Alec Baldwin, Rachel Maddow, Anna Deavere Smith Set for Special Events Celebrating Revitalization of Public Theater

The Public Theater will hold an official re-dedication ceremony to mark the occasion of its $40 million revitalization of its downtown home at Astor Place on Thursday, October 4 at 10am. In conjunction with this celebration, the Public will also be hosting a range of special programming from the beginning of October through early December.

Stage and screen star Alec Baldwin and New York Times columnist David Brooks will start things off by participating in a “Public Forum Duet” presentation on October 1. The next program in this series will feature actor, playwright and educator Anna Deavere Smith with producer, author and journalist David Simon on November 4. Then, on December 2, Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner will be featured alongside media personality and author Rachel Maddow.

Special programming will also include the introduction of Ben Rubin’s multimedia sculpture, Shakespeare Machine (October 10); Astor Hours Cocktails, hosted by Chef Andrew Carmellini (October 11); a block party and open house including performances from Joe’s Pub and sneak peeks from The Public’s 2012-2013 season (October 13); a CD release event for the musical February House, which reunites the original cast (October 16); and a talk with designer Paula Scher (October 21).

There will also be a series of movie nights, featuring the Spike Lee-directed Passing Strange (October 22); the Tony-nominated 1972 production of Much Ado About Nothing starring Sam Waterston (October 29); and the documentary Joe Papp in Five Acts, to be followed by a panel discussion with The Public’s Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and others (November 12).

For more information, visit www.publictheater.org.