The Fortune Society News

While the name Walt Disney will certainly be familiar to all those arriving at the Delacorte for Public Works' stage adaptation of the 1997 animated musical feature Hercules, hopefully a good deal of them will leave Central Park remembering the name Lear deBessonet.

The Public Theater (Artistic Director, Oskar Eustis; Executive Director, Patrick Willingham) announced casting for the Public Works' musical adaptation of HERCULES with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by David Zippel, book by Kristoffer Diaz, and directed by Lear deBessonet, running for seven nights for free, August 31­September 8 at The Delacorte Theater. Based on the Disney film written by Ron Clements, John Musker, Donald McEnery, Bob Shaw, and Irene Mecchi and directed by Ron Clements and John Musker, HERCULES will feature over 200 New Yorkers from all five boroughs and features choreography by Chase Brock, as well as additional new songs by Menken and Zippel for this Public Works production in addition to six songs from the film's beloved Academy Award-nominated score.

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) announces three winning plays for the The 2019 TRU Voices New Plays Reading Series: Passing Parades by Fengar Gael, The New Galileos by Amy Berryman, and Three Months with Pook by Jack Feldstein on Mondays, June 17- July 22, 2019 at 7pm at The Soho Playhouse, 15 Vandam Street, NYC

The Times Square Alliance announced today the appointment of Jean Cooney, the current Deputy Director of Creative Time, as the Director of Times Square Arts. Cooney will be responsible for overseeing the Alliance's public art program, following 7 years at Creative Time, where she played a lead role in the organization's major artist commissions, public programming, engagement initiatives, and cultural partnerships.

Rattlestick Playwrights Theater has announced casting and other details for the World Premiere of Lockdown by Cori Thomas (Citizens Market, When January Feels Like Summer), directed by Kent Gash (Barbeque). This play, commissioned by Rattlestick with support from the Virginia P. Toulmin Foundation, will begin previews on April 17, 2019 at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater (224 Waverly Place), with opening night set for May 2 and a limited engagement through May 19, 2019. Tickets are on sale now at www.rattlestick.org.

The Public Theater (Artistic Director, Oskar Eustis; Executive Director, Patrick Willingham) announced the line-up today for the 2019 Free Shakespeare in the Park season, continuing a 57-year tradition of free theater in Central Park. Since 1962, over five million people have enjoyed more than 150 free productions of Shakespeare and other classical works and musicals at the Delacorte Theater. Conceived by founder Joseph Papp as a way to make great theater accessible to all, The Public's Free Shakespeare in the Park continues to be the bedrock of the Company's mission to increase access and engage the community.

The new play BEDAGGERED by Lynn Clay Byrne (The Sextant) will have industry readings on Friday, November 16th at 11:00AM and 3:00PM at Ripley Grier Studios.

Over 100 speakers, artists, activists and performers from all over the globe are set to take part in the International Human Rights Art Festival in NYC November 12-18 at Wild Project (195 E. 3rd Street).

See first-look footage of the Red Cast, currently featured in Twelfth Night at Shakespeare in the Park!

Check out the first footage of the multi-cast Public Works production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, currently running at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park. See the Red Cast in action below!

The Public Theater's production of Public Works' TWELFTH NIGHT, conceived by Kwame Kwei-Armah and Shaina Taub, music and lyrics by Shaina Taub, Choreography by Lorin Latarro, and directed by Oskar Eustis and Kwame Kwei-Armah, opened just last night, July 31, running through Sunday, August 19.

The Public Theater's production of Public Works' TWELFTH NIGHT, conceived by Kwame Kwei-Armah and Shaina Taub, music and lyrics by Shaina Taub, Choreography by Lorin Latarro, and directed by Oskar Eustis and Kwame Kwei-Armah, opened just last night, July 31, running through Sunday, August 19.

The Public Theater's production of Public Works' TWELFTH NIGHT, conceived by Kwame Kwei-Armah and Shaina Taub, music and lyrics by Shaina Taub, Choreography by Lorin Latarro, and directed by Oskar Eustis and Kwame Kwei-Armah, opened tonight and will run through Sunday, August 19.

The Public Theater's production of Public Works' TWELFTH NIGHT, conceived by Kwame Kwei-Armah and Shaina Taub, music and lyrics by Shaina Taub, Choreography by Lorin Latarro, and directed by Oskar Eustis and Kwame Kwei-Armah, is set to open on Tuesday, July 31, running through Sunday, August 19.

The Last O.G. continues to be a breakout success since the series' debut on the #1 comedy network that set a new record as cable's biggest comedy premiere since 2015. Additionally, the network's newest original became 2018's #1 cable comedy show among all cable comedies this year, reaching a multiplatform audience of more than 42 million viewers across TBS' linear, digital, mobile and on-demand platforms. In the backdrop of both its audience and critical acclaim and ongoing ratings success, the network also quietly won big with The Last O.G., by pioneering a new direct-to-consumer marketing model with 'social good' driven initiatives. The innovative campaign, initially kicked off in November 2017, spanned the entire on-air run of the series and 'gave back' directly to local communities, while setting another record as TBS' biggest 'pro-social' marketing campaign for a scripted series.

This weekend, Creative Time, The Fortune Society, artist Phil Collins, and over 100 collaborators hosted the second weekend of Bring Down The Walls.

Creative Time is proud to announce its first musical release: the house album Bring Down The Walls, a benefit compilation featuring covers of the most enduring house hits. Each track is a collaboration between formerly incarcerated vocalists and cutting-edge electronic musicians. The album is available as a pay-what-you-wish download on Bandcamp, with proceeds going to Critical Resistance, a grassroots organization building an international movement to end the prison industrial complex. May will also mark the start of pre-orders for the limited edition vinyl double LP, coming  out this fall.

Creative Time, in partnership with The Fortune Society, artist Phil Collins and over 100 collaborators, is excited to announce the programming for Bring Down The Walls, a three-part public art project which turns an unconventional lens on the prison industrial complex through house music and nightlife. Located at Firehouse, Engine Company 31, a historic, decommissioned fire station in Lower Manhattan, Bring Down The Walls will be free and open to the public each Saturday in May starting May 5.

Creative Time, in partnership with The Fortune Society, is proud to announce Bring Down The Walls, a three-part public art project with artist Phil Collins in collaboration with over 100 individuals and organizations located at Firehouse, Engine Company 31, a historic, decommissioned fire station. Bring Down The Walls will be free and open to the public each weekend in May.

Creative Time, in partnership with The Fortune Society, is proud to announce Bring Down The Walls, a three-part public art project with artist Phil Collins in collaboration with over 100 individuals and organizations located at Firehouse, Engine Company 31, a historic, decommissioned fire station. Bring Down The Walls will be free and open to the public each weekend in May.