By Amy Somensky Jun 2, 2006, 14:52 GMT
New York: The Public Theater’s Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Mara Manus have announced the 2006-07 season.
The season will include:
To Be AnnouncedBy William Shakespeare / Directed by James Lapine / FallFeaturing Kevin KlineAmerica’s leading Shakespearean actor Kevin Kline returns to The Public in a new production of one of Shakespeare’s greatest epics, directed by Tony Award-winning director James Lapine.
WrecksWritten and directed by Neil Labute / OctoberFeaturing Ed HarrisU.S. PremiereFirst produced at Everyman Palace Theatre in Cork, Ireland.Two of Americas most exciting artists team up to create a theatrical tour de force in this new solo work. In true LaBute fashion, this new play promises to thrill, surprise and challenge your assumptions about love, family and marriage.
DurangoWritten by Julia Cho / Directed by Chay Yew / NovemberWorld PremiereSingle father Boo-Seng decides it’s time for a family road trip to Durango, Colorado. As he and his two teenage sons get closer to their destination, secrets are revealed that intensify the sons’ struggle with growing up in the shadow of their father, who left Korea to pursue the American Dream. From the award-winning playwright who brought you BFE, Durango is new American drama at its best. A co-production with the Long Wharf Theatre.
Emergence-SEE!Written and performed by Daniel Beaty / NovemberNew York PremiereIn 2006, a slave ship rises out of the Hudson River in front of the Statue of Liberty, sending New York into a whirlwind of emotion. Through slam poetry and song, awardwinning actor/singer and writer/composer Daniel Beaty portrays a multitude of characters whose responses to the slave ship reflect on issues of identity and personal freedom. This explosive one-man play presents a stirring commentary on modern black life.
Passing StrangeBook and lyrics by Stew / Music by Stew & Heidi Rodewald / Directed and created in collaboration with Annie Dorsen / JanuaryWorld PremiereFrom Los Angeles to Amsterdam to Berlin and back, Passing Strange takes musical theater on a whole new trip. From singer-songwriter and performance artist Stew comes Passing Strange, a daring new musical that takes you on a journey across boundaries of place, identity, and theatrical convention. Stew, a popular performer at Joe’s Pub, was commissioned by The Public to develop this moving and hilarious story of a young black bohemian in search of self and home who charts a course for "the real" through sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Passing Strange is a co-production with Berkeley Repertory Theatre.
The Singing ForestBy Craig Lucas / Directed by Bartlett SherNew York Premiere / SpringThe writer who brought us The Light in the Piazza, Reckless and Prelude to a Kiss now interrogates how history collides with the human heart in the aftermath of the Holocaust. The Singing Forest takes you on a passage through time — from today’s world of Starbucks, celebrity and therapy to Freud’s inner circle in 1930s Vienna and to Paris at the end of WWII. It’s the story of three generations of a family whose lives are intertwined despite the secrets that have torn them apart.
365 Days / 365 PlaysBy Suzan-Lori ParksNew York PremiereIn November 2002, the Pulitzer prize-winning Suzan-Lori Parks sat down and committed to writing a play a day for the next 365 days. For the 2006-07 Season, The Public will produce the New York premiere of these works by gathering together a widely diverse cross-section of New York’s theater companies to participate in this project. Over the course of one year, the selected theaters - curated by The Public, Suzan-Lori Parks and Producer Bonnie Metzger - will perform these brief, brilliant snapshots from the imagination of one of America's leading playwrights. This will be part of a yearlong national festival of the play cycle that will take place in major cities around the country including Atlanta, Los Angeles and Denver. Tickets at The Public will be FREE.
Shakespeare in the ParkSummerStarring Brian Dennehy
In addition to seven new productions downtown, the 2006-07 Season will feature the return of two popular free readings series – New Work Now! and New Work Then!, which showcases new works and landmark plays developed during The Public’s history, respectively; two annual festivals – Under The Radar, which highlights cutting-edge theater from around the world, and globalFEST, an allstar musical performance event at Joe’s Pub featuring the latest in world music, co-produced by The Public Theater, World Music Institute and World Music/Crash Arts, Boston.
The Public will also produce with the Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles the world premiere of Yellowface, a biting new satire about ethnicity and cultural identity by the Tony Award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang. The production will be staged at the Mark Taper Forum in spring 2007 and at The Public the following fall.
The Public welcomes back LAByrinth Theater Company for its fourth season of residency; it is proud to give a home to one of America’s most daring, innovative and talented theater companies dedicated to developing and producing new plays that reflect the very fabric of New York City. At The Public this season, LAByrinth will stage A Small, Melodramatic Story directed by Lucie Tiberghien and featuring Carlo Alban, Ron Cephas Jones, Chris McGarry and Portia, and Jack Goes Boating by Bob Glaudini, directed by Peter DuBois and featuring Beth Cole, Daphne Rubin-Vega, John Ortiz and Philip Seymour Hoffman. For more information, please visit www.labtheater.org.
For more information on any of the productions listed above visit www.publictheater.org.
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