Public Theater Will Present David Hare’s Stuff Happens in Spring 2006

Stuff Happens, David Hare’s drama about the Iraq War, will receive its New York premiere production at The Public Theater in the spring, directed by Daniel Sullivan. Previews will begin March 21, 2006; no official opening date has yet been announced.

The play, which debuted in London last year and had its American premiere earlier this year at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, deals with actual events — both public and private — that have been authenticated from multiple sources. Oskar Eustis, the Public’s artistic director, stated that Stuff Happens “is even more relevant today as it speaks directly to the ongoing war in Iraq, the questionable decision-making of our political leaders, and the immense consequences that flow from their decisions.”

Hare’s plays Skylight, Racing Demon, and Plenty were all nominated for Tony Awards, and the author received a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Sole Performance for Via Dolorosa, which he wrote and performed. During the production of Stuff Happens, he will be in residence at the Public, incorporating new material into the script that speaks to recent political events. Sullivan won a Tony Award for his direction of Proof and has been Tony-nominated for his work on Mornings at Seven, The Sisters Rosensweig, Conversations With My Father, and The Heidi Chronicles.

Stuff Happens replaces the previously announced Let Me Down Easy, by Anna Deavere Smith, which has been moved to the Public’s 2006-2007 season due to an expansion in the scope of the project. According to a press release from the theater, “After an initial period of interviews in Rwanda, Uganda, and South Africa, the catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina has led Smith to encompass New Orleans as a central facet of the work.”