The Public Theater announced today that it will hold The People’s Filibuster – a public artistic demonstration of support and solidarity for the people of Minnesota – on Saturday, January 31, from 11 am to 7 pm, on the steps of its Off-Broadway flagship building at 425 Lafayette Street in NYC. The 8-hour public “protest for humanity” will connect artists, elected officials, and community leaders in a civic action that will present seminal primary source texts from the founding of our nation and writings and songs that articulate our shared ideals and democratic aspirations, not as history alone, but as a living call to action. The non-ticketed event is free and open to the public, with livestreaming also available for those who can’t attend in person; more details will be announced on Friday.
Participants scheduled to appear include Lin-Manuel Miranda, Luis A. Miranda Jr., Dr. Luz Towns-Miranda, Constance Wu, John Leguizamo, Micaela Diamond, Quiara Alegría Hudes, F. Murray Abraham, Laura Benanti, Michael Cerveris, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Annaleigh Ashford & Joe Tapper, Jessica Hecht, Celia Keenan-Bolger, John Ellison Conlee, Leigh Silverman, Mona Mansour, Jose Llana, Rebecca Martinez, Robert O’Hara, Jessica Blank & Erik Jensen, and many more.
A statement released by The Public’s leadership notes: “We stand in solidarity with our neighbors in Minnesota and across the country who are angry and grieving, protesting state-sanctioned violence and abuses of power, and organizing for the safety, dignity, and human rights of all. In this moment of crisis, our intention is to create a collective interruption that invites reflection, accountability, and recommitment to the values we claim as a nation, protesting and contrasting the abhorrent violence and abuses we are witnessing all around us.”
The Public also observed that “Artists have always been among the first to name the unspoken, to hear the unheard, and to imagine a more just world” and remains committed to continuing the work of its visionary founder Joe Papp as a civic institution engaging both on-stage and off with some of the most important ideas and social issues of today.
Conceived over 60 years ago as one of the nation’s first non-profit theaters, The Public has long operated on the principles that theater is an essential cultural force and that art and culture belong to everyone. Since premiering HAIR in 1967, The Public – recipient of 64 Tony Awards, 195 Obie Awards, 62 Drama Desk Awards, 64 Lortel Awards, 36 Outer Critic Circle Awards, 13 New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards, 72 AUDELCO Awards, 6 Antonyo Awards, and 6 Pulitzer Prizes – continues to create landmarks of American theater and is currently represented on Broadway by the Tony-winning musicals Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Hell’s Kitchen by Alicia Keys and Kristoffer Dia.
For additional information and updates about The People’s Filibuster and livestream, visit the website.
