PRESS ROOM
Press Access
For Public Theater press inquiries contact: [email protected]
For Joe's Pub press inquiries, contact: [email protected]
GODDESS
PRESS RELEASES
Thursday, April 22, 2025
Previews Begin for New York Premiere of GODDESS April 29; Extended Through June 15
Tuesday, March 18, 2025
The critically acclaimed team behind the 2021 Free Shakespeare in the Park production of Merry Wives returns to The Public with the New York premiere of a new musical conceived and directed by Associate Artistic Director/Resident Director Saheem Ali, featuring music and lyrics by Michael Thurber and a book by Tony Award nominee Jocelyn Bioh. A mysterious singer arrives at Moto Moto, a steamy Afro-jazz club in Mombasa, Kenya. She casts an entrancing spell on everyone, including a young man who has returned home from studying in America. Will the big plans for his life—stepping into a political legacy and marrying his fiancée—be upended? Inspired by the myth of Marimba, the Goddess who created beautiful songs from her heartbreak, this is a rousing tale of romance, the supernatural, and the quest towards one’s truest self.
Preliminary casting for GODDESS includes Nick Rashad Burroughs (Ahmed), Melessie Clark (Mosi/Understudy), Amber Iman (Nadira), Arica Jackson (Rashida), J Paul Nicholas (Hassan), Isio-Maya Nuwere (Ensemble), Teshomech Olenja (Tisa/Understudy), Destinee Rea (Cheche), Awa Sal Secka (Zawadi/Understudy), Austin Scott (Omari), Quiantae Thomas (Ensemble), Wade Watson (Ensemble), and Reggie D. White (Balozi). Additional casting will be announced later.
MOBILE UNIT'S MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
PRESS RELEASES
Wednesday, May 28, 2025
Friday, April 25, 2025
Complete Casting & Schedule for Mobile Unit's MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING May 29-June 29
The Public Theater’s Mobile Unit celebrates its 15th year with the beloved romantic comedy MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. Director Rebecca Martínez and composer Julián Mesri (Mobile Unit’s The Comedy of Errors) reunite for their third consecutive year. This bilingual, 100-minute, family-friendly take on the classic tale of love, deception, and misunderstandings blends Latine influences, original music, and Shakespeare’s timeless wit. Mobile Unit visits parks, correctional facilities, and more in each NYC borough free of charge as part of The Public Theater’s commitment to making great theater accessible to all.
Directed by Rebecca Martinez (Mobile Unit’s The Comedy of Errors), this new take on the classic tale of love, deception, and misunderstandings blends Spanish, music, and Shakespeare’s timeless wit. The complete cast of MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING includes Carlo Albán (Borachio/Friar Francis/Musician), Mayelah Barrera (Hero), Daniel Bravo Hernández (Claudio), Hiram Delgado (Don Pedro/Verges), Katherine George (Understudy Beatrice, Hero, Margaret/Sexton, Dogberry, Don Juan/Conrade), Robert Marcelo Jiménez (Leonato/Watch), Keren Lugo (Beatrice), Cornelius McMoyler (Dogberry), Jonathan Gabriel Mousset (Understudy: Benedick, Claudio, Leonato/Watch, Don Pedro/Verges, Borachio/Friar Francis/Musician), Sara Ornelas (Margaret/Sexton), Martín Ortiz (Don Juan/Conrade), and Nathan M. Ramsey (Benedick).
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
PRESS RELEASES
Wednesday, April 16, 2025
Julia Masli's Award Winning HA HA HA HA HA HA HA To Play May 30-June 22
"New York's wildest show" — Cat Zhang, New York Magazine
"★★★★★" — Brian Logan, The Guardian
"★★★★★" — Tim Harding, The Telegraph
"★★★★★" — Georgia Evans, Time Out
Julia Masli’s award-winning, solo show HA HA HA HA HA HA HA (New York Times Top Pick of the Year) will come to The Public after several critically acclaimed runs at Woolly Mammoth Theater Company, New York’s Soho Playhouse, Melbourne International Comedy Festival, London’s Soho Theatre, and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
A completely different show every night, HA HA HA HA HA HA HA is a production like no other, improvised heavily based on audience participation.
TWELFTH NIGHT
PRESS RELEASES
Thursday, January 30, 2025
Additional Casting and Dates Announced for Free Shakespeare in the Park's TWELFTH NIGHT
Thursday, July 25, 2024
Initial Casting Announced for 2025 Free Shakespeare in the Park's TWELFTH NIGHT
Join us to revel in the midsummer madness as twins Sebastian and Viola survive shipwreck, revenge plots, and the trick doors of love. The Public’s Associate Artistic Director and Resident Director, Tony Award nominee Saheem Ali directs this joyful romp welcoming all of New York back to the magic of Central Park’s beloved theater. Be there when the stage lights turn on again at The Delacorte—a New York City classic—with this high-powered production of the Bard’s classic comedy.
The cast for Free Shakespeare in the Park’s TWELFTH NIGHT currently includes b (Antonio), John Ellison Conlee (Sir Toby Belch), Khris Davis (Orsino), Peter Dinklage (Malvolio), Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Andrew Aguecheek), Junior Nyong’o (Sebastian), Lupita Nyong’o (Viola), Sandra Oh (Olivia), Daphne Rubin-Vega (Maria), and Moses Sumney (Feste). Complete casting and a design team will be announced prior to the start of the run this summer.
FREE SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK
FREE SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK at The Delacorte Theater in Central Park is one of the cornerstones of The Public Theater’s mission. Since 1962, over six million people have enjoyed more than 160 free productions of Shakespeare and other classical works and musicals. 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.
In 2018, The Public Theater, in partnership with Central Park Conservancy and the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, embarked on a much-needed revitalization of the 62-year-old Delacorte Theater in Central Park to ensure the longevity of Free Shakespeare in the Park for many years to come. For more information on The Delacorte’s revitalization, visit thepublic.nyc/Delacorte-Revitalization.
THE PUBLIC THEATER
THE PUBLIC continues the work of its visionary founder Joe Papp as a civic institution engaging, both on-stage and off, with some of the most important ideas and social issues of today. Conceived over 60 years ago as one of the nation’s first nonprofit theaters, The Public has long operated on the principles that theater is an essential cultural force and that art and culture belong to everyone. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Patrick Willingham, The Public’s wide breadth of programming includes an annual season of new work at its landmark home at Astor Place, Free Shakespeare in the Park at The Delacorte Theater in Central Park, the Mobile Unit touring throughout New York City’s five boroughs, Public Works, Public Shakespeare Initiative, and Joe’s Pub. Since premiering HAIR in 1967, The Public continues to create the canon of American Theater and is currently represented on Broadway by the Tony Award-winning musical Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Hell’s Kitchen by Alicia Keys and Kristoffer Diaz. Their programs and productions can also be seen regionally across the country and around the world. The Public has received 64 Tony Awards, 194 Obie Awards, 62 Drama Desk Awards, 63 Lortel Awards, 36 Outer Critics Circle Awards, 13 New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards, 70 AUDELCO Awards, 6 Antonyo Awards, and 6 Pulitzer Prizes. publictheater.org
The Public Theater stands in honor of the first people and our ancestors. We acknowledge the land on which The Public and its theaters stand--the original homeland of the Lenape people. We acknowledge the painful history of genocide and forced removal from this territory. We honor the generations of stewards and we pay our respects to the many diverse indigenous peoples still connected to this land. The Public Theater honors and celebrates the people and legacy of Seneca Village, one of the earliest free Black communities in New York City, which was located in what is now Central Park from 1825–1857.