New York Premiere

By James Ijames 
Directed by Saheem Ali 

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright James Ijames explores gentrification and the growing price of the American dream in his sharp, funny new play, GOOD BONES. Associate Artistic Director Saheem Ali directs this New York premiere new play about community, change, and the soul of our cities.   

New York Premiere

Written and Performed by David Finnigan  

At the end of 2019, in the English countryside, Australian playwright David Finnigan began writing a play about the six turning points that have brought us to this moment in time—our ecosystems transformed, our planet on the brink of unthinkable climate disaster.  An extraordinary ride through human history, DEEP HISTORY is shot through with humor and glowing with hope.

New York Premiere 

By Lisa Sanaye Dring  
A co-production of Ma-Yi Theater Company and La Jolla Playhouse  
Directed by Ralph B. Peña 

Entrenched in an elite sumo training facility in Tokyo, six men practice, eat, love, play, and ultimately fight. Step into the sacred world of sumo wrestling, with the New York premiere of Lisa Sanaye Dring’s mesmerizing new drama, SUMO. Obie Award winner Ralph B. Peña directs this powerhouse drama.  

North American Premiere of All Four Plays Presented Together

By Caryl Churchill 
Directed by James Macdonald

A girl made of glass. Gods and murders. A pack of ghosts. And a secret in a bottle. A kaleidoscope of stories, each short play is a testament to how playwright Caryl Churchill has “remade the landscape of contemporary drama—and earned herself a place among the greats” (The Guardian). James Macdonald directs these wildly inventive new works. 

New York Premiere

Music and Lyrics by Michael Thurber 
Book by Saheem Ali  
Additional Book Material by James Ijames 
Choreography by Darrell Grand Moultrie 
Directed by Saheem Ali

A mysterious singer arrives at Moto Moto, a steamy Afro-jazz club in Mombasa, Kenya. She casts an entrancing spell on everyone, including a young man who has returned home from studying in America. Will the big plans for his life—stepping into a political legacy and marrying his fiancée—be upended? 

To reopen The Delacorte Theater 
Free Shakespeare in the Park 2025
TWELFTH NIGHT 
Directed by Saheem Ali  

Summer 2025 

The Public Theater will celebrate the opening of the newly revitalized Delacorte Theater with a Free Shakespeare in the Park all-star cast of Public alumni in a production of TWELFTH NIGHT. Join us to revel in the midsummer madness as twins Sebastian and Viola survive shipwreck, revenge plots, and the trick doors of love. The Public’s Associate Artistic Director and Resident Director, Tony Award nominee Saheem Ali directs this joyful romp welcoming all of New York back to the magic of Central Park’s beloved theater. Be there when the stage lights turn on again at The Delacorte—a New York City classic—with this high-powered production of the Bard’s classic comedy. 

World Premiere Audio Play

By John Purugganan 
Directed by Oskar Eustis 

Incarcerated since 1989, John Purugganan is committed to reaching past the prison walls, becoming a tutor, mentor, and prolific writer. His audio play LET’S KEEP DANCING: A Death Row Story was a prizewinner in the first annual Arts in Corrections Playwriting Contest. Michael Green is 21 years old and has just arrived in the cell he’ll inhabit for the rest of his life. His neighbor, Hap Embleton, is 67 and has been imprisoned for most of his life. Artistic Director Oskar Eustis directs this compelling, world premiere audio play about two souls fighting to survive the row. 

Kicking off Fall 2025 season

World Premiere 

By Else Went  
Directed by Emma Rosa Went 

Fall 2025 

Playwright Else Went, alumnus of our acclaimed Emerging Writers Group, brings her transformative new play INITIATIVE to The Public in Fall 2025. A bittersweet reflection on adolescence at the dawn of the new millennium, INITIATIVE charts the intertwined lives of seven teens from 2000-2004, as they become friends and more than friends, wrestle with their potential, face incalculable loss, and struggle to find their way in (and get out of) “Coastal Podunk, California.” Emma Rosa Went directs this epic world premiere guaranteed to make you remember the most difficult and beautiful things about growing up. 

World Premiere Musical
Music & Lyrics by Ethan Lipton
Based Upon the Play The Skin of Our Teeth by Thornton Wilder
Directed by Leigh Silverman

Fall 2025

Next fall, The Public’s Emerging Writers Group alumnus and Obie Award-winning playwright, songwriter, and singer Ethan Lipton brings his irreverently funny show THE SEAT OF OUR PANTS to The Public for its world premiere. A rollicking adaptation of Thornton Wilder’s 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 being alive, the Antrobuses survive all manner of catastrophe in their endless quest to begin again, and again, and again. Two-time Tony Award nominee Leigh Silverman directs this bracingly original spectacle—a musical reminder that surviving is what we do best. 

at The Delacorte Theater in Central Park is one of the cornerstones of The Public Theater’s mission. Since 1962, over six million people have enjoyed more than 150 free productions of Shakespeare and other classical works and musicals.

The Delacorte Theater is under construction and undergoing its first major renovation in decade and will reopen in 2025. So, this summer, we're celebrating all things Free Shakespeare in the Park by bringing the show to you in your community and at home.

The Mobile Unit is a modern reimagining of Joseph Papp’s Mobile Theater, inspired by Ten Thousand Things Theater in Minneapolis, MN. The Public Theater’s Mobile Unit breaks down economic and geographic barriers to the arts by meeting our communities where they are—staging free professional theater productions in local neighborhood venues such as libraries, homeless shelters, correctional facilities, and community centers across all five New York City boroughs. Over the years, Mobile Unit has served thousands of audiences with critically acclaimed productions.

a major artistic program of the Public Theater, aims to restore and build community by connecting people through the creation of extraordinary works of art. Public Works is animated by the idea that theater is a place of possibility, where the boundaries that separate us from each other in the rest of life can fall away. Working with partner organizations in all five boroughs, Public Works invites community members to take classes, participate in programming, attend performances, and join in the creation of ambitious works of participatory theater.

is a program that provides key support and resources for writers at the early stages of their careers. Writers are selected bi-annually and receive a two-year fellowship facilitated by The Public’s New Work Development department. EWG meets twice a month for peer feedback on plays in progress as well as special sessions that connect the group to the wider landscape of New York City theater.