Theater Profile

The theater that I choose was The Public Theater in New York City. It was founded by Joseph Papp in and was originally called the Shakespeare Workshop. The theater was formed to bring people's voices, rhythms, and cultures together. It opened as The Public Theater in 1967 in the former Astor library. The first production to play there was the musical Hair. In the summertime, Shakespeare in the park shows at the Delacorte Theater. One of the newest performing places on the list is Joe's Pub. It is a venue used for musicians, spoken-word artists, and solo performers. The theater is now run by Oskar Eustis(artistic director) and Andrew D. Hamingson(executive director).

The current mission statement of the theater is to produce plays, musicals, and productions from Shakespeare as well as new works of art. The theater supports new plays, musicals, and other innovative works. They also want to reach out to many diverse backgrounds as well as students. A program called Shakespeare Lab is offered in the summer. It is acting intensive and deals with classical performing. Anyone entering 9th grade and above is encouraged to come and perform Shakespeare, write sonnets, and attend performances. Another program offered in New Work Wow!. It is a play reading series for emerging artists and artists that are already established. Internships are available. The theater prefers to take candidates that are pursuing a major in theater. Internships can be done in the following departments: artistic director, artistic intern, associate producer, casting, development, executive producer, administrative intern, general management, Joe's Pub, literary, marketing, press, and under the radar.

Material that they produce is works of Shakespeare, but they also encourage new plays, musicals, and other innovative works of art. Shakespeare plays that have been done are Othello, Hamlet, MacBeth, Julius Caesar, and The Taming of the Shrew.

This theater interested me because it does Shakespeare. I am not a fan of Shakespeare, but maybe going to a theater like this it could help me to understand his work. People that would be in the productions would have a lot of knowledge of his work. Talking to members of the theater could help me to understand Shakespeare's work. I also think that seeing his work is very different from reading it. Seeing it done in a production would give me a sense of emotion from the actors and actresses. Reading it off the page does not give me any emotion or body language. I think that it is great that the theater offers workshops for students and encourages them to come see Shakespeare's work as well as new works of art. Starting kids early is going to open up their mind and help them be creative. They will be more open minded because they will see stuff out of the ordinary. That can be helpful to develop creative and writing skills. The theater also wants to help kids develop their creative skills. Offering the Shakespeare Lab and New Work Wow! gives kids a chance to act and put their ideas down on paper. Another thing I that attracted me to the theater was that it offered internships. It seems that this non-for-profit theater is very different from a Broadway theater. For a student that is majoring in theater, this will give them a chance to see how a theater away from the bright lights of Times Square works. They will get to see how struggling artists work to get their starts. I also think that this would be great for someone starting out because not only are they getting help by doing this internship, but they are helping to establish other artists.