Carl Bernstein, Kurt Andersen Added to Public's 9/11 Forum Line-Up

The Public Theater (Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director; Joey Parnes Interim Executive Director) has announced the line-up of the best-selling author and journalist Kurt Andersen, Pulitzer Prize-winner Carl Bernstein, and the playwright and director of Sweet and Sad Richard Nelson, for the first Public Forum of the 2011-2012 season, "The 9/11 Decade: New York and America After The Towers." Hosted by Alec Baldwin, the discussion will take place at The Public Theater on Thursday, September 8. Single tickets to this special event, which includes the 7:30 p.m. performance of Sweet and Sad and The Public Forum immediately following, are $25, and can be purchased by calling (212) 967-7555.

Curated by Jeremy McCarter, The Public Forum is an exciting series of lectures, debates and conversations that showcase leading voices in the arts, politics and the media. "The 9/11 Decade: New York and America After The Towers" will consider how 9/11 continues to affect New York and the country. What has changed since that day? What did we suffer? What did we learn? Alec Baldwin, Cynthia Nixon, Sam Waterston, and NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman were among the hosts of programs in the Forum's first season, which featured the insights of Tony Kushner, Stephen Sondheim, Hendrik Hertzberg, Arianna Huffington, Suzan-Lori Parks, Jay McInerney, Francine Prose, and young vets of the Afghan war -- plus performances by Anne Hathaway and Michael Cerveris, among others.

With Sweet and Sad, Tony Award-winner Richard Nelson continues his series of plays exploring the immediate present and the ever-changing state of the nation through the story of the liberal Apples. The critically acclaimed ensemble cast first introduced to Public Lab audiences in last season's That Hopey Changey Thing returns, featuring Jon Devries (Benjamin Apple), Shuler Hensley (Tim Andrews), Maryann Plunkett (Barbara Apple), Laila Robins (Marian Apple Platt), Jay O. Sanders (Richard Apple) and J. Smith-Cameron (Jane Apple Halls).

KURT ANDERSEN is author of two novels, the critically acclaimed bestsellers Heyday and Turn of the Century, and Random House will publish his third novel next year. He also writes short fiction, screenplays and work for the theater. In addition, he's host of Studio 360, the Peabody Award-winning weekly public radio program, and a contributing editor to Vanity Fair and New York Magazines. He co-founded Spy magazine and served as editor-in-chief of New York, and has been a columnist and critic for New York, Time, and The New Yorker.

Alec Baldwin is a graduate of New York University (BFA-Tisch, ‘94) and was presented with an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from NYU in 2010. He last appeared on stage in the 2010 Guild Hall (East Hampton) production of Peter Shaffer's Equus, directed by Tony Walton. Other stage credits include the Roundabout Theatre Company's 2006 production of Joe Orton's Entertaining Mr. Sloane, directed by Scott Ellis. Loot (Broadway-1986; Theatre World Award), Caryl Churchill's Serious Money (Broadway-1988), Prelude to a Kiss (Circle Rep.-1990; Obie Award), A Streetcar Named Desire (Broadway-1992; Tony nomination), Macbeth (The Public-1998), Twentieth Century (Roundabout-2004). (Also The Hartman in Stamford, Williamstown, Bay Street). Baldwin has appeared in over 40 films, including Beetlejuice, Working Girl, Miami Blues, The Hunt for Red October, Glengarry Glen Ross, Malice, The Juror, The Edge, Ghosts of Mississippi, State and Main, The Cat in the Hat, The Cooler (National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor, Oscar nomination), The Aviator, The Departed, and It's Complicated, among many others. On television Baldwin currently stars with Tina Fey on NBC's "30 Rock," winner of the 2007, 2008 and 2009 Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series. Baldwin has received five SAG Awards, three Golden Globes, the Television Critics Award and two Emmy awards as Best Actor in a Comedy Series for his performance on the show. In 2011, Baldwin received his Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His company, El Dorado Pictures, has produced several projects including "Nuremberg: Infamy on Trial" for TNT television (Emmy nomination), "The Confession" for Showtime (WGA award for best adapted screenplay) and David Mamet's film, State and Maine. Baldwin is also a dedicated supporter of numerous causes related to public policy and the arts. He serves on the boards of People For The American Way, The Hamptons International Film Festival and Guild Hall of East Hampton. He is an active supporter of The Radiation and Public Health Project, East Hampton Day Care Center, The Actors Fund, The Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival, The Roundabout Theatre, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and The Water Keeper Alliance, among many others. Baldwin's book, A Promise to Ourselves (St. Martin's Press), was published in paperback in the Fall of 2009.

CARL BERNSTEIN shared a Pulitzer Prize with Bob Woodward for his coverage of Watergate for The Washington Post. His most recent book is the biography, A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton. He is the author, with Woodward, of All the President's Men and The Final Days, and, with Marco Politi, of His Holiness: John Paul II and the History of Our Time. He has written for Vanity Fair (he is also a contributing editor), Newsweek, Time, USA Today, Rolling Stone, and The New Republic. He was Washington bureau chief and correspondent for ABC News. At The Washington Post, Bernstein also was a part-time rock critic, and still occasionally writes about music. He is currently at work on a documentary film about the United States Congress.

Richard Nelson is the playwright and director of Sweet and Sad. His other plays include That Hopey Changey Thing, Conversations in Tusculum (The Public), Goodnight Children Everywhere (Olivier Award, Best Play), Two Shakespearean Actors (Tony Nomination, Best Play), Some Americans Abroad (Olivier Nominations, Best Comedy), Madame Melville, New England, Frank's Home, Rodney's Wife, Franny's Way, The General From America, The Vienna Notes (Obie Award), and others. His musicals include James Joyce's The Dead with Shaun Davey (Tony Nomination for Best Book of a Musical), My Life with Albertine with Ricky Ian Gordon, Paradise Found with Ellen Fitzhugh and Jonathan Tunick, and Unfinished Piece for a Player Piano with Peter Golub. His films include Hyde Park-on-Hudson (Roger Michell, director), Ethan Frome (John Madden, director), and Sensibility and Sense (David Jones, director). He is the recipient of the PEN/Laura Pels Master Playwright Award and an Academy Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is an Honorary Associate Artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company, which has produced ten of his plays.

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 home and at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. The Public Theater's mandate to create a theater for all New Yorkers continues to this day on stage and through extensive outreach programs. Each year, more than 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 Theater's productions have won 42 Tony Awards, 158 Obies, 42 Drama Desk Awards and four Pulitzer Prizes. Fifty-four Public Theater Productions have moved to Broadway, including Sticks and Bones; That Championship Season; A Chorus Line; For Colored Girls...; 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 revival of HAIR; Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson and The Merchant of Venice. www.publictheater.org.