Public Theater 2022/23: Robert O'Hara directs RAISIN IN THE SUN, Suzan-Lori Parks' THE HARDER THEY COME Musical, James Ijames' GOOD BONES, and more

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 6/14/22 at 2:25pm

Announcement. Of note, there is only one new musical being presented by the Public next season, after COVID put both The Visitor and Suffs into the same season.

AT A GLANCE:

Baldwin and Buckley at Cambridge
Begins September 24
Conceived by Greig Sargeant with Elevator Repair Service
Directed by John Collins
The renowned theater company Elevator Repair Service returns to The Public with BALDWIN AND BUCKLEY AT CAMBRIDGE, a profoundly relevant presentation of the legendary debate between virtuosic writer James Baldwin and father of American conservatism William F. Buckley, Jr. 

 

A Raisin in the Sun 
Begins Sepember 27
By Lorraine Hansberry 
Directed by Robert O’Hara
Lorraine Hansberry’s A RAISIN IN THE SUN comes to Astor Place this fall in Hansberry's Public Theater debut. Directed by Tony Award nominee Robert O’Hara, this fresh look at a classic proves to be as provocative and powerful today as it was in 1959.

 

Where We Belong 
Begins October 28
By Madeline Sayet
Directed by Mei Ann Teo
Produced with Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company In Association with Folger Shakespeare Library
In this intimate and exhilarating solo piece directed by Mei Ann Teo, theatre-maker Madeline Sayet echoes a journey to England braved by Native ancestors in the 1700s following treatise betrayals—and forces us to consider what it means to belong in an increasingly globalized world.

 

Plays for the Plague Year
Begins November 4
By Suzan-Lori Parks
Directed by Niegel Smith 
On March 13, 2020, as theaters shut their doors and so many of us went into lockdown, celebrated playwright Suzan-Lori Parks picked up her pen and set out to write a play every day. Performing in the intimate Joe’s Pub and directed by Niegel Smith, PLAYS FOR THE PLAGUE YEAR is at once a personal story of one family's daily lives, as well as a sweeping account of all we faced as a city, a nation, and a global community.

 

The Harder They Come 
Winter 2023
Book by Suzan-Lori Parks
Including Songs by Jimmy Cliff
Based upon the film, produced and directed by Perry Henzell and co-written with Trevor Rhone
Music Supervision by Kenny Seymour
Choreography by Edgar Godineaux
Co-Directed by Sergio Trujillo
Directed by Tony Taccone
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and The Public’s Writer-in-Residence, Suzan-Lori Parks, returns with a new musical adaptation of THE HARDER THEY COME. Directed by Tony Taccone, with co-direction by Sergio Trujillo and choreography by Edgar Godineaux, THE HARDER THEY COME is adapted from 1972 movie produced and directed by Perry Henzell and co-written with Trevor Rhone, and features the music of Jimmy Cliff to tell the story of Ivan, a young singer who arrives in Kingston, Jamaica, eager to become a star.

 

Dark Disabled Stories 
Winter 2023
By Ryan J. Haddad
Directed by Jordan Fein
Produced by The Bushwick Starr Presented by The Public Theater 
Ryan J. Haddad’s newest autobiographical play is a series of unforgiving vignettes about the strangers he encounters while navigating a city (and a world) not built for his walker and cerebral palsy. Directed by Jordan Fein, DARK DISABLED STORIES probes implicit ableism and the assumptions we make about people we'll never really know.

 

Good Bones 
Spring 2023
By James Ijames
Directed by Saheem Ali
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright James Ijames explores gentrification and the growing price of the American dream in his sharp, funny new play directed by The Public’s Associate Artistic Director and Resident Director, Saheem Ali.

 

shadow/land
Spring 2023
By Erika Dickerson-Despenza
Directed by Candis C. Jones
Playwright Erika Dickerson-Despenza returns to The Public with a stunning live production of SHADOW/LAND. Magalee is faced with a question of legacy when her daughter, Ruth, coaxes her to sell their Black, family-owned business amid the ongoing devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Candis C. Jones directs this examination of the ongoing effects of disaster, evacuation, displacement, and urban renewal rippling in and beyond New Orleans.

Updated On: 6/14/22 at 02:25 PM

[RippedMan]

Posted: 6/14/22 at 2:34pm

Raisin in the Sun directed by O'Hara sounds fab. The rest sounds eh and kind of depressing, ha.

[Sauja]

Posted: 6/14/22 at 2:42pm

Listen. Suzan-Lori Parks is a generational talent. But the idea of sitting in a theatre and watching ANYONE’s reckoning with the beginning of Covid sounds like a literal nightmare. Wild horses couldn’t drag me. Her writing a musical based on The Harder They Come, however… And a new James Ijames play with the same director of Fat Ham? I have all the time for those productions.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 6/14/22 at 2:56pm

Sauja said: "Listen. Suzan-Lori Parks is a generational talent. But the idea of sitting in a theatre and watching ANYONE’s reckoning with the beginning of Covid sounds like a literal nightmare. Wild horses couldn’t drag me."

Luckily it's only 3 hours, 30 minutes with intermission and being performed in Joe's Pub so at least one could, conceivably, get drunk during it?

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 6/14/22 at 2:59pm

RippedMan said: "Raisin in the Sun directed by O'Hara sounds fab. The rest sounds eh and kind of depressing, ha."

Yes –– he also directed it at Williamstown in 2019, though there's no mention of WTF here...so maybe it's an all-new production? That cast had S. Epatha Merkerson as Lena.

RAISIN and BALDWIN & BUCKLEY are, for me, the two most interesting-sounding announcements here.

[verywellthensigh]

Posted: 6/14/22 at 3:06pm

Raisin again??

Couldn't they do Les Blancs or The Sign in Sidney Breustein's Window?  She wrote other plays, you know.

The rest of the season looks very downer-heavy and So You Think You Can Woke?

 

[JSquared2]

Posted: 6/14/22 at 3:08pm

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "RippedMan said: "Raisin in the Sun directed by O'Hara sounds fab. The rest sounds eh and kind of depressing, ha."

Yes –– he also directed it at Williamstown in 2019, though there's no mention of WTF here...so maybe it's an all-new production? That cast hadS. Epatha Merkerson as Lena.

O'Hara's LONG DAY'S JOURNEY... ran only 90 minutes --- so should we expect that RAISIN IN THE SUN will clock in at around 30 minutes?

 

 

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 6/14/22 at 3:11pm

After FAT HAM, I'll make it a priority to see what Ijames does next.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 6/14/22 at 3:18pm

JSquared2 said: "O'Hara's LONG DAY'S JOURNEY...ran only 90 minutes --- so should we expect thatRAISIN IN THE SUNwill clock in at around 30 minutes?"

The website says 2h50m with intermission.

I'll be interested in seeing the reviews/early reports for the new Ijames play, since I liked but didn't love Fat Ham.

[darquegk]

Posted: 6/14/22 at 3:59pm

The Harder They Come! The double disc version of the soundtrack is an absolutely essential summer playlist in and of itself. I hope the stage show is as good as the album, and finds a way to end with the film’s infamous non sequitur final shot.

[JasonC3]

Posted: 6/14/22 at 4:01pm

I'd love to see Raisin done in repertory with Clybourne Park.

[JoeW4]

Posted: 12/29/22 at 2:19pm

In case anyone missed it - James Ijames' new play GOOD BONES has been postponed because it conflicts with the Broadway run of FAT HAM (same director, and Ijames himself probably wants to be present for both too). The Public announced it in an email the same day that the FAT HAM transfer was announced, but I didn't notice it until just now. 

The email didn't indicate when it would be re-scheduled for, but it sounds like they fully intend to go through with it. 

[VernonGersch]

Posted: 1/2/23 at 1:56pm

Harder They Come is one of the best albums of all time.   Any chance this might extended? 

[inception]

Posted: 1/2/23 at 3:19pm

Usually the Public has time built into their schedules so that if shows do well they can extend without knocking into the opening of the next production.   It all depends on ticket sales.

I got a ticket for this already, but I'm not sure that if they stick closely to the plot of the film that it will translate to the stage.

[Pashacar]

Posted: 1/3/23 at 12:57pm

verywellthensigh said: "The rest of the season looks very downer-heavy and So You Think You Can Woke?"

Lollllll. Hope to be proven wrong but truly seems like a bust of a season, especially without the Ijames.