The Public's 2023/2024 Season!

Hey everyone! I only see a thread about Hell's Kitchen, but The Public announced several other shows as well and I want to talk about them! So, I thought I'd create a new thread!

The link to their release and details on the announced shows are below!

https://publictheater.org/your-2324-programming/

The Tempest

By William Shakespeare
Music & Lyrics by Benjamin Velez
Choreography by Tiffany Rea-Fisher
Directed by Laurie Woolery

Aug 27 – Sep 3, 2023

In The Public’s decade-long tradition of bringing together a diverse ensemble of both professional and community members from across New York, this Public Works production examines what it means to be isolated and how we find our way back to one another. With music and lyrics by Benjamin Velez and directed by Director of Public Works Laurie Woolery, this ambitious work of participatory theater explores the grief of being cut off from community, the desire for retribution, and the healing power of love.



DruidO’Casey

North American Premiere of Druid Theatre’s
DruidO’Casey
Sean O’Casey’s Dublin Trilogy
The Plough and the Stars
The Shadow of a Gunman
Juno and the Paycock
Directed by Garry Hynes

In Partnership with NYU Skirball

Performances at NYU Skirball – 566 LaGuardia Place

Oct 4 – 14, 2023

A century ago, Ireland was reborn in the fires of rebellion and war. The playwright Sean O’Casey bore witness to these seismic events and dramatized them as the Dublin Trilogy, three great works of Irish theater, full of history, humanity, and humor. A hundred years later, Druid will weave O’Casey’s three plays into an epic theatrical event of conflict, national identity, and the human toll of war, DruidO’Casey. Audiences will experience O’Casey’s work as never before; directed by Tony Award winner Garry Hynes, a company of 18 actors will perform over 40 roles in these three classic plays.



Hell's Kitchen

World Premiere

Music & Lyrics by Alicia Keys
Book by Kristoffer Diaz
Choreography by Camille A. Brown
Directed by Michael Greif

Oct 24 – Dec 10, 2023

Grammy Award-winning artist Alicia Keys and Pulitzer Prize finalist playwright Kristoffer Diaz bring their exhilarating coming-of-age musical HELL’S KITCHEN to The Public this fall. In a cramped apartment hanging off the side of Times Square, 17-year-old Ali is desperate to get her piece of the New York dream. Ali’s mother is just as determined to protect her daughter from the same mistakes she made. When Ali falls for a talented young drummer, both mother and daughter must face hard truths about race, defiance, and growing up. Ali feels trapped, until the sound of a neighbor playing piano opens the door to an unexpected friendship and a radically different future. Choreographed by Tony Award nominee Camille A. Brown and directed by Tony Award nominee Michael Greif, HELL’S KITCHEN is an unforgettable new show featuring both newly created music and the soulful, iconic songs of New York’s own Alicia Keys.



Manahatta

New York Premiere

By Mary Kathryn Nagle
Directed by Laurie Woolery

Nov 16 – Dec 17, 2023

A gripping journey from the fur trade of the 1600s to the stock trade of today, Mary Kathryn Nagle’s MANAHATTA tells the story of Jane Snake, a brilliant young Native American woman with a Stanford MBA. Jane reconnects with her ancestral Lenape homeland, known as Manahatta, when she moves from Oklahoma to New York for a banking job just before the 2008 financial meltdown. Jane’s struggle to reconcile her new life with the expectations and traditions of her family and Nation are powerfully interwoven with the heartbreaking history of the Delaware Nation's expulsion from their land. Both old and new Manahatta converge in a lesson about the dangers of living in a society where there’s no such thing as enough. A stunning play about self-discovery, MANAHATTA was written as part of The Public’s prestigious Emerging Writers Group. The Public’s Director of Public Works, Laurie Woolery, directs.



The Ally

World Premiere

By Itamar Moses
Directed by Lila Neugebauer

February 2024

Tony Award-winning playwright Itamar Moses returns to The Public with the world premiere of THE ALLY. When Asaf (Josh Radnor) is asked to sign a social justice manifesto, he expects to be able to do so without hesitation. Instead, he becomes embroiled in an increasingly conflicted web of relationships that challenge his commitments as a liberal, a husband, an academic, an American, an atheist, and a Jew. With tensions at an all-time high, Asaf is forced to confront the age-old question: “If I am only for myself, what am I?” Directed by Drama Desk Award winner Lila Neugebauer, THE ALLY is a passionate, provocative, and unflinching new play about the vanishing line between the personal and the political.



Sally & Tom

New York Premiere

By Suzan-Lori Parks
Directed by Steve H. Broadnax III
In Association with The Guthrie Theater

March 2024

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks, the author of last season’s The Harder They Come, returns to her artistic home with an edgy dramedy that celebrates the craft of theater while taking a hard look at history. The off-off-off-Broadway theater troupe Good Company is putting on a play about Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson. Writer Luce is cast as Sally; her romantic partner, and the play’s director, Mike, is cast as Tom—really, people, what could possibly go wrong? In association with Minneapolis’s acclaimed Guthrie Theater, this funny, ferocious new work is about art, politics, and the contradictions that make all of us. Directed by Steve H. Broadnax III, SALLY & TOM is an unmissable New York premiere from one of our finest and most daring playwrights.

Sounds like it'll be a great season!

I saw Sally & Tom at the Guthrie in Minneapolis - I enjoyed it a lot, but thought there could be improvements. I'm curious if Suzan-Lori Parks has changed anything since its initial run.

I unfortunately haven't been in the City for an Under the Radar, but it sounds like it was a unique opportunity to produce (and for us to see) really cool unique theatre by emerging artists.

I assume the decision was financial, but I'm curious to know some of the details. Was there a donor or other funding source that pulled out?

Maybe they should cut Oskar's salary down from $800,000 a year, that alone would fund UTR. The executive salary at The Public is beyond absurd these days.

Kad said: "The fact they casually tossed in the cancellation of UTR at the end of the announcement is adding insult to injury. UTR is (was?) the last of its kind in NYC- a high profile festival of international “fringe” work. It was truly special and a highlight of the season every year. I am really shocked it’s been canceled- and a little baffled, as it didn’t particularly seem like a major expense to the Public."

Between this, the death of the Humana Festival at ATL, and the closure of the LC Director's Lab... It's the death of the rising underground artist... But sure, let's clear space in the season for more celebrity vanity projects (this isn't a dig at Miss Keys, who is an actual HK local and seems very talented)

The ending of UTR is dismaying and unfortunate, and I hope something else will rise out of the ashes (be it at the Public or elsewhere). We need more CURATED festivals of new work & emerging artists in this city.

Public Works has seemed to take up a lot of the Public’s energy/time these days, which is noble in a different set of ways.

verywellthensigh said: "UTR was one of the last places where avant garde theater got an international showcase in New York. It's vanishing represents New York's continued artistic slant in all mediums to the conservative. But please, tell us more about the Alicia Keys musical."



Oh GMAFB --- what do you think has been paying for all of this "avant garde" work over the past 30+ years? It's the Public's residuals from shows like A Chorus Line, Hair, Hamilton, etc.

And with the Alicia Keys musical comes enhancement money from commercial producers + the promise of a royalty. And the nonprofit system is broken enough nowadays that a lot of these institutions won’t produce a new musical without enhancement.

But that also means treating the commercial producer as a semi-equal partner in creative development.

If UTR subscriber/member/package (whatever they call it) sales are down as they are across the rest of the industry, it can be both costly and logistically tough to do. It's not good for the artists if these things have, say, 1/3-full houses. And tough to market & build word of mouth when the performances are few and scattered.

It may be that they become more inclined to give the best of the UTR-style work a full run at the Public in one of the smaller spaces. Or they have some other initiative up their sleeve.

Remember also that a lot of bandwidth and resources are going towards gut-renovating the Delacorte starting in August, and presenting the 2024 Shakespeare in the Park season in an offsite venue to be determined.

Might need to start a new thread for HELL'S KITCHEN, but until then...



https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Video-Alicia-Keys-Teases-New-Musical-HELLS-KITCHEN-on-GOOD-MORNING-AMERICA-20230607

JSquared2 said: "verywellthensigh said: "UTR was one of the last places where avant garde theater got an international showcase in New York. It's vanishing represents New York's continued artistic slant in all mediums to the conservative. But please, tell us more about the Alicia Keys musical."



Oh GMAFB --- what do you think has been paying for all of this "avant garde" work over the past 30+ years? It's the Public's residuals from shows likeA Chorus Line, Hair, Hamilton, etc."

UTR premiered in 2005, before Hamilton and well after A Chorus Line and Hair. If you really think all avant garde work begins and ends with the Public, well...enjoy that snug place in the butt where your head is buried. Avant garde art, or any art that takes risks has been dying in a New York that is all but impossible for artists to thrive. But, enjoy the Alicia Keys musical and the Britney Spears musical and the Hannah Gadsby Picasso exhibition and everything else that is of reactionary, touristy tastes.

Updated On: 6/7/23 at 02:07 PM

Response from The Public....



"Last week, difficult news was shared that the UNDER THE RADAR festival would not return for The Public’s 23-24 season. We made the painful decision to place the festival on hiatus. I understand and share the hurt that those who participated in and loved the festival have expressed over the past few days.

The Public Theater has been the proud home of UNDER THE RADAR for 18 years. Under the brilliant leadership of Mark Russell, UTR became a beloved annual part of our city’s calendar, a time when we celebrated the cutting-edge performance art of the moment. It was also a vital gathering point for adventurous artists and audiences and the only place in our season where American and international artists work side-by-side in multiple venues. My first artistic act when I became Artistic Director was to invite UTR to make The Public its home.

Unfortunately, these are exceptionally challenging times in our field. The Public, like almost every other non-profit theater in the country, is facing serious financial pressure. We have not returned to pre-pandemic economics, neither in our expenses nor our revenue. Many of our programs are free or priced for accessibility, which make them particularly economically vulnerable. Because of these factors, we are assessing and implementing other cost reductions at the theater in addition to UTR. We must act now to avoid the kind of existential pressure currently battering some of our sister theaters.

The Public retains its strong commitment to experimental, devised, and downtown work outside of a festival context, including the Devised Theater Working Group, our incubator for experimental artists. Further, Joe’s Pub continues to be a platform for many multidisciplinary artists; and we will continue our long-standing relationships with experimental ensembles. We will be aggressively searching for ways to support the artists who thought of UTR as home.

In the certainty that better times will come, we continue to work to preserve the health and mission of The Public. We look forward to a time when we can fully expand back into the robust and expansive theater we need to be."

- Oskar Eustis"

That flaccid statement is being torn to shreds on Instagram.