is a reinvention of Joseph Papp's Mobile Shakespeare program, which began in 1957 to bring free Shakespeare to the community, evolving into the New York Shakespeare Festival and ultimately becoming The Public Theater. Now in its seventh year, it presents Shakespeare and other works for free to prisons, homeless shelters, social advocacy organizations, and other community venues throughout the five boroughs. Recent Mobile Unit productions include Hamlet, Romeo & Juliet, The Comedy of Errors, Macbeth, Pericles, Measure for Measure, Richard III and Much Ado About Nothing. This program reinforces The Public's commitment to the ongoing exploration of Shakespeare's canon, along with the recent Public Works Productions of The Tempest, and The Winter's Tale staged at the Delacorte Theater for free; Free Shakespeare in the Park; and The Public's other affordable productions at its downtown home at Astor Place.

The Mobile Unit is made possible with the support of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The Stavros Niarchos Foundation, The Tow Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and Delta Air Lines. Additional support provided by The Estée Lauder Companies Inc., New York City Department Of Cultural Affairs and Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi LLP. The Philip and Janice Levin Foundation provides lead support for The Public's access and engagement programming. The Luesther T. Mertz Charitable Trust provides leadership support for The Public Theater's year-round activities.

Named for Public Theater founder Joe Papp, Joe's Pub at The Public opened in 1998 and plays a vital role in The Public's mission of supporting young artists while providing established artists with an intimate space to perform and develop new work. Joe's Pub presents the best in live music and performance nightly, continuing its commitment to diversity, production values, community and artistic freedom. The organization also offers unique opportunities like New York Voices, an artist-commissioning program that provides musicians the resources and tools needed to develop original theater works. Commissioned artists have included Ethan Lipton, Toshi Reagon, Bridget Everett, Allen Toussaint and more. In 2011, the Pub received a top-to-bottom renovation, leading to improved sightlines, expanded seating capacity and a new menu from acclaimed Chef Andrew Carmellini. With its intimate atmosphere and superior acoustics, Joe's Pub presents talent from all over the world as part of The Public's programming downtown at its Astor Place home, hosting approximately 800 shows and serving over 100,000 audience members annually.

The 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. Celebrating his 10th anniversary season at The Public, Eustis has created new community-based initiatives designed to engage audiences like Public Lab, Public Studio, Public Forum, Public Works, and a remount of the Mobile Unit. 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 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 Shakespearean 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; and audience and artist development initiatives that range from Emerging Writers Group to the Public Forum series. 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; and in October 2012, the landmark building downtown at Astor Place was revitalized to physically manifest the Company's core mission of sparking new dialogues and increasing accessibility for artists and audiences, by dramatically opening up the building to the street and community, and transforming the lobby into a public piazza for artists, students, and audiences. 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 currently represented on Broadway by the Tony Award-winning acclaimed American musical Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda, and in spring 2017, Lynn Nottage's acclaimed new play Sweat. The Public has received 59 Tony Awards, 168 Obie Awards, 53 Drama Desk Awards, 54 Lortel Awards, 32 Outer Critics Circle Awards, 13 New York Drama Critics Awards, and five Pulitzer Prizes.

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