The Public Theater

First-Ever Public Forum at Park Theater
Discusses Shakespeare, Money, and Morals

The Public Theater and The Aspen Institute Arts Program will present "What Are We Worth? Shakespeare, Money, and Morals," with readings from Shakespeare's plays by Alan Alda, Marsha Stephanie Blake, Raúl Esparza, Hamish Linklater, Jesse L. Martin, Lily Rabe, Vanessa Redgrave, and Liev Schreiber, plus a town-hall discussion on Monday, June 17, at 8 p.m. at the Delacorte Theater.

This is the first time ever the Public Theater will be staging a free Public Forum event at its Central Park theater.

Are there some things money can't buy? Do we have obligations to each other as citizens? In the spirit of free exchange epitomized by more than 50 years of The Public's Shakespeare in the Park, this will be an evening of theater and public debate. This one-night-only Public Forum will include Shakespeare readings about money and justice, as well as a lively town-hall conversation with the audience conducted by Harvard professor and best-selling author Michael Sandel about the way the language of money has been taking over our lives—the subject of his recent book, What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets.

Free Public Forum tickets will be distributed, two per person, at noon on June 17 at the Delacorte Theater and via the Virtual Ticketing drawing at www.shakespeareinthepark.org. Reserved seats are also available for members by becoming a Public Forum Supporter with a tax-deductible donation of $75.

Public Forum, now in its third year, presents the theater of ideas. Curated by Jeremy McCarter, this series of lectures, conversations, and performances features leading voices in politics, media, and the arts. Alec Baldwin, Anne Hathaway, Cynthia Nixon, Michael Stuhlbarg, Sam Waterston, and former NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman have hosted its programs, which have featured the insights of Kurt Andersen, Carl Bernstein, David Brooks, David Byrne, Mary Schmidt Campbell, Nathan Englander, Hendrik Hertzberg, Arianna Huffington, Bill Irwin, Tony Kushner, Wynton Marsalis, Jay McInerney, Suzan-Lori Parks, Francine Prose, Reihan Salam, David Simon, Anna Deavere Smith, Ben Smith, Stephen Sondheim, Emma Straub, Sam Tanenhaus, Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson, Marc Tracy, Damian Woetzel, the culture writers of New York Magazine, and young veterans of the war in Afghanistan, plus performances by Hathaway, Michael Friedman, Gabriel Kahane, and Michael Cerveris, among others.

​The Aspen Institute Arts Program was established to support and invigorate the role of the arts in America, and to return the arts to the center of the Aspen Institute's “Great Conversation.” Directed by Damian Woetzel, it brings together artists, advocates, educators, managers, foundations, and government officials to exchange ideas and develop policies that strengthen the reciprocal relationship between the arts and society. For more information about the Aspen Institute, visit www.aspeninstitute.org/artsprogram.

May 23, 2013

If you have Shakespearean news to share, e-mail editorial@shakespeareances.com