Casting Announced for THE VAGRANT TRILOGY at The Public Theater

The Public Theater announced casting today for the New York premiere of THE VAGRANT TRILOGY, a Public Theater commission written by Emerging Writers Group alumna Mona Mansour and directed by Obie Award winner Mark Wing-Davey. Following the cancellation of the 2020 production just five days before the first performance and a two-year postponement due to the COVID-19 pandemic, THE VAGRANT TRILOGY begins performances in The Public's LuEsther Hall with a Joseph Papp Free Performance on Friday, April 8 and will run through Sunday, May 8, with an official press opening on Monday, April 25.

"Just as there's no way to describe the anguish of having this production come to a stop in March 2020, in the first days of tech, there's no way to describe the beauty and surreality of getting to return to it this spring-nearly two years to the day," said Playwright Mona Mansour. "I'm grateful that Oskar and The Public's commitment to it didn't waver during this extended pause, and thrilled that the entire company of eight actors and stage manager will be able to come back to it. We're all changed from when last we met-and I hope our process will allow us to fold in the grief and love and communion we've shared in the past two years, and that our production will reflect that. In a play about return and the lack of ability to return, the reconvening of this company, and this project, is especially sweet. We can't wait to share it."

"I've been working with Mona Mansour on the plays in The Vagrant Trilogy in their various iterations since 2011, and am beyond thrilled with the work The Vagrant Trilogy has become-in its form, its casting concept, and its reimagining," said Director Mark Wing-Davey. "Of course, it was incredibly frustrating to be just days away from presenting the piece to the public when the pandemic hit. It is, though, wonderfully gratifying that we have managed to retain the original cast, in no small part due to their own sense of community fostered throughout lockdown with weekly poetry meetings on Zoom. We can't wait to get started again."

The ensemble cast of THE VAGRANT TRILOGY includes Bassam Abdelfattah (Adham/Jul Understudy), Tala Ashe (Abir and Others), Caitlin Nasema Cassidy (Abir/Jamila Understudy), Ramsey Faragallah (Ghassan and Others), Osh Ghanimah (Hamzi and Others), Nadine Malouf (Jamila and Others), Rudy Roushdi (Jul and Others), and Hadi Tabbal (Adham). The cast portrays 19 different characters across several decades.

Mona Mansour, award-winning playwright and alumna of The Public's Emerging Writers Group, delves into the Palestinian struggle for home and identity in THE VAGRANT TRILOGY, a single epic story told in three parts. In 1967, Adham, a Palestinian Wordsworth scholar, goes to London with his new wife to deliver a lecture. When war breaks out at home, he must decide in an instant what to do-a choice that will affect the rest of his life. The two parts that follow explore alternate realities based on that decision. Each part in the trilogy speaks to the others, together painting a rare and moving picture of Palestinian displacement and a refugee's life of permanent impermanence. Featuring six actors in 19 different roles, Mansour's drama spans four decades and three generations of a family uprooted by war and politics. Obie Award winner and Drama Desk Award nominee Mark Wing-Davey directs this sweeping new epic about the poetry and pain of losing the place called home.

THE VAGRANT TRILOGY will feature scenic design by Allen Moyer; costume design by Dina El-Aziz; lighting design by Reza Behjat; sound design by Tye Hunt Fitzgerald and Sinan Refik Zafar; video design by Greg Emetaz; hair, wigs, and make-up design by Tom Watson; and prop management by Susan Barras and Alexander Wylie. Caroline Englander will serve as production stage manager and Luisa Sánchez Colón will serve as stage manager.

The Public's audience policy requires complete COVID-19 vaccination, including a booster dose (for those eligible according to CDC guidelines), by the date of attendance for access into the facility, theaters, and restaurant. For complete health and safety protocols, visit Safe At The Public.

The Library at The Public has reopened, serving food and drink Tuesday through Sunday beginning at 5:00 p.m. and closing at midnight. The Library will be closed on Mondays. For more information, visit publictheater.org.