Public Theater Extends GROUNDED, Starring Anne Hathaway

The Public Theater announced a one-week extension today for George Brant's Grounded, directed by two-time Tony Award winner Julie Taymor and featuring Academy Award winner Anne Hathaway. Grounded began previews on Tuesday, April 7 and will now run an additional week through Sunday, May 24 in the Anspacher Theater, with an official press opening on Sunday, April 26.

A special Public Forum has also been announced to coincide with Grounded, "Our Drone War," on May 19 at 7:00 p.m. A devastating weapon that also keeps our soldiers out of harm's way - the ultimate military dream. But the reality of drone warfare isn't at all what we imagined. This topical evening will bring together a panel of experts, veterans, and thinkers including journalist Andrew Cockburn and former fighter pilot Dr. Mary "Missy" Cummings to discuss and debate the validity and morality of a war being fought out of the public eye but that is, unquestionably, Our Drone War.

The Public Theater is proud to partner with Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) on this production. IAVA's programs provide life-changing support to post-9/11 veterans. For more information, please visit iava.org.

Member tickets, starting at $75, and single tickets, starting at $90 for Grounded, are available now and can be accessed by calling (212) 967-7555, www.publictheater.org, or in person at the Taub Box Office at The Public Theater at Astor Place at 425 Lafayette Street. The Library at The Public is open nightly for food and drinks, beginning at 5:30 p.m., and Joe's Pub at The Public continues to offer some of the best music in the city.

In Grounded, an ace fighter pilot reassigned to a remote-controlled drone faces 12-hour shifts hunting targets from her Air Force trailer followed by 12 hours in the suburbs with her family in this award-winning new play about the complicated consequences of waging war without leaving home. Named one of the Best Plays of the year by both London's The Evening Standard and The Guardian, and winner of the Smith Prize for Political Theater.

GROUNDED features original music and soundscapes by Elliot Goldenthal; scenic design by Riccardo Hernandez, lighting design by Christopher Akerlind, sound design by Will Pickens, projection design by Peter Nigrini; and electronic music design by Richard Martinez.

GEORGE BRANT (Playwright). His plays include Elephant's Graveyard, The Mourners' Bench, Any Other Name, Salvage, Grizzly Mama, and Three Voyages of the Lobotomobile. A Core Writer at the Playwrights' Center, his scripts have been produced internationally by Trinity Repertory Company, the Studio Theatre, Cleveland Play House, Gate Theatre, Page 73, and the Traverse Theatre, among others. His plays have received the Smith Prize, a Fringe First Award, a Creative Workforce Fellowship, an Off-West End Theatre Award, an NNPN Rolling World Premiere and the Keene Prize for Literature. He is published by Samuel French, Oberon Books and Smith & Kraus.

JULIE TAYMOR (Director)'s most recent work is a cinematic version of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, filmed during her critically acclaimed, sold-out stage production that ran at Theatre for a New Audience's new home in downtown Brooklyn. The film was shown at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival as part of the Mavericks in Film Programme. In 1998, Taymor became the first woman to win the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical, and won a Tony for Best Costumes, for her landmark production of The Lion King. The musical has gone on to become Broadway's highest grossing show and proclaimed the top grossing title of all time. Her 1996 Broadway debut, Juan Darien: A Carnival Mass, earned five Tony Award nominations. Other theatre credits include The Green Bird, Titus Andronicus, The Tempest, The Taming of the Shrew, The Transposed Heads, and Liberty's Taken. Taymor's feature films include Titus, starring Anthony Hopkins, Jessica Lange and Alan Cumming; the biographical film Frida, starring Salma Hayek and Alfred Molina, which earned six Academy Award nominations, winning two; the Beatles inspired Across the Universe, nominated for a Golden Globe nomination for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy; and her Helen Mirren-starring adaptation of William Shakespeare's The Tempest, which had its North American premiere at the New York Film Festival following a world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival. Beyond the theatre and screen, Taymor has directed five operas internationally, including Oedipus Rex with Jessye Norman, for which she earned the International Classical Music Award for Best Opera Production and an Emmy for a subsequent film version; as well as Salome, The Flying Dutchman, Die Zauberflote (in repertory at The Met), The Magic Flute (the abridged English version, which inaugurated a PBS series entitled "Great Performances at theMET"), and Elliot Goldenthal's Grendel. Taymor is a 1991 recipient of the MacArthur "genius" Fellowship.

ANNE HATHAWAY (The Pilot)'s theatrical credits include The Public's free Shakespeare in the Park's 2009 production of Twelfth Night (Drama Desk nomination) and Carnival at City Center Encores! (Clarence Derwent Award). Hathaway studied at The Barrow Group, NYU's Collaborative Arts Projects "CAP 21" and at the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey. Hathaway most recently starred in Christopher Nolan's Interstellar alongside Matthew McConaughey, Jessica Chastain and Michael Caine. Other film credits include Song One, Tom Hooper's Les Miserables (Academy, BAFTA, SAG and Golden Globe Awards), Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises, One Day, Rio 1&2, Ed Zwick's Love and Other Drugs (Golden Globe nomination), Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, Jonathan Demme's Rachel Getting Married (Academy Award, SAG, Golden Globe, and Independent Spirit Award nominations, NBR Best Actress); Get Smart; Becoming Jane; The Devil Wears Prada opposite Meryl Streep; Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain (SAG nomination Best Ensemble) and Garry Marshall's beloved The Princess Diaries alongside Julie Andrews. Television credits include voice work on "The Simpsons" (Emmy Award) and "Family Guy," and on the FOX series "Get Real" with Jesse Eisenberg. She recently starred opposite Robert DeNiro in Nancy Meyers' The Intern, and 2016 will appear in Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass. Hathaway is a Public Theater Board Member.

Photo Credit: Joan Marcus