Public Theater Announces Free Encore Performance of Runaways June 12

The Public Theater (Artistic Director, Oskar Eustis; Executive Director, Patrick Willingham) announced today that there will be a free added public performance of the groundbreaking and thought-provoking musical RUNAWAYS by Elizabeth Swados on Tuesday, June 12 at the Delacorte Theater. Directed by Sam Pinkleton, with choreography by Ani Taj, and creative advisement by Jeanine Tesori, the additional performance will celebrate the 40th anniversary of this milestone production that first premiered at The Public in 1978 and continues to be a definitive moment in Public Theater history.

The complete cast of RUNAWAYS features Frenie Acoba, Sumaya Bouhbal, Kenneth Cabral, Maxwell Cabral, Taylor Caldwell, Jaiya Chetram,Adleesa Edwards, Xavier Frantz, Aidan Gemme, Reyna Guerra, Dwany Guzman, Noelle Hogan, Christina Jimenez, Jari Jones, Esco Jouléy, Luka Kain, Kylie McNeill, Cele Pahucki, Sam Poon, Lauren Putz, Siena Rafter, Claudia Ramirez, Deandre Sevon, Jeremy Shinder, Ripley Sobo, Chris Sumpter, and Maxwell Vice.

Free tickets to the June 12 public performance of RUNAWAYS will be distributed, two per person, at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park on the day of the show. Tickets will also be distributed by mobile lottery on the TodayTix app. A limited number of vouchers for that night's performance will be distributed via an in-person lottery at The Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street at Astor Place. A limited number of reserved seats will be available for a tax-deductible donation of $250. To learn more, or to make a contribution, call (212) 539-8634 or visit www.publictheater.org.

In 1977, legendary director Elizabeth Swados approached Joe Papp about creating a new show focused on the runaway youths of New York City-a group too often ignored and underestimated. Her musical would bring life to a powerful story of young people searching to find themselves. A champion of untold tales, Papp immediately commissioned the show and Runaways premiered at The Public in February 1978 before transferring to Broadway in May of the same year, earning five Tony Award nominations for Best Musical, Book of a Musical, Original Score, Choreography, and Direction. The much-celebrated production went on to become a pillar of the musical theater canon and helped cement Swados as a visionary director and a legendary force in the American Theater.

"Runaways is an inspired musical collage about the hopes, dreams, fears, frustrations, loneliness, humor and, perhaps most of all, the anger, of young people who are estranged from their families and are searching for themselves."

- Free for All: Joe Papp, The Public, and the Greatest Theater Story Ever Told
by Kenneth Turan

This production was initially produced by New York City Center's Encores! Off-Center in July 2016.

Runaways is presented by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc.

On June 11, The Public Theater's Annual Gala will honor cable pioneer Leonard Tow, Founder and Chairman of The Tow Foundation, for his invaluable contribution to the past, present, and future of The Public Theater. Gala tickets start at $750 and are available by calling (212) 539-8634, online at www.publictheater.org or via email at gala@publictheater.org. Proceeds from the gala will help support The Public's mission of providing a home for artists who give voice to the pressing issues of our time, provide affordable access to thousands of New Yorkers with free Shakespeare in the Park and other groundbreaking works, and strengthen the vital relationship between our artists and audiences.

The Delacorte Theater in Central Park is accessible by entering at 81st Street and Central Park West or at 79th Street and Fifth Avenue. To learn more, visit www.publictheater.org.

ABOUT The Public Theater:

THE PUBLIC is theater of, by, and for the 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, 169 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

Photo credit: Joseph Moran

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