The Public's MEASURE FOR MEASURE Begins Previews 12/6

The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Andrew D. Hamingson) in association with Ten Thousand Things Theater will begin previews Monday, December 6 for The Mobile Shakespeare Unit's production of MEASURE FOR MEASURE. The inaugural production of The Public's new Shakespeare Platform, MEASURE FOR MEASURE will run December 6 through December 11 at Judson Memorial Church, with an official press opening on Monday, December 6. Tickets are $15 and are on sale now.

MEASURE FOR MEASURE tells the story of a Duke who goes undercover to investigate the behavior of a deputy and to observe the lives of the assorted citizenry, from prostitutes and bawds to high level judges and administrators. The play is a look at the vexing difficulties that attend the fair administration of justice. Ten Thousand Things first performed MEASURE FOR MEASURE in the Twin Cities 12 years ago and found that its low-income audiences, most of whom must daily endure the judgments and injustice of others, deeply connected with Shakespeare's tale.

The cast features Rob Campbell (Angelo/Pompey), Carson Elrod (Lucio, Froth, Barnardine), Meg Gibson (Duke), Shalita Grant (Escalus/Juliette), William Jackson Harper (Claudio, Elbow, Abhorson), Jackie Sanders (Musician), Ruy Iskandar (Provost/Friar), Lanna Joffrey (Mistress Overdone/Mariana), and Nicole Lewis (Isabella).
MEASURE FOR MEASURE features scenic design by Stephen Mohring; costume design by Vivian Pavlos; and music design by Peter Vitale.
Designed to bring the highest caliber professional productions of Shakespeare, free of charge, to audiences with little or no access to major New York City arts institutions, THE MOBILE UNIT will tour MEASURE FOR MEASURE to correctional facilities, homeless shelters, facilities for battered and abused women, drug rehab facilities, senior centers, centers for youth-at-risk, and other social service organizations that support the disadvantaged, underserved, and marginalized. Following the two week tour at the end of November, MEASURE FOR MEASURE will play the historic Judson Memorial Church for one-week-only (December 6-11), with all tickets $15. THE MOBILE UNIT will represent a major expansion of The Public's Shakespeare Initiative and add to Shakespeare in the Park and Shakespeare at The Public a significant platform for The Public's ongoing exploration of Shakespeare's canon.

Michelle Hensley (Director) is the founder and Artistic Director of Ten Thousand Things Theater, where she has directed and produced over 40 tours to low-income audiences in prisons, shelters and housing projects, as well as for the general public. Most productions make local critics annual Top Ten lists, including Brecht's The Good Person of Szechwan, Greek tragedies like The Furies, Electra and Antigone, The Three Lives of Lucie Cabrol, Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, The Tempest, Cymbeline, Richard III and Twelfth Night, as well as musicals like The Unsinkable Molly Brown, The Most Happy Fella, Ragtime and The Little Shop of Horrors. Hensley has been awarded the Minnesota State Arts Board Fellowship, a McKnight Theater Artist Fellowship, named City Pages Theater Artist of the Year and Best Director in multiple years (2001, 2004, 2006 and 2010), received a 2010 Ivey award (for Othello), and is a winner of the Francesca Primus Prize, an annual award given by the American Theater Critics Association for outstanding contribution to the American theater by a female artist.

Rob Campbell (Angelo/Pompey) has appeared at The Public in Singing Forest, As You Like It, King Lear, The Treatment, Him, In The Blood, and 365 Plays. Broadway credits include Translations and Ivanov. Select Off-Broadway and regional credits include Mad Forest, Hamlet, Small Tragedy, The Illusion, and Orphan of Zhao. He has also performed several seasons with Lake Lucille. Select film credits include Unforgiven, The Crucible, Hedwig & the Angry Inch, and Boys Don't Cry.

Carson Elrod's (Lucio/Barnadine/Froth) Broadway credits include Noises Off and Reckless. Off-Broadway credits include Oliver Twist and House/Garden. His film work includes Kissing Jessica Stein and Wedding Crashers. He has been featured on television's "30 Rock" and "Law and Order: CI." He is a New York Theatre Workshop Usual Suspect.

Meg Gibson (Duke) has appeared at The Public in King Lear, The Ride Down Mt. Morgan, Casanova, Fen, and Temptation. Her other credits include Human Error at The Atlantic, Slipping at Rattlestick. Regional credits include ART, ATL, Mark Taper Forum, Long Wharf, Yale Rep, Huntington, Williamstown, and Westport Playhouse. She has appeared in such television and film as "Rubicon," "Law and Order," "Law & Order: SVU," "Sex and the City," Che, Dust, Night Listener, and Picture Perfect.

Shalita Grant (Esclus/Juliette) is a recent Juilliard grad and is happy to be working with The Public once again. Theatre credits include, but are not limited to The Winter's Tale, The Merchant of Venice, and Roxy Font. Film credits include Empire Corner and Invisible.

WILILAM Jackson Harper (Claudio, Elbow, Abhorson) has appeared Off-Broadway in A Cool Dip in the Barren Saharan Crick, Ruined, Queens Boulevard (the musical), Paradise Park, Microcrisis, The Children of Vonderly, and Rich Boyfriend. Television and film credits include "Law and Order," "Law and Order: CI," "The Electric Company," "Mercy," and All Good Thing. He is also a member of Ensemble Studio Theatre.

Ruy Iskandar (Provost/Friar) was last seen as Jean in Rhinoceros. Other New York credits include Purimcelo at Classic Stage, T'is Pity She's a Whore (Friar), The Storm (Kuligin), and Caridad Svich's new play, RIFT (Fatima). His regional Shakespeare credits include Twelfth Night (Antonio), King Lear (King of France).

LANNA JOFFREY (Mistress Overdone, Mariana) has appeared at The Public in Sad and Merry Madness. Other theater credits include The House of Spirits, 1001 (Ovation Award), Nine Parts of Desire (IRNE Award), Metamorphoses, Damascus, Valiant (NY Fringe Award), Cellophane, Like I Say, The Snow Queen, Five Kinds of Silence, Waxing West, Dancing at Lughnasa, and Marko The Prince. Her television and film appearances include Security, Delocated, and The New Americans.

Nicole Lewis (Isabella) Broadway credits include Hair, Rent, and Lennon. Off-Broadway and regional credits include Boy Gets Girl, The Me Nobody Knows, Constant Star, The Tempest, The Threepenny Opera, Tartuffe and The Wiz. Her television and film appearances include "Mercy," "Law & Order: SVU," "As the World Turns," "Naked Brothers Band," and London Betty.

Jackie Sanders (Musician/Kate Keepdown) is thrilled to return to The Public after creating and playing the percussion score for Sam Shepard's Kicking a Dead Horse. Off-Broadway credits include Mickey in Cowgirls and Lilly McBain in Charles Busch's Swingtime Canteen. Select tour credits include A Chorus Line, 42nd Street, and Sugar Babies. She has appeared on film in Mona Lisa Smile and on television in "Live from Queens" on the Lifetime Network.

JUDSON MEMORIAL CHURCH has been for 120 years a home for avant garde artists, activists and progressive spirituality. The Judson community has long been celebrating radical creativity and freedom of expression in the belief that challenging, provocative art makes life worth living. And Judson defends the rights of the marginalized, the victimized, and the unpopular in the belief that protecting those rights protects all our right to a full and meaningful life.

TEN THOUSAND THINGS THEATER is known across the country for its unique model of bringing the highest quality theater to audiences in prisons, homeless shelters and housing projects, while engaging and exciting veteran theater goers as well. Its productions of Richard III, Cyrano de Bergerac, Antigone, The Merchant of Venice, and Othello, as well as Ragtime, The Three Lives of Lucie Cabrol, The Unsinkable Molly Brown and The Little Shop of Horrors have all been named Outstanding Production of the Year by local theater critics; almost all its shows make the local Top Ten lists. The Star Tribune recently proclaimed that "Ten Thousand Things produces the community's best Shakespeare." Just this year, the company was named Best Small Theater in the Twin Cities by City Pages.
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; and this fall, the rock musical Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson and the 2010 Shakespeare in the Park production of The Merchant of Venice.

 

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