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Public Forum: 2012-2013

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THIS SUMMER AT THE DELACORTE THEATER

The Public Theater and The Aspen Institute Arts Program Present
WHAT ARE WE WORTH? SHAKESPEARE, MONEY, AND MORALS
A FREE Public Forum Event
Monday, June 17 at 8pm at The Delacorte Theater

Are there some things money can't buy? Do we have obligations to each other as citizens? In the spirit of free exchange epitomized by more than 50 years of The Public’s Shakespeare in the Park, join in an evening of theatre and public debate. This one-night-only Public Forum will include Shakespeare readings about money and justice by Alan Alda, Marsha Stephanie Blake, Christine Baranski, Matt Damon, Raúl Esparza, Hamish Linklater, Jesse L. Martin, Lily Rabe, Vanessa Redgrave, and Gloria Reuben, as well as a lively town-hall conversation with the audience conducted by Harvard professor and best-selling author Michael Sandel about the way the language of money has been taking over our lives – the subject of his recent book, What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets.

PAST PUBLIC FORUMS

Sonnets for the City
In association with New York Magazine
Friday, Apr. 26 at 7pm at Joe’s Pub at The Public
Tickets: $30.50 ($24 for Members)

To celebrate Shakespeare’s birthday, the Public Forum will explore the magic of his sonnets. One of the world’s foremost Shakespeare scholars, James Shapiro, will share his insights on these much-loved poems: why Shakespeare wrote them, how they work, and what they do or don’t tell us about their author.

He will be joined by special guest Sam Waterston, a great actor who most recently played King Lear at The Public. Waterston will read some sonnets and talk about what they mean to him.

In the second part of the program, Kathryn Schulz, the book critic of New York Magazine, will share her insights on how Shakespeare’s sonnets relate to contemporary authors and the literature of our own time.

Téa Obreht, author of the acclaimed novel The Tiger’s Wife, will read a new poem inspired by Shakespeare’s sonnets, as will, Chimia Hawkins, a student from the DreamYard program in the Bronx.

David Byrne & Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson
Tuesday, Feb. 26 at 8pm at NYU Skirball Center
Tickets: $35 ($25 for Members)

David Byrne (author, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, cofounder of Talking Heads) and Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson (drummer, DJ, culinary entrepreneur, member of The Roots) come together for a one-on-one conversation. They will discuss what we're taught--and how we learn--about music, and the way that our ideas shape the songs we create and consume. ?uestlove is teaching a course on classic albums at NYU this spring. This exciting Public Forum event is co-presented by NYU Skirball Center.

Wynton Marsalis & Suzan-Lori Parks
Thursday, Feb. 28 at 9pm at Joe's Pub at The Public
Tickets: $36.50 ($25 for Members)

Wynton Marsalis (Pulitzer and Grammy-winning composer, musician, author, and Managing and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center) and Suzan-Lori Parks (Topdog/Underdog, Porgy and Bess, Master Writer Chair of The Public Theater) will discuss music and American identity – the way that the songs we sing have been part of our nation and our character.

Alec Baldwin & David Brooks
Monday, Oct. 1 at 7pm at Joe's Pub at The Public
Tickets: $40 ($35 for Members)

Alec Baldwin (Macbeth at The Public, Jack Donaghy on NBC’s 30 Rock, host of the WNYC podcast Here’s the Thing) will trade views about American politics and culture with New York Times columnist David Brooks (author of The Social Animal, On Paradise Drive, and Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There).

Anna Deavere Smith & David Simon
Sunday, Nov. 4 at 7pm at Joe's Pub at The Public
Tickets: $40 ($35 for Members)

On the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of The Public’s world premiere of her landmark play about the Crown Heights riots, Fires in the Mirror, the actor, playwright and educator Anna Deavere Smith (Let Me Down Easy; Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992; Nurse Jackie on Showtime) will discuss the life of American cities with producer, author and journalist David Simon (creator of HBO’s The Wire, The Corner, and Treme).

Tony Kushner & Rachel Maddow
Sunday, Dec. 2 at 7pm at Joe's Pub at The Public
Tickets: $40 ($35 for Members)

Two of America’s leading progressives will engage in a freewheeling conversation: Tony Kushner (Angels in America; Caroline, or Change; the upcoming Steven Spielberg film Lincoln) and Rachel Maddow (host of The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC and author of Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power).

THOUGHT IS FREE: An Evening of Protest and Solidarity
In association with PEN American Center
Monday, Dec. 3 at 8pm
Tickets: $20 ($15 for Members)

In THOUGHT IS FREE, high-profile champions of free expression will read the work of imprisoned artists speaking truth to power. Legendary journalist Carl Bernstein will read a story by Eskinder Nega, the Ethiopian reporter, whose arrest on anti-terrorism charges has been protested by PEN and others. The globally renowned Iranian-born artist and filmmaker Shirin Neshat will read a statement by Ai Weiwei, the Chinese artist who has been barred from leaving the country because of his criticism of the government. Laurie Anderson will read a text from the Pussy Riot trial, which sent three members of the Russian punk band to prison. Two of them remain in jail.

The evening will conclude with Salman Rushdie joining Nathan Englander onstage for a conversation about The Twenty-Seventh Man, Rushdie’s new memoir, and the responsibilities of the artist.

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PUBLIC FORUM presents the theater of ideas. Curated by Jeremy McCarter, this series of lectures, conversations, and performances features leading voices in politics, media, and the arts. Alec Baldwin, Anne Hathaway, Cynthia Nixon, Michael Stuhlbarg, Sam Waterston, and former NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman have hosted its programs, which have featured the insights of Kurt Andersen, Carl Bernstein, David Brooks, David Byrne, Mary Schmidt Campbell, Nathan Englander, Hendrik Hertzberg, Arianna Huffington, Bill Irwin, Tony Kushner, Wynton Marsalis, Jay McInerney, Suzan-Lori Parks, Francine Prose, Reihan Salam, David Simon, Anna Deavere Smith, Ben Smith, Stephen Sondheim, Emma Straub, Sam Tanenhaus, Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson, Marc Tracy, Damian Woetzel, the culture writers of New York Magazine, and young veterans of the war in Afghanistan - plus performances by Anne Hathaway, Michael Friedman, Gabriel Kahane, and Michael Cerveris, among others.