The Public Theater to Tour MOBILE UNIT'S SUMMER OF JOY to All Five Boroughs

The Public Theater announced today that the theater's acclaimed MOBILE UNIT will return this summer with MOBILE UNIT'S SUMMER OF JOY, a free four-week tour to all five boroughs beginning July 31 and running through August 29 as New York City joyously returns to life. In partnership with New York City's Department of Transportation, MOBILE UNIT'S SUMMER OF JOY will pop up at public plazas in neighborhoods that were both traditionally visited by the Mobile Unit tours and hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.

This Mobile Unit tour will break traditional theatrical molds and invite people to gather in public venues and play a role in creating each show. MOBILE UNIT'S SUMMER OF JOY will offer New Yorkers the opportunity to participate in a kind of narrative that speaks to our collective and individual resilience, healing, and joy in this long-awaited moment to be together again.

"The Mobile Unit is the purest expression of The Public's conviction that the culture belongs to everyone. Our return this summer is a thrilling and responsive artistic expression born from this historical moment. We are responding to the call of community and creating a unifying embodiment of theater for this city," said Artistic Director Oskar Eustis. "With Patricia McGregor's fabulous Shakespeare: Call and Response, Malik Work's engaging Verses @ Work, and National Black Theatre's profound partnership in creating a community stage, Mobile Unit's Summer Of Joy sets out to bring our community together, to remind us, after a year of isolation, that it is all of us together that make New York the miraculous city it is. Welcome back!"

"It is essential for Mobile Unit to build something that could speak to the moment-a unique format that would reinvigorate our communal spaces and our connection to each other," said Director of Mobile Unit Karen Ann Daniels. "This is our first partnership with the Department of Transportation. It's our first time in many years with the National Black Theatre. And yet, we all came to the table with a strong sense that it is only through the creation of our art and inviting our community's participation in it, that we could offer healing, resilience, and the unbridled joy of the simple act of gathering."

MOBILE UNIT'S SUMMER OF JOY will be a pop-up experience in New York's open spaces with three key community and performance elements. Each day will begin with the National Black Theatre's Stage for Healing and Resilience, co-produced by The Public Theater and National Black Theatre in continuation of a relationship that dates back to the 1960s. This community stage will be followed by MALIK WORK'S VERSES @ WORK, written and performed by Mobile Unit artist Malik Work. The experience will culminate in SHAKESPEARE: CALL AND RESPONSE, conceived and directed by Patricia McGregor.

"In many ways, collaborating with The Public Theater's Mobile Unit is an homage to the dynamic and beautiful partnership Joseph Papp and Dr. Barbara Ann Teer forged on the Mobile Stage in 1965 with We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks. This was the first-known choreopoem and the performance raised money for Amiri Baraka's defense fund," said National Black Theatre Executive Artistic Director Jonathan McCrory. "Now, more than a half century later and during a catalytic moment in our society, NBT is producing the Mobile Unit's community engagement series. As culture reopens its physical doors, what an honor it will be to focus our communal efforts on transformative healing: celebrating our resilience, acknowledging our collective grief, and bathing us with the power of love and joy."

Mobile Unit has forged a new partnership with NYC's Department of Transportation to bring this summer's tour to new locations-outdoor public plazas-in the communities Mobile Unit has visited since its inception. In collaboration with local community groups, MOBILE UNIT'S SUMMER OF JOY will provide open, accessible spaces to collectively connect, heal, and create.

"We are thrilled to work with The Public Theater and our community partners to bring a new and innovative use of public space in some of the neighborhoods hardest hit by the pandemic," said NYC DOT Commissioner Hank Gutman. "Every summer for decades, The Public has brought Free Shakespeare in the Park to Central Park. Now, thanks to this partnership, residents of all ages and backgrounds will be able to access even more free, high quality theater-just steps from where they live. As New York City continues to recover, our plazas and Open Streets will play a significant role in Mobile Unit's Summer Of Joy, connecting New Yorkers to culture within safe communal outdoor spaces where they can interact and enrich their lives."

The tour stops will also be visited by People's Bus, a project of the New York City Civic Engagement Commission that focuses on five initiatives: well-being and mental health; climate justice and environmental health; know your rights education; food security; and participatory budgeting and economic empowerment.

"The New York City Civic Engagement Commission (CEC) is proud to support The Public Theater's Mobile Unit's Summer Of Joy. Both art and government need to be made accessible to people and brought into communities," said Dr. Sarah Sayeed, Chair & Executive Director of the New York City Civic Engagement Commission. "That is the mission of CEC's People's Bus, which is transforming a retired city vehicle into a community center on wheels, engaging people in NYC's civic life through beauty and joy."

TOUR SCHEDULE:

All performances begin at 4:30 p.m., except for the August 8 performance at Johnny Hartman Plaza, which will begin at 2:00 p.m.

July 31-August 1 - Astor Place (Manhattan)
August 5-6 - Roberto Clemente Plaza (Bronx)
August 7-8 - Johnny Hartman Plaza (Manhattan)
August 12 - Osborn Plaza (Brooklyn)
August 13 - Albee Square (Brooklyn)
August 14-15 - 125th Street Plaza (Manhattan)
August 20 - Albee Square (Brooklyn)
August 21-22 - Myrtle/Wyckoff Plaza (Queens)
August 28-29 - Osborn Plaza (Brooklyn)

More tour dates and locations to be announced soon. A full tour schedule and more details can be found at publictheater.org.

SHAKESPEARE: CALL AND RESPONSE

Conceived and Directed by Patricia McGregor
Text by William Shakespeare
The company includes Sofia Jean Gomez, Teresa Avia Lim, Reza Salazar, and Malik Work.

Rooted in the vibrant interplay between performers and audience, SHAKESPEARE: CALL AND RESPONSE is an hour-long celebration of text, music, dance, and improvisation with a live crowd. Built for the plazas and outdoor venues able to host performances following the confinement of the pandemic, the piece centers on four actors who transform into a variety of roles based on feedback from the audience and is anchored by an iambic-spitting MC and DJ duo. No two shows will be the same. Crafted with an expert Shakespearean ringleader, the performers take on over a dozen roles in an hour, inviting audience members to play along as the scene partner. In the spirit of artistically awakening dormant spaces and communing with audiences hungry to feast on the poetry and play, SHAKESPEARE: CALL AND RESPONSE enlivens a dynamic dialogue between the greatest writers of all time and citizens of one of the greatest cities in the world.

SHAKESPEARE: CALL AND RESPONSE will feature scenic design by Diggle, costume design by Katherine O'Neill, Sound System Design by Jorge Olivo, and choreography by Paloma McGregor. Katie Kennedy will serve as Production Stage Manager.

MALIK WORK'S VERSES @ WORK

Presented by The Public Theater
Created and Performed by Malik Work
Directed by Vernice Miller

Actor, writer, emcee, and Mobile Unit in Corrections artist Malik Work bares his soul and shares his story through the lens of NYC history in his original play, VERSES @ WORK. Directed by Vernice Miller, VERSES @ WORK connects the world of hip-hop and jazz, as well as the early millennium nightlife of the Lower East Side of Manhattan. It intertwines verse, video, live music, musical theater, hip-hop, spoken word, dance, and conventional monologue in a captivating, vibrant, and energetic production. This award-winning production was featured at the National Arts Festival in Makhanda, South Africa, and most recently at Park Avenue Armory in 2020.

THE NATIONAL BLACK THEATRE'S STAGE FOR HEALING AND RESILIENCE

Co-Produced by The Public Theater and National Black Theatre In partnership with the National Black Theatre, MOBILE UNIT'S SUMMER OF JOY invites audiences into a space of reflection and meditation, as well as actively giving voice to their own experiences, through National Black Theatre's Stage for Healing and Resilience. The community stage features artists from Mobile Unit's community partners sharing their own narratives of resilience and hope in spoken word, poems, monologues, and songs.

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