THE LINE
Live Premiered on July 8 at 7:30PM EST Run Time: THE LINE ran approximately 60 minutes.
THE LINE
Written by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen
Directed by Jessica Blank
Original Composition by Aimee Mann & Jonathan Coulton Produced by Michael Penn
THE LINE is a new play by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen created in the award-winning documentary style that brought you The Exonerated, Aftermath, and Coal Country. Crafted from firsthand interviews with New York City medical first responders during the COVID-19 pandemic, THE LINE cuts through the media and political noise to reveal the lived experiences of frontline medical workers in New York and their battle to save lives in a system built to serve the bottom line.
“In spring 2020, we conducted anonymous interviews with NYC frontline medical workers battling the COVID-19 virus,” said THE LINE creators Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen. “Through these interviews, we began to see care as a radical response to institutionalized violence and the systems that perpetuate it. Created from quarantine in ‘rapid response’ to this national emergency, THE LINE presents a fundamental redefinition of what it means to protect and serve, examining the fault lines in our system through the words of the brave people who show up every day to care for us all.”
CONSIDER SUPPORTING OUR HEALTH CARE PARTNERS:
The Physician Affiliate Group of New York (PAGNY) is one of the largest physicians group in the nation. PAGNY and it’s Health & Research Foundation created the PAGNY COVID Relief Fund to provide frontline workers with help and continuing emotional health supports. Learn more and consider providing support.
Health disparities among New Yorkers are large, persistent and increasing. Public Health Solutions (PHS) exists to change that trajectory and support vulnerable New York City families in living their healthiest lives. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an unprecedented number of New Yorkers turning to PHS for basic necessities such as food and health insurance support. Learn more and consider providing support.
CALENDAR.
Free For All
THE LINE premiered live on Wednesday, July 8 at 7:30PM EST here on The Public Theater YouTube Channel.
THE LINE concluded its run on September 1 at 11:59PM EST on The Public Theater YouTube Channel.
Cast.
Santino Fontana
(David) received 2019 Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Awards for his work in Tootsie. Broadway: R&H’s Cinderella (Tony and OCC award nominations); Hello, Dolly!; Act One (filmed for PBS); The Importance of Being Earnest (Clarence Derwent Award); Brighton Beach Memoirs (Drama Desk Award); A View From the Bridge; Billy Elliot; and Sunday in the Park with George. Off-Broadway: God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater (cast recording); 1776; Zorba!; Sons of the Prophet (Lucille Lortel and Obie awards); and The Fantasticks (cast recording). Film: Frozen, Sisters. TV: “Fosse/Verdon,” “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” “Shades of Blue,” “Mozart in the Jungle,” and “The Good Wife.”
Arjun Gupta
(Vikram). Theater: Dead Fish (HERE Arts Center), co-founder of the LA-based Ammunition Theatre Company. TV: Five seasons as Penny on “The Magicians” (SyFy), “How to Get Away with Murder” (ABC), “Limitless” (CBS), “Nurse Jackie” (Showtime). Film: Love Beats Rhymes, The Hungry, The Diabolical, Bridge and Tunnel, The Ossining Project, Hairbrained, Stand Up Guys, Baby Sellers, and Motherhood.
John Ortiz
(Oscar) recently directed the world premiere of Stephen Adly Guirgis’ Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven (LAByrinth/ATC). Served as Co-Artistic Director with Philip Seymour Hoffman of LAByrinth Theater Company during their residence at The Public. As an actor: The Public: References to Salvador Dalí Make Me Hot (Obie), The Skin of our Teeth, ¿De Donde? The Public/LAByrinth co-pro: Othello, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Guinea Pig Solo. LAByrinth: Jack Goes Boating, Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train, Moonlight Mile, Divine Horsemen. Film: Silver Linings Playbook, Ad Astra, Dogs Purpose, American Gangster, Miami Vice, Pride and Glory, Narc, Steve Jobs, FF 4&6, Going in Style, Nostalgia, Skull Island, Carlito’s Way, etc. TV: “Messiah,” “Togetherness,” etc.
Alison Pill
(Jennifer) currently stars in “Star Trek: Picard” for CBS All Access and the Alex Garland FX miniseries, “Devs.” She will next be seen in the Amazon series “Them." Other television includes “American Horror Story: Cult” and HBO’s “The Newsroom.” She has numerous Broadway credits including Three Tall Women, The House of Blue Leaves, and The Miracle Worker. Pill was nominated for a Tony Award for her Broadway debut in The Lieutenant of Inishmore and has performed in various acclaimed Off-Broadway shows, including reasons to be pretty and Blackbird.
Nicholas Pinnock
(Dwight)’s resume spans 30 years and includes credits in theater, television, and film. Currently, Pinnock plays the lead in the ABC series, “For Life,” produced by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson. Additional credits include “Criminal” from Netflix, ITV’s “Marcella,” the STARZ sci-fi thriller “Counterpart,” Channel Four’s “Top Boy,” and Sky’s acclaimed “Fortitude.” Film credits include The Last Tree and Dark Encounter. As a seasoned theater actor, Pinnock has graced the stage all over the United Kingdom: As You Like It (Staffordshire Castle at the Staffordshire Shakespeare Festival), Born Bad (Hampstead Theatre), San Diego (the Tron in Glasgow), and Topdog/Underdog (Glasgow’s Citizens Theatre). He was most recently featured in Ear for Eye at the Royal Court in London.
Jamey Sheridan
(Ed) starred in the Academy Award-nominated film Spotlight, which also won Screen Actors Guild and Independent Spirit Awards. Sheridan starred opposite Tom Hanks in Clint Eastwood's Sully. Additional film credits include Nick Hamm’s Driven opposite Lee Pace, Judy Greer, Timothy Olyphant, and Jason Sudeikis; Craig William Macneill's Lizzie opposite Kristen Stewart, Chloe Sevigny, and Kim Dickens; Ang Lee’s The Ice Storm; Rod Lurie's Nothing But the Truth; and Irwin Winkler's Life As a House. Television credits include Vice President William Walden on Showtime’s “Homeland,” Robert Queen on CW’s “Arrow,” Captain James Deakins in 100+ episodes on “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” and, most recently, Paramount Network’s “68 Whiskey.”
Lorraine Toussaint
(Sharon) is thrilled to be back at the Public Theater, the first theater company in NY to promote diversity in its artists, and the first company to hire her after her graduation from Juilliard almost 40 years ago.
Creative.
Writer & Director
Writer
Music Composer
Production Stage Manager
Original Composition
Michael Penn
Press.
MEDIA.
Production Photos
