Theater News

Cynthia Nixon, Anne-Marie Slaughter, and More Set for the 2015 Spring Public Forum Season

The lineup of one-night-only events includes conversations and performances with leading voices in politics, media, and the arts.

Cynthia Nixon is set for an upcoming Public Forum discussion.
Cynthia Nixon is set for an upcoming Public Forum discussion.

(© David Gordon)

The Public Theater has announced the lineup for its 2015 Spring Public Forum season. Continuing its fifth year, the series presents one-night-only readings and discussions that connect dramatic literature to society.

Public Forum’s Drama Club series will return this spring for An Evening With Desdemona and Emilia on March 16 at 7pm. The event will consider Shakespeare’s Othello, which is known as a play about race and jealousy but is also a play about sexual politics. This look at gender roles throughout the ages will feature Cynthia Nixon as Emilia.

On April 13 at 7pm, Public Forum will celebrate 50 Years of Fighting for Justice With El Teatro Campesino — a group founded by Luis Valdez in 1965, on the picket lines of Cesar Chavez’s Delano Grape Strike. The company went on to work with Peter Brook, win Obie Awards, and present the first play by a Latino writer on Broadway, Valdez’s Zoot Suit. To celebrate the company’s 50th Anniversary, Public Forum will present two of those original actors with a cast of major Latino talents and thinkers, including Valdez and his son Lakin Valdez, artist in residence with Teatro Campesino, as well as journalist, and activist Maria Hinojosa and spoken word artist and playwright Lemon Andersen.

Public Forum will close its spring season with an adaptation of Sophocles’ classic with Antigone on May 10 at 7pm. Rinne Groff brings a one-act version of Ian Johnston’s translation just in time for beginning of the 2016 election cycle. The evening will see thinkers and actors alike discussing the ethics of power, free speech, and the cost of wisdom. In addition to Groff, the evening will also feature Denis O’Hare, president and CEO of the New America Foundation Anne-Marie Slaughter, and more.

For tickets to An Evening With Desdemona and Emilia, click here.

For tickets to 50 Years of Fighting for Justice With El Teatro Campesino, click here.

For tickets to Antigone, click here.