Ensemble Member Lanna Joffrey

Check out Ensemble Member Lanna Joffrey working with The Public...

THE MOBILE UNIT

The Public’s Shakespeare Initiative presents THE MOBILE UNIT, offering Free Shakespeare To Audiences With Limited or No Access To the Arts.

Inagural Production
MEASURE FOR MEASURE
Produced in Association With Acclaimed Minneapolis Company TEN THOUSAND THINGS THEATER|
Two week tour will play correctional facilities, homeless shelters, centers for youth-at-risk, senior centers before performing at Judson Memorial Church, December 6-11

CLICK HERE to buy tickets to MEASURE FOR MEASURE at Judson Memorial Church.

At the same time The Public Theater is in previews for Daniel Sullivan’s acclaimed production of The Merchant of Venice on Broadway, The Public Theater announced it would expand its Shakespeare Initiative to include a new platform for the production of Shakespeare’s works: THE MOBILE UNIT.

Designed to bring the highest caliber professional productions of Shakespeare, free of charge, to audiences with little or no access to major New York City arts institutions, THE MOBILE UNIT will tour MEASURE FOR MEASURE, directed by Michelle Hensley, to correctional facilities, homeless shelters, facilities for battered and abused women, drug rehab facilities, senior centers, centers for youth-at-risk, and other social service organizations that support the disadvantaged, underserved, and marginalized.

Following the two week tour in November, MEASURE FOR MEASURE will play the historic Judson Memorial Church on Washington Square in Greenwich Village from December 6 through December 11. All tickets are $15.

The Public Theater will produce MEASURE FOR MEASURE in association with the nationally acclaimed Minneapolis theater company Ten Thousand Things Theater, of which Michelle Hensley is the founder and artistic director. For 20 years, Ten Thousand Things has brought productions of Shakespeare and other works to underserved audiences and institutions throughout the Twin Cities, and has become a nationwide model for such work.

THE MOBILE UNIT’S inaugural tour will take place November 22 through December 4 at the following venues:

• Arthur Kill Correctional Facility, Staten Island, a medium-security New York State men’s prison (November 23)
• Susan’s Place, Bronx, a shelter for battered and homeless women (November 26)
• Bayview Correctional Facility, Manhattan, a medium-security New York State women’s prison (November 30)
• Jamaica Service Program for Older Adults (JSPOA), Queens, a center for the elderly (December 1)
• Fortune Society, Queens, a provider of services for recently released convicts (December 2)
• Central High School / Boys & Girls Club of Newark, Newark, NJ, a major inner-city high school and a service organization for youth-at-risk (December 3)

The cast features Rob Campbell, Carson Elrod, Meg Gibson, Shalita Grant, William Jackson Harper, Jackie Sanders Hayes, Ruy Iskandar, Lanna Joffrey and Nicole Lewis.

MEASURE FOR MEASURE tells the story of a Duke who goes undercover to investigate the behavior of a deputy and to observe the lives of the assorted citizenry, from prostitutes and bawds to high level judges and administrators. The play is a look at the vexing difficulties that attend the fair administration of justice. Ten Thousand Things first performed MEASURE FOR MEASURE in the Twin Cities 12 years ago and found that its low-income audiences, most of whom must daily endure the judgments and injustice of others, deeply connected with Shakespeare’s tale.

Lanna Joffrey Jason Grote’s 1001 (Denver Center, dir. Ethan McSweeny) Denver Post Ovation Award, Nine Parts of Desire (Lyric Stage & Kitchen Theatre, dir. Carmel O'Reilly) IRNE Award Best Solo Performance, Lanna's documentary play, Valiant (dir. Tamilla Woodard) NY Fringe Festival Performance Award & NY Innovative Theatre nomination, Sad and Merry Madness (The Public, Barry Edelstein), The House of Spirits (Denver Center, Jose Zayas), Metamorphoses (Capital Repertory, Maggie Mancinelli-Carter), Damascus (Northern Stage, Brooke Ciardelli), The Fever Chart (Underground Railway Theater, Elena Araoz) The Snow Queen (Urban Stages, Daniella Topol), Mac Wellaman’s Cellophane (The Flea, Jim Simpson), Like I Say (The Flea, Len Jenkin), Saviana Stanescu’s Waxing West (Goldberg Festival, Jonathan Silverstein), Israel Horovitz's Security & A Mother's Love (Barefoot Theatre Company, Eric Nightengale & Pam Seiderman), Marko The Prince (Immigrants Theatre Project, Marcy Arlin) and Dancing at Lughnasa (Cider Mill Playhouse, Wendy Dann). Film/TV: Security, Delocated, Breathtaking, Someday Soon and The New Americans. Writing: She has collaborated with Karen Finley on Lanna’s solo piece, “Rain” (The Flea) and with Creative Destruction Theatre Company for their evening of Mashups and B-Sides (Nelson Eusebio, The Tank). She also regularly performs her spoken word at Nuyorican Poets Café, TerraNova Collective’s Subterranean and other NYC venues and events.