The Public's 60th Anniversary Mobile Unit production of TWELFTH NIGHT is currently on tour to correctional facilities, homeless centers, social service organizations, and other community venues in the five boroughs through April 22. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!
Following the tour, TWELFTH NIGHT begins performances at The Public Theater on Monday, April 24 and runs through Sunday, May 14 with an official press opening on Thursday, April 27. In honor of the 60th Anniversary of the MOBILE UNIT, all tickets to the run at The Public are free.
From schools to homeless shelters, prisons to community centers, The Public Theater's Mobile Unit brings Shakespeare to the people, and the people to Shakespeare. This season, the Mobile Unit celebrates 60 years of igniting dialogue and fostering new connections with a vibrant new production of the gender-bending, heart-mending comedy, TWELFTH NIGHT. When a young shipwrecked immigrant named Viola takes a chance on the "wet foot, dry foot" policy of the mid-'90s and washes up amidst the shore of glitzy Illyria, Florida, she finds herself a stranger in a fabulously strange new land. Thinking her twin brother has drowned, Viola throws herself into a new gig as assistant to Orsino, a wealthy Floridian with a serious case of love sickness for a wealthy lady, Olivia. Having disguised herself as a boy to become Orsino's right hand man, Viola (now Cesario) is tasked with delivering his adoring valentines. But as Viola woos in her boss's name, she falls head over spiky heels for the man himself, while Olivia turns her affections to the intriguing young messenger boy, Cesario (also Viola). Set to the rhythms of house, Cuban and '90s beats, Saheem Ali directs this colorful comedy about the power of new people and new experiences that throw the world into beautiful disarray, and open hearts and minds to the possibility of love.
The complete cast of TWELFTH NIGHT includes Sebastian Chacon (Sebastian), Michael Bradley Cohen (Orsino, Sir Andrew Aguecheek), Danaya Esperanza (Viola), Ceci Fernandez (Olivia), Christopher Ryan Grant (Sir Toby Belch), Donnetta Lavinia Grays (Feste), Aneesh Sheth (Maria), David Ryan Smith (Malvolio), and Michael Thurber(Antonio).
TWELFTH NIGHT features scenic design by Arnulfo Maldonado, costume design by Dede Ayite, music composition by Michael Thurber, movement direction by Tanya Birl, and fight direction by Lisa Kopitsky.
Photo Credit: Joan Marcus
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