The Public Invites NYC Theatres to Take Part in '365 Plays'

The Public Theater's Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Mara Manus in association with Playwright Suzan-Lori Parks' and Producer Bonnie Metzgar's 365 Days/365 Plays Project are inviting New York City's theater companies to participate in the year-long production of Parks' 365 Days/365 Plays.

"In November 2002, the Pulitzer prize-winning Suzan-Lori Parks sat down and committed to writing a play a day for the next 365 days. The world premiere of this play cycle will be performed as a yearlong national festival simultaneously in major cities and communities around the country. From November 13, 2006 to November 12, 2007, over 600 theaters in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Denver, Seattle, San Francisco, Austin, Washington D.C., Chicago, Minneapolis, the Carolinas, Mississippi River towns, and university campuses will create the largest theater collaboration in U.S. History," state press notes.

"The Public will spearhead the New York component 365 Days/365 Plays by gathering together a widely diverse cross-section of city's theater companies to participate in this project. Throughout the year, the selected theaters - curated by The Public and the 365 Days/365 Plays Project - will perform these brief, brilliant snapshots from the imagination of one of America's leading playwrights in numerous locations throughout the city."

To capture the rich theatrical and cultural landscape of New York City, The Public and the 365 Days/365 Plays Project are now seeking applications from eligible theater partners throughout the five boroughs to participate in the staging of 365 Days/365 Plays. In order to apply, applicants must be based in New York City from the following groups: producing organizations, presenting organizations, theater companies and independent artists with a track record for self-producing. Each of the 365 participants will be responsible for producing one week (seven plays) in the 365 Days/365 Plays cycle. Participants can produce their work in traditional theater spaces or site-specific locations. They can be staged readings or fully produced – but all must be in the spirit of celebrating the vibrancy of New York's theater tradition with audiences and artists from every corner of the city. In addition to these presentations, at the end of each month, participants will be invited to share their work in a free public performance at The Public Theater.

Applications must be submitted online by July 26, 2006. Applicants (accepted / declined) will be notified via email by September 15th, 2006.

Oskar Eustis stated that "365 Days/365 Plays is something that could only have sprung from the imagination of Suzan-Lori Parks, one of America's greatest dramatists. Suzan-Lori wrote a play every day for a year, and the results bear testimony to the devotional discipline of her work. Each of the plays is a tiny, brilliant jewel, written with imaginative joy and theatrical invention."

Parks is a playwright, screenwriter and novelist whose plays include the Pulitzer Prize-winning Topdog/Underdog (Public Theater), f-ing A (Public Theater), Imperceptible Mutabilities in the Third Kingdom (1990 Obie Award for Best New American Play), The American Play (Public Theater), Venus (Public Theater, 1996 Obie Award), The Death Of The Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World, and In The Blood (Public Theater, 2002 Pulitzer Prize finalist), among others. She is currently writing the book for the Ray Charles musical (for the film producers of Ray).

"Founded by Joseph Papp as the Shakespeare Workshop and now one of the nation's preeminent institutions, The Public is an American theater in which all the country's voices, rhythms, converge. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Mara Public's mandate to create a theater for all New Yorkers continues to this day on stage and extensive outreach and education programs. Over 250,000 people annually attend Public Theater events at its six downtown stages including Joe's Pub, and at Shakespeare in the Park."

For more information or to apply, please visit www.publictheater.org/365.