Panelists Announced for 'In Darfur' at the Delacorte, 7/9

The Public Theater has announced the participants for the talkback to follow the free staged reading of Winter Miller's In Darfur in Central Park.

This one-night only event will continue the momentum generated by The Public's developmental production of In Darfur, which was highly successful in bringing audiences and artists together to raise awareness of the Darfur crisis and encourage activism.  Featuring the original cast of The Public's production directed by Joanna Settle, the reading will take place at the Delacorte Theater on July 9th at 8:00 pm. The post-show discussion led by Oskar Eustis will also include Mark Hanis (Founder and Executive Director of Genocide Intervention Network), Darfuri refugee and Sudan Democratic Forum Founder Omer Ismail, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, Samantha Power, who is Anna Lindh Professor of the Practice of Global Leadership at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University as well as the founding executive director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, and ENOUGH co-founder, author and International Crisis Group activist John Prendergast. Before the performance, Darfuri refugee and activist Daoud Ibarahaem Hari will provide brief introductory remarks about the crisis in Darfur.

The developmental production of In Darfur, directed by Joanna Settle, ran from April 13th to April 29th at The Public Theater.  In Darfur was also featured in the fall 2007 New Work Now!, The Public's nationally recognized festival of free play readings that showcases a new generation of playwrights. 

In choosing to program In Darfur at The Delacorte, Artistic Director Oskar Eustis stated "We ran Winter Miller's powerful and timely play in the Shiva Theater at The Public for three weeks and the response was amazing, on both an artistic and a political level. We want to build on the seminal experience we had last fall, with our one-night reprise of David Hare's brilliant Stuff Happens, by using the bully pulpit of the Delacorte to bring attention, not only to this important play, but to this critically important human rights issue. The theater can be an extraordinary forum for debate about the great issues of our time, and no issue is more critically important than the genocide in Darfur and no theater better suited to rouse our consciences than the Delacorte."

The cast includes Ron Brice, Zainab Jah, Aaron Lohr, Heather Raffo, Maduka Steady, Sharon Washington and Rutina Wesley.

Tickets are free and will be available on the day of the performance (two per person) at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park beginning at 1:00 p.m. and at The Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street (near Astor Place), from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. The closest entrances to the Delacorte are at 81st Street and Central Park West or 79th Street and Fifth Avenue.

For additional information call (212) 539-8750 or visit The Public Theater website at www.publictheater.org