The Public Theater's Free MOBILE UNIT Tour to Return This Fall with THE WINTER'S TALE
By: BWW News Desk Oct. 04, 2017
Continuing its commitment to bringing free Shakespeare to the community and strengthening audience engagement with the arts, The Public Theater will mount its MOBILE UNIT again this fall with a free three-week tour to the five boroughs of Shakespeare's THE WINTER'S TALE, directed by Lee Sunday Evans.
Now in its eighth year, the Mobile Unit's free tour (November 1-22) brings Shakespeare to audiences who have limited or no access to the arts by visiting correctional facilities, homeless shelters, social service organizations, and other community venues.
Part of The Public's Astor Anniversary Season at their landmark downtown home on Lafayette Street, celebrating 50 years of new work at 425 Lafayette Street and the 50th Anniversary of HAIR, the three-week engagement of THE WINTER'S TALE at The Public Theater will also be free, running Sunday, November 26 through Sunday, December 17 with an official press opening on Thursday, November 30.
The complete cast of THE WINTER'S TALE includes Justin Cunningham (Leontes), Christopher Ryan Grant (Antigonus, Old Shepherd), Nina Grollman (Young Shepherd), Nicholas Hoge (Polixenes), Patrena Murray (Paulina), Chris Myers (Florizel), Sathya Sridharan (Camillo), Ayana Workman (Perdita), and Stacey Yen (Hermione).
"The Winter's Tale is Shakespeare's astonishingly late play of fury and redemption," said Artistic Director Oskar Eustis. "Lee Sunday Evans is a brilliant and innovative director. The Mobile Unit is the most important program The Public has, and this show promises to be a highlight of our season."
This fall, The Public Theater's Mobile Unit, which strengthens community engagement with the arts by bringing free, world-class productions of Shakespeare to communities all across New York City, will journey through tragedy into comedy with an enchanting new production of THE WINTER'S TALE, directed by Lee Sunday Evans. Dire misunderstanding changes the course of destiny when King Leontes becomes convinced that his wife is pregnant with his friend's child. The maligned wife perishes, the accused friend flees, and the cursed infant is left to die alone on the shore. But from the depths of tragedy, wondrous things can occur. What's lost is found, false identities lead to true love, and the miracle of forgiveness brings new life to the world in one of Shakespeare's most treasured romances.
"There is no better way to build on The Public's legacy of bringing Shakespeare to the people of New York City than the Mobile Unit," said Director of Special Artistic Projects Stephanie Ybarra. "When I think about six free weeks of The Winter's Tale by this incredible constellation of artists-meeting people where they are and sharing a story with our extended community-it reaffirms my belief that now more than ever, Shakespeare belongs to everyone."
All tour performances are free, and performances at Pelham Fritz Recreation Center, Brownsville Recreation Center, Faber Park Field House, Williamsbridge Oval Recreation Center, and The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center are also open to the general public via RSVP at publictheater.org. To further the mission and reach of the MOBILE UNIT, tickets for each performance of the limited run at The Public Theater will be given to community organizations that are unable to host a visit from the tour.
Furthering the mission of making great theater accessible to all, tickets to the MOBILE UNIT's run at The Public are FREE and are available via TodayTix mobile Lottery and in-person distribution downtown at The Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street at Astor Place. On each public performance date, free tickets will be distributed in-person beginning 90 minutes prior to curtain, and via mobile lottery on the TodayTix app. Download the TodayTix app to enter or visit publictheater.org for more information.
THE WINTER'S TALE features scenic design by Mariana Sanchez, costume design by Ntokozo Fuzunina Kunene, puppet design by James Ortiz, and music composition by Heather Christian.
THE MOBILE UNIT celebrates the 60th anniversary of its inaugural mobile tour in 1957 which began with a production of Romeo and Juliet, directed by Joseph Papp with Bryarly Lee and Stephen Joyce in the titular roles. The 1957 Mobile Unit tour received early support from New York City authorities. Stanley Lowell, then deputy mayor, was an early champion for free theater and mobilized city resources and departments to support Papp's production. The first Mobile Unit rolled up to performance venues across the city in borrowed Department of Sanitation vehicles with a wooden folding stage mounted to a truck bed and portable seating risers to accommodate 700 people per venue. The city's Parks Department permitted performances in local parks across all five boroughs. Subsequent productions included Two Gentlemen of Verona, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Henry V, The Taming of the Shrew, Ti-Jean and His Brothers, Take One Step, Unfinished Women Cry in No Man's Land While a Bird Dies in a Gilded Cage, and Volpone, among many others.
Recent MOBILE UNIT productions include Twelfth Night; Hamlet; Romeo & Juliet; The Comedy of Errors; Measure for Measure; Richard III; Much Ado About Nothing; Pericles, Prince of Tyre; and Macbeth. This program reinforces The Public's commitment to the ongoing exploration of Shakespeare's canon, along with the new Public Shakespeare Initiative, the recent Public Works production of As You Like It 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.
TOUR DATES WILL INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING VENUES (November 1-22):
Pelham Fritz Recreation Center, Manhattan, is a NYC Parks and Recreation center located in Harlem (November 1).
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Manhattan, houses one of the world's most extensive collections in its field, available free of charge (November 3).
Williamsbridge Oval Recreation Center, Bronx, is a NYC Parks and Recreation center located in the Bronx (November 4).
Lenox Hill Neighborhood House/Women's Mental Health Shelter, Manhattan, provides short-term, safe, and supportive environments to address immediate needs for mentally ill homeless women (November 6).
Queensboro Correctional Facility, Queens, is a minimum security correctional facility in Long Island City (November 7).
Brownsville Recreation Center, Brooklyn, a Public Works community partner, is a NYC Parks and Recreation center located in the Brownsville Playground with extensive resources for youth and seniors. The center offers a vibrant space to tap into pursuits artistic and athletic alike (November 8).
DreamYard Arts Project, Bronx, a Public Works community partner, uses project-based arts learning to ignite the transformative spirit (November 9).
Rikers Island Correctional Facility, Bronx, is a maximum security correctional facility (November 13 and 14).
The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center, Manhattan, is a one-of-a-kind organization that empowers community members to lead healthy, successful lives (November 15).
Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn, is a U.S. federal administrative detention facility, which holds male and female prisoners of all security levels (November 16 and 17).
Faber Park Field House, Staten Island, is a NYC Parks and Recreation center located in Staten Island (November 18).
Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, Westchester, is the largest maximum security facility for women in New York (November 20).
Taconic Correctional Facility, Westchester, is a medium security facility for women in New York (November 21).
Lee Sunday EVANS (Director of The Winter's Tale) is an Obie Award-winning director and choreographer. Her work has been seen at Lincoln Center, The Play Company, The Bushwick Starr, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Company, Humana Festival at Actors Theater of Louisville, Dallas Theater Center, Clubbed Thumb, Women's Project, Sundance Theater Lab, BAX, CATCH, LMCC, Robert Wilson's Watermill Center, and Juilliard. She creates ensemble-driven devised work with CollaborationTown; she recently received the Susan Stroman Directing Award from The Vineyard Theater. Upcoming projects include Home by Geoff Sobelle at BAM, Porto by Kate Benson at Women's Project, Dance Nation by Clare Barron at Playwrights Horizons.
The Public Theater 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 and John Leguizamo's Latin History for Morons. 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.
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