The Public Theater News

In a joint effort to produce and foster new work, The Living Room, in association with the Kansas City Repertory Theatre, will present a concert reading of Nathan Tysen and the popular Midwest band Joe's Pet Project's new rock theatre piece Stillwater. This exciting new fusion of rock concert and musical theatre will be performed with actors from Kansas City, New York and Chicago, at 7 pm and 10 pm, tonight, October 20, 2013 at The Living Room 1818 McGee Street in Kansas City, MO.

Playwrights Horizons presents its New York premiere production of Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play, a new play by Anne Washburn, with music by Obie Award winner Michael Friedman. Directed by Steve Cosson, the Obie Award-winning Artistic Director of The Civilians, Mr. Burns is being presented as the first production of Playwrights Horizons' 2013/2014 Season.

Laura Benanti - the Tony Award-winning actress and singer, also known for her TV roles on 'Go On,' 'The Playboy Club' and 'Law & Order: SVU' - will follow the recent release of her debut album, In Constant Search of the Right Kind of Attention with a slate of projects through the next year.

Northlight Theatre, under the direction of Artistic Director BJ Jones and Executive Director Timothy J. Evans, presents the Midwest Premiere of Detroit '67 by Dominique Morisseau, directed by Ron OJ Parson. The production will run at Northlight Theatre, 9501 Skokie Blvd in Skokie, from November 8-December 15, 2013. The Press Opening is Friday, November 15 at 7:30pm.

The Public Theater (Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director; Patrick Willingham, Executive Director) will begin performances for the return engagement of THAT HOPEY CHANGEY THING, the first play in the tetralogy, The Apple Family Plays: Scenes from Life in the Country, on Tuesday, October 22. Written and directed by Richard Nelson, the acclaimed plays will run in repertory through Sunday, December 15 and culminate in the world premiere of the fourth and final play, REGULAR SINGING, which opens on the day it is set, November 22 - the 50th Anniversary of JFK's assassination that shocked the world.

Dallas Theater Center announced today the complete creative team of the world premiere new musical The Fortress of Solitude, a co-production with The Public Theater in New York City. The Fortress of Solitude, based on the novel of the same name by Jonathan Lethem, is conceived and directed by Daniel Aukin, with a book by Itamar Moses, and music and lyrics by Michael Friedman. It will premiere at the Wyly Theatre with previews on March 7, 2014 and run through April 6.

CinemaLive and Digital Theatre are today delighted to announce the second production to be distributed as part of the West End Theatre Series - the Chichester Festival Theatre production of Noel Coward's Private Lives, directed by Jonathan Kent and starring Toby Stephens and Anna Chancellor.

The Flying Carpet Theatre (FCT) presents the New York premiere of THE MEDICINE SHOWDOWN, a new play by Topher Payne and Adam Koplan that interweaves a traditional story (inspired by Henrik Ibsen's classic 'Enemy of the People') with scenes from a turn-of-the-century medicine show, complete with tap dance, old time melodrama, country music and vaudevillian comedy. THE MEDICINE SHOWDOWN begins performances October 12 prior to an official press opening of October 16 at the East 4th Street Theatre (83 East 4th Street - btw. Bowery and Second Avenue) in Manhattan.

The Show Goes On Productions presents To Carry On... a Tribute to the Life and Music of Laura Nyro written and performed by Mimi Cohen. Gretchen Cryer directs and Jeffrey Klitz music directs. The production opens on Ms. Nyro's 66th birthday, tonight, October 18th, and runs for six performances beginning tonight, October 18 to Sunday, October 27, 2013, at The TBG Theatre, 312 West 36th Street, 3rd Floor in NYC.

Continuing its commitment to bringing Shakespeare to the community and strengthening audience engagement with the arts, The Public Theater will mount its MOBILE SHAKESPEARE UNIT again this November with a free three-week tour to the five boroughs of Shakespeare's comedy MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, directed by Kwame Kwei-Armah and featuring choreography by Chase Brock. The three-week mobile tour (November 4-22) will bring free Shakespeare to audiences who have limited or no access to the arts by visiting prisons, homeless shelters, centers for the elderly, and other community venues, including stops at our Public Works community partner venues: Brownsville Recreation Center in Brooklyn, Fortune Society in Queens and DreamYard Project in the Bronx.

The Public Theater announced that Academy Award winner Holly Hunter has joined the first Public Forum Drama Club, Life By Asphyxiation by Kia Corthron, on Sunday, October 20 at 7:00 p.m. at Joe's Pub, kicking off the fourth season of PUBLIC FORUM.

Native Voices at the Autry continues its vital role as the country's only equity theatre company dedicated exclusively to developing the work of Native American playwrights with its third annual Short Play Festival, featuring staged readings of six engaging short plays on the theme 'Legal Briefs: Lawmakers & Activists' written by veteran playwrights on Sunday, November 10, 1:30 p.m., at the Wells Fargo Theater at the Autry National Center in Los Angeles.

Take a trip to the Great White Way with Broadway superstar Brian Stokes Mitchell and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in 'Broadway and Beyond with Brian Stokes Mitchell' tonight, Oct. 17-20 at Heinz Hall.

Jeremy Greenbaum (The Fantasticks) and Aaron Komo complete the cast of Prospect Theater Company's world premiere production of TAMAR OF THE RIVER, a new music theater work with music and book by Marisa Michelson, book and lyrics by Joshua H. Cohen and direction by Daniel Goldstein (Godspell). Previously announced cast members include Margo Seibert (set to make her Broadway debut as 'Adrian' in ROCKY on Broadway in Spring 2014) as Tamar, with Ako (Throne of Blood), Erik Lochtefeld (February House), Mike Longo (Hair) and Vince B. Vincent (Geography of Loss), and Jen Anaya, Adam Bashian, Margot Bassett, Troy Burton, Tamrin Goldberg and Mary Kate Morrissey. Check out highlights of the show below!

Broadway veteran Emily Bergl, last seen in the Public Theater's 'Comedy of Errors' and Broadway's 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,' will join the cast of Showtime's 'Shameless' for Season 4.

Will Eno's new play The Realistic Joneses will come to Broadway in Spring of 2014 starring Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winner; Academy Award and Tony Award-nominee Toni Collette (“Hostages,” “United States of Tara,” The Sixth Sense, The Wild Party), Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award-winner Michael C. Hall (“Dexter,” Chicago), Tony Award-winner Tracy Letts (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; August: Osage County; “Homeland”), and Academy Award-winner and Gold Globe-nominee Marisa Tomei (My Cousin Vinny; The Wrestler; Salome). The production will be directed by Obie Award-winner Sam Gold, who is currently represented by Fun Home at the Public Theater.

Victory Gardens Theater kicks off its 2013-14 season with the Co-World Premiere of Appropriateby Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, directed by Gary Griffin. Appropriate is presented in association with Actors Theatre of Louisville and was developed, in part, by IGNITION 2012. Appropriate runs November 8-December 8, with the press performance on November 15, 2013, at Victory Gardens Biograph Theatre, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue.

'Crossing The River', a discussion featuring interfaith leaders led by Reverend Susan Turchin, and 'The Power of the Voice', a discussion with innovative contemporary theater composers hosted by Natasha, Pierre and The Great Comet of 1812's Dave Malloy, will be offered as free post-performance events following upcoming performances of Prospect Theater Company's world premiere of TAMAR OF THE RIVER. The announcement was made today by Cara Reichel and Melissa Huber, the Producing Artistic Director and Managing Director of Prospect Theater Company.

The Public Theater has announced a two-week extension for the world premiere musical FUN HOME, directed by Sam Gold and featuring music by Jeanine Tesori, with book and lyrics by Lisa Kron. Based on Alison Bechdel's graphic novel, FUN HOME began performances on Monday, September 30 and was originally scheduled to close on Sunday, November 3. The musical will now run an additional two weeks to Sunday, November 17, with an official opening on Tuesday, October 22.