Public Theater's Season to Feature Hwang, Churchill, Shepard & More
The Public Theater has announced details for seven productions to be presented in the 2007-08 season. The lineup includes the American premiere of Sam Shepard's Kicking a Dead Horse, directed by the playwright and starring Stephen Rea; Yellow Face, an autobiographical new play by David Henry Hwang; Brian Dennehy, David Strathairn and Maria Tucci headlining the world premiere of Richard Nelson's Conversations in Tusculum; and the American premiere of Caryl Churchill's Drunk Enough to Say I Love You?, a co-production with London's Royal Court Theatre.
The Public also announced the return of "Joe's Pub in the Park," which will include three free concert presentations of Hair at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park, September 22-24, after the run of A Midsummer Night's Dream August 7 -September 9.
Although dates have not been finalized, the complete season lineup is as follows:
Hamlet Fall
The Wooster Group makes its Public Theater debut with Elizabeth LeCompte's production of Shakespeare's tragedy, featuring Dominique Bousquet, Ari Fliakos, Alessandro Magania, Daniel Pettrow, Scott Shepherd, Casey Spooner, Kate Valk and Judson Williams. With its trademark use of video, sound and precise physical language, this acclaimed experimental ensemble takes on Shakespeare in a wildly inventive production. Hamlet has been in development since 2005, most recently at Brooklyn's St. Ann's Warehouse.
The Brothers Size, by Tarell Alvin McCraney Fall
Playing fast and loose with West African myths, The Brothers Size brings contemporary rhythms together with traditions of ceremonial presentation to tell the modern-day story of the Size brothers—Ogun, an auto mechanic, and Oshoosi, a recent parolee. First presented at the Public's 2007 Under The Radar Festival, this new drama allows the audience to serve as the community, the witness and the judge. The Public's world premiere production will be directed by Tea Alagic and co-produced with The Foundry Theatre.
In this biting new satire, David Henry Hwang puts himself center stage with alter-ego DHH, telling his side of the controversy stirred up when he led the protest against the hiring of Jonathan Pryce in the original Broadway production of Miss Saigon. Truth and fiction are hard to separate as Hwang gives us a backstage look at his search to confront the roles that race and ethnicity play in America. Director Leigh Silverman's production, developed with the Center Theatre Group, will feature Julienne Hanzelka Kim, Kathryn Layng, Hoon Lee amd Tony Torn.
Conversations in Tusculum, by Richard Nelson Winter
Brian Dennehy, David Strathairn and Maria Tucci have signed on to star in a new play chronicling those entangled in Julius Caesar's world of manipulation and power. In Nelson's latest exploration of history, set outside Rome in the villas and hillsides of Tusculum, the country and the values it represents are being destroyed by a misguided leader. The citizens can continue to live in relative comfort by not involving themselves, or take action to save democracy. No director has been announced for this world premiere.
Drunk Enough to Say I Love You?, by Caryl Churchill Spring
James Macdonald directs the American premiere of Churchill's latest work, described obliquely as: "Jack would do anything for Sam. Sam would do anything." According to a review in London's Guardian, the play uses a male love affair as a metaphor for the submissiveness of Britain to America over foreign policy. Ty Burrell and Stephen Dillane starred in Macdonald's 2006 production at the Royal Court Theatre.
Little Flower of East Orange, by Stephen Adly Guirgis Spring
The Public and LAByrinth Theater Company will co-produce the world premiere of this inter-generational ghost story set in an upper Manhattan charity hospital. LAByrinth co-artistic director Philip Seymour Hoffman, who collaborated with Guirgis on The Last Days of Judas Iscariot and Jesus Hopped the A Train, will again direct.
Kicking a Dead Horse, written and directed by Sam Shepard Summer
Academy Award and Tony nominee Stephen Rea The Crying Game, Someone Who'll Watch Over Me stars in the U.S. premiere of Shepard's arresting new play about the myth of the West, a Manhattan art dealer and a dead horse. The Public is co-producing the play with Ireland's Abbey Theatre, where it enjoyed a sold-out run.
