New York Shakespeare Festival Productions

The Administrative Office files document the earliest activities of Joseph Papp, including the formation of the New York Shakespeare Festival. The records also document Papp's fight with Robert Moses over free Shakespeare in the Park, the acquisition and restoration of the Astor Library to become the Public Theater, the fiscal crisis of the 1970's and the NYSF at Lincoln Center. The records also reveal Papp's ideas for productions and seasonal planning, special programs such as the Mobile Theater and the School Tour, his plans for the future of the Festival, as well as his reactions to various causes affecting the theater and social causes in general, such as the NEA controversy.

Joseph Papp founded the New York Shakespeare Festival in 1954 in New York City.

It was initially chartered as the Shakespeare Workshop, an actors' workshop presenting Shakespeare and his Elizabethan contemporaries free of charge in the basement of the Emmanuel Presbyterian Church and in the Heckscher Theater. The original aim was to cultivate and encourage interest in Shakespeare and classic drama, to present an annual Shakespeare festival, and to build an Elizabethan-style stage to present Shakespeare's works. During the fifties, Papp fought to obtain financial support from the City of New York in order to establish a subsidized, free Shakespearean theater. Eventualy, Papp won a court battle with New York City Parks Commissioner Robert Moses to keep his Shakespeare productions free to the public. In 1957, the New York Shakespeare Festival flatbed truck, which toured the city parks and playgrounds with performances of Shakespeare, broke down near Belvedere Lake in Central Park. On that site they constructed the Delacorte Theater, which opened in 1962.

Papp relentlessly promoted the concept of free Shakespeare. He solicited support from foundations, corporations, political officials, and individual philanthropists. During the sixties, Papp extended the reach of the New York Shakespeare Festival by bringing Shakespeare to the outer boroughs of New York City and the tri-state area. He created the Mobile Theater, which toured the public schools, religious institutions, and civic organizations. In 1965, the New York Shakespeare Festival purchased the landmark Astor Library building on Lafayette Street, and the city funded its conversion into the new Public Theater. Papp then added to the New York Shakespeare Festival's mission a new mandate; to produce new American plays. The Public Theater was inaugurated in 1967 with the production of the musical HAIR. The Public Theater became the administrative home of the New York Shakespeare Festival and the laboratory for many original plays and musicals by David Rabe, Elizabeth Swados, Thomas Babe, Miguel Piñero, and many others. It was also home to many actors who found recognition through their association with the Festival, such as Colleen Dewhurst, James Earl Jones, Raul Julia, Kevin Kline, and Meryl Streep.

During the seventies, the New York Shakespeare Festival's production schedule became increasingly prolific, moving many productions to Broadway, most notably TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA, A CHORUS LINE, THAT CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON, and FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE (WHEN THE RAINBOW IS ENUF). The New York Shakespeare Festival earned an international reputation for theatrical innovation and received numerous awards. Papp expanded the Festival into the areas of dance, music and poetry, producing new plays by young playwrights that reflected contemporary issues. In 1974, the Festival was invited to become a constituent of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. During the next four years, the New York Shakespeare Festival produced IN THE BOOM BOOM ROOM, SHORT EYES, and THE THREEPENNY OPERA, among others, and achieved both notoriety and acclaim for its innovative staging of classics and production of new, often controversial plays.

Papp was ever seeking new audiences for the theater, which he believed to be a powerful social force. In the seventies, The New York Shakespeare Festival expanded into television production with David Rabe's STICKS AND BONES and several Shakespeare plays, then into motion pictures with adaptations of THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE (1983) and PLENTY (1985). The New York Shakespeare Festival participated in a theater exchange program with the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union. In 1984, the Festival Latino en Nueva York was launched through Papp's efforts and encouragement, and became an annual event. In addition, the Belasco Project was created to expose high school students to Shakespeare on Broadway, while the PITS Program taught them how to write plays. Papp became ill in the late eighties, and played a less active role in Festival administration and productions. His last major theatrical work was his direction of Bill Gunn's FORBIDDEN CITY, while his involvement in the controversy over NEA funding marked his final act of public advocacy. Joseph Papp died on October 31, 1991.

In 1984 the New York Shakespeare Festival, working with the Board of Education and the City's Arts and General Education Program, was host to a specially prepared 60-minute version of A Midsummer Night's Dream performed for students by the Theater for a New Audience. In the following years the Festival's Education Department created its own productions and developed its own programs to bring free Shakespeare to the school children of New York City. In 1986, a "Pilot Project", funded in part by the Board of Education, was begun at the Anspacher Theater. Under the direction of Estelle Parsons, As You Like It and Romeo and Juliet were performed at the Anspacher during April and May of 1986.

A multi-cultural cast was assembled to reflect the ethnic composition of the student audiences and some dialogue was delivered in Spanish. The performances continued through the summer of 1986 as part of the Mobile Tour. Funding from the Board of Education and several corporations allowed the Festival to expand the program for the 1986-1987 school year. "Shakespeare on Broadway" or the Belasco Project, as the program was known, brought 100,000 children to the Belasco Theater, which had a much larger seating capacity than the Anspacher. The company, still under the direction of Estelle Parsons added Macbeth to its program. In addition to performances, the program included the development of curriculum guides, teacher orientations and conferences, and school workshops conducted by members of the acting company.

Due to a lack of funding "Shakespeare on Broadway " did not continue in the 1987-1988 school year. Instead the Festival instituted a series of open rehearsals for teachers, and discounted tickets for students, teachers, and parents to the Festival's Shakespeare Marathon. Although some teachers and students found the Festival's productions too "modern", most were enthusiastic supporters. In 1987 teachers formed the "Volunteer Committee to Save Shakespeare for Students", but despite their protests, Board of Education funding was not restored. From 1987 to 1990 the Festival continued to encourage student attendance at its performances, and also continued its efforts to interact with teachers through seminars and open rehearsals.

The New York Shakespeare Festival was chartered by the State of New York Education Department in 1954 to produce summer festivals of plays by Shakespeare and his contemporaries.

The founder and producer was Joseph Papp who retired in 1991 in favor of JoAnne Akalaitis. Aside from fulfilling its original mandate, the group has also performed the works of more recent writers including Samuel Beckett, David Rabe, David Mamet, and Thomas Babe. Many of the productions that began with the New York.

Shakespeare Festival were recreated on Broadway, and several have been recognized with Tony Awards. Many of the actors and actresses who began with the New York Shakespeare Festival have had successful careers on the stage and in film and television.

During the late 1950's and early 1960's Joseph Papp, with the help of Herta Danis, began to develop a donor base of foundations, corporations, and individuals who contributed money to support NYSF's productions and general operations. With the establishment of the Development Office in the late 1960's, a more systematic approach was taken in maintaining and monitoring donations. The Development Office was established to organize and facilitate communication with patrons, founders, benefactors, sponsors, and subscribers.

NYSF actively coordinated fundraising events to promote the Festival's activities, to win financial support from donors, and to recruit new ones. The opening of an NYSF show or an emergency fundraising campaign, such as those that accompanied New York City fiscal crises, often occasioned fundraising events. Papp received much support from the New York City Mayors Wagner and Lindsay. Papp formed the Mayor's Committee for Free Shakespeare in 1960. The Committee, which met regularly to plan fundraising events, was comprised of and chaired by members of the Board of Trustees. Members, their wives, and other society people helped to bring in new donors. They hosted receptions in their homes, in restaurants, and even in Gracie Mansion to plan for fundraising campaigns and arrange NYSF events.

New Jazz at the Public was initiated in March of 1978, as a forum for contemporary jazz.

The first program coordinator for New Jazz was Andrew Plesser who held the position from 1978 to 1981. Nancy Weiss (later Nancy Weiss Hanrahan) served as program coordinator from 1981 until 1987. From 1978 until 1987 the New Jazz series highlighted contemporary jazz musicians and "new jazz" performers. New Jazz at the Public presented over 200 performances during the years it was active. Among the musicians who performed there were: Pat Metheny, Steve Lacy, Chico Freeman, Archie Shepp, Jaki Byard, Don Pullen, Betty Carter, Carla Bley, Muhal Richard Abrams, Abdullah Ibrahim, Lester Bowie, Leroy Jenkins, Gil Evans, Henry Threadgill, Cecil Taylor, John Zorn, Jack DeJohnette, Sun Ra, Papa Zaka, and Milton Cardona.

In the 1980's programming began to focus on special events which would highlight jazz as an art form. The number of shows was reduced, so that concept shows and concert s could be accommodated. Programming in 1983 included Conjure: music for the texts of Ishmael Reed and a program of jazz from the Soviet Union. In 1984 New Jazz presented a music theater piece: 33 scenes on the possibility of human happiness, composed by Henry Threadgill and a concert by the Vienna Art Orchestra, and in 1985 both Jay McShann and John Carter were commissioned to create works for performance at the Public. While jazz remained a focus, the program sought to incorporate a wide range of musical styles and different presentations,. Program funders included the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, and Meet the Composer.

The Play Department was officially formed in 1976 under the direction of Gail Merrifield Papp. The department was created to formalize the analysis and development of scripts submitted to the NYSF and to monitor theater trends and talent. The records reflect the changing role of the Play Department (first called the Scripts Department, later the Department of Play and Musical Development) as it evolved and articulated its role in the New York Shakespeare Festival. The reading of scripts was done by "playreaders" who prepared analytical reports. Salaried staff attended local performances Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway. There were also stringers attending performances in other states. These activities resulted in the preparation of formal play reports. The function of the play report (see Subseries III: Playwrights) was to give a brief description of the play's plot and characters, to identify the strengths and weaknesses of its conception and performance, and finally to make recommendations for its development by the Festival. There is a great deal of correspondence from playwrights and composers to Joseph Papp regarding projects and personal news from many individuals including Elizabeth Swados, Derek Walcott, David Hare, Thomas Babe, Viktor Rozov and Tina Howe.

The Play Department initiated and conducted several special programs that encouraged the representation of diverse literary voices and drew attention to new ones. The Poets at the Public program, a regular series of staged reading of poetry, presented traditional and experimental work by leading poets. The Playwriting in the Schools project cultivated new dramatists by introducing playwriting into high school curriculums. Of interest to students of musical theater history is the Play Department's "Ten-Minute Musicals" program, led by Wilford Leach and Gail Merrifield Papp. This project solicited ten-minute demonstrations of musical projects in order to develop full-scale productions. The records also provide insight into the Festival's broadcast and cable television programming ideas.

Joseph Papp's theater company was originally called the New York Shakespeare Workshop, though the name was later changed to the New York Shakespeare Festival. In 1967, the company built their physical theater, The Public Theater, and the company also became known as The Public Theater. By 1993, after Papp's death the company was officially called The Joseph Papp New York Shakespeare Festival/The Public Theater and for many years the two names were used interchangeably. Though this collection is called the New York Shakespeare Festival Records, the company is now both widely known as and officially named The Public Theater.

Since its inception in 1954, the New York Shakespeare Festival/the Public Theater is a highly acclaimed theater company, dedicated to achieving artistic excellence while developing an American theater that is accessible and relevant to all people through productions of challenging new plays, musicals and innovative stagings of the classics.

The Public Theater produces new plays, musicals, productions of Shakespeare, and other classics in its headquarters on Lafayette Street (the former Astor library, which opened as The Public Theater in 1967 with the world premiere of the musical Hair) and at the Delacorte Theater, its permanent summertime home of free Shakespeare in the Park each summer. The Public's newest performance space, Joe's Pub, has become an important venue for new work and intimate performances by musicians, spoken-word artists, and solo performers.

In addition to its theatrical programming, The Public trains the next generation of classical actors through the Shakespeare Lab, an annual summer acting intensive. It also presents New Work Now!, a play reading series for emerging writers and established artists.

Each year, more than 250,000 people attend Public Theater-related productions and events at six downtown stages, including Joe's Pub, and Shakespeare in the Park. The Public Theater's productions have won 42 Tony Awards, 151 Obies, 41 Drama Desk Awards and four Pulitzer Prizes. Fifty-four Public Theater productions have moved to Broadway, including Sticks and Bones; That Championship Season; A Chorus Line; For Colored Girls...; The Pirates of Penzance; The Tempest; Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk; The Ride Down Mt. Morgan; Topdog/Underdog; Take Me Out; Caroline, or Change; Passing Strange; the revival of HAIR; Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson and The Merchant of Venice. In 2005, The Public Theater received a special Drama Desk Award in celebration of its 50th anniversary.* For a full list of the Public's productions, see http://www.publictheater.org/content/view/84/145/.

* From http://www.publictheater.org, retrieved 7/22/11

The New York Shakespeare Festival was established in 1954 as the Shakespeare Workshop - an artist’s workshop founded by Joseph Papp.

Initially, the festival’s aim was to promote Shakespeare and his Elizabethan contemporaries free of charge. The productions were held in the basement of the Emmanuel Presbyterian Church and in the Heckscher Theater. Papp wanted to encourage interest in Shakespeare and classic drama, with the idea of creating an annual Shakespeare Festival, and to build an Elizabethan style stage to present Shakespeare’s works. He fought to obtain a subsidized, free theater with financial support from the City of New York. Papp won a court battle with New York City Parks Commissioner Robert Moses to keep the productions free to the public. In 1957, the Festival’s flatbed truck, which toured the city’s parks and playgrounds, broke down near Belvedere Lake in Central Park. It was on this site that the Delacorte Theater was constructed, which opened in 1962.

Papp never stopped promoting the idea of free Shakespeare. He solicited support from foundations, corporations, political officials, and individual philanthropists. During the sixties, he created the Mobile Theater, which toured the five boroughs and the tri-state area visiting public schools, religious institutions, and civic organizations. In 1965, The New York Shakespeare Festival purchased the landmark Astor Library Building on Lafayette Street. The building was converted into the New Public Theater, which the city funded. In addition, Papp created a new mandate for the Festival: to produce new American plays. The Public Theater not only became the administrative home for the New York Shakespeare Festival, but also became the laboratory for many original plays and musicals by David Rabe, Elizabeth Swados, Thomas Babe, Miguel Piñero, and many others. In 1967, the theater opened with the production of Hair.

During the seventies the Festival became increasingly prolific because of its increasing international reputation and numerous awards. Many of productions moved to Broadway, most notable among them were Two Gentlemen of Verona, A Chorus Line, That Championship Season, and For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide (When the Rainbow Is Enuf) . In 1974, the Festival became a constituent of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, at which time Papp extended the Festival beyond the promotion of Shakespeare into areas of dance, music, and poetry that reflected contemporary issues. During the next four years the Festival produced In the Boom Boom Room, Short Eyes, and The Threepenny Opera . The New York Shakespeare Festival achieved acclaim for its innovative staging of classics and production of new and often controversial plays. In 1976, Papp launched the Festival Latino en Nueva York, which became an annual event.

Papp believed that a new audience would promote a powerful social force. During the late seventies and early eighties, he expanded the Festival into television production with David Rabe’s Sticks and Bones and several Shakespeare plays, then into motion pictures with the adaptations of Pirates of Penzance (1983) and Plenty (1985). The Festival even participated in a theater exchange program with England and the Soviet Union. He also started the Belasco Project for the sole purpose of exposing high school students to Shakespeare on Broadway, while the PITS Program taught them how to write plays.

Papp became ill in the late eighties. He played less of a role in the Festival’s administrative and productive activities. His last major theatrical work was his direction of Bill Gunn’s Forbidden City and he continued his involvement of public advocacy with the controversy over NEA funding until his death on October 31, 1991.

Joseph Papp founded the New York Shakespeare Festival in 1954 in New York City. It was initially chartered as the Shakespeare Workshop, an actors' workshop presenting Shakespeare and his Elizabethan contemporaries free of charge in the basement of the Emmanuel Presbyterian Church and in the Heckscher Theater. The original aim was to cultivate and encourage interest in Shakespeare and classic drama, to present an annual Shakespeare festival, and to build an Elizabethan-style stage to present Shakespeare's works. During the fifties, Papp fought to obtain financial support from the City of New York in order to establish a subsidized, free Shakespearean theater. Eventualy, Papp won a court battle with New York City Parks Commissioner Robert Moses to keep his Shakespeare productions free to the public. In 1957, the New York Shakespeare Festival flatbed truck, which toured the city parks and playgrounds with performances of Shakespeare, broke down near Belvedere Lake in Central Park. On that site they constructed the Delacorte Theater, which opened in 1962.

Papp relentlessly promoted the concept of free Shakespeare. He solicited support from foundations, corporations, political officials, and individual philanthropists. During the sixties, Papp extended the reach of the New York Shakespeare Festival by bringing Shakespeare to the outer boroughs of New York City and the tri-state area. He created the Mobile Theater, which toured the public schools, religious institutions, and civic organizations. In 1965, the New York Shakespeare Festival purchased the landmark Astor Library building on Lafayette Street, and the city funded its conversion into the new Public Theater. Papp then added to the New York Shakespeare Festival's mission a new mandate; to produce new American plays. The Public Theater was inaugurated in 1967 with the production of the musical HAIR. The Public Theater became the administrative home of the New York Shakespeare Festival and the laboratory for many original plays and musicals by David Rabe, Elizabeth Swados, Thomas Babe, Miguel Piñero, and many others. It was also home to many actors who found recognition through their association with the Festival, such as Colleen Dewhurst, James Earl Jones, Raul Julia, Kevin Kline, and Meryl Streep.

During the seventies, the New York Shakespeare Festival's production schedule became increasingly prolific, moving many productions to Broadway, most notably TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA, A CHORUS LINE, THAT CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON, and FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE (WHEN THE RAINBOW IS ENUF). The New York Shakespeare Festival earned an international reputation for theatrical innovation and received numerous awards. Papp expanded the Festival into the areas of dance, music and poetry, producing new plays by young playwrights that reflected contemporary issues. In 1974, the Festival was invited to become a constituent of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. During the next four years, the New York Shakespeare Festival produced IN THE BOOM BOOM ROOM, SHORT EYES, and THE THREEPENNY OPERA, among others, and achieved both notoriety and acclaim for its innovative staging of classics and production of new, often controversial plays.

Papp was ever seeking new audiences for the theater, which he believed to be a powerful social force. In the seventies, The New York Shakespeare Festival expanded into television production with David Rabe's STICKS AND BONES and several Shakespeare plays, then into motion pictures with adaptations of THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE (1983) and PLENTY (1985). The New York Shakespeare Festival participated in a theater exchange program with the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union. In 1984, the Festival Latino en Nueva York was launched through Papp's efforts and encouragement, and became an annual event. In addition, the Belasco Project was created to expose high school students to Shakespeare on Broadway, while the PITS Program taught them how to write plays. Papp became ill in the late eighties, and played a less active role in Festival administration and productions. His last major theatrical work was his direction of Bill Gunn's FORBIDDEN CITY, while his involvement in the controversy over NEA funding marked his final act of public advocacy. Joseph Papp died on October 31, 1991.