Mara Manus News

The selection of plays for the 2008 Summer Play Festival (SPF) is underway with an announcement of the final slate planned for May 1.

The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Mara Manus) will begin previews for THE FEVER CHART: THREE VISIONS OF THE MIDDLE EAST, the fourth play of the inaugural PUBLIC LAB initiative. Written by Naomi Wallace and directed by Jo Bonney, THE FEVER CHART: THREE VISIONS OF THE MIDDLE EAST tells three distinct stories set in different parts of the Middle East. Tickets are $10 for all performances.

Public Theater Chairman of the Board Warren Spector and Executive Director Mara Manus announced today that Ms. Manus will be stepping down at the end of the fiscal year in August.

The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Mara Manus) announced today that post-show discussions will follow performances of PARIS COMMUNE on Thursday, April 10 and Thursday, April 17.

LAByrinth Theater Company (Artistic Director John Ortiz; Co-Artistic Director Philip Seymour Hoffman; Co-Artistic Director and Executive Director John Gould Rubin) and The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Mara Manus)'s world premiere of Stephen Adly Guirgis' The Little Flower of East Orange will run through Sunday, May 4. The production, directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman, opened on Sunday, April 6.

LAByrinth Theater Company (Artistic Director John Ortiz; Co-Artistic Director Philip Seymour Hoffman; Co-Artistic Director and Executive Director John Gould Rubin) and The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Mara Manus) announced today that the world premiere of Stephen Adly Guirgis' THE LITTLE FLOWER OF EAST ORANGE will extend its run through Sunday, May 4. The production, directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman, will open on Sunday, April 6 and was originally scheduled to close on Sunday, April 20.

The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Mara Manus) announced casting and creative team today for THE FEVER CHART: THREE VISIONS OF THE MIDDLE EAST, the fourth play of the inaugural PUBLIC LAB initiative.

The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Mara Manus) announced additional casting today for the 2008 Shakespeare in the Park summer season. Andre Braugher and Lily Rabe will join the company as Claudius and Ophelia, respectively, in Oskar Eustis' production of HAMLET. They join the previously announced Michael Stuhlbarg as Hamlet and Richard Easton as Polonius. HAMLET will begin previews on Tuesday, May 27 and run through Sunday, June 29.

LAByrinth Theater Company (Artistic Director John Ortiz; Co-Artistic Director Philip Seymour Hoffman; Co-Artistic Director and Executive Director John Gould Rubin) and The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Mara Manus) have joined forces again to reunite the powerhouse writer/director team behind such groundbreaking urban dramas as The Last Days of Judas Iscariot and Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train. Playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis and Director Philip Seymour Hoffman have partnered on the world premiere of The Little Flower of East Orange, an inter-generational ghost story set in an upper Manhattan charity hospital, beginning previews on Tuesday, March 18. The cast for The Little Flower of East Orange will include Ellen Burstyn (Requiem for a Dream), Elizabeth Canavan (LAByrinth's Jesus Hopped The A Train), Liza Colón-Zayas (LAByrinth's A View From 151st Street), Arthur French (Dividing the Estate at Primary Stages), Gillian Jacobs (A Feminine Ending at Playwrights Horizons), Ajay Naidu (Office Space), Howie Seago (Peter Sellars' Ajax), Michael Shannon (Tracy Letts' Bug), Sidney Williams ('The Sopranos'), and David Zayas ('Dexter'). The Little Flower of East Orange will run through Sunday, April 20 with an official press opening on Sunday, April 6 at 7 PM. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased by visiting www.publictheater.org.

The LAByrinth Theater Company and The Public Theater team up again to bring Stephen Adly Guirgis's new play, 'The Little Flower Of East Oragne', starting previews on March 18th.

The Public Theater announced today that they have named Shanta Thake as the new Director of Joe's Pub. Thake has been serving as Acting Director of Joe's Pub since the departure of Bill Bragin in December.

The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Mara Manus) announced casting today for The Poor Itch, the second play of the inaugural PUBLIC LAB initiative. Directed by Lisa Peterson, The Poor Itch is a new play by the late John Belluso that will run March 7-23. Tickets are $10 for all PUBLIC LAB performances.

The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Mara Manus) will begin previews for Richard Nelson's new history play Conversations in Tusculum on Tuesday, February 19. Directed by Nelson, Conversations in Tusculum will run through Sunday, March 23 with an official press opening on Tuesday, March 11 at 7 PM.

Brenda Pressley and William DeMeritt will play in 'Mom, How Did You Meet The Beatles?,' the first play of the inaugural PUBLIC LAB initiative launching in February. Directed by Peter DuBois.

Ted Sperling has joined The Public as Director of The Musical Theater Initiative.

The Public Theater officially opened the world premiere of David Henry Hwang's new play Yellow Face, directed by Leigh Silverman on Monday, December 10 at 7 PM, to run through Sunday, December 23.

The Public Theater's Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Mara Manus, in association with Playwright Suzan-Lori Parks and Producer Bonnie Metzgar's 365 National Festival, are pleased to announce the schedule of the final New York presentations of 365 Days/365 Plays. Four companies - Universes, Rebel Theater Company, HERE Arts Center, and Pig Iron Theatre Company - will present their original interpretations of Parks's texts, culminating in a final presentation at The Public Theater that will include the 365th and final play of the cycle.

Sundance Institute and The Public Theater announced today the launch of the 2007 Sundance Institute Theatre Lab in Residence at the Public Theater in New York. This residency marks the first theatre workshop in New York for the Sundance Institute and will take place November 6-18 at The Public Theater.

Presented as the second and final part of Shakespeare in the Park's 'Summer of Love,' The Public Theater's A Midsummer Night's Dream began previews at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park on Tuesday, August 7th and opened Thursday, August 23rd. Performances continues through September 9th.

The Public Theater's Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Mara Manus announced today the lineup for its 2007-08 season: seven exciting new productions that will mark the return of three of The Public's most-produced playwrights and introduce several emerging new voices to Public Theater audiences.