Jake Gyllenhaal, Tom Sturridge & More Set for Public's 2018-2019 Season; Girl From the North Country to Make North American Premiere

Off-Broadway's Public Theater has announced a talent-packed lineup for its 2018-2019 season. Highlights include new productions starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Tom Sturridge and Glenn Close, along with the North American premiere of Conor McPherson and Bob Dylan's acclaimed collaboration Girl From the North Country.

Kicking off the Public's new season is Girl From the North Country (September 11-November 4, 2018), arriving off-Broadway following a sold-out run at London’s Old Vic and a West End transfer. Written and directed by Tony nominee Conor McPherson and featuring the songbook of music icon Bob Dylan, the show follows a down-on-its-luck community on the brink of change in 1934 Duluth, Minnesota.

Three-time Tony winner Glenn Close will star in the New York premiere play Mother of the Maid (September 25-November 18, 2018), written by Jane Anderson and directed by Emmy nominee Matthew Penn. The play tells the story of Joan of Arc’s mother (Close), a sensible, hard-working, God-fearing peasant woman whose faith is upended as she deals with the baffling journey of her odd and extraordinary daughter.

The Public will next produce Eve's Song (October 23-December 2, 2018), a world premiere work written by Patricia Ione Lloyd and directed by Jo Bonney. Eve's Song follows Deborah, who, in the aftermath of a messy divorce and a daughter coming out as queer, is trying to keep things normal at home. But as black people continue to be killed beyond their four walls, the outside finds its way in, blurring the lines between family dynamics, politics and the spirit world.

Next on the Public's docket will be the New York premiere Wild Goose Dreams (October 30-December 9, 2018) written by Hansol Jung and directed by Tony nominee Leigh Silverman. The play centers on Minsung, a South Korean man whose wife and daughter have moved to America for a better life. Deeply lonely, he escapes onto the Internet and meets Nanhee, a young defector forced to leave her family behind in North Korea. Amid the endless noise of the modern world, where likes and shares have taken the place of love and touch, Minsung and Nanhee try their best to be real for each other.

Oscar nominee Jake Gyllenhaal and Tony nominee Tom Sturridge will star in the Public's next mainstage production, the New York premiere Sea Wall/A Life (January 26-March 24, 2019), written by Tony winner Simon Stephens and Broadway alum Nick Payne and directed by Carrie Cracknell. The pair of monologues begins with Sturridge leading Stephens' Sea Wall, a work about love and the human need to know the unknowable. Gyllenhaal will continue the evening with Payne's A Life, a meditation on how we say goodbye to those we love most.

Pulitzer-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks' world premiere play White Noise (February 19-March 31, 2019) will appear next at the Public. The play follows longtime friends and lovers Leo, Misha, Ralph and Dawn, who are educated, progressive, cosmopolitan and woke. When a racially motivated incident with the cops leaves Leo shaken, he decides extreme measures must be taken for self-preservation. Public Theater Artistic Director Oskar Eustis will direct.

Next up at the Public will be the world premiere play Ain't No Mo' (March 12-April 21, 2019), written by Jordan E. Cooper and directed by Stevie Walker-Webb. The new work explores the value of black lives in a country hurtling away from the promise of a black president.

The Public will next produce Tim Blake Nelson's world premiere play Socrates (April 2-May 19, 2019), directed by Tony winner Doug Hughes. Socrates follows the philosopher’s growing prominence in democratic Athens through the military and social upheavals that led to one of the most infamous executions in Western history.

Luis Alfaro's New York premiere Mojada (July 2-August 11, 2019) closes out the Public's season. Inspired by the Ancient Greek story of Medea, the work follows a young Mexican mother who gives up everything to bring her son to America, only to find America demands even more.

The Public's season will also include new stagings as part of its free Mobile Unit and Under the Radar Festival. Additional casting will be announced at a later date.