Jordan E. Cooper's OH HAPPY DAY! Extends at The Public
Performances will now run through November 2.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Sep. 26, 2025
The Public Theater will begin previews for the New York premiere of OH HAPPY DAY!, a new play featuring original songs by Grammy Award-winning Donald Lawrence, written by Tony Award-nominated Jordan E. Cooper, and directed by Tony Award-nominated and Obie Award-winning Stevie Walker-Webb. From the team behind The Public and Broadway’s groundbreaking Ain’t No Mo’, OH HAPPY DAY! comes to The Public after a successful run last season at Baltimore Center Stage.
OH HAPPY DAY! begins performances in The Public’s Martinson Hall on Thursday, October 2. The Joe Papp Free Preview Performance will be on Friday, October 3. The production will now run through Sunday, November 2, with an official opening on Wednesday, October 15.
An impending flood is the least of the Johnson family’s troubles in this outrageous reimagining of Noah’s Ark from Tony Award-nominated writer and director duo Jordan E. Cooper and Stevie Walker-Webb. OH HAPPY DAY! begins in Laurel, MS, at a birthday BBQ for Lewis, the patriarch of the family. Shortly after his estranged son Keyshawn (played by Cooper) makes a surprise appearance, absurdity ensues on a day that will change their world forever. Grammy Award-winning gospel artist Donald Lawrence writes original songs for this biting new play about confronting the divine.
The cast of OH HAPPY DAY! includes Donovan Louis Bazemore (Kevin), Jayna Elise (Understudy), Brian D. Coats (Understudy), Jordan E. Cooper (Keyshawn), Tamika Lawrence (Niecy), Tiffany Mann (Holy Divine), Sheléa Melody McDonald (Mighty Divine), Latrice Pace (Glory Divine), Keith Randolph Smith (Lewis), and Cole Taylor (Understudy).
OH HAPPY DAY! features scenic design by Luciana Stecconi, costume design by Qween Jean, lighting design by Adam Honoré, sound design by Taylor J. Williams, hair and wig design by Mia Neal, makeup design by Kirk Cambridge Del-Pesche, prop management by Samantha Llanes Gordon, choreography by Eboni Nichols, dramaturgy by Jack Phillips Moore, music contracting by Sara Jacovino and Kristy Norter, and music direction/supervision/orchestration/additional music by Daniel Rudin. Jakob W. Plummer serves as production stage manager and Monét Thibou as stage manager.
The Public’s 2025-26 Season is underway with Emmy Award winner John Leguizamo’s return to The Public with the family drama THE OTHER AMERICANS, a gripping tale about the American dream directed by Tony Award winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson. The Public’s collaboration with Ma-Yi Theater Company continues with the first of two plays in this season’s residency, DID YOU EAT? (밥 먹었니?), featuring playwright and performer Zoë Kim’s autobiographical journey through love’s many forms, directed by Chris Yejin. THE SEAT OF OUR PANTS, Obie Award winner Ethan Lipton’s irreverently funny musical adaptation of Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play The Skin of Our Teeth, makes its world premiere in a production directed by Tony nominee Leigh Silverman. The fall season closes out with INITIATIVE, a world premiere play by Emerging Writers Group alumnus Else Went and directed by Emma Rosa Went following the intertwined lives of seven teens from 2000-2004 in “Coastal Podunk, California.”
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