Theater News

Alec Baldwin, Brian Dennehy, Kelli O'Hara, and More Join Free Public Forum at the Delacorte

The event will celebrate Shakespeare and the newly released Library of America book ”Shakespeare in America”.

Kelli O'Hara and Steven Pasquale will perform at The Public Theater's upcoming Public Forum: Shakespeare in America.
Kelli O'Hara and Steven Pasquale will perform at The Public Theater's upcoming Public Forum: Shakespeare in America.
(© David Gordon)

The Public Theater has announced additional casting today for the free one-night event Public Forum: Shakespeare in America on June 30 at the The Delacorte Theater in Central Park. The evening will celebrate Shakespeare and the newly released Library of America book Shakespeare in America, which is edited by Public Theater Shakespeare Scholar in Residence James Shapiro.

For the event, poet Elizabeth Alexander, Alec Baldwin, former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins, Brian Dennehy, Colin Donnell, Michael Friedman, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Andre Holland, Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer, singer/songwriter Stephin Merritt, Kelli O'Hara, Bryce Pinkham, Caesar Samoyoa, and poet Vijay Seshadri will join the previously announced Sarah Amengual, Colman Domingo, James Earl Jones, Cynthia Nixon, Annie-B Parson, Steven Pasquale, and Michael Stuhlbarg.

Highlights of the evening will include James Earl Jones reading a scene from Othello, Alec Baldwin reading scenes from Macbeth as well as an account of Abraham Lincoln's Shakespearean dreams, Kelli O'Hara and Renée Elise Goldsberry singing from The Public's Shakespeare in the Park production of Twelfth Night, and Steven Pasquale singing Tony's part in the "Tonight" duet from West Side Story.

Free Public Forum tickets will be distributed two per person at noon on June 30 at the Delacorte Theater. Free tickets will also be available via the Virtual Ticketing lottery at www.publictheater.org on the day of the event.