Dee Beasnael, Kate Benson and More to Star in Elevator Repair Service's ULYSSES
The cast includes Dee Beasnael, Kate Benson, Maggie Hoffman, Vin Knight, Scott Shepherd, Christopher-Rashee Stevenson, and Stephanie Weeks.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Dec. 19, 2025
The Public Theater has revealed the full cast for the upcoming New York City premiere of Ulysses, created by Elevator Repair Service. Following the World Premiere last year at the Fisher Center at Bard, the company brings this creative telling of James Joyce's iconic novel to New York City audiences as part of Under the Radar this January. Performances will begin in the Martinson Hall on Tuesday, January 13 and run through Sunday, February 15, with the official press opening on Sunday, January 25.
Elevator Repair Service (ERS) takes on the Mount Everest of twentieth-century literature. James Joyce’s Ulysses has fascinated, perplexed, scandalized, and/or defeated readers for over a century. In this New York City premiere, seven performers sit down for a sober reading but soon find themselves guzzling pints, getting in brawls, and committing debaucheries as they careen on a fast-forward tour through Joyce’s funhouse of styles. With humor, pathos, and a richly layered design, ERS stitches together verbatim passages from Joyce’s epic masterpiece into a two-and-a-half hour tour de force.
“The Public has been ERS’s biggest and most consistent partner over the last 15 years and we are thrilled to be continuing this collaboration,” shared ERS Artistic Director and Ulysses director John Collins. “Ever since Gatz premiered in New York in 2010, The Public has been a home for us, and we can’t wait to bring Ulysses to the Martinson.”
The cast includes Dee Beasnael, Kate Benson, Maggie Hoffman, Vin Knight, Scott Shepherd, Christopher-Rashee Stevenson, and Stephanie Weeks.
The production includes original scenic design by dots, costume design by Enver Chakartash, lighting design by Marika Kent, sound design by Ben Williams, projection design by Matthew Deinhart, and prop design by Patricia Marjorie. Maurina Lioce will be the production stage manager and Kelsey Vivian will be the stage manager.
“ULYSSES is a whirlwind tour through the hilarity and heart to be found in this novel notorious for its difficulty. Clock hands spin and text flies up the wall as we try to keep up with Joyce’s mad-genius experimentations. The world of Ulysses is so vast and varied every reader finds different points of kinship,” said co-director and dramaturg Scott Shepherd. “What we keyed into most, maybe, is the dedicated irreverence it uses as a delivery vehicle for its profound sincerity. The whole thing, you could say, is an enormous, elaborate joke—meant in all seriousness.”
The Public Theater's Winter/Spring season continues with Anna Ziegler’s ANTIGONE (THIS PLAY I READ IN HIGH SCHOOL), a riveting take on Sophocles’ classic, will premiere in the Anspacher with direction by Tyne Rafaeli. Ma-Yi Theater Company's season-long residency continues with the world premiere of JESA by Jeena Yi and directed by Mei Ann Teo. Simultaneously, PUBLIC CHARGE will run in the Newman, a world premiere play based on true events by former United States Ambassador Julissa Reynoso and award-winning playwright Michael J. Chepiga. Later in the spring, The Public will present SEAGULL: TRUE STORY, produced by MART Foundation, written by Eli Rarey, and created and directed by Alexander Molochniov after a successful run at La MaMa last spring. Finally, the 25-26 Astor Place season will conclude with the much-anticipated world premiere of GIRL, INTERRUPTED based on the groundbreaking memoir by Susanna Kaysen, with a book by Martyna Majok, original music by Aimee Mann, choreography by Sonya Tayeh, and direction by Jo Bonney.
