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The Public Theater
Receives Landmark Grant From
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
To Launch
Inaugural Season Of
PUBLIC LAB
This Bold New Play Initiative,
In Association With LAByrinth Theater Company,
Will Develop and Stage
New Work Every Month This Spring
PUBLIC LAB Kicks-Off February 4 With
Mom, How Did You Meet The Beatles?
By Adam P. Kennedy and Adrienne Kennedy
Directed By Peter DuBois
All Tickets $10
January 22, 2008 – The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Mara Manus)
announced today that it received an extraordinary 2.7 million dollar
grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to launch PUBLIC LAB, a
vital new play series conceived and presented in association with
LAByrinth Theater Company. PUBLIC LAB will launch in February
with Mom, How Did You Meet The Beatles? by Adam P. Kennedy and Adrienne Kennedy and continue every month through the end of June.
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s five year grant is one of the largest
grants ever received by the Public Theater and will be used, in part,
to allow audiences to see these important new plays for only $10,
cheaper than the price of a movie ticket. Tickets go on-sale to
the general public on Tuesday, January 22nd.
PUBLIC LAB is designed to respond to new work immediately, and present
fresh, raw and relevant plays that embrace the Public’s history as a
theater receptive to the big issues, the public issues of our
time. In so doing, this innovative program creates a new model
for the ways in which The Public engages with our artists and
audience. This important initiative will give writers the
essential opportunity to realize their work in collaboration with
director, designers and actors through production and most importantly,
to see their work in front of an audience. The plays will be
minimally designed and have short rehearsal periods.
The playwrights selected for the inaugural season of PUBLIC LAB will be
Adam P. Kennedy and Adrienne Kennedy; John Belluso; Steven Cosson and
Michael Friedman; Naomi Wallace; Tracey Scott Wilson; Rebecca Cohen;
and Scott Hudson.
“The PUBLIC LAB will be a vital way to bring artists and audiences
together in a direct and immediate way that creates great theater,”
said Public Theater Artistic Director Oskar Eustis. “This rough
magic is designed to unleash the power of the theater to engage the
world.”
In PUBLIC LAB’s inaugural year, LAByrinth will present two works in the
six months of programming. As the PUBLIC LAB expands to yearlong
programming, LAByrinth will collaborate on more productions each year.
“LAByrinth has always had a distinctive play development process and
we're delighted in our fifth year of residence at The Public to share
that process with our hosts,” said LAByrinth Co-Artistic Director John
Gould Rubin. “What the fruits of this deeper union will look like
we can't yet say, but given the heat of excitement, we know it'll be
hot.”
“It is thrilling to bring this important new initiative to fruition at
the Public,” said Associate Artistic Director Mandy Hackett. “Not only
is it a critical step for playwrights but it’s also exciting to create
a new way audiences can experience and engage in new work at our
theater.”
MOM, HOW DID YOU MEET THE BEATLES?
February 4 – 23
By Adam P. Kennedy and Adrienne Kennedy
Directed by Peter DuBois
Playwright Adrienne Kennedy chronicles her search for fame and fortune
in 1960’s London, where she encountered Laurence Olivier, James
Baldwin, Ricki Huston, various British writers and, of course, The
Beatles. The Public is proud to welcome back one of our greatest living
playwrights, Adrienne Kennedy, who has been a force in the American
theater since the early 1960s and whose many works including Cities In
Bezique and A Movie Star Has To Star In Black And White premiered at
The Public.
THE POOR ITCH
March 7 – 23
By John Belluso
Directed by Lisa Peterson
Ian is back from the war in Iraq without the use of his legs but with a
full-blown case of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and a year’s supply
of OxyContin. Now, he has to face the person he has become after the
war. Left unfinished by the late playwright John Belluso, director Lisa
Peterson and a company of designers and actors fuse together the final
drafts of the script to create a thrilling, highly theatrical
interpretation of the writer’s final work.
THE CIVILIANS’ PARIS COMMUNE
April 4 – 20
By Steven Cosson and Michael Friedman
Directed by Steven Cosson
In 1871, working class Parisians overthrew the French government,
declared Paris autonomous and launched an attempt to radically reinvent
society. In this musical play, a versatile company of performers bring
this explosive event to life. Since its founding in 2001 by Artistic
Director Steven Cosson, the award-winning company The Civilians has
created several original shows including the Off-Broadway hits (I am)
Nobody’s Lunch and Gone Missing.
THE FEVER CHART: THREE VISIONS OF THE MIDDLE EAST
April 25 – May 11
By Naomi Wallace
Directed by Jo Bonney
With stories set in three different locations in the Middle, Wallace’s
muscular and poetic writing finds beauty in the grotesque and explores
political tensions by grounding them in the human issues of love, life,
and death. Internationally-acclaimed playwright Naomi Wallace is best
known for her deeply political plays, including One Flea Spare (The
Public Theater) and The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek, and is the
recipient the MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship.
THE GOOD NEGRO
May 16 – June 1
By Tracey Scott Wilson
Directed by Liesl Tommy
In a constantly shifting landscape, a trio of emerging black leaders
tries to conquer their individual demons. The local KKK fights for its
old way of life and everyday black men and women must overcome their
fears, all under the ever-watchful eye of the FBI. Tracey Scott Wilson
recently won the prestigious 2007 Weissberger award for this play.
PENALTIES & INTEREST
June 10- 28
By Rebecca Cohen
Directed by John Gould Rubin
The insular existence of office life is a petri dish for contemporary
society, in which Lollie, Lyle and Amy try to keep their heads above
water, and their boss, Dick, bobs up when they least expect it. A
LAByrinth Theater Company presentation.
SWEET STORM
June 28 – 29
By Scott Hudson
Directed by Padriac Lillis
Rain, clouds and a heavy wind blow love, revelation and honesty into
the lives of two tree-bound newlyweds. A LAByrinth Theater
Company presentation.
LABYRINTH THEATER COMPANY (Artistic Director John Ortiz; Co-Artistic
Director Philip Seymour Hoffman; Co-Artistic Director and Executive
Director John Gould Rubin) is a multicultural collective of over 100
artists, founded in 1992, that produces new plays reflecting the many
voices in our New York City community. These plays were first presented
behind closed doors at the Company’s annual retreat, the Summer
Intensive. We then mounted readings of them at the 2006 Barn Series
festival. Now, these bare-bone productions mark the next stage in
LAByrinth’s unique play development process, taking the collaboration
between the playwright, director, designers and audiences, to the next
level.
THE PUBLIC THEATER (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director
Mara Manus) was founded by Joseph Papp in 1954 as the Shakespeare
Workshop and is now one of the nation’s preeminent cultural
institutions, producing new plays, musicals, productions of
Shakespeare, and other classics at its headquarters on Lafayette Street
and at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. The Public’s
mandate to create a theater for all New Yorkers continues to this day
on stage and through its extensive outreach and education programs.
Each year, over 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 has won 40 Tony Awards, 141 Obies,
39 Drama Desk Awards, 23 Lucille Lortel Awards and 4 Pulitzer Prizes.
TICKET INFORMATION
PUBLIC LAB will begin performances on Monday, February 4 and continue
every month through Monday, June 30. The performance schedule is
Tuesdays thru Fridays at 8 PM; Saturdays at 2 PM and 8 PM; and Sundays
at 3 PM and 7 PM. Check individual shows for additional and
unavailable performances.
The Public Theater is located at 425 Lafayette Street. All
tickets are $10 and go on-sale to the general public on Tuesday,
January 22.
To purchase tickets, please call (212) 967-7555 or visit www.publictheater.org. |
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The PUBLIC LAB is made possible through the generous support of the
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Additional support for the PUBLIC
LAB is provided by the Ford Foundation, The Booth Ferris Foundation,
and HBO, Inc.
The Public Theater acknowledges the following for their support:
The LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust provides leadership support for The Public’s
year-round activities.
Time Warner is the Supporting Sponsor of The Public’s 2007-2008
season. Bank of America is the Lead Sponsor of Shakespeare in the
Park. Major support is provided by The Doris Duke Charitable
Foundation, The New York State Music Fund, The Shubert Foundation, The
Carnegie Corporation of New York, The Susan Stein Shiva
Foundation, The George T. Delacorte Fund at the New York
Community Trust—Fund for Performances at the Delacorte Theater in
Central Park, and by Warren Spector and Margaret Whitton. Pepsi
is the official beverage sponsor of The Public Theater.
Additional generous support is provided by Debra and Leon Black, The
Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, The Starr Foundation, The Harold and
Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, Titan Worldwide, and The New York
Times. Public support is provided by the New York City Department
of Cultural Affairs; the New York State Council on the Arts, a state
agency; and the National Endowment for the Arts, an independent federal
agency. Cultural Partners include WNYC and the Manhattan Chamber
of Commerce. Pickle Press is the official printer, and
Continental Airlines is the official airline of The Public Theater.
LAByrinth Theater Company acknowledges the following for their support:
Time Warner is the lead sponsor of new play development at LAByrinth Theater Company.
Leadership support for LAByrinth Theater Company’s programs and
productions is provided by The Lila Acheson Wallace Theater Fund at The
New York Community Trust, The Carnegie Corporation, The Horace W.
Goldsmith Foundation, The Lucille Lortel Foundation, The Andrew W.
Mellon Foundation, Newman’s Own Foundation, The Fan Fox & Leslie R.
Samuels Foundation, The Shubert Foundation and The Harold & Mimi
Steinberg Charitable Trust.
Additional support is generously provided by Ira Pittelman, Daryl Roth and the Board of Directors of LAByrinth Theater Company.
Public funds are provided by The New York City Department of Cultural
Affairs, The New York State Council on the Arts and The National
Endowment for the Arts.
Special thanks to Ira Pittelman, founding member and chairman of the LAByrinth Partners Fund.
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