Public Forum Series Returns With YOUR FOREMAN FIX 1/19

The Public Theater (Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director; Andrew D. Hamingson, Executive Director) announced the return of the popular Public Forum series with "Your Foreman Fix: An Evening With Richard Foreman" on Wednesday, January 19 at 7 p.m. at Joe's Pub. Curated by Jeremy McCarter, the evening will feature a one-on-one discussion with America's leading avant-garde director who most recently staged Idiot Savant at The Public Theater. Tickets are $25 and are on sale now at (212) 967-7555 or www.publictheater.org.

For the first time in a generation, New York theatergoing audiences are facing winter without a new Richard Foreman work to sustain them. After Idiot Savant opened at The Public Theater in late 2009, Foreman announced that he was shifting his creative energies from stage to film. To sustain his fans until his new work appears, the Public Forum presents a stopgap evening with the Maestro. Jeremy McCarter will talk with this theatrical legend about his upcoming projects, his views on theater and film, and more.

The Foreman evening kicks off the 2011 season of the Public Forum, an exciting new series of lectures, debates, and conversations presented by The Public Theater featuring leading voices in politics, media, and the arts. In the fall, Public Forum featured discussions between Tony Kushner and Stephen Sondheim; performances by Anne Hathaway, Michael Cerveris, and The Civilians; political commentary from Arianna Huffington, Hendrik Hertzberg, and young veterans of the war in Afghanistan; and insights from such artists as Jay McInerney, Alec Baldwin, Suzan-Lori Parks, and Sam Waterston.

The Public Forum spring season will continue on Monday, February 28 with "Too Rich To Fail: A Town Hall Meeting on Americans and Their Money," featuring Richard Thomas who will be appearing in The Public Theater's upcoming Public LAB Shakespeare production of Timon of Athens. Additional guests to be announced shortly.

Richard Foreman most recently directed Idiot Savant with Willem Dafoe at The Public Theater. His other Public Theater credits include The Threepenny Opera (1977), Penguin Touquet (1981), Three Acts of Recognition (1982), Don Juan (1982), Egyptology: My Head Was A Sledgehammer (1983), The Golem (1984), Large Desolato (1986), and What Did He See? (1988), and Venus (1996). The Founder and Director of Ontological-Hysteric Theater since 1968, Foreman has written, directed and designed more than 50 of his own plays in New York City and abroad. Among his honors are 10 OBIE Awards (including one for Sustained Achievement); a MacArthur "Genius" fellowship; a Guggenheim fellowship; the Literature award from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters; a Lifetime Achievement Award in the Theater from the National Endowment for the Arts; the PEN Club Master American Dramatist Award; and election to the Order of Arts and Letters of France.

Jeremy McCarter is the director of Public Forum. He writes about culture and politics for Newsweek and is the editor of Bite the Hand That Feeds You: Essays and Provocations by Henry Fairlie (Yale University Press, 2009). Until 2008, he was the drama critic for New York Magazine. He has written for The New York Times, The New Republic, Politico, and The New York Sun.

The Public Theater (Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director; Andrew D. Hamingson, 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 headquarters and at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. The Public's mandate to create a theater for all New Yorkers continues to this day onstage and through extensive outreach and education programs. Each year, over 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 has won 42 Tony Awards, 151 Obies, 41 Drama Desk Awards and four Pulitzer Prizes. The Public has brought 54 shows to Broadway, including Sticks and Bones; That Championship Season; A Chorus Line; The Pirates of Penzance; The Tempest; Bring In 'Da Noise, Bring In 'Da Funk; On the Town; The Ride Down Mt. Morgan; Topdog/Underdog; Elaine Stritch at Liberty; Take Me Out; Caroline, or Change; Well; Passing Strange; the Tony Award-winning revival of Hair; Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson; and this winter, the 2010 Shakespeare in the Park production of The Merchant of Venice. www.publictheater.org.

TICKET INFORMATION

All tickets for Public Forum are $25. Single tickets for "Your Foreman Fix: An Evening With Richard Foreman" on Wednesday, January 19 at 7 p.m. at Joe's Pub are on sale now at (212) 967-7555, www.publictheater.org, or in person at The Public Theater Box Office. The Public Theater/Joe's Pub is located at 425 Lafayette Street.

In addition to the ticket price, there is a $12 food minimum per person at tables. Please note that all other seating, as well as standing, requires a two drink minimum or $12 food minimum per person.

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