YOU ARE THE PUBLIC!
In the lobby, in your parks, at The Delacorte, in your life….this is where we meet, collide, and come alive. The Public…for a city that is better together.
We are proud to share nine season productions for Fall 2026 and Winter 2027, and we are just getting started. Spring and Summer 2027 will be announced in September.
“The Public’s season is exploding with the deeply engaged, wildly diverse, and theatrically bold work that has long been our mission. From the revival of Susan Glaspell’s forgotten masterpiece The Verge to brilliant emerging playwright Emily Breeze; from the latest work of Public Theater stalwarts like Taylor Mac, Jacob Ming-Trent, Richard Nelson, Ryan J. Haddad, James Ijames, and Lisa Sanaye Dring to the New York debuts of brilliant talents like Jethro Compton, Darren Clark, Emily Lim, and Dan Canham; our theater continues to embrace the full, wondrous democratic spectacle of New York City. And we will announce still more work in September! The Public can only fill its role as a civic theater by offering up our stages and auditoriums to the ever-expanding democratic metropolis we cherish, and we plan to fulfill that role as vigorously as we can.” — Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director
Energetic, raw, inspirational…you are The Public: Theater Of, By, and For All.
FALL 26
North American Premiere
PUBLIC WORKS’ PUBLIC RECORD
Written by Lisa Sanaye Dring
Based on the Concept and Creative Direction by Emily Lim and Dan Canham, Musical Supervision and Songs by Ross Millard, and Words by Stewart Pringle
Music Supervision by Michael Thurber
Co-Directed and Choreographed by Dan Canham
Directed by Emily Lim
New Yorkers from all five boroughs are coming together to create a live album—on stage, in real time. PUBLIC RECORD, based on a concept by Dan Canham and Emily Lim, brings Public Works community members, musicians, and dancers into a cast of over 100 to capture how our city sings, moves, and tells its story in this moment.
New York Premiere
Red Bull Theater’s Production of
HOW SHAKESPEARE SAVED MY LIFE
A Co-Production with Berkeley Repertory Theatre and Folger Theatre
Written and Performed by Jacob Ming-Trent
Directed by Tony Taccone
In the Red Bull Theater production of HOW SHAKESPEARE SAVED MY LIFE, Jacob Ming-Trent dares to rescue himself from the “slings and arrows” of his past. Born with a gift for poetry but rejected as unfit to play the part of the poet, Ming-Trent invites us to take a deep dive into the crevices of his youth. His search for home is relentless, and the results are by turns hilarious and tragic.
TAYLOR MAC & MATT RAY
SONGS FROM BARK OF MILLIONS
Performed by the Plethora
Music and Musical Direction by Matt Ray
Lyrics and Direction by Taylor Mac
Joe's Pub in the Park
The event of the season is coming to The Delacorte Theater for three free performances. MacArthur Fellowship-winning icon Taylor Mac reunites with Obie Award-winning composer Matt Ray to share songs from their epic rock-opera meditation on queerness, BARK OF MILLIONS, featuring special guests and performers from the original production.
World Premiere
GOOD TIME CHARLIE
Written by Ryan J. Haddad
Directed by Danny Sharron
Ryan J. Haddad returns to The Public with his joyous, moving new play GOOD TIME CHARLIE. As a young man, Charlie dreamt of a life on the stage, but his parents thought dentistry sounded better, so he channeled his passion for culture into his nephew Ryan—a fellow theater-loving gay kid with Broadway ambitions.
North American Premiere
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
A Musical
Book and Lyrics by Jethro Compton
Music and Lyrics by Darren Clark
Based on the Short Story by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Choreographed by Chi-San Howard
Directed by Jethro Compton
Following a highly acclaimed production in London’s West End, THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON makes its North American premiere at The Public this fall. Set in a Cornish fishing village on the coast of Great Britain, and brought to life by a company of 15 actor-musicians, this is the magical tale of a love that defies all odds.
World Premiere
WE’LL SEE
Conversations Among the Apple Family on the Night of the Midterm Elections
Written and Directed by Richard Nelson
The latest in Richard Nelson’s The Rhinebeck Panorama, his acclaimed 12-play series about three families in Rhinebeck, New York, WE’LL SEE follows the Apple family on midterm election day, November 3, 2026.
Fiasco Theater’s Production of
THE VERGE
Written by Susan Glaspell
Directed by Jessie Austrian
This fall, Fiasco Theater and The Public partner to celebrate a hidden American classic: THE VERGE by Susan Glaspell, Pulitzer Prize winner and founder of the Provincetown Players. By turns witty farce, devastating philosophical debate, and scathing feminist cry, THE VERGE defies genre and pierces the bounds of theatrical realism.
WINTER 27
World Premiere
WELCOME TABLE
By James Ijames
Directed by Rachel Chavkin
Winter 2027
Pulitzer Prize-winning dramatist James Ijames returns to The Public with a bold reimagining of that pivotal meeting, set in an afterlife where these iconic figures wrestle with their legacy. Directed by Tony Award winner Rachel Chavkin, WELCOME TABLE channels the fire of Baldwin’s call to action and reminds us that the struggle for justice continues to echo with striking urgency today.
Bedlam's Production of
ARE THE BENNET GIRLS OK?
By Emily Breeze
Directed by Eric Tucker
Winter 2027
Raw, relatable, and wholly unstuffy, the critically acclaimed ARE THE BENNET GIRLS OK? by Emily Breeze comes to The Public this winter. Bedlam Artistic Director Eric Tucker directs this adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice that unbinds the canonical work’s characters from centuries of expectations, re-centering the narrative around the relationships between the Bennet women.
ADDITIONAL PROGRAMS
JOE'S PUB, a Public Theater Artistic Program, celebrates nearly three decades as a home for visionary artists in music, comedy, cabaret, and other forms of live performance, with a new season of artist development programs and nightly performances. The recipient of the 2026-27 Joe’s Pub Vanguard Residency is groundbreaking comedian, host, actor, author, producer, and self-proclaimed hardest working middle-aged man in show business, Murray Hill. Hill will curate a year of programming.
PUBLIC FORUM returns as the vibrant series of live conversations, debates, and performances. PUBLIC FORUM is a space where art, ideas, and action collide. Join us this summer at The Delacorte Theater in Central Park. On select Monday evenings, The Delacorte opens its doors to New Yorkers, artists, thinkers, and public voices to gather under the stars and take on the questions of our time. From love and Shakespeare to immigration, democracy, and the future of American culture, PUBLIC FORUM is a theater of ideas.
PUBLIC STORIES is The Public's new civic storytelling program, expanding work done with the Public Works community for the past three years. By centering community members as storytellers and artists, PUBLIC STORIES affirms storytelling as a vital practice in a democratic society.
EMERGING WRITERS GROUP (EWG) is a program that provides key support and resources for writers at the early stages of their careers. Writers are selected bi-annually and receive a two-year fellowship facilitated by The Public’s New Work Development department. EWG meets twice a month for peer feedback on plays in progress as well as special sessions that connect the group to the wider landscape of New York City theater.
The Public Theater is hosting cultural critic Jose Solís’ BIPOC Critics Lab in the 2026-27 season. After successfully hosting the 2024-2025 cohort and the 2023-2024 cohort, The Public is honored to continue Solís’ commitment to creating an educational space for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) writers in the realm of cultural criticism.
Watch Me Work is a communal work session for anyone eager to nurture and sustain their creative process. Facilitated by Public Theater Playwright-in-Residence Suzan-Lori Parks and the New Work Development department, Watch Me Work takes place via Zoom sessions and HowlRound livestreams that you can join at home, at school, or in a coffee shop from anywhere in the world!
