Public Theater announce their 2012/13 season

The Public Theater has announced the line-up for The Public's 58th Season which will include two new musicals, a 'radical' staging of Shakespeare's' Antony & Cleopatra
and the final play in Richard Nelson's 'Apple family series.'

The Public's 58th season will also celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Under the Radar Festival and the 15th anniversary of Joe's Pub.

Artistic Director Oskar Eustis said,

This season - whether classics, new plays, musicals or experimental ensembles - speaks to the way we live now. We will bring you the triumphant return (and climax) of Richard Nelson's Apply Family Plays, the heartbreaking and gorgeous new musical Fun Home, and Tarell Alvin McCraney's thrilling Antony & Cleopatra, in a collaboration between England and America's leading Shakespeare companies. We are deeply proud of the range and depth of the work of these remarkable artists and are delighted to add them to the rich history of The Public Theater.

The Public's 2013-2014 season will premiere two new musicals, beginning with 'FUN HOME,' based on Alison Bechdel's graphic novel, with music by Jeanine Tesori, book and lyrics by Lisa Kron, and directed by Sam Gold.

The New York premiere of the new musical, A Second Chance, with book, music, and lyrics by Ted Shen and direction by Jonathan Butterell, explores the journey faced by a recent widower and divorcée who meet in mid-life.

Tony Award winner Richard Nelson has premiered a new Public Lab play every year at The Public, since 2010, about the fictional Apple family of Rhinebeck, New York. This fall, The Public will present all of 'THE APPLE FAMILY PLAYS' in repertory, including the world premiere of the fourth and final play in the series, 'REGULAR SINGING. 'Opening night for the final play will be F22 Nov 2013 - the 50th anniversary of JFK's assassination.

As part of an international collaboration with the Royal Shakespeare Company and GableStage in Miami, award-winning playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney will return, as The Public's artist in residence, to direct a radical new version of Shakespeare's Antony & Cleopatra, setting the play in the 18th century, sun-soaked Saint-Domingue on the eve of revolution.

The Wallace Shawn-André Gregory Project, a co-production with Theatre for a New Audience, is a celebration of the collaboration between these two theatrical legends. This retrospective of Shawn's work begins in June with The Designated Mourner and continues in the fall with the American premiere of Grasses of a Thousand Colors. These two projects give Wallace Shawn an opportunity to appear on the New York stage again under André Gregory's direction.

Pulitzer Prize winner Suzan-Lori Parks continues her longstanding residency as The Public's Master Writer Chair with this Public Lab production of Father Comes Home From The War (Parts1, 2 & 3), an drama directed by Jo Bonney about the mess of war, the cost of freedom, and the heartbreak of love.

The Civilians' The Great Immensity, written and directed by Steven Cosson, with songs by Michael Friedman, will premiere as part of Public Lab. Presented in association with The Civilians, this New York premiere is about a woman who uncovers a mysterious plot surrounding an international climate summit.

Following sold-out performances at Joe's Pub at The Public this past season, Mike Daisey will premiere 'All the Faces of the Moon,' a theatrical event where he will perform 29 new monologues in 29 consecutive days over the course of the lunar month.

Elevator Repair Service returns with their latest piece, Arguendo, a co-production with The Public Theater about a First Amendment case brought before the Supreme Court by a group of go-go dancers.

The Foundry Theatre's production of Good Person of Szechwan will re-open at The Public, under the direction of The Public's Director of Public Works Lear deBessonet. This will feature Taylor Mac in the lead along with the rest of the original cast members, and include original, live music by César Alvarez with The Lisps.

Executive Director Patrick Willingham said,

As a center for culture, arts, and ideas, it is our job to be a place where our community can grapple with the important issues of the day, and our 2013-2014 season allows us to do just that," said Executive Director Patrick Willingham. "I am very pleased that this season continues to embody our mission to provide great cultural experiences for all people through the diversity of artists, mediums, and accessible forms of work we are producing this season.

2013-2014 Downtown Season:

The Wallace Shawn - André Gregory Project.
The Designated Mourner
Written by Wallace Shawn
Directed by André Gregory
Featuring Deborah Eisenberg, Larry Pine and Wallace Shawn
Dates: 21 Jun - 25 Aug 2013

Synopsis: A monologue-triptych in which three artist-intellectuals recount their experiences as their once-liberal country sinks into political crisis. A famous poet-intellectual, his daughter, and her husband-people made of very different moral fiber despite their shared highbrow interests-witness the subtle and flagrant transformations of everyday life, public affairs and personal relationships until they finally are dragged into the middle of things themselves.

The Wallace Shawn - André Gregory Project.
American Premiere
Grasses of a Thousand Colors
Written by Wallace Shawn
Directed by André Gregory
Featuring Julie Hagerty, Emily McDonnell, Wallace Shawn, and Jennifer Tilly.
Dates: 08 Oct - 10 Nov 2013

Synopsis: Touches on almost every imaginable form of sexual expression while spinning a dystopian fantasy about ecological disaster. Ben, the play's central character, is a doctor who believes he has solved world hunger when he figures out how to rejigger the metabolisms of animals to tolerate eating their own kind. He ends up ruining the global ecosystem.

World Premiere
All the Faces of the Moon
Written and performed by Mike Daisey
Directed by Jean-Michele Gregory
Dates: 05 Sep - 03 Oct 2013

Synopsis: A story told over the course of a lunar month, a new monologue every night, in 29 unique performances. Each evening works alone as a single episode, but together they tell a vast story that spans the globe and stretches across the 20th century to the present day and beyond, weaving together the secret history of the space race, notorious art forgeries, the angry ghosts of class and communism, and the still-beating heart of the military industrial complex.

Worle Premiere
Arguendo
Created and Performed by Elevator Repair Service
Directed by John Collins
Cast: Elevator Repair Service Dates: 10 Sep - 06 Oct 2013

Synopsis: A playful riff on the 1991 Supreme Court case Barnes v. Glen Theatre. In this provocative case, a group of exotic dancers, citing the First Amendment, challenged a ban on public nudity.

World Premiere
Fun House
Dates: 01 Oct - 03 Nov 2013

Synopsis: When her father dies unexpectedly, graphic novelist Alison dives deep into her past to tell the story of the volatile, brilliant, one-of-a-kind man whose temperament and secrets defined her family and her life. Moving between past and present, Alison relives her unique childhood playing at the family's Bechdel Funeral Home, her growing understanding of her own sexuality and the looming, unanswerable questions about her father's hidden desires.

World Premiere
Good Person of Szechwan
By Bertolt Brecht
Translated by John Willett
With Original Live Music by César Alvarez with The Lisps
Directed by Lear deBessonet
Featuring Kate Benson, Ephraim Birney, Vinie Burrows, Clifton Duncan, Jack Allen Greenfield, Annie Golden, Brooke Ishibashi, Paul Juhn, Mia Katigbak, Lisa Kron, Taylor Mac, David Turner and Darryl Winslow. Dates: 18 Oct - 24 Nov 2012

Synopsis: Shen Tei, the good-hearted, penniless, cross-dressing prostitute, is forced to disguise herself as a savvy businessman named Shui Ta to master the ruthlessness necessary to be a 'good person' in a cruel world of limited resources.

The Apple Family Plays: Scenes From Life In The Country
Written and Directed by Richard Nelson
Dates: 22 Oct - 15 Dec 2013.

Each year since 2010, Tony Award winner Richard Nelson has premiered a new play at The Public about the fictional, liberal Apple family of Rhinebeck, New York. This year, the award-winning ensemble will be reunited once more as the first three Apple plays return, in repertory, along with the world premiere of the fourth and final play in this powerful and timely series.

That Hopey Changey Thing
synopsis: The Apples reflect on the state of their family and discuss memory, manners and politics as polls close on mid-term election night 2010 and a groundswell of conservative sentiment flips Congress on its head.

Sweet And Sad
synopsis: An Apple family brunch stirs up discussions of loss, remembrance and a decade of change.

Sorry
synopsis: The Apples sort through family anxieties and confusion on the day of electing the President.

World Premiere
Regular Singing
synopsis: Is to be announced, though the play will open on 22 Nov 2013 - the 50th Anniversary of JFK's assassination that shocked the world.

10th Anniversary UNDER THE RADAR FESTIVAL January 8-19, 2014 This 12-day festival, curated by Mark Russell and Meiyin Wang, showcases Theater from around the U.S. and the world, with all performances at The Public Theater's downtown home at Astor Place.

New York Premiere
Antony & Cleopatra
By William Shakespeare
Edited and directed by Tarell Alvin McCraney
Dates: 18 Feb - 23 Mar 2014

Synopsis: At the fringes of a war-torn empire, a man and a woman have fallen desperately, passionately in love. But for a soldier set to enforce the imperial will and the queen of a people intent on throwing off the yoke of empire, there is no place for personal desire.
Set against a world of imperial politics and power play and transports us to 18th century, sun-soaked Saint-Domingue on the eve of revolution.

The Public LAB, an annual series cthat lets New Yorkers see works in stripped-down productions, celebrates its Seventh Anniversary Season

Father Comes Home From The War (Parts1, 2 & 3)
By Suzan-Lori Parks
Directed by Jo Bonney
Dates: 11 - 30 Mar 2014

Synopsis: Part 1 introduces us to Hero, a slave who must choose whether or not to join his master on the Confederate battlefield. In part 2, a band of rebel soldiers test Hero's loyalty as the cannons approach. Part 3 finds Hero's loved ones anxiously awaiting his return.

New York Premiere
A Second Chance
Book, Music, and Lyrics by Ted Shen
Directed by Jonathan Butterell
Dates: 18 Mar - 13 Apr 2014

Synopsis: The story of a recent widower and a divorcée who meet in mid-life. Presented with the overwhelming challenge of freeing themselves from their painful pasts, neither feels they deserve to find new love and happiness. Yet, unanticipated feelings awaken within them both, passionately drawing them together and leading them to uncover something they both least expected to find.

The Great Immensity
Written and Directed by Steven Cosson
Songs by Michael Friedman
Dates: 08 - 27 Apr 2014

Synopsis: A continent-hopping thriller following a woman, Phyllis, as she pursues someone close to her who disappeared from a tropical island while on an assignment for a nature show. Through her search, Phyllis uncovers a mysterious plot surrounding the upcoming international climate summit in Auckland. As the days count down to the Auckland Summit, Phyllis must decipher the plan and possibly stop it in time.