THE VAGRANT TRILOGY Extends at The Public Theater

The Public Theater will begin performances for the New York premiere of The Vagrant Trilogy on Friday, April 8 with a Joseph Papp Free Performance, after 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 is a Public Theater commission written by Emerging Writers Group alumna Mona Mansour and directed by Obie Award winner Mark Wing-Davey. The production has been extended by one week and will now run in The Public's LuEsther Hall through Sunday, May 15, with an official press opening on Monday, April 25.

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

THE VAGRANT TRILOGY features 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 serves as production stage manager and Luisa Sánchez Colón serves as stage manager.

The Public's audience policy requires the use of masks and a 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 serves food and drink Tuesday through Sunday, beginning at 5:00 p.m. and closing at midnight. The Library is closed on Mondays. For more information, visit publictheater.org.

BIOS:

Mona Mansour (Playwright). Mansour's play Beginning Days of True Jubilation (dir. Scott Illingworth) was conceived with her company SOCIETY and part of New Ohio's Ice Factory Digital Festival in summer 2020. Unseen will have its West Coast debut at Oregon Shakespeare Festival in spring 2022, directed by Evren Odcikin. We Swim, We Talk, We Go to War premiered at Golden Thread in 2018 (dir. Odcikin). The Vagrant Trilogy was presented at Mosaic Theater in June 2018 (dir. Wing-Davey.) Of the trilogy: The Hour of Feeling (dir. Wing-Davey) premiered at the Humana Festival at Actors Theatre of Louisville, and an Arabic translation was presented at NYU Abu Dhabi's Arab Voices Festival in 2016. Urge for Going was produced at The Public Theater (dir. Hal Brooks) and Golden Thread (dir. Odcikin). The Vagrant was commissioned by The Public and workshopped at the Sundance Theater Institute. The Way West was produced at Labyrinth (dir. Mimi O'Donnell); Village Theater (dir. Christina Myatt); Steppenwolf (dir. Amy Morton); and Marin Theatre Company (dir. Hayley Finn). Mansour was a member of The Public Theater's Emerging Writers Group. With Tala Manassah, she has written Falling Down the Stairs, an EST/Sloan commission. Their play Dressing is part Of Facing Our Truths: Short Plays About Trayvon, Race, and Privilege, commissioned by the New Black Festival. Commissions include Playwrights Horizons, La Jolla Playhouse, and Oregon Shakespeare Festival's "American Revolutions." Awards include Kesselring Prize, Helen Merrill Award, Whiting Award, Middle East America Playwright Award, MacDowell Colony, and New Dramatists Class of 2020. Mansour writes for NBC's "New Amsterdam" and is working on a script for AMC International.

Mark Wing-Davey (Director) has been working on the plays in The Vagrant Trilogy in their various iterations since 2011. He first came to prominence with his production of Caryl Churchill's Mad Forest (NYTW), initiating his U.S. directing career. Working extensively in New York for NYTW, MTC, Lincoln Center, Playwrights Horizons, LAByrinth, and, most often, The Public, where Troilus & Cressida and Henry V (Free Shakespeare in the Park), School of the Americas, Silence Cunning Exile, 36 Views, Unconditional, The Singing Forest, and The Skriker are highlights. Recent work includes Nina Raine's Consent and Francis Turnly's The Great Wave, his sixth production for Berkeley Rep. He also directed numerous productions of new and classic plays at major regional theaters, London's Royal Court Theatre, National Theatre, the Edinburgh Festival, and musicals in the West End and Australia, including the world premiere of Dirty Dancing. He has directed new work by Caryl Churchill, Sarah Ruhl, Mona Mansour, Naomi Iizuka, Carson Kreitzer, Rinne Groff, José Rivera, Keith Reddin, Brett Leonard, Adam Rapp, Tony Kushner, and Craig Lucas, among others, and is currently working on Jean Genet's The Screens in a new translation by Caryl Churchill and a new Tim Blake Nelson play And Then We Were No More. He lives in NYC, is an Arts Professor at Tisch School of the Arts, and was chair of NYU's Graduate Acting Program for 12 years, from 2008 until 2020.

Bassam Abdelfattah (Adham/Jul Understudy). Chicago theater credits include Oslo (Broadway in Chicago and TimeLine Theatre), The Invisible Hand (Steep Theatre), Ellis Island (Chicago Sinfonietta and Steep Theatre), Language Rooms (Broken Nose Theatre), Great Expectations (Silk Road Rising), and Detour Guide (Silk Road Rising). TV credits include "The Chi" (Showtime), Philip K. Dick's "Electric Dreams" (Amazon), "NeXt" (Fox Television), "Chicago Med" (NBC), and "Lightyears" (coming soon on Amazon).

Tala Ashe (Abir and Others). Productions at The Public include Troilus and Cressida and Urge for Going. Off-Broadway credits include English (Atlantic/Roundabout), The Profane (Playwrights Horizons), and The Who and the What (LCT3). Regional credits include Head Over Heels, The Happiest Song Plays Last, Troilus and Cressida (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); Welcome to Arroyo's (The Old Globe); and Love's Labour's Lost (The Huntington). TV credits include "DC's Legends of Tomorrow," "American Odyssey," "Smash," "Law and Order: CI," "Covert Affairs," "30 Rock," and "Law and Order." BFA: Boston University, LAMDA.

Osh Ashruf (Hamzi and Others). Select theater credits include The Guthrie, Abingdon, Prospect, A.R.T., Moscow Art, Garis & Hahn. Select TV credits include "High Maintenance," "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt," "The Blacklist," "The Good Fight," "The Looming Tower," "Happyish," "Deadbeat," "Late Night with Seth Meyers," and "Law & Order: SVU." Film credits include All We Had. BA/BS: Loyola Chicago; MFA: Harvard University, Presidential Public Service Fellow. Ashruf is a Teach For America and TEDxBroadway alumnus, as well as a Prince Fellow, Columbia University, and Founder, Broadway For All. @therealnycog

Caitlin Nasema Cassidy (Abir/Jamila Understudy). Off-Broadway credits include Pay No Attention to the Girl and Marjana (Target Margin). National tours/regional include There is a Field (Tour), Paradise (Central Square - 2018 Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Actress), Matt and Ben (The Kitchen), and Anything Goes (Williamstown). TV credits include "A Crime to Remember." Training: East 15, Shakespeare's Globe, Georgetown. Cassidy is an Inaugural Fellow of The Lab for Global Performance and Politics and Co-Artistic Director of LubDub Theatre Co. @caitlinnasemacassidy caitlinnasemacassidy.com

Ramsey Faragallah (Ghassan, Jenkin, and Others) has worked off-Broadway, regionally, at maximum security prisons, and theaters throughout England, Europe, and Australia. On television, he has had numerous recurring and guest star roles. On film, he's worked with Sidney Pollack, Sidney Lumet, and Woody Allen, among others. Voice work includes "This American Life," "Radio Lab," "The Late Show," "Nova," "Playing on Air," and multiple commercials, TV shows, and film. Faragallah studied with Stella Adler and is a member of The Actors Center.

Nadine Malouf (Jamila and Others). The Public credits include A Bright Room Called Day. Off-Broadway credits include Dead Are My People (Next Door at NYTW); Intractable Woman, Oh My Sweet Land (The Play Company); queens, The Who & The What (LCT3); Today Is My Birthday, and Ultimate Beauty Bible (Page 73). Regional credits include Yerma (Huntington); A Thousand Splendid Suns (Old Globe/ACT/Theatre Calgary); and Salomé (Shakespeare Theatre Company). Television/film work includes "High Fidelity," "High Maintenance," "The Looming Tower," The Volunteers, and May in the Summer. Malouf received Lincoln Center Theater's 2019 Emerging Artist Award.

Nuah Ozryel (Hamzi/Ghassan Understudy). New York theater credits include The Art of Hijab, Kohl Black, and The Right Way to Pray (FiveMyles); Rest Upon the Wind (Skirball Center); and I Come From Syria (Beit Jeddo). Regional productions include Hard Cell (Geva Theatre - Rochester). TV/Film credits include "Madam Secretary" (CBS), "The Other Two" (HBO Max), "Law & Order: SVU" (NBC), "Mr. Robot" (USA), "The Looming Tower" (Hulu), "The Blacklist" (NBC), and Moments Before (Lithium Productions). BA: University of Toronto. MFA: Columbia University.

Rudy Roushdi (Jul and Others). The Vagrant Trilogy is Roushdi's Off-Broadway debut. Select regional credits include Twelfth Night (Two River Theater); King Charles III (Seattle Rep); Concrete Orange (Guthrie Theater); Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, The Importance of Being Earnest, Cymbeline, and the world premiere of Mark St. Germain's Gertrude and Claudius (Orlando Shakes); Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo (7 Stages); The Liar (Seattle Public Theater); and The Winter's Tale (Seattle Shakespeare Company). TV credits include "The Enemy Within" and "Ordinary Joe" (NBC) and "The Resident" (FOX). Roushdi is a graduate of the University of Washington School of Drama Professional Actor Training Program.

Hadi Tabbal (Adham). Off-Broadway credits include English (Atlantic Theater). Regional credits include The Vagrant Trilogy (Mosaic Theater, DC), The Hour of Feeling (Actors Theatre of Louisville's Humana Festival, KY). Film credits include Rosa (HBO) and Circumstance (Sundance Audience Award). Tabbal played Amir Al-Raisani on NBC's "The Brave." Other TV credits include "Bull" (CBS), "Law & Order: SVU" (NBC), "FBI" (CBS), "The Blacklist" (NBC). MFA in Acting from The New School for Drama. Tabbal was previously an artistic associate for The Sundance Theater Institute and a Fulbright grant recipient from Beirut, Lebanon.

ABOUT The Public Theater:

THE PUBLIC continues the work of its visionary founder Joe Papp as a civic institution engaging, both on-stage and off, with some of the most important ideas and social issues of today. Conceived over 60 years ago as one of the nation's first nonprofit theaters, The Public has long operated on the principles that theater is an essential cultural force and that art and culture belong to everyone. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Patrick Willingham, The Public's wide breadth of programming includes an annual season of new work at its landmark home at Astor Place, Free Shakespeare in the Park at The Delacorte Theater in Central Park, the Mobile Unit touring throughout New York City's five boroughs, Public Forum, Under the Radar, Public Lab, Public Works, Public Shakespeare Initiative, and Joe's Pub. Since premiering HAIR in 1967, The Public continues to create the canon of American Theater and is currently represented on Broadway by the Tony Award-winning musical Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Their programs and productions can also be seen regionally across the country and around the world. The Public has received 59 Tony Awards, 184 Obie Awards, 55 Drama Desk Awards, 58 Lortel Awards, 34 Outer Critic Circle Awards, 13 New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards, 58 AUDELCO Awards, 6 Antonyo Awards, and 6 Pulitzer Prizes. publictheater.org

The Public Theater stands in honor of the first inhabitants and our ancestors. We acknowledge the land on which The Public and its theaters stand-the original homeland of the Lenape people-and the painful history of genocide and forced removal from this territory. We honor the generations of stewards, and we pay our respects to the many diverse Indigenous peoples still connected to this land.

The LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust provides leadership support for The Public Theater's year-round activities.

TICKET INFORMATION

THE VAGRANT TRILOGY begins performances in The Public's LuEsther Hall on Friday, April 8. The New York premiere production has been extended one week through Sunday, May 15, with an official press opening on Monday, April 25.

Public Theater Partner, Supporter, and full-price single tickets are available now. Tickets can be accessed by visiting publictheater.org, calling 212.967.7555, or in person at the Taub Box Office at The Public Theater at 425 Lafayette Street.

The Public's Joseph Papp Free Performance initiative will offer free tickets to the performance on Friday, April 8 through TodayTix. The Lottery will open for entries on Friday, April 1 and will close at 12PM Noon on the day of the performance. Winners will be notified by email and push notification anytime from 12PM to 4PM, and if selected, winners will have one 1 hour to claim their tickets.

The performance schedule is Wednesday through Saturday at 7:00 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday at 1:00 p.m. (There is no 1:00 p.m. performance on Saturday, April 9. The performance on Sunday, April 10 will be at 7:00 p.m. There is a 7:00 p.m. performance on Monday, April 25, Tuesday, May 3, and Tuesday, May 10.)

The Open Captioned performance will be at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 30. The Audio Described performance will be at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 1. The American Sign Language Interpreted performance will be at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May 3.

The full performance calendar and complete ticket distribution details can be found at publictheater.org.

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