New York Shakespeare Festival425 Lafayette StreetNew York, NY 10003212.539.8500 | publictheater.org

DECEMBER 2013

LOOK

Cartoonist Alison Bechdel (whose autobiographical graphic novel FUN HOME is the basis for the world premiere musical) attended a recent performance. Afterwards, she posed for this photo with the trio of leading ladies who portray Alison in the production: Sydney Lucas (Small Alison), Alexandra Socha (Medium Alison), and Beth Malone (Alison).

More than two hundred New Yorkers made their Public Theater debut this past September, performing in Public Works’ THE TEMPEST at The Delacorte Theater in Central Park. The show was a roaring success! New Yorkers from all five boroughs, taxi workers, Mexican folk dancers, gospel singers, taiko drummers, ballet dancers, and many more united in a civic celebration that we’ll all hold dear for a long time to come.

Up next for Public Works: activities continue with our five community partners: Fortune Society, Children’s Aid Society, DreamYard, Domestic Workers United, and the Brownsville Recreation Center. We are looking forward to another year of classes, workshops exploring all areas of the theater, attending shows at The Public, and setting the wheels in motion for our next production!

– Lear deBessonetPublic Works Director/Director of THE TEMPEST

BRAVE NEW WORLD!

Pictured: (cover) FEAST, photo by Name Placeholder. (Above) Chukwudi Iwuji and Jonathan Cake in rehearsals for ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA, photo by Manuel Harlan; (Right, above) the cast of THE TEMPEST, photo by Joan Marcus; (Right, below) Sydney Lucas, Alexandra Socha, Beth Malone, and Alison Bechdel, photo by Cathy Renna.

In an exciting international collaboration with the Royal Shakespeare Company and GableStage, Miami, The Public welcomes back writer/director Tarell Alvin McCraney as its new artist in residence with ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA!

Now playing in Stratford-upon-Avon, McCraney’s production transports Shakespeare’s story s to 18th century, sun-soaked Saint-Domingue on the eve of revolution. ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA travels next to Gable Stage in Florida before beginning performances at The Public in February 2014.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS from THE PUBLIC THEATER!

This edition of PUBLIC LOOK comes during a season filled with holiday cheer! We have so much to be thankful for here at The Public – a critically acclaimed season both downtown and at Shakespeare in the Park, the inaugural year of Public Works, another successful year of our Mobile Shakespeare Unit, the 15th Anniversary of Joe’s Pub, the 10th Anniversary of the Under the Radar Festival – and we couldn’t have accomplished any of it without the support of you, our patrons.

We hope you’ll consider making a tax-deductible gift to The Public Theater this season! Visit giving.publictheater.org or contact The Partners Desk at 212-539-8734.

THR

OU

GH

THE

AG

ES

A SNEAK PEEK FROM

OVERSEAS

LOOKCanoaphotprodu(

r/DirTHE TEMPEST

ic or

n-n

n

with The M

obile Shakespeare U

nit

ON THE

AGAIN

FAMILY

DOM

JOE’S PUB AT 15 By Shanta Thake

This fall, Joe’s Pub at The Public began its year-long 15th Anniversary celebration. Sometimes it’s hard to envision a New York that existed without Joe’s Pub. Other times, it feels as if we are just getting started. Joe’s Pub began in 1998 as a cabaret space and pre-performance dining option for Public Theater patrons. Since then, we have grown to present and produce approximately 800 shows a year and bring in over 100,000 audience members annually. As part of The Public Theater, we contribute to its large and incredible vision to serve the people of New York, and we are constantly looking for new and better ways to interact with our audiences and artists. When we talk to artists and community members about what Joe’s Pub at 15 means to them, the words that often come up are “family” and “freedom.” Joe’s Pub has been at the heart of what it means for artists in New York to experiment, to grow their audience and to think of our stage as their playground. We are actively pursuing, highlighting and nurturing artists that we feel have a perspective that can change the way

we perceive the world. I personally have witnessed some transformative performance moments on our stage. From Adele’s breathtaking U.S. debut to Richie Havens’ solo performance, from country music superstars Dierks Bentley and Little Big Town, to Our Hit Parade’s incredible downtown performance art countdown of pop chart hits, Joe’s Pub has been a bellwether of talent to watch and a safe space for the legends of our time. Sometimes it feels as if we have truly seen it all—the beauty and challenge is that we absolutely have not! I hope that you are able to find a way to Joe’s Pub in the coming months and see for yourself what it means to be a part of our community. The stakes are high—we are committed to changing your world and having you change ours. We want to make sure you feel your voice, your neighborhood and your city reflected back at you through the work that is presented, and more than anything we want to make sure you have a great time. Thank you for a great 15 years!

Shanta Thake is the Director of Joe’s Pub, and has been with The Public since 2002. For more information, visit www.joespub.com.

“At the end of the day, the necessary ingredients are very few,” explains A.Z. Kelsey, an actor in the Mobile Shakespeare Unit’s production of MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. “We’re hitting the road with 14 square feet of empty acting space and a few costumes, but I think it’s safe to say that this is one of the richest theater experiences any of us in the company has been a part of.” The Mobile Shakespeare Unit is a reinvention of the Mobile Shakespeare program, which Joe Papp began in 1957 to bring theater to the masses:

Rehearsals began in October, led by director Kwame Kwei-Armah. The process quickly became alive with the spirit of Mobile Shakespeare. “The walls of the rehearsal room were covered with photos of the legendary truck, quotes, and the production history of the Mobile Unit,” said Stephanie Ybarra, Line Producer for The Public Theater. “It was a constant reminder to everyone that the roots of this program run deep.” Ybarra’s work began months before rehearsals, as the Mobile Shakespeare Unit team fanned out over the city’s five boroughs, visiting potential new tour venues and reconnecting with past participants. This year’s itinerary included prisons, homeless shelters, centers for the elderly, and other community sites, and stops with Public Works community partner locations: Brownsville Recreation Center in Brooklyn, Fortune Society in Queens and DreamYard Project in the Bronx. For Kelsey, who plays Claudio and Conrade in MUCH ADO, the mission of the Mobile Shakespeare Unit, and the audiences in the community, are deeply integrated in the rehearsal process: “Everyone brings their best work because there’s this deep understanding and appreciation of our purpose. What we’re crafting is, after all, just a story. It’s the folks at Charlotte’s Place, Riker’s, and Fortune Society that are really making it theater. In this way, our tour audiences have already given us a great gift by reminding us not to take them for granted, or any audience for that matter, as we do our work.” Even though the Mobile Shakespeare Unit’s tour of MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING ended in a sit-down engagement at The Public, Ybarra firmly believes the road is where the program belongs: “Our real home is in the gymnasiums, cafeterias, and rec rooms. Those are the stages where we have the opportunity to embrace Joe Papp’s founding impulse: bringing free Shakespeare to the people of New York. We’re called the Mobile Shakespeare Unit, after all.”

To learn more about The Public Theater’s Mobile Shakespeare Unit, visit www.publictheater.org.

Pictured: (above) bartender at work, photo by Paul Wagtoui; (right) the cast of MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, photo by Erik Pearson.

“Joe’s Pub has been at the heart of what it means for artists in New York to experiment, to grow their audience and to think of our stage as their playground.”

“I always felt that we should travel. After all, Shakespeare did both: he had his own theater, and he also toured…I wanted to bring Shakespeare to the people. That was the whole idea.”

LOOK

A DECADE OF EXPLOSIVELY DIVERSE THEATER

The Public’s Under the Radar Festival (UTR) tracks contemporary theater that is happening in the U.S and internationally, and brings it to New York audiences in an intensive 12-day festival in January. Together, all the productions provide a snapshot of theater from around the world, richly diverse in terms of themes of investigation, aesthetics, and social practice – pointing to the future of the art form.

“UTR carves space for the art that redefines the act of making theater and telling stories. We make space for disruption – for the active collision of aesthetics, disciplines and perspectives”

Under The Radar runs January 8-19, 2014. For tickets and information, visit www.undertheradarfestival.com.

Photo credits, clockwise from Top Right: MINSK 2011: A REPLY TO KATHY ACKER, Belarus Free Theatre, photo by Nicolai Khalezin; John Hodgman, I STOLE YOUR DAD, photo by Brantley Gutierrez; CORRESPONDANCES, Kettly Noel, Nelisiwe Xaba, photo by Eric Boude; GANESH VERSUS THE THIRD REICH, Back to Back Theatre, photo by Jeff Busby; 2 DIMENSIONAL LIFE OF HER, Fleur Elise Noble, photo by Jamie Williams; SACRED STORIES, Toshi Reagon & BIGLovely, photo by Kevin Yatarola.

Meiyin Wang is the Director of the Devised Theater Initiative at The Public, as well as Co-Director of the Under the Radar Festival, along with founder and Festival Co-Director Mark Russell.

Q. Tell us about your role in UTR, and what part you play in bringing all the pieces together.

A. I’ve been with UTR since 2006, and my role has evolved over the years from assistant to line producer to co-director. Being a line producer is like being an air traffic controller. There are many logistics involved, especially around taking care of over 200 artists annually who participate in the festival. Everything we do at UTR is geared towards supporting artists to present their best work and introducing them to a wider audience, both in New York and abroad. One main aspect of my job now is the programming of the festival itself. I see three to five shows a week in New York, and also travel throughout the year to festivals to see performances – my favorite festival experiences have been in Krakow, Bogota, Dublin, and Portland. A little known part of what we do at UTR is the Professional Symposium where we gather 250-300 U.S and international curators and producers together for a conference to share new ideas, discuss issues in the field, and introduce new artists – so a big part of what I do is also producing the conference.

Q. UTR is celebrating its 10th Anniversary this year. How has it changed, and where do you think it’s headed? What do the next 10 years look like?

A. Over the past 10 years, we’ve presented 144 companies from over 37 countries. We’ve evolved from a scrappy festival (although in our hearts we will forever feel scrappy) to a festival with a solid reputation, both at home and overseas. That is in no small part because some of the most exciting artists in the world - Nature Theater of Oklahoma, Elevator Repair Service, Guillermo Calderón, and Gob Squad, consider us their New York home. UTR was created to find more homes for these independent artists – whether it was touring venues, commissions by international festivals, or scarce resources like residencies of funding. Ten years later, the culture is beginning to embrace this kind of independent, devised, and ensemble theater. The world is changing fast. More than ever, these artists will play a crucial part in imagining a new world and our shared future. Blurring the distance between artist and audience, community participation, or robotic theater - UTR will be tracking it all.

Q. In a city with literally thousands of options for theatergoing, what makes UTR different?

A. Under the Radar is the only place you can see a dozen different productions under one roof – you can go around the world without leaving The Public. You can start your day with a spoken word performance from New York, followed by a documentary theater piece from Chile, cap it off with a show by an acclaimed Belgian theater ensemble, and end the night dancing at the late night lounge to some of the most exciting musicians in New York. It is important to us

that this work is affordable to our community and New York artists - UTR is a rare place where you can see this range and variety of offerings for only $20.

Q. How does UTR tie into the overall mission of The Public? Where does it fit alongside new play development, Free Shakespeare in the Park, and the democratization of theater?

A. We believe that art belongs to the people and should be accessible to everyone. The stories we tell and the people who make theater should be as diverse as the country itself. This also means that the different forms in which these stories reveal themselves should also be explosively diverse. That’s where Under the Radar comes in. We carve space for the art that redefines the act of making theater and telling stories: from theater performed by the audience, theater devised with the community, theater without people, theater that emphasizes the body or technology. We make space for disruption – for the active collision of aesthetics, disciplines and perspectives.

Q. What’s the biggest challenge in putting together UTR?

A. The visa process for our international artists can get very complicated, especially when we bring artists from more unfamiliar countries, such as Cambodia, Belarus, Iran, or Mali. Last year, for example, the visa application process for an Iranian actor (from HAMLET, PRINCE OF GRIEF) was downright Kafka-esque. We ended up getting on the bureaucratic merry-go-round and got his visa on the same day he had to fly to New York. In the case of Belarus Free Theatre, we were not sure whether the U.S. embassy would be able to issue the visas because of restrictions on the U.S diplomatic presence in Minsk.

Q. UTR gives American audiences the chance to experience theater created by numerous international artists and artistic ensembles. Do you think this creates an added element of cultural dialogue and cultural exchange that transcends just experiencing a performance?

A. The international component is crucial to the identity of Under the Radar - it is important to showcase the diverse landscape of theater, and to broadcast voices and perspectives from communities that are not usually heard in the U.S. It is also important to have American artists and international artists at the same festival, showing their work side by side. It is the lively collision of differing nationalities, identities, aesthetics, politics, ideologies, experiments that make the theater experience unique and even transformative. It gives both the audience and the artists different ways of looking, experiencing and engaging with the world.

Q. Imagine you’re talking to someone who has never gone to UTR. What would be your advice for them?

A. Surprise yourself. Take a risk. See something you never thought you would see. See as many shows as you can. Then make your way to the lounge and dance!