Public Theater Announces New Work Now and New Work Then Readings

New works by Eric Bogosian, Cusi Cram, and Julia Cho plus classic plays by Caryl Churchill, Sam Shepard, and David Henry Hwang will be among the readings presented by The Public Theater this month in the series New Work Now! (September 9-18) and New Work Then! (September 2-October 3).

Initiated in 1994, New Work Now! has hosted the first New York readings of such plays as Anna in the Tropics and Nine Parts of Desire. The newly created New Work Then! series will celebrate the extraordinary legacy of new plays that have been produced at the Public during the past 50 years Each play will be read by a stellar cast, sometimes including original cast members. Plays will be set in context so that audiences can hear them as part of a specific historical moment.

All readings are free (except those at Joe’s Pub, which require a $12 food/drink minimum), but reservations are strongly recommended. Call 212-260-2400 for reservations and information. A complete schedule of readings follows:

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NEW WORK NOW!

Friday, September 9 at 7pm
The End of It All
Written by Cusi Cram / Directed by Margaret Whitton
Prominent screenwriter Frances Marion wants comic star Lettie Friganza to act in a talkie. Will she sign a movie contract? And what will become of Sammy, the silky toned tenor who’s lost his voice, Felicidad, a renowned belly dancer who limps, and Penny-the homely ballerina?

Saturday, September 10 at 7pm
Love Child
Written by Luther Goins / Directed by Billy Porter
LaWanda, TaWanda, DaWanda and ShaWanda are fifteen and sixteen, all sassy and smart, and all have babies. Some have three.This poignant and high-spirited dark comedy addresses babies having babies.

Sunday, September 11 at 2pm
Life, Love and E.B.I.T.D.A.
Written by Anuvab Pal / Directed by John Dias
Ruled from London by millionaire twins with workers toiling in India, the sun never sets on Gofuz Inc., the world’s largest manhole-cover maker. But two women bankers have devious plans to reshape Gofuz and the future of global waste.

Sunday, September 11 at 6:30pm
Autobiography of a Terrorist
Written by Saïd Sayrafiezadeh / Directed by Anne Kauffman
From the Iranian hostage crisis of 1979 to September 11th, Saïd, his actors, and his director try to control an unruly narrative examining what it is to be Middle Eastern in America today.

Monday, September 12 at 7pm
Durango
Written by Julia Cho / Directed by Chay Yew
On the spur of the moment, single-father Boo-Seng decides to take his two sons-doctor-to-be Isaac and swim-champion Jimmy-on a road trip through the great American Southwest. As the three wend their way to Durango, Colorado, they ask themselves what they will each sacrifice to be a good father, son, and man.

Tuesday, September 13 at 7pm
Kingdom
Music by Ian Williams / Words by Aaron Jafferis / Directed by Michael John Garcés
Juan and Andres pledge themselves to a Latino empowerment organization.

Wednesday, September 14 at 7pm
Stockholm Brooklyn
Written and directed by Desmond Hall
Brice, a recently divorced well-to-do accountant, goes to an ATM and is kidnapped by Hector and Antwain. In captivity, Brice is forced to withdraw his daily cash maximum. But he also counsels Antwain’s Baby Mama, helps the kids with their homework, and does everybody’s taxes.

Thursday, September 15 at 7pm
All We Can Handle
Written by Andrew Dainoff / Directed by Alex Lippard
David meets Sally and follows her to New York. But David’s journey is accelerated by terrorism, grief-stained sex, chain-drinking, murder, jazz, and phone sex — culminating at the edge of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Friday, September 16 at 7pm
Paris Commune
Written by Steven Cosson and Michael Friedman / Directed by Steve Cosson
Documentary theater meets French history, opera, café concert, and cabaret in this new play from The Civilians.

Saturday, September 17 at 7pm
The Poor Itch
Written by John Belluso / Directed by Lisa Peterson
Ian came back from the war in Iraq without the use of his legs but with a full supply of oxycontin. Now, he has to deal with the person he was at home, the person he was at war and the person he is.

Sunday, September 18 at 2pm
Untitled
Written by Sunil Kuruvilla / Directed by Liz Diamond
Queenie thinks she is dying. But how can one choose a burial site when shopping malls and Baskin Robbins spread from North America to India and beyond? A comic-drama about the Indian Diaspora, examining family and migration.

Sunday, September 18 at 6:30pm
RANTS
Written and performed by Eric Bogosian, Lea Delaria, Florencia Lozano, Billy Porter, Jennifer Miller, Pamela Sneed, and Mike Daisey.
An explosive evening of solo performances. Combining improvisation and scripted material, Rants speaks to a desire for politically-engaged theater told from a personal point of view.

NEW WORK THEN!

Friday, September 23 at 7pm
Top Girls
By Caryl Churchill
This startlingly original play bends time and genders in a dazzling exploration of modern femininity.

Saturday, September 24 at 3pm
for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf
By Ntozake Shange
Seven African-American women share the stories, the songs, the history, and the daily realities of their lives in this choreopoem masterpiece.

Saturday, September 24 at 7pm
Curse of the Starving Class
By Sam Shepard
A starkly funny and exhilarating vision of family, land, and the darker side of the American dream.

Sunday, September 25 at 7pm
F.O.B.
By David Henry Hwang
Assimilated Chinese-Americans collide with a fresh-off-the-boat (F.O.B.) Chinese immigrant in a provocative and hilarious look at vicious stereotypes within a community.

Sunday, September 25 at 7pm
A Movie Star Has to Star in Black and White
By Adrienne Kennedy / Directed by Estelle Parsons
In this deeply personal play, an African-American woman can only express herself through the motion-picture heroines that inhabit her imagination.

Thursday, September 29 at 7pm
The Colored Museum
Written and directed by George C. Wolfe
An outrageous and uncompromising satire that simultaneously explodes and celebrates African-American cultural identity.

Friday, September 30 at 7pm
The Marriage of Bette and Boo
By Christopher Durang / Directed by Jerry Zaks
A darkly funny dissection of marriage and family life.

Saturday, October 1 at 7pm
Short Eyes
By Miguel Piñero / Directed by John Ortiz
An insider’s view of a racially fractured prison subculture when a child molester is thrust into a group of hardened convicts. Presented in collaboration with LAByrinth Theater Company.

Sunday, October 2 at 7pm
The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel

By David Rabe
The first significant American play to deal with the experience of the Vietnam War, a violent and expressionistic reflection of a soldier’s confused state of mind.

Monday, October 3 at 7pm
Miss Margarida’s Way: Tragicomic Monologue for an Impetuous Woman

By Roberto Athayde
In this solo show, Estelle Parsons plays Miss Margarida, an 8th-grade teacher who is every child’s wish and nightmare.