PUBLIC FORUM: YOUNG RADICALS to Celebrate New Book, American Ideals

The Public Theater has announced that a special one-night-only reading and discussion, PUBLIC FORUM: YOUNG RADICALS has been added to the spring Public Forum line-up on Thursday, June 8 at 7:00 p.m. in the The Public's Martinson Hall.

Celebrating the release of Public Forum founder Jeremy McCarter's new book, Young Radicals: In the War for American Ideals, this evening will explore how artists stand up to be counted as citizens and why idealists fight for their ideals.

Public Forum welcomes back its founder, Jeremy McCarter, for PUBLIC FORUM: YOUNG RADICALS, a special event coinciding with his new book of the same title about idealistic young Americans risking their lives in the years of hope and calamity around WWI. A cast of America's leading artist-activists will read Susan Glaspell's extraordinarily timely 1917 play The People, then discuss the urgent question it raises: How do we fix the world when the world resists being fixed? Featuring Hamilton's Christopher Jackson, BuzzFeed editor SaeEd Jones, Young Radicals cover artist Edel Rodriguez, Women's March Artistic Director Paola Mendoza, Lucas Caleb Rooney, Adam Green, and more.

Public Theater Partner and Member tickets for PUBLIC FORUM: YOUNG RADICALS, priced at $20, and single tickets priced at $40, are available now and can be accessed by calling (212) 967-7555, at www.publictheater.org, or in person at the Taub Box Office at The Public Theater at 425 Lafayette Street. Young Radicals will be published by Random House on June 13 in hardcover and eBook. Advance copies of the book will be available for purchase by McNally Jackson immediately following the Forum.

Based on six years of archival research-thousands of letters, newspaper clippings, magazine stories, etc. - YOUNG RADICALS tells the story of five activists and intellectuals who sensed a moment of unprecedented promise for American life-politically, socially, and culturally-and fought to bring about change, only to see a cataclysmic war and reactionary fervor sweep it away. Now, at another moment of national upheaval, we are still fighting for the same ideals these five radicals championed: peace, women's rights, economic equality, and freedom of speech-all aspects of a vibrant American democracy. As author Jeremy McCarter illustrates the struggles of these Young Radicals, he sheds a new light and adds fresh inspiration to our own struggles amid the turmoil of the 21st Century.

Jeremy McCarter (Public Forum Founder and Author of Young Radicals) is the co-author with Lin-Manuel Miranda of the #1 New York Times bestseller Hamilton: The Revolution. He has written about culture and politics for New York, Newsweek, The New York Times, and The New Republic. He spent five years on the artistic staff of The Public Theater in New York. He studied history at Harvard and lives in Chicago.

PUBLIC FORUM brings together surprising combinations of artists, audiences, and experts to explore the issues and ideas raised on our stages. Join us online and in-person for one-of-a-kind events with some of the most original thinkers of today. Its live programs have featured insights and performances from the likes of Tony Kushner, Cynthia Nixon, Jeremy McCarter, James Earl Jones, David Miliband, Matt Damon, David Byrne, Audra McDonald, E.L. Doctorow, Rachel Maddow, Wynton Marsalis, Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, Salman Rushdie, Anna Deavere Smith, and many more. The dialogue continues online with Digiturgy, which brings together material from media, politics, and society to deepen an audience's understanding of the worlds of The Public's plays. Through curated conversations, surprising combinations, and exciting content, Public Forum seeks to enrich and expand the minds of The Public's audiences.

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. In over 10 years 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 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. 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 is currently represented on Broadway by the Tony Award-winning acclaimed American musical Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda and 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 six Pulitzer Prizes. www.publictheater.org.

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