Photo Flash: First Look at ILLYRIA at The Public Theater

The Public Theater's Illyria, written and directed by Richard Nelson. Illyria runs through Sunday, December 10, with an official press opening on Monday, October 30. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

The complete cast of Illyria features Rosie Benton (Colleen Dewhurst), Will Brill (Bernard Gersten), Kristen Connolly (Peggy Papp), Blake DeLong (David Amram), Emma Duncan (Gladys Vaughan), Naian González Norvind (Mary Bennett), Fran Kranz (Merle Debuskey), John Magaro (Joseph Papp), John Sanders (Stuart Vaughan), and Max Woertendyke (John Robertson).

This season, Richard Nelson, the writer-director of the acclaimed Apple Family Plays and The Gabriels, returns to The Public following a successful world tour to reveal a forgotten chapter in The Public Theater's celebrated history. It is 1958, and New York City is in the midst of a major building boom; a four-lane highway is planned for the heart of Washington Square; Carnegie Hall is designated for demolition; entire neighborhoods on the West Side are leveled to make room for a new "palace of art." And a young Joe Papp and his colleagues face betrayals, self-inflicted wounds and anger from the city's powerful elite as they continue their free Shakespeare productions in Central Park. From the creator of the most celebrated family plays of the last decade, comes a drama about a different kind of family - one held together by the simple and incredibly complicated belief that the theater, and the city, belongs to all of us.

ILLYRIA features scenic design by Susan Hilferty and Jason Ardizzone-West; costume design by Susan Hilferty; lighting design by Jennifer Tipton; and sound design by Scott Lehrer.

Photo Credit: Joan Marcus