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A CurtainUp Feature
A Community of Artists: 50 Years of the Public Theater
Two New York Landmark Enterprises Join to Present Joseph Papp's Personal Papers and The New York Shakespeare Festival Records
by Elyse Sommer
by Elyse Sommer
Ming Cho Lee's set model for Electra, one of the designer's many stunning designs for Delacorte Theatre productions in Central Park from 1964 to 1974 that are part of Community of Artists exhibit.
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The organization founded by Joseph Papp wasn't called The Public Theater for nothing, Its mission was to enable the public to experience classic theater. While Papp is no longer with us, his mission lives on as another season of free Shakespeare in the Park productions are about to begin, and as the theater's year-round home on Lafayette Street continues to provide a home for actors to hone their skills in performing in the classics as well as new plays and musicals.
Naturally, an organization as large and prolific in its output as The Public Theater amasses a wealth of documents for which The New York Public Library's Billy Rose Theatre Collection is the ideal repository. It's a particularly apt home for this collection since, before becoming the Public's home, the Lafayette Street theater was also a public library, the Astor Library for the Humanities, and during the war years the headquarters for HIAS, an organization for refugees from the Nazi regime.
The library's curators have now used these archival treasures, as well as materials contributed by the Public Theater, to put together a smashing exhibit to celebrate the Public's 50th anniversary. The Donald and Mary Oenslager Gallery to the side of the Library's entrance from the Lincoln Center courtyard, has been filled to the brim with a mix of memorabilia ranging from letters, to set manquettes, posters, photographs, video clips and costumes.
Speakers at the June 20th press preview for the exhibit which will remain on display through October 15th and is, like Shakespeare in the Park free to the general public, included actors and Public Theater board members Kevin Kline and Liev Schreiber. Kline who has slid into middle age with his elegant good looks intact, and Schreiber are living proof of the Public's long tradition of giving young actors a chance to stretch their acting muscles before a live audience. Both first trod the theater's boards as spear carriers, Kline thirty-five years ago and Schreiber more recently. Of course, Kline and Schreiber are just two well-known representatives of the continuing stream of artists who have worked at the public. A scrolling wall with the names of 6,700 artists who have been part of Public productions since 1954, serves as a thematic centerpiece to illustrate that the Public, though born of one man's dream, has thrived through enormous huam effort.
If you're a long-time Public Theater goer like me, memories will come flooding back as you walk through the gallery. The glass cases with Papp's personal correspondence (including a less than friendly letter from Robert Moses who was opposed to making the park available for free Shakespeare) are especially interesting. The manquettes of Ming Cho Lee's set models for some outdoor productions like Electra make you wish you could time travel back and relive some of those magical nights in Central Park. Seeing stars who are no longer alive makes one a bit sad -- but also glad to be transported back to memories of their performances and to know that young, vibrant actors like Liev Schreiber are here to carry on the Public Theater tradition.
Readers might also want to read our review of Helen Epstein's excellent biography Joe Papp, an American Life.
Easy-on-the budget super gift for yourself and your musical loving friends. Tons of gorgeous pictures.
>6, 500 Comparative Phrases including 800 Shakespearean Metaphors by our editor.
Click image to buy.
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