Public Theater
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Public Theater is a New York City arts organization. It was founded in 1954 by Joseph Papp as The Shakespeare Workshop, intending to showcase the works of up-and-coming playwrights and performers. It currently is led by Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Mara Manus.
The Public Theater prides itself on presenting "challenging work". This has a variety of meanings, including artistic heterodoxy. It also reflects the Public Theater's role as a voice for the American social and political Left. Many of its productions are considered avant-garde and not likely to find a home in theaters catering to a mainstream audience.
The Public Theater is headquartered at 425 Lafayette Street in the former Astor Library in the East Village section of lower Manhattan. The venue opened in 1967, mounting the world-premiere production of the musical Hair as its first show.
In addition to the main theater, the site includes Joe's Pub, a cabaret-style setting used for new work, musical performances, spoken-word artists and soloists. The Public also operates the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, where it presents its free Shakespeare in the Park performances during the summer months. These production attract well-known actors as players and sell out. For example the 2004 production, Much Ado About Nothing, featured Dominic Chianese, Kristen Johnston, Jimmy Smits, and Sam Waterston and the 2006 production Tony Kushner's new translation of Brecht's Mother Courage and Her Children featured Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline, two actors who have a long-history with The Public Theater.
The company also invests in theater education, training classical actors through the annual summer acting intensive the Shakespeare Lab.
[edit] Works
Public Theater productions have won a total of 138 Obie Awards, 40 Tony Awards, 39 Drama Desk Awards, 19 Lucille Lortel Awards, and 4 Pulitzer Prizes. The Public has brought 50 shows to Broadway.
The most famous work to emerge from The Public, other than the original production of Hair, is the Michael Bennett musical A Chorus Line, based on the lives and careers of Broadway dancers, commonly known as "gypsies". The announced opening created such a stir of anticipation among the theatrical community that the entire limited run sold out long before opening night. Demand for tickets was such that the show moved uptown to the Shubert Theater, where it remained "one singular sensation" for fifteen sell-out years. Over the years, revenue from the many worldwide productions, both professional and amateur, of the show has been a steady and main source of income for the Public.
