Public's '365 Days/365 Plays' Launches November 13

The Public Theater in association with playwright Suzan-Lori Parks' and producer Bonnie Metzgar's 365 National Festival will present Suzan-Lori Parks' year-long play cycle "365 Days/365 Plays," which will begin on Monday, November 13th at The Public Theater. 

Directed by Michael Greif, Week One of the play cycle will be performed on Monday, November 13th, at 6:30pm and 9:00pm; tickets are free and available by reservation at 212-967-7555 or at The Public Theater Box Office.

The Public's production of Week One of "365 Days/365 Plays" will feature Reg E. Cathey, Rob Campbell, Saidah Arrika Ekulona, Jojo Gonzalez, André Holland , Didi O'Connell , Rachel Holmes, and Joan MacIntosh.

In November 2002, the Pulitzer prize-winning Suzan-Lori Parks (Topdog/Underdog) sat down and committed to writing a play a day for the next 365 days.  This play cycle is called '365 Days/365 Plays.'  Over 600 theaters have joined a grassroots premiere of the plays in Atlanta, Austin,  Chicago, Colorado, Greater Texas, Los Angeles, Minnesota, New York, The Northeast, San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, The Southeast, Universities (365U), Washington D.C. and the Western U.S. The 365 National Festival is produced by Suzan-Lori Parks and Bonnie Metzgar," state Public Theater notes. 

"Spearheading the New York component of '365 Days/365 Plays,' The Public has gathered together a diverse cross-section of New York City's theater companies to participate in this project. Over 65 theaters - selected by The Public and the 365 Days/365 Plays National Festival - will perform these brief, brilliant snapshots from the imagination of one of America's leading playwrights in numerous locations throughout the city.

Each week one participating theater will produce one week (seven plays) in the '365 Days/365 Plays cycle.' Participants will produce their work in traditional theater spaces or site-specific locations. They may be staged readings or fully produced – but all will be in the spirit of celebrating the vibrancy of New York's theater tradition with audiences and artists from every corner of the city.  Each month, participants will be invited to share their work at First Sundays, a free public performance series at The Public the first Sunday of every month that will showcase the previous month of the play cycle. For the month of July only, each week of the month's plays will be performed by up to five theaters in The July Festival, which will spotlight on over 20 up-and-coming theater companies and artists."

For information on all the weekly presentations in New York, call the 365 NYC Hotline at 212-539-8760 or visit www.publictheater.org/365.  For information on the 365 National Festival, visit www.365days365plays.com.