Omid Abtahi, Tala Ashe, et al. Set for Public Theater's URGE FOR GOING

The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Interim Executive Director Joey Parnes) announced complete casting today for the world premiere of URGE FOR GOING written by Mona Mansour and directed by Hal Brooks. The third show in the 2010-2011 Public LAB season, URGE FOR GOING will run Friday, March 25 through Sunday, April 17, with an official press opening on Sunday, April 10. Single tickets go on sale on February 20; member tickets are on sale beginning February 17; all tickets for Public LAB productions are $15.

 

“Mona is an explosive young writer who we first encountered when she joined our Emerging Writers Group in 2009,” said Public Theater Associate Artistic Director Mandy Hackett. “Now, we couldn’t be more excited to be producing her beautiful play URGE FOR GOING in Public LAB this year.  She is an astonishingly talented, fresh, new voice, and we are thrilled to introduce her to a wider audience.”   

 

The complete cast for URGE FOR GOING features Omid Abtahi (Jul),  Jacqueline Antaramian (Abir),  Tala Ashe (Jamila), Ramsey Faragallah (Adham), Laith Nakli (Hamzi), and Ted Sod (Ghassan).

Jamila, a 17-year-old Palestinian girl growing up in a Lebanese refugee camp, is desperate to escape the small and impoverished world she calls home but her greatest source of inspiration, her father, may also prove to be her biggest obstacle. Mona Mansour, a member of The Public’s Emerging Writers Group making her major debut with this production, fuses global politics with the intimacy of coming of age in this searing new play.

URGE FOR GOING will feature scenic design by Jason Simms; costume design by Jenny Mannis; lighting design by Tyler Micoleau; and music and sound design Ryan Rumery and Christian Frederickson.

The 2010-2011 Public LAB season will conclude in May with KNICKERBOCKER by Jonathan Marc Sherman, directed by Pippin Parker(May 6 to May 29).

Public LAB, conceived in association with LAByrinth Theater Company, is an annual series of new plays that lets New Yorkers see more of the work they love from The Public in scaled-down productions. Public LAB allows The Public to support more artists, and gives audiences immediate access to new plays in development.  The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation supported Public LAB with one of the largest grants ever received by The Public Theater.

The Public Theater (Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director; Joey Parnes, Interim Executive Director) was founded by Joseph Papp in 1954 and is now one of the nation’s preeminent cultural institutions, producing new plays, musicals, and productions of classics at its downtown headquarters and at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. The Public’s mandate to create a theater for all New Yorkers continues to this day onstage and through extensive outreach and education programs. Each year, over 250,000 people attend Public Theater-related productions and events at six downtown stages, including Joe’s Pub, and Shakespeare in the Park. The Public has won 42 Tony Awards, 151 Obies, 41 Drama Desk Awards and four Pulitzer Prizes. The Public has brought 54 shows to Broadway, including Sticks and Bones; That Championship Season; A Chorus Line; The Pirates of Penzance; The Tempest; Bring In ‘Da Noise, Bring In ‘Da Funk; The Ride Down Mt. Morgan; Topdog/Underdog; Take Me Out; Caroline, or Change; Passing Strange; the Tony Award-winning revival of Hair; Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson; and The Merchant of Venice.  www.publictheater.org.

 

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