3
Sep/13

PUBLIC WORKS: THE TEMPEST

3
Sep/13

Central Park
Delacorte Theater
September 6-8, free, 8:00
www.publictheater.org

For more than fifty years, the Public Theater has been presenting free, star-studded productions of Shakespeare in the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. In 1958, New York Shakespeare Festival founder Joe Papp defended the free admission, writing, “I am trying to build our theater on the bedrock of municipal and civic responsibility — not on the quicksands of show business economics. I am interested in a popular theater — not a theater for the few. . . . The only practical means of insuring the permanence of our theater is to tie it in with civic responsibility.” The Public Theater is continuing that legacy with its new Public Works program, a collaboration between the theater and the community. Inspired by a 1916 participatory production of Caliban by the Yellow Sands at CCNY that involved some 1,500 people, the Public is unveiling a new musical adaptation of The Tempest September 6-8 at the Delacorte that brings together professional actors and community organizations from all five boroughs, resulting in more than two hundred performers onstage. The primary cast features Todd Almond, who wrote the music and lyrics, as Ariel, Laura Benanti as the goddess, Carson Elrod as Caliban, Jeff Hiller as Trinculo, Tony nominee Norm Lewis as Prospero, and Jacob Ming-Trent as Stephano. Director Lear deBessonet and choreographer Chase Brock have their work cut out for them, as they will also be managing cameo appearances from members of the Children’s Aid Society, DreamYard, the Fortune Society, the Brownsville Recreation Center, Domestic Workers United, Ballet Tech of the NYC Public School for Dance, the Calpulli Mexican Dance Company, the Kaoru Watanabe Taiko Ensemble, the Middle Church Jerriese Johnson Gospel Choir, the New York City Taxi Workers Alliance, and the Raya Brass Band, in addition to soap-bubble performance artist Stephen Duncan. “Theater isn’t a commodity, it’s an experience,” Public Theater artistic director Oskar Eustis said in a statement announcing the initiative. “Public Works aims to reclaim that territory by making participation central to the theatrical event.” Free tickets, two per person, will be available beginning at 12 noon at the Delacorte the day of the show as well as via a daily virtual ticketing lottery online here.