Girl from the North Country

North American Premiere
Written & Directed by Conor McPherson
Music & Lyrics by Bob Dylan

Following a critically acclaimed sold-out run at London’s Old Vic and a West End transfer, the “astonishing” (The Guardian) new show from Olivier winner and Tony Award nominee Conor McPherson (The Weir, Shining City, The Seafarer) and music icon Bob Dylan will make its American premiere.

Dylan’s inimitable songbook is authentically transformed into this achingly beautiful story of a down-on-its-luck community on the brink of change in Duluth, Minnesota in 1934.

Named “one of the greatest playwrights working today” by Ben Brantley of The New York Times, McPherson has created a new show, weaving the music of our greatest poet singer-songwriter into a piercing drama about home, heart, and the searching determination of the American soul.

Eve's Song

World Premiere
Written by Patricia Ione Lloyd
Directed by Jo Bonney

From The Public’s Emerging Writers Group alum and 2017-18 Tow Playwright-in-Residence Patricia Ione Lloyd (Pretty Hunger) and Obie Award-winning director Jo Bonney (Mlima's Tale) comes a stunning, genre-bending new drama about the haunting of a black family in America.

In the aftermath of a messy divorce and a daughter coming out as queer, Deborah is trying to keep things normal at home. But as black people continue to be killed beyond their four walls, the outside finds its way in, blurring the lines between family dynamics, politics, and the spirit world. How long can family dinners keep the dangers outside at bay?

Filled with dark humor and boiling suspense, EVE’S SONG examines our present racial climate through the eyes of a regular American family.

Mobile Unit: A Midsummer Night's Dream

Written by William Shakespeare
Directed by Jenny Koons

This fall, a classic New York City block party becomes the enchanted setting where fairies work their mischief in Shakespeare’s beloved play A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM.

Acclaimed director Jenny Koons takes you to the royal wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta, where a celebratory play is being rehearsed. But the real drama is unfolding in the concrete jungle of fairy King Oberon. There, four young New Yorkers discover the course of true love runs anything but smooth, as supernatural sprites and the lovable Puck conspire to reveal what fools we mortals be, and draw us all into the collective dream of romance and merriment.

White Noise

World Premiere
Written by Suzan-Lori Parks
Directed by Oskar Eustis

Following her critically-acclaimed trilogy FATHER COMES HOME FROM THE WARS (PARTS 1, 2, AND 3), Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks (Topdog/Underdog, In The Blood) returns with a world premiere play about race, friendship, and our rapidly unraveling social contract.

Long-time friends and lovers Leo, Misha, Ralph, and Dawn are educated, progressive, cosmopolitan, and woke. But when a racially motivated incident with the cops leaves Leo shaken, he decides extreme measures must be taken for self-preservation.

The Public’s Artistic Director, Oskar Eustis (Julius Caesar, Public Works Twelfth Night), directs this fierce new drama about what happens when the unspoken and the unspeakable come head-to-head.

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Socrates

World Premiere
Written by Tim Blake Nelson
Directed by Doug Hughes

This production is made possible with the generous support of Onassis USA.

SOCRATES is a witty and endlessly fascinating new drama about a complicated man who changed how the world thought.

This powerful new play by actor, director, and writer Tim Blake Nelson (O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Holes) is an intellectual thrill ride from the philosopher’s growing prominence in democratic Athens through the military and social upheavals that led to one of the most infamous executions in Western history.

Tony Award winner Doug Hughes (Doubt, Junk) directs SOCRATES, a timely and timeless new work that serves as a passionate tribute to the man who continues to inspire us to question authority and defend freedom of belief.

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Mojada

New York Premiere
Written by Luis Alfaro
Directed by Chay Yew

MacArthur Genius Award-winning playwright Luis Alfaro returns with the New York premiere of his stirring drama about love, immigration, and sacrifice, inspired by the Ancient Greek story of Medea. Helmed by Chay Yew (Oedipus El Rey), this play masterfully combines ancient storytelling with the most pressing issues facing our country today, following a young Mexican mother who gives up everything to bring her son to America, only to find America demands even more.

Alfaro’s OEDIPUS EL REY, produced last season in collaboration with the Sol Project, was hailed by The New York Times as a “dynamic reminder that we are living in a political moment when stories matter.”

With great poetry, humor, and heart, MOJADA is a bold new telling of a story as old as tragedy itself.

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Public Shakespeare Initiative

In its Second Year at The Public

Public Shakespeare Initiative offers a wide range of programming which includes larger Public Shakespeare Presents evenings, blending incisive commentary by scholars and other thinkers with compelling live performances by artists of all disciplines; intimate Public Shakespeare Talks, giving audiences unique insight into the artistic and intellectual processes of leading Shakespeare practitioners working in the theater; Artist Development Programs, to cultivate some of the most visionary artistic minds working on Shakespeare today; and Education Programs, specifically the Hunts Point Children’s Shakespeare Ensemble, which The Shakespeare Society co-founded with the Hunts Point Alliance for Children over a decade ago, and which has offered hundreds of elementary and middle school students the opportunity to develop their confidence, knowledge, and creativity through the transformative experience of bringing Shakespeare’s words to life onstage in the 10 Shakespeare productions the Ensemble has presented.

JOIN IN TODAY

Your support makes this all happen.

Become a Member starting at $65 for early access and savings.

Become a Public Supporter starting at $500 and join us as a guest at Free Shakespeare in the Park.

Become a Partner starting at $2500 and enjoy insider access and complimentary tickets.