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THE SEAT OF OUR PANTS THE SEAT OF OUR PANTS

World Premiere

The Seat Of Our Pants

Venue Newman Theater

Runtime 2 hours and 35 minutes, including one intermission

Adaptation, Music, and Lyrics by Ethan Lipton  
Based Upon the Play The Skin of Our Teeth by Thornton Wilder
Choreography by Sunny Min-Sook Hitt
Directed by Leigh Silverman

Obie Award-winning playwright and songwriter Ethan Lipton and two-time Tony nominee director Leigh Silverman bring their irreverently funny new musical THE SEAT OF OUR PANTS to The Public this fall. A rollicking adaptation of Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning The Skin of Our Teeth, this new musical about age-old problems tells the twisting, often absurd story of the Antrobus family, who have been alive for 5,000 years but live in the same existential dread as the rest of us. Mired in the hot mess of their everyday worries, the Antrobuses survive all manner of catastrophes in an endless quest to begin again, and again, and again. Choreographed by Sunny Min-Sook Hitt, this bracingly original spectacle is a musical reminder that surviving is what we do best.

Cast
Creative

Dive Deeper

THE INSPIRATION FOR THE SEAT OF OUR PANTS

Thornton Wilder completed his boundary-breaking and Pulitzer Prize-winning play The Skin of Our Teeth less than a month after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Published in 1942, the play combines farce, burlesque, and satire, and remains just as relevant today as it was over 80 years ago.

The Antrobus family, George and Maggie (who bear a resemblance to that first husband and wife, Adam and Eve), and their two children Gladys (perfect in every way) and Henry (who likes to throw rocks and was formerly known as Cain) have been alive for over 5,000 years. They dart disaster after disaster, from the Ice Age to flood to war, along with their maid Sabina (the eternal seductress), who you will see breaking the fourth wall when she sees fit (“I don’t understand a word of this play!”). 

In the original play and the new musical at The Public, the Antrobuses somehow manage to survive by the skin of their teeth (or perhaps, by the seat of their pants) again, and again, and again.
 

PUBLIC FORUM: NOTES

November 24, 7:00PM
Access tickets now.

Public Forum returns to The Public this season with PUBLIC FORUM: NOTES. Go behind the curtain with acclaimed artist Ethan Lipton as he shares the creative journey of crafting songs for THE SEAT OF OUR PANTS.

Featuring original songs, with co-music supervisor Daniel Kluger on piano and in-depth conversation led by The Public’s Associate Artistic Director Alexa Smith and Thornton Wilder Literary Executor and former Public Forum Director Jeremy McCarter, discover how words become melodies—and melodies become theater.

PHOTOS

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