We invited Kenneth Turan to come into the studio recently to talk about what he learned, focusing mostly on Papp’s early years, which are now largely lost to history. Their stories are woven together into a thrilling record of one of the 20th century’s most important monuments to Shakespeare. Scott, Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Colleen Dewhurst, Tommy Lee Jones, and a Staten Island car-wash employee who would go on to play Romeo under the stage name of Martin Sheen. To create that book, he spent untold hours with Joe Papp and also talked with New York politicians, Broadway producers, and seemingly everyone else who helped Papp make Shakespeare in the Park a reality, including performers like James Earl Jones, George C. In 2009, Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan published an epic oral history of the early years of the New York Shakespeare Festival and the Public Theater that he titled Free for All: Joe Papp, the Public, and the Greatest Theater Story Ever Told. I’m Michael Witmore, the Folger’s director. WITMORE: From the Folger Shakespeare Library, this is Shakespeare Unlimited. I just did things on a day-to-day basis and had certain things I wanted to achieve. JOE PAPP: Well, people say that, you know, and I’ve never been a dreamer. You could say it was a dream come true for Joe Papp, but if you actually asked Joe Papp, he’d say that was wrong. WITMORE: Eight years of scraping and fighting against poverty, against bureaucrats, against the Red Scare, to perform Shakespeare for free for the people of New York. WITMORE: That’s the president of the New York City Council, Newbold Morris, speaking at the opening of the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. He wanted a home for the presentation of Shakespeare’s plays. NEWBOLD MORRIS: Joseph Papp has come to the end of a long road. MICHAEL WITMORE: On the evening of June 18, 1962, the pathbreaking force of nature behind the New York Shakespeare Festival finally, as always, got what he wanted. Scholars and theater artists tell us about the social and cultural forces gave rise to the outdoor Shakespeare festival. Shakespeare Unlimited: Shakespeare Outdoors The actor talks about playing Falstaff in The Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park production of Merry Wives in 2021. Q&A: Jacob Ming-Trent on Falstaff, Bottom, and Shakespeare’s comedy Previous: Still Dreaming | Next: Steven Berkoff: Shakespeare’s Heroes and Villainsįrom the Folger’s collection, take a look at the cover of the 1976 season’s program. We had technical help from Lauren Cascio and Nick Bozzone at Formosa Commercials recording studio in Santa Monica, California. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster and Esther Ferington. This podcast episode, “This Green Plot Shall Be Our Stage,” was produced by Richard Paul. Free for All: Joe Papp, the Public, and the Greatest Theater Story Ever Told was published by Anchor Books, a division of Random House.įrom the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series. Kenneth Turan was film critic for the Los Angeles Times and National Public Radio’s Morning Edition. Listen to Shakespeare Unlimited on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Soundcloud, or wherever you find your podcasts. Published in 2009, Turan’s epic oral history of the early years of the New York Shakespeare Festival and The Public Theater is called Free for All: Joe Papp, the Public, and the Greatest Theater Story Ever Told. To create that book, he spent untold hours with Joe Papp and also talked with New York politicians, Broadway producers, and seemingly everyone else who helped Papp make Shakespeare in the Park a reality, including performers like James Earl Jones, George C. The whole idea of “Off-Broadway.” We spoke with Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan about Papp’s life and works, from his hardscrabble childhood, through the frightening era of Joe McCarthy, to the founding of Shakespeare in the Park and The Public. Joe Papp was responsible for some of modern American theater’s most iconic institutions: New York City’s free Shakespeare in the Park.
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