Theater News

Richard Nelson to Premiere New Apple Family Play Online

The Public Theater will present the work next week.

New York City
The Public Theater's Mandy Hackett and Oskar Eustis (sides), with The Apple Family Plays collaborators Stephen Kunken, Maryann Plunkett, Jay O. Sanders, Sally Murphy, Richard Nelson, and Jon DeVries
The Public Theater's Mandy Hackett and Oskar Eustis (far left and right), with The Apple Family Plays collaborators Stephen Kunken, Maryann Plunkett, Jay O. Sanders, Sally Murphy, Richard Nelson, and Jon DeVries
(© David Gordon)

The Public Theater will present Richard Nelson's newest Apple Family play, titled What Do We Need to Talk About? Conversations on Zoom, on Wednesday, April 29, at 7:30pm ET.

The live-streamed play will be available to watch for free on the Public's website and YouTube channel. It was written by Nelson at his home in Rhinebeck amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This hourlong play picks up with the Apples during their now suspended and quarantined lives. They talk about grocery shopping, friends lost, new ventures on a hoped-for horizon — all at a time when human conversation (and theater) may be more needed than ever before.

The production, which Nelson will direct, will reunite the Apple Family company: Jon DeVries (Benjamin), Stephen Kunken (Tim), Sally Murphy (Jane), Maryann Plunkett (Barbara), Laila Robins (Marian), and Jay O. Sanders (Richard).