The Public Theater is a

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

arts organization founded as the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954 by

Joseph Papp Joseph Papp (born Joseph Papirofsky; June 22, 1921 – October 31, 1991) was an American theatrical producer and director. He established The Public Theater in what had been the Astor Library Building in Lower Manhattan. There Papp created ...

, with the intention of showcasing the works of up-and-coming playwrights and performers.Epstein, Helen. ''Joe Papp: An American Life'', Da Capo Press, March 1, 1996. Led by JoAnne Akalaitis from 1991 to 1993 and by George C. Wolfe from 1993 to 2004, it is currently led by Artistic Director

Oskar Eustis Oskar Eustis (born July 31, 1958) has been the Artistic Director at the Public Theater in New York City since 2005. He has worked as a director, dramaturg, and artistic director for theaters around the United States.Hair'' as its first show. The Public is headquartered at 425

Lafayette Street Lafayette Street is a major north-south street in New York City's Lower Manhattan. It originates at the intersection of Reade Street and Centre Street, one block north of Chambers Street. The one-way street then successively runs through Chi ...

in the former

Astor Library The Astor Library was a free public library in the East Village, Manhattan, developed primarily through the collaboration of New York City merchant John Jacob Astor and New England educator and bibliographer Joseph Cogswell. It was primarily ...

in Lower Manhattan. The building holds five theater spaces and

Joe's Pub Joe's Pub, one of the six performance spaces within The Public Theater, is a music venue and restaurant that hosts live performances across genres and arts, ranging from cabaret to modern dance to world music. It is located at 425 Lafayette St ...

, a cabaret-style venue used for new work, musical performances, spoken-word artists, and soloists. The Public also operates the

Delacorte Theater The Delacorte Theater is a 1,800-seat open-air theater in Central Park, in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is home to the Public Theater's free Shakespeare in the Park productions. Over five million people have attended more than 15 ...

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated ...

, where it presents

Shakespeare in the Park Shakespeare in the Park is a term for outdoor festivals featuring productions of William Shakespeare's plays. The term originated with the New York Shakespeare Festival in New York City's Central Park, originally created by Joseph Papp. This c ...

. New York natives and visitors alike have been enjoying free Shakespeare in Central Park since performances began in 1954. Notable productions in recent years include: ''

The Merchant of Venice ''The Merchant of Venice'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. A merchant in Venice named Antonio defaults on a large loan provided by a Jewish moneylender, Shylock. Although classified as ...

'', featuring Al Pacino as Shylock (2010); ''Here Lies Love'' (2013), by David Byrne; ''Fun Home,'' adapted from

Alison Bechdel Alison Bechdel ( ; born September 10, 1960) is an American cartoonist. Originally known for the long-running comic strip ''Dykes to Watch Out For'', she came to critical and commercial success in 2006 with her graphic memoir ''Fun Home'', whi ...

's illustrated memoir of the same name (2013); ''Eclipsed'', by

Danai Gurira Danai Jekesai Gurira (; born February 14, 1978) is an American-Zimbabwean actress and playwright. She is best known for her starring roles as Michonne on the AMC horror drama series '' The Walking Dead'' (2012–2020, 2022) and as Okoye in th ...

and featuring

Lupita Nyong'o Lupita Amondi Nyong'o (, ; ; born 1 March 1983) is a Kenyan-Mexican actress. She is the recipient of several accolades, including an Academy Award, and nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Tony Award. The daughter of Kenyan politi ...

(2015); and ''Hamilton'' (2015), by

Lin-Manuel Miranda Lin-Manuel Miranda (; born January 16, 1980) is an American songwriter, actor, playwright and filmmaker. He is known for creating the Broadway musicals ''Hamilton'' (2015) and '' In the Heights'' (2005), and the soundtracks for the Disney animat ...

Programs and series

In addition to each season of full-scale theatrical productions, The Public also produces a number of different series, festivals, and programs each year. In 2008, The Public presented its inaugural Public LAB series, an annual series of new plays presented in collaboration with

LAByrinth Theater Company LAByrinth Theater Company is a non-profit, Off-Broadway theater company based in New York City. Led by Philip Seymour Hoffman and John Ortiz for many years, its artistic director is Ortiz. The New York Times described it in 2014 as "an ethnical ...

. With each Public LAB show, corresponding speaker series are presented as after-show talkbacks to discuss prominent themes, ideas and topics in the plays. A number of plays that have appeared in the Public LAB series have gone onto full-scale productions, including

Tracey Scott Wilson Tracey Scott Wilson is an American playwright, television writer, television producer, and screenwriter. She graduated from Rutgers University with a BA in English and from Temple University with an MA in English Literature. Early life Born in ...

’s ''The Good Negro'', which ran at The Public in 2009, and ''

Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson ''Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson'' is a rock musical with music and lyrics written by Michael Friedman and a book written by its director Alex Timbers. The show is a comedic historical rock musical about the founding of the Democratic Party. It r ...

'', which had a sold-out, thrice-extended off-Broadway run at The Public in the spring of 2010 and transferred to

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

that fall. Public LAB was expanded in 2011 to include Public LAB SHAKESPEARE, a new platform for The Public's ongoing exploration of the Shakespeare canon that continues the growth of The Public's Shakespeare Initiative and expands the ways The Public produces American interpretations of Shakespeare. The premiere production of Public LAB SHAKESPEARE was''

Timon of Athens ''Timon of Athens'' (''The Life of Tymon of Athens'') is a play written by William Shakespeare and probably also Thomas Middleton in about 1606. It was published in the '' First Folio'' in 1623. Timon lavishes his wealth on parasitic companio ...

'' in March 2011, featuring Richard Thomas in the title role. In 2013, The Public launched the Mobile Shakespeare Unit (now renamed Mobile Unit), which tours free Shakespeare to various locations throughout the five boroughs, including prisons, homeless shelters, and community centers, before concluding its run at the Public Theater itself. Past venues include Rikers Island, Borden Avenue's Veteran's Shelter, and The Fortune Society. The Public also launched its inaugural Public Works production in 2013. Public Works combines diverse groups of people throughout the five boroughs of New York City to watch theatre, participate in theatrical workshops, and perform in one full-scale Public Works production alongside professional actors at Shakespeare in the Park. Past Public Works productions include The Tempest, The Winter's Tale, and The Odyssey. The Public Forum, begun in 2010, is a series of lectures, debates, and conversations that showcase leading voices in the arts, politics and the media. Curated by Jeremy McCarter, a senior writer at Newsweek, Public Forum events explore issues raised by plays in The Public's season, as well as the political and cultural headlines of today's world. Notable participants in the series include Stephen Sondheim,

Tony Kushner Anthony Robert Kushner (born July 16, 1956) is an American author, playwright, and screenwriter. Lauded for his work on stage he's most known for his seminal work ''Angels in America'' which earned a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award. At the turn ...

Arianna Huffington Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington (née Ariadnē-Anna Stasinopoúlou, el, Αριάδνη-Άννα Στασινοπούλου ; born July 15, 1950) is a Greek-American author, syndicated columnist and businesswoman. She is a co-founder of '' Th ...

, Alec Baldwin and

Anne Hathaway Anne Jacqueline Hathaway (born November 12, 1982) is an American actress. The recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award, she was among the world's highest-paid actresses in 2 ...

. The Public hosts the annual

Under the Radar Festival The Under the Radar Festival was a theater festival in New York City, founded in 2005 by Mark Russell (festival director), Mark Russell, former Artistic Director of Performance Space 122, P.S. 122 for over twenty years and also Guest Artistic Direc ...

, a festival tracking new theater from around the world. Over the last 12 years, The Public's Under the Radar Festival (UTR) has presented over 194 companies from 40 countries. UTR has presented works by such respected artists as

Elevator Repair Service Elevator Repair Service (ERS) is a New York-based theater ensemble founded by director John Collins and a group of actors in 1991.Gob Squad Gob Squad is a British-German collective based in Nottingham and Berlin. They have worked collaboratively since 1994 in the fields of performance, video installation and theatre. History Gob Squad was founded in 1994. At the time, its members wer ...

, Belarus Free Theatre, and Young Jean Lee. The Public serves as the home of the Emerging Writers Group, which seeks to target playwrights at the earliest stages in their careers. The Emerging Writers Group is a component of The Public Writers Initiative. The Public also fosters Public Studio, a performance series dedicated to developing the works of new and emerging theater artists. Emerging playwrights get the opportunity to stage a piece somewhere between a workshop and a full production in front of an audience, as an opportunity to gage audience reaction and further develop their work. The Public Theater invests in theater education, training classical actors through the annual summer acting intensive known as the Shakespeare Lab. The Shakespeare Lab is The Public Theater's professional actor development program that immerses a selected company of professional, mid-career actors in a summer intensive exploring the rigors, challenges, and joys of performing Shakespeare. The Public Theater hosts educational programs for teenagers such as Shakespeare Spring Break, Summer ShakeUP, and A Midsummer Day's Camp programs, all for teenagers interested in learning about and performing Shakespeare.

Suzan-Lori Parks Suzan-Lori Parks (born May 10, 1963) is an American playwright, screenwriter, musician and novelist. Her 2001 play ''Topdog/Underdog'' won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2002; Parks was the first African-American woman to receive the award for d ...

, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and Master Writer Chair of The Public, debuted her performance piece ''Watch Me Work'' as part of the 2011 Under The Radar Festival. In the performance, Parks worked on her newest writing project in the main lobby of The Public Theater.

Notable works and awards

A number of the Public's productions have moved to larger Broadway theaters upon the conclusion of their run at Astor Place. The three most commercially successful of these have been '' Hair'' (1967), ''

A Chorus Line ''A Chorus Line'' is a 1975 musical with music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Edward Kleban, and a book by James Kirkwood Jr. and Nicholas Dante. Set on the bare stage of a Broadway theater, the musical is centered on seventeen Broadway dancers ...

'' (1975), and ''

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

'' (2015). The Public Theater has won 54

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...

s, 152 Obie Awards, 42 Drama Desk Awards and five Pulitzer Prizes. Fifty-five Public Theater productions have moved to Broadway, including '' Sticks and Bones'', ''

That Championship Season ''That Championship Season'' is a 1972 play by Jason Miller. It was the recipient of the 1973 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 1973 Tony Award for Best Play. Plot synopsis The setting is 1972 at the Coach's home in Scranton, Pennsylvania. O ...

'', ''

For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf ''for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf'' is Ntozake Shange's first work and most acclaimed theater piece, which premiered in 1976. It consists of a series of poetic monologues to be accompanied by dance moveme ...

'', ''

The Pirates of Penzance ''The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. Its official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 December 187 ...

'', '' The Tempest'', '' Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk'',

Michael John LaChiusa Michael John LaChiusa (born July 24, 1962) is an American musical theatre and opera composer, lyricist, and librettist. He is best known for musically esoteric shows such as '' Hello Again'', ''Marie Christine'', '' The Wild Party'', and '' See ...

's '' The Wild Party'', '' The Ride Down Mt. Morgan'', ''

Topdog/Underdog ''Topdog/Underdog'' is a play by American playwright Suzan-Lori Parks which premiered in 2001 off-Broadway in New York City. The next year it opened on Broadway, at the Ambassador Theatre, where it played for several months. In 2002, Parks rece ...

'', '' Take Me Out'', ''

Caroline, or Change ''Caroline, or Change'' is a musical with music by Jeanine Tesori and lyrics and book by Tony Kushner. The score combines spirituals, blues, Motown, classical music, and Jewish klezmer and folk music. The show ran both Off-Broadway and on Broadway ...

'', ''

Passing Strange ''Passing Strange'' is a comedy-drama rock musical about a young African American's artistic journey of self-discovery, with strong elements of philosophical existentialism, metafiction (especially self-referential humor), and the artistic jou ...

'', the revival of '' HAIR'', ''

'', ''

The Normal Heart ''The Normal Heart'' is a largely autobiographical play by Larry Kramer. It focuses on the rise of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in New York City between 1981 and 1984, as seen through the eyes of writer/activist Ned Weeks, the gay founder of a pro ...

'', ''

Well A well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The ...

'', ''

Fun Home ''Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic'' is a 2006 Graphic novel, graphic memoir by the American cartoonist Alison Bechdel, author of the comic strip ''Dykes to Watch Out For''. It chronicles the author's childhood and youth in rural Pennsylvania, Uni ...

'', ''

'', and '' Eclipsed''.

Astor Library Building

The Public has been housed in a landmarked

Romanesque revival Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to ...

structure at 425

since 1967, built between 1853 and 1881 as the Astor Library, which later merged with the Tilden and Lenox collections to become the New York Public Library. The library was built by William B. Astor, son of the library's founder,

John Jacob Astor John Jacob Astor (born Johann Jakob Astor; July 17, 1763 – March 29, 1848) was a German-American businessman, merchant, real estate mogul, and investor who made his fortune mainly in a fur trade monopoly, by History of opium in China, smuggl ...

. A German-born architect,

Alexander Saeltzer Alexander Saeltzer (31 July 1814 Eisenach, Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Germany — 23 September 1883 New York City) was a German-American architect active in New York City in the 1850s and 1860s. His work includes the Anshe Chesed Synagogue (now the A ...

, who had been the architect of the

Anshe Chesed Synagogue The Angel Orensanz Center is an art and performance space on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It was originally built as a synagogue, running through a succession of congregations and continues to be used as one occasionally. The ...

, designed the building in

Rundbogenstil (round-arch style) is a nineteenth-century historic revival style of architecture popular in the German-speaking lands and the German diaspora. It combines elements of Byzantine, Romanesque, and Renaissance architecture with particula ...

style, then the prevailing style for public building in Germany. Astor funded two expansions of the building toward Astor Place, designed by

Griffith Thomas Griffith Thomas (1820—1879) was an American architect. He partnered with his father, Thomas Thomas, at the architecture firm of T. Thomas and Son.Thomas Stent Thomas Stent (died 1912) was an architect in New York City. He assisted Alexander Saeltzer on the Astor Public Library and was the architect for the 1879–1881 expansion. Stent was trained and practised in England before coming to London, Ontario ...

(1879–1881). Both large expansions followed Saeltzer's original design so seamlessly that an observer cannot detect that the edifice was built in three stages. In 1920, the

Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society HIAS (founded as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) is a Jewish American nonprofit organization that provides humanitarian aid and assistance to refugees. It was originally established in 1881 to aid Jewish refugees. In 1975, the State Departm ...

purchased the building. By 1965, it was in disuse and faced demolition. The Public Theater, then the

New York Shakespeare Festival Shakespeare in the Park (or Free Shakespeare in the Park) is a theatrical program that stages productions of Shakespearean plays at the Delacorte Theater, an open-air theater in New York City's Central Park. The theater and the productions ar ...

, persuaded the city to purchase it for use as a theater. It was converted for theater use by

Giorgio Cavaglieri Giorgio Cavaglieri (August 1, 1911 – May 15, 2007) was an Italian architect and a leading figure in the historic preservationist movement in New York City. He is best known for his 1960s restoration of the Jefferson Market Library in Greenw ...

between 1967 and 1976. The building is a New York City Landmark, designated in 1965. It was one of the first buildings to be recognized as such by the newly formed Landmarks Preservation Commission of New York City. In 2009, The Public began its "Going Public" campaign to raise funds for a major renovation of the historic building. Groundbreaking for the $35 million renovation occurred on March 9, 2010, with notables such as

Liev Schreiber Isaac Liev Schreiber (; born October 4, 1967) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, producer, and narrator. He became known during the late 1990s and early 2000s after appearing in several independent films, and later mainstream Hollywo ...

and

Philip Seymour Hoffman Philip Seymour Hoffman (July 23, 1967 – February 2, 2014) was an American actor. Known for his distinctive supporting and character roles—typically lowlifes, eccentrics, underdogs, and misfits—he acted in many films and theatrical produ ...

in attendance. Plans included a renovation of Joe's Pub; the Pub went on a three-month hiatus during the summer of 2011 to allow for construction. The building re-opened on October 4, 2012 after a renovation designed by

Ennead Architects Ennead Architects LLP (/ˈenēˌad/) is a New York City-based architectural firm. The firm was founded in 1963 by James Polshek, who left the firm in 2005 when it was known as Polshek Partnership. The firm's partners renamed their practice in mid- ...

costing $40 million.Lipinski, Jed
"The Public Theater celebrates the end of a long refurbishments"
''Capital'' (October 8, 2012)

Public Works productions

In 2013, The Public launched Public Works, which brings together diverse groups of people throughout the five boroughs of New York City to watch theatre, participate in theatrical workshops, and perform in one full-scale Public Works production alongside professional actors at Shakespeare in the Park. Past Public Works productions include ''The Tempest'', ''The Winter's Tale'', and ''The Odyssey''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Public Theater, The Off-Broadway theaters Theatre companies in New York City Performing groups established in 1954 Theatres completed in 1967 New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan Theatres on the National Register of Historic Places in Manhattan Astor Place