PUBLIC WORKS’ A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM

Public Works' A Midsummer Night's Dream

Venue The Delacorte Theater

Written by William Shakespeare
Music and Lyrics by Michael Thurber
Adapted and Directed by Saheem Ali

Public Works celebrates its 15th anniversary and closes the summer with a city-sized celebration of imagination and collective creation. Professional artists perform alongside a large, multigenerational ensemble of New Yorkers, transforming Shakespeare’s comedy into a joyful act of community. Inspired by The Public’s history of bringing theater directly to the people, this A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM asks what becomes possible when everyone has a place in the story.

When two pairs of mismatched lovers flee into the woods, the mischievous fairy Puck meddles and chaos ensues. With music and lyrics by Michael Thurber and adapted and directed by Associate Artistic Director/Resident Director Saheem Ali, this Public Works production is a love letter to The Delacorte Theater and New York City, capturing the magic of making theater together in Central Park.

Public Works is part of The Public’s annual summer celebration of Shakespeare for the City. Free. For All. Forever.

Creative

Michael Thurber

Music and Lyrics

Michael Thurber

Music and Lyrics

MICHAEL THURBER (Music and Lyrics) is a Tony-nominated, Drama Desk/Outer Critics Circle-winning composer and lyricist. Broadway: Just in Time. Off-Broadway: Twelfth Night, Merry Wives, Public Works' Public Record (Shakespeare in the Park); Goddess (The Public Theater). As a bassist, Thurber was an original member of the house band on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.”

Saheem Ali

Adapter and Director

Saheem Ali

Adapter and Director

SAHEEM ALI (Adapter and Director) is a proud immigrant from Kenya, currently serving as the associate artistic director/resident director of New York’s Public Theater. He is a two-time Tony Award nominee, for Buena Vista Social Club and Fat Ham, the latter of which also earned the Joe A. Callaway Award and Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel nominations. He is the recipient of an Obie Award for Sustained Excellence in Directing. His productions of Twelfth Night, Merry Wives, and Romeo & Juliet (Free Shakespeare in the Park) were recorded for PBS’ “Great Performances,” and Merry Wives was the subject of the HBO documentary Reopening Night. Productions include Goddess (The Public Theater, Berkeley Rep), Good Bones (The Public Theater), Nollywood Dreams (MCC), Fires in the Mirror (Signature Theatre), The Rolling Stone (Lincoln Center Theater), Passage (Soho Rep), and Sugar in Our Wounds (MTC). He is a Sir John Gielgud SDCF fellow and a Shubert fellow.