2008-2009 Public Theater Memberships On Sale July 1

2008-2009 Public Theater Memberships On Sale July 1. Guarantee seats and save up to 43% off full price tickets.

 The Public Theater's 2008-2009 season includes premieres by Mike Daisey, John Guare, Danny Hoch, Craig Lucas,
Stephen Sondheim, TRACEY SCOTT WILSON, and an add-on production by Christopher Durang.

BOUNCE
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by John Weidman
Directed by John Doyle
New York Premiere - Fall

We are honored to welcome Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman in their Public Theater debut with their musical, Bounce. Spanning 40 years from the Alaskan Gold Rush to the Florida real estate boom in the '30s, Bounce is the story of two brothers whose quest for the American dream turns into a test of morality and judgment that changes their lives in unexpected ways. Director John Doyle, acclaimed for re-imagining Sondheim's works, joins Weidman and Sondheim in exploring some of the great American issues: real estate, capitalism and crooks.

TAKING OVER
Written and Performed by Danny Hoch
Directed by TONY TACCONE
New York Premiere - Fall

Hip-hop theater pioneer Danny Hoch storms The Public stage once again to chronicle the current state of gentrification of New York City. Blazing through a fierce spectrum of New Yorkers, Danny gives voice to everyone from the developers evicting locals to make way for lofts, to the bar-hopping career hipsters who buy them, and those left in the wake of both. True to Danny's signature style, Taking Over is a raw, explosive, hilarious and heartbreaking study of the impact of our obsession with economic expansion.

IF YOU SEE SOMETHING SAY SOMETHING - Performed in Joe's Pub
Created and Performed by Mike Daisey
Directed by JEAN-MICHELE GREGORY
New York Premiere - Fall

Called "The Master Storyteller" by The New York Times for his groundbreaking monologues, Mike Daisey returns to the intimate setting of Joe's Pub to tackle a story at the very core of our world today. With his signature biting and funny commentary, Daisey investigates the secret history of the Department of Homeland Security through the untold story of the father of the neutron bomb and a personal pilgrimage to the Trinity blast site. If You See Something Say Something takes us on a journey in search of what it means to be secure and the price we are willing to pay for it.

A FREE MAN OF COLOR
Written by John Guare
Directed by George C. Wolfe
Featuring Mos Def and Jeffrey Wright
World Premiere - Winter

In their first collaboration, theater powerhouses John Guare and George C. Wolfe team up to bring us an historical comedy of epic proportions. A Free Man of Color re-creates the sexually progressive New Orleans of 1802 when the landscape of race was shifting and the Louisiana Purchase could complete America's unfinished maps. Featuring a host of historical characters including Napoleon, Josephine, Jefferson, Talleyrand, and others (you name 'em, they're in it), A Free Man of Color is at once an hilarious sex farce, a tale of international intrigue and a radical re-telling of America's coming of age.

THE SINGING FOREST
Written by Craig Lucas
Directed by Bartlett Sher
New York Premiere - Spring

The writer who brought us The Light in the Piazza, Reckless and Prelude to a Kiss, now interrogates how history collides with the human heart in the long shadow of the Holocaust. The Singing Forest takes you on a passage through time­-from today's world of Starbucks, celebrity and therapy to Freud's inner circle in 1930's Vienna and to Paris at the end of WWII. It's the story of three generations of a family whose lives are intertwined despite the secrets that have torn them apart.

THE GOOD NEGRO
Written by TRACEY SCOTT WILSON
Directed by LIESL TOMMY
World Premiere - Spring

Straight from a sold out run during our inaugural season of Public LAB, this gripping new play tears through the pages of history to uncover the human story at the heart of the 1960's American Civil Rights Movement. In the increasingly hostile South, tensions build as a trio of emerging black leaders attempt to conquer their individual demons amidst death threats from the Klan and wire taps by the FBI. Through personal and intimate stories that emerged from the political upheavals of the era, The Good Negro examines a world where people dare to hope for a better future. A co-production with Dallas Theater Center.

SPECIAL ADD-ON PRODUCTION:
This is not part of the 2008-2009 membership package but members will receive a priority purchasing period for an exclusive discount.

WHY TORTURE IS WRONG, AND THE PEOPLE WHO LOVE THEM
Written by Christopher Durang
World Premiere - Spring

Back at The Public for another world premiere of a new play, Christopher Durang turns political humor upside down with this raucous and provocative satire about America's growing homeland 'insecurity'. Why Torture is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them tells the story of a young woman suddenly in crisis: Is her new husband, whom she married when drunk, a terrorist? Or just crazy? Or both? Is her father's hobby of butterfly collecting really a cover for his involvement in a shadow government? Why does her mother enjoy going to the theater so much? Does she seek mental escape, or is she insane? Honing in on our private terrors both at home and abroad, Durang oddly relieves our fears in this black comedy for an era of yellow, orange, and red alerts.

Members also receive:
A 10% discount on all menu items at Joe's Pub
Priority booking for our FREE annual reading series, New Work Now!
Priority booking for our annual festival of new theater from around the globe, Under The Radar
Priority booking for FREE readings with our annual series, The Native Theater Festival
Priority purchasing period for Public LAB - all tickets are $10!
Discount offers for shows and neighborhood restaurants

6 PLAY PACKAGE — $255
6 Play members receive a priority booking period to reserve one ticket per package for 6 shows, and next year receive $50 off a Summer Supporter seat to Shakespeare in the Park 2009

5 PLAY PACKAGE — $227.50
5 Play members receive a priority booking period to reserve one ticket per package for 5 shows

3 PLAY PACKAGE — $142.50
3 Play members receive a priority booking period to reserve one ticket per package for 3 shows

PREVIEW PAK — $200
Contains 5 tickets which must be used during the first two weeks of the productions (subject to availability). Preview Pak holders do not receive all the benefits of regular memberships. No exchanges on Preview Pak tickets

ON SALE JULY 1: 212-967-7555 or PUBLICTHEATER.ORG

Need more Off-Broadway Theatre News in your life? Sign up for all the news on the Fall season, discounts & more...