Theater News

World Premieres by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Itamar Moses, and Suzan-Lori Parks Set for the Public's 2014-15 Season

The Public’s acclaimed production of ”Here Lies Love” will also continue its commercial off-Broadway run at the theater.

The world premiere of The Fortress of Solitude, featuring a book by Itamar Moses, will play during The Public Theater's 2014-15 season.
The world premiere of The Fortress of Solitude, featuring a book by Itamar Moses, will play during The Public Theater's 2014-15 season.
(© David Gordon)

The Public Theater has officially announced the full lineup for the 2014-15 season, which will include Shakespeare, musicals, and contemporary works. The theater's 59th season will kick off late in the summer with a free Public Works musical adaptation of The Winter's Tale at the Delacorte, directed by Public Works Director Lear deBessonet. The unique community event will include music and lyrics by Todd Almond and run for three nights only, from September 5-7.

The season will also feature three world premiere musicals, beginning with The Fortress of Solitude, based on the nationally best-selling novel of the same name by 2005 MacArthur Fellow Jonathan Lethem. The musical will feature a book by Itamar Moses, and music and lyrics by Michael Friedman. The show was conceived and will be directed by Daniel Aukin.

January will bring the previously announced new Lin-Manuel Miranda musical Hamilton, which will have its premiere in the Newman Theater. Thomas Kail will direct. And in the spring, Passing Strange's Stew and Heidi Rodewald, will return to The Public with the world premiere of a musical titled The Total Bent, directed by Joanna Settle. The new show examines the passions that divide a father and son.

The season will also feature premieres of three all-new plays, beginning with Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3), by Pulitzer Prize winner and Public Theater Master Writer Chair Suzan-Lori Parks. Developed as part of Public Lab, Jo Bonney will direct this epic about love and hope. Then, Young Jean Lee will direct the New York premiere of her play Straight White Men, with a cast that includes Austin Pendleton, Scott Shepherd, Pete Simpson, and James Stanley. Finally, the world premiere of Lemon Andersen's first full-length play, Toast, will be directed by Elise Thoron as part of Public Lab in the spring.

At Joe's Pub, Bridget Everett will stage a full theatrical run of her new show Rock Bottom. Written by Everett with Tony Award-winning songwriting duo Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz and Matt Ray, the work was originally commissioned as part of the Joe's Pub 2013 New York Voices series. Wittman directs.

The Public Forum series, which presents the theater of ideas, will return this season, as will a tour of the Mobile Shakespeare Unit, and the Under the Radar Festival. The Public Theater's acclaimed production of David Byrne, Fatboy Slim, and Alex Timbers' immersive musical, Here Lies Love, will also continue its commercial off-Broadway run in the LuEsther Hall, where it was conceived.

For more information about The Public's 2014-15 season, click here.