Tickets for the Public's FEBRUARY HOUSE Go On Sale Today

The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Patrick Willingham) will present the world premiere of FEBRUARY HOUSE, with music and lyrics by Gabriel Kahane and book by Seth Bockley, beginning on Tuesday, May 8 in The Public's Martinson Theater. Directed by Davis McCallum, FEBRUARY HOUSE runs through Sunday, June 10, with an official press opening on Tuesday, May 22. Single tickets, beginning at $80, go on sale today. 

Visionary and flamboyant editor George Davis transforms a dilapidated Brooklyn boarding house into a bohemian commune for the leading lights of 1940s New York. Residents include novelist Carson McCullers, composer Benjamin Britten, poet W.H. Auden, and the infamous Gypsy Rose Lee. The luminaries of 7 Middagh Street form a tumultuous and remarkable makeshift family, and search for love, inspiration, and refuge from the looming war in Europe. Inspired by true events, this powerful and funny new musical marks the first commission of The Public's Musical Theater Initiative and is presented in association with Long Wharf Theatre.  

FEBRUARY HOUSE features scenic design by Riccardo Hernandez, costume design by Jess Goldstein, lighting design by Mark Barton, and sound design by Leon Rothenberg.  

Gabriel Kahane (Music and Lyrics). His most recent recording as a singer-songwriter is Where are the Arms, which was released in 2011. As a composer of concert works, he has been commissioned by Carnegie Hall, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Kronos Quartet, American Composers Orchestra, the Caramoor Festival, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, for whom he serves as Composer-in-Residence from 2011-2013 through a Music Alive! grant from Meet-the-Composer. He has performed and/or recorded with, among others, Sufjan Stevens, Chris Thile, Brad Mehldau, and composer/conductor John Adams. In October, he makes his Carnegie Hall solo debut in a concert devoted to his music. He was also a MacDowell Colony Fellow in 2010 and 2011. 

Seth Bockley (Book). Seth's plays include Ask Aunt Susan (featured at the Goodman's New Stages Amplified series in November 2011); The Twins Would Like To Say (Dog & Pony); and Laika's Coffin, Winter Pageant 2010, and Boneyard Prayer (Redmoon). His adaptations include Jon and CommComm (from short stories by George Saunders) and directing credits include The Ugly One by Marius von Mayenburg (Sideshow Theater); Civilization (all you can eat) by Jason Grote (Clubbed Thumb); 1001 by Jason Grote; and Jon, winner of the 2008 Jeff Citation for Best New Adaptation (Collaboraction). He is a recipient of Theater Communication Group's "New Generations" and "On The Road" grants, and teaches at the University of Chicago. 

Davis McCallum (Director) recently directed the world premiere of Quiara Hudes' Water By The Spoonful at Hartford Stage. His New York credits include Sam Hunter's A Bright New Boise (Partial Comfort; Drama Desk Nomination) and Five Genocides, Michael Mitnick's Sex Lives of Our Parents, Greg Moss's punkplay, Chuck Mee's Queens Boulevard, Quiara Hudes' Elliot: A Soldier's Fugue (Pulitzer Prize Finalist), Henry, Jane Eyre, The Tempest, and The Turn Of The Screw. He has directed at regional theaters such as the Guthrie, The Old Globe, Humana, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Williamstown, Alliance Theater Company, Chautauqua Theater Company, the O'Neill, Playmakers Rep, Two River, New York Stage & Film, and others. His honors and awards include the Drama League Fellowship (2001); Phil Killian Fellowship (2003); NEA/TCG Career Development Program (2007); Boris Sagal Fellowship (2010), and a Princess Grace Honoree (2011). He has taught directing at Princeton University and the New School for Drama. He trained at LAMDA and studied at Princeton and Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.

The Public Theater (Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director; Patrick Willingham, Executive Director) was founded by Joseph Papp in 1954 and is now one of the nation's preeminent cultural institutions, producing new plays, musicals, and productions of classics at its downtown home and at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. The Public Theater's mandate to create a theater for all New Yorkers continues to this day onstage and through extensive outreach programs. Each year, more than 250,000 people attend Public Theater-related productions and events at six downtown stages, including Joe's Pub, and Shakespeare in the Park. The Public Theater's productions have won 42 Tony Awards, 158 Obies, 42 Drama Desk Awards and four Pulitzer Prizes. Fifty-four Public Theater Productions have moved to Broadway, including Sticks and Bones; That Championship Season; A Chorus Line; For Colored Girls…; The Pirates of Penzance; The Tempest; Bring In 'da Noise, Bring In 'da Funk; The Ride Down Mt. Morgan; Topdog/Underdog; Take Me Out; Caroline, or Change; Passing Strange; the revival of HAIR; Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson and The Merchant of Venice.  www.publictheater.org.