New York’s Public Theater announced its upcoming season at its Astor Place home as well as the reopened Delacorte Theater in Central Park, where the Public Theater will perform Twelfth NightDirector: Saheem Ali, summer 2025.
In the 2024-25 season, The Public will feature productions by playwrights Caryl Churchill, Lisa Sanaye Dring, David Finnigan, James Ijames, John Purugganan and S. Shakthidharan. The program includes partnerships with theater companies Belvoir St Theatre, Kurinji and NYU Skirball; elevator repair services; and Ma-Yi Theater Company and La Jolla Playhouse.
You can find the entire line-up below.
“In my 20th season at the Public Theater, I am thrilled to present a program as bold and ambitious as The Public’s mission,” said Artistic Director Oskar Eustis, adding, “The season ends with reopening of the Delacorte Theater. We count down the minutes until we can celebrate our revitalized home with a joyful Shakespeare production Twelfth Night.“The production is expected to feature an all-star cast of Public alumni.
THE 2024-25 PUBLIC THEATER SEASON:
North American premiere
COUNTING AND CRACKING
Presenting a Belvoir St Theater & Kurinji co-production by S. Shakthidharan with Eamon Flack
In partnership with NYU Skirball. Performances at NYU Skirball September 6-22, 2024 (Opening: September 12)
Belvoir St Theatre’s COUNTING AND CRACKING by S. Shakthidharan and directed by Eamon Flack comes to NYU Skirball for its North American premiere this fall, following critically acclaimed productions in Australia and the United Kingdom. The immersive, episodic play features 19 actors from around the world on a multi-generational journey of a Sri Lankan Australian family from 1956 to 2004. Radha fled Sri Lanka with her unborn child as the country struggled with conflict. Two decades later, her son Siddhartha, now an Australian who knows little about his family’s background, receives a call from the past that changes everything he thought he knew and who he thought he was.
The cast includes Rodney Afif, Prakash Belawadi, Antonythasan Jesuthasan, Nadie Kammallaweera, Ahi Karunaharan, Abbie-Lee Lewis, Gandhi MacIntyre, Radhika Mudaliyar, Shiv Palekar, Dushan Philips, Sukhbir Singh Walia, Nipuni Sharada, Kaivu Suvarna, Raj Velu and Sukania. Venugopal. They are joined by musicians Kranthi Kiran Mudigonda, Janakan Raj and Venkhatesh Sritharan.
New York premiere
Good bones
By James Ijames, Directed by Saheem Ali
September 19th – 13th October 2024 (Opening: October 1st)
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright James Ijames examines gentrification and the rising price of the American dream in his sharp, funny new play GOOD BONES. A job opportunity to revitalize the run-down neighborhood where she grew up has led Aisha and her husband, chef Travis, to purchase and renovate a charming old home. But as everyone knows, renovation is expensive and stressful – both for buildings and the communities around them. The Public’s associate artistic director Saheem Ali directs this New York premiere piece about community, change and the soul of our cities.
North American premiere
DEEP HISTORY
Written and performed by David Finnigan 5-27. October 2024 (Opening: October 10)
In late 2019, in rural England, Australian playwright David Finnigan began writing a play about the six turning points that have brought us to this moment – our ecosystems have changed, our planet is on the brink of unimaginable climate catastrophe. But then Finnigan’s hometown of Canberra was hit by bushfires. DEEP HISTORY is an extraordinary journey through human history, full of humor and full of hope.
Final NYC encore of an acclaimed production
SALT
From the elevator repair service
Text: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Director: John Collins
November 1st–1st December (Opening: November 8th)
Elevator Repair Service’s GATZ returns to The Public for an exciting and final New York City encore of the acclaimed production. One morning in the office of a mysterious small business, an employee finds a copy of “The Great Gatsby” in the chaos of his desk. He starts reading it out loud and doesn’t stop. His colleagues barely notice at first. But after a series of strange coincidences, it is no longer clear whether he is reading the book or whether the book is changing him. Scott Shepherd reprises his award-winning role as narrator and is joined by much of the original New York cast. The cast includes Laurena Allan, Jim Fletcher, Ross Fletcher, Maggie Hoffman, Mike Iveson, Vin Knight, Aaron Landsman, Annie McNamara, Scott Shepherd, Pete Simpson, Susie Sokol, Tory Vazquez and Ben Jalosa Williams.
Ma-Yi Theater Company and The Public Theater present the New York premiere
SUMO
By Lisa Sanaye Dring
A co-production of Ma-Yi Theater Company and La Jolla Playhouse, directed by Ralph B. Peña
Winter 2025
At an elite sumo training facility in Tokyo, six men practice, eat, love, play and fight. Akio comes across as an angry, ambitious 18-year-old who still has a lot to learn. Expecting recognition, dominance and fame, he is desperate to rise in the rankings and charges headfirst into his fellow wrestlers. Obie Award winner Ralph B. Peña directs this powerful drama.
North American premiere of all four pieces presented together
GLASS. KILL. What if only. IMP.
By Caryl Churchill
Director: James Macdonald, spring 2025
A girl made of glass. Gods and murders. A pack of ghosts. And a secret in a bottle. Each short play is a kaleidoscope of stories and a testament to how playwright Caryl Churchill is “reshaping the landscape of contemporary drama – and securing a place for herself among the greats” (The Guardian). James Macdonald directs these highly imaginative new works.
Free Shakespeare in the Park
TWELFTH NIGHT
Directed by Saheem Ali Summer 2025
The Public Theater celebrates the opening of the newly revitalized Delacorte Theater with an all-star Free Shakespeare in the Park cast of Public alumni in a production of TWELFTH NIGHT. Experience Midsummer Madness with us as twins Sebastian and Viola survive shipwrecks, revenge plots and the tricks of love. Saheem Ali, Associate Artistic Director and Resident Director of The Public, directs.
World premiere
LET’S KEEP DANCING: A Tale from Death Row
Click Download to save John Purugganan – Oscar Eustis mp3 youtube com
Incarcerated since 1989, John Purugganan is committed to reaching beyond prison walls and becoming a tutor, mentor and prolific writer. His radio play LET’S KEEP DANCING: A Death Row Story was a winner of the first annual Arts in Corrections Playwriting Contest. Michael Green is 21 years old and has just arrived in the cell where he will spend the rest of his life. His neighbor, Hap Embleton, is 67 and has been incarcerated most of his life. During Green’s first day and night on death row, he and Hap discuss their fears, their pasts, and the 50,000 people currently serving life sentences without the possibility of parole – many for non-violent crimes. The Public’s artistic director Oskar Eustis directs this riveting world premiere radio play about two souls fighting to survive strife.
FIRST PRODUCTION OF THE FALL 2025 SEASON:
World premiere
INITIATIVE
By Else Went
Directed by Emma Rosa in autumn 2025
A bittersweet reflection on youth at the dawn of the new millennium, INITIATIVE traces the intertwined lives of seven teenagers from 2000 to 2004 as they become friends and more than friends, wrestle with their potential, face incalculable loss, and struggling to find her way in (and out of) “Coastal Podunk, California” Emma Rosa Went directs this world premiere.