Peter Jay Fernandez
The Public Theater is presenting FATHER COMES HOME FROM THE WARS (PARTS 1, 2 & 3), written by Public Theater Master Writer Chair Suzan-Lori Parks. Directed by Jo Bonney, FATHER COMES HOME FROM THE WARS (PARTS 1, 2 & 3) began previews on Tuesday, October 14 and runs through Sunday, November 16, with an official press opening on Tuesday, October 28.
Single tickets, starting at $60, are on sale now and can be purchased by calling (212) 967-7555, www.publictheater.org, or in person at the Taub Box Office at The Public Theater at 425 Lafayette Street.
The cast for FATHER COMES HOME FROM THE WARS (PARTS 1, 2 & 3) features Sterling K. Brown (Hero); Louis Cancelmi (Smith); Peter Jay Fernandez (Oldest Old Man); Jeremie Harris (Homer); Russell G. Jones (Leader, Runaway); Jenny Jules (Penny); Ken Marks (Colonel); Jacob Ming-Trent (Fourth, Odyssey Dog); Tonye Patano (Third Runaway); and Julian Rozzell Jr. (Second, Runaway).
Suzan-Lori Parks. Photo by Lia Chang
Pulitzer Prize winner Suzan-Lori Parks (Topdog/Underdog, The Book of Grace) continues her longstanding relationship with The Public Theater with FATHER COMES HOME FROM THE WARS (PARTS 1, 2 & 3), a devastatingly beautiful, dramatic work set over the course of the Civil War. Jo Bonney directs this moving and haunting drama comprised of three plays presented in a single performance. In Part 1, “A Measure of the Man,” Hero, a slave who is accustomed to his master’s lies, must now decide whether to join him on the Confederate battlefield in exchange for a promise of freedom. Part 2, “The Battle in the Wilderness” follows Hero and the Colonel as they lead a captured Union solider toward the Confederate lines as the cannons approach. Finally, in Part 3, “The Union of My Confederate Parts,” the loved ones Hero left behind question whether to escape or wait for his return – only to discover that for Hero, freedom may have come at a great spiritual cost. A masterful new work from one of our most lyrical and powerful writers which was a part of the 2013-14 Public Lab season, FATHER COMES HOME FROM THE WARS is a deeply personal epic about love and hope in a world of impossible choices. Presented in association with American Repertory Theater.
FATHER COMES HOME FROM THE WARS (PARTS 1, 2 & 3) features scenic design by Neil Patel, costume design by ESOSA, lighting design by Lap Chi Chu, and sound design and music supervision by Dan Moses Schreier.
SUZAN-LORI PARKS (Playwright) is The Public Theater’s Master Writer Chair. Her plays include Topdog/Underdog, which moved to Broadway and won the Pulitzer Prize, making her the first African- American woman to do so; The Book of Grace; Fucking A; In The Blood; Venus; and The America Play. In 2003, Parks wrote a play a day and her project 365 Days/365 Plays was produced in over 700 theaters worldwide. Her additional plays include The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World, and Imperceptible Mutabilities in the Third Kingdom. Her additional Broadway credits include The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, for which she received a Tony Award. She has written screenplays for Brad Pitt, Spike Lee, Oprah Winfrey, and her novel Getting Mother’s Body was published by Random House. She is a recipient of the MacArthur “Genius” Award, and one of Time Magazine’s “100 Innovators for the Next New Wave.”
JO BONNEY (Director) previously directed the Public Lab production of Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3), as well as Danny Hoch’s Some People, Diana Son’s Stop Kiss, Anna Deveare Smith’s House Arrest, Jose Rivera’s References to Salvador Dalí Make Me Hot, and Naomi Wallace’s Fever Chart at The Public. She has directed premieres of plays by Alan Ball, Eric Bogosian, Culture Clash, Eve Ensler, Jessica Goldberg, Neil LaBute, Warren Leight, Lynn Nottage, Dael Orlandersmith, Darci Picoult, Will Power, David Rabe, Universes, and Michael Weller. She has also directed productions of plays by Caryl Churchhill, Nilo Cruz, Charles Fuller, Lisa Loomer, John Osborne, John Pollono, and Lanford Wilson. She is the recipient of the 1998 Obie Award for Sustained Excellence of Direction; and is the editor of Extreme Exposure: An Anthology of Solo Performance Texts from the Twentieth Century.
The company of Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3). Photo by Joan Marcus
STERLING K. BROWN (Hero) previously appeared in the Public Lab production of Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3), as well as The Brother/Sister Plays and Macbeth at The Public. His additional Off-Broadway credits include The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, and he has appeared regionally in Topdog/Underdog; Intimate Apparel; Much Ado About Nothing; and Romeo and Juliet. His film and television credits include The Suspect, Our Idiot Brother, Righteous Kill, Trust the Man, “Army Wives,” “Person of Interest,” and “Supernatural.”
LOUIS CANCELMI (Smith) previously appeared in the Public Lab production of Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2, & 3), as well as The Singing Forest. He has appeared on Broadway and in the West End in Vincent in Brixton, and his additional Off-Broadway credits include The Hallway Trilogy, This, Blasted, and The Wooden Breeks. His film and television credits include Amazing Spiderman 2, Funny Bunny, Gayby, Gabi on the Roof in July, “Law and Order,” and “Third Watch.”
Jenny Jules, Sterling K. Brown, and Peter Jay Fernandez. Photo by Joan Marcus
PETER JAY FERNANDEZ (Oldest Old Man) has appeared at The Public in The Merchant of Venice, Henry VIII, As You Like It, Macbeth, and The Winter’s Tale. He has been seen on Broadway in All The Way, Cyrano de Bergerac, Julius Caesar, and Henry IV, as well as Off-Broadway in CQ/CX; Macbeth; Zooman and the Sign; The Pain and the Itch; The God Committee; Thunder Knocking on the Door; Once Around the City; and others. Televison/ Film: Deception, Preaching to the Choir, Adjustment Bureau, Funny Valentines,”House of Cards,”” “Fringe,” “The Good Wife,” “Damages,” “Blue Bloods,” “Body of Proof,” “Law & Order”(s)
JEREMIE HARRIS (Homer) has appeared at The Public Theater in the Public Studio production of The Urban Retreat. His film and television credits include A Walk Among the Tombstones, The Angriest Man in Brooklyn, Pariah, “Blue Bloods,” and “Person of Interest.”
RUSSELL G. JONES (Leader, Runaway) previously appeared in the Public Lab production of Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3). His additional theater credits include The Power of Duff; The Call; Whipping Man; Ruined, Our Lady of 121st Street; A View From 151st Street; God, The Crackhouse and The Devil; and In Arabia We’d All Be Kings. His film and television credits include A Most Violent Year, Side Effects, Mania Days, Pinch, Traffic, Squeeze, Companions, Turntable, “Do No Harm,” “Elementary,” “Smash,” and “Spin City.”
Jeremie Harris, Tonye Patano, Sterling K. Brown, Jacob Ming-Trent, and Jenny Jules. Photo by Joan Marcus
JENNY JULES (Penny) has appeared in London in Julius Caesar as Cassius in the Donmar Warehouse production, King Lear, Moon on A Rainbow Shawl, Ruined, A Raisin in the Sun, Death and the Kings Horseman, The Homecoming, Big White Fog, A Chain Play, Fabulation, Gem In The Ocean, Walk Hard, Born Bad, The Promise, Wine in the Wilderness, The Great White Hope, The Colour of Justice, Two Trains Running, Pecong, and When We Are Married. Her film and television credits include The Man Inside, A Short Stay in Switzerland, Octane, Victim, “Eastenders,” “Skins,” “Vexed,” “Father & Son,” “Casualty,” “Judge John Deed,” and many others.
KEN MARKS (Colonel) has appeared at The Public in A Bright Room Called Day, Henry V and Stuff Happens. His Broadway credits include Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark; Rock ‘n’ Roll; Spring Awakening; After the Fall; Hairspray; Mamma Mia!; Present Laughter; and Dancing at Lughnasa. His additional Off- Broadway credits include Bethany, Our Town, The Internationalist, McReele, Little Fish, and Blur. His film and television credits include Kelly & Cal, Side Effects, Step Up 3D, “Elementary,” “Royal Pains,” and “Law & Order.”
JACOB MING-TRENT (Fourth, Odyssey Dog) previously appeared in the Public Lab production of Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3), as well as the Public Works production of The Tempest. His Broadway credits include Hands on a Hardbody and Shrek the Musical. His additional Off-Broadway credits include A Midsummer Nights’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice, On the Levee, Dispatches from Amended America, and Widowers’ Houses. His film and television credits include Forbidden Love, Fort Greene, “Law & Order,” “Bored to Death,” and “30 Rock.”
TONYE PATANO (Third Runaway) previously appeared in the Public Lab production of Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3), as well as Neighbors and Everybody’s Ruby. She has appeared on Broadway in 45 Seconds from Broadway and Off-Broadway in The Heliotrope, Ponies, and Hamlet. Her film and television credits include Ponies, Little Manhattan, Diving Normal, The Taking of Pelham 123, The Hurricane, “Weeds,” “The Americans,” “Once Life To Live,” “Sex and the City,” “Monk,” and “Third Watch.”
JULIAN ROZZELL JR. (Second, Runaway) previously appeared in the Public Lab production of Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3), as well as The Total Bent. His additional Off-Broadway credits include Macbeth and Baal. His television credits include HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire” and “Law & Order.”
TICKET INFORMATION
FATHER COMES HOME FROM THE WARS (PARTS 1, 2 & 3) began performances on Tuesday, October 14 in The Public’s Anspacher Theater and runs through Sunday, November 16, with an official press opening on Tuesday, October 28.
Single tickets, starting at $60, are on sale now and can be purchased by calling (212) 967-7555, http://www.publictheater.org, or in person at the Taub Box Office at The Public Theater at 425 Lafayette Street.
The performance schedule is Tuesdays through Sundays at 7:00 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays at 1:30 p.m. (There is no performance on Saturday, October 18 at 1:30 p.m.)
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Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia starred as Carole Barbara in Lorey Hayes’ Power Play at the 2013 National Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem, N.C., with Pauletta Pearson Washington, Roscoe Orman, and made her jazz vocalist debut in Rome Neal’s Banana Puddin’ Jazz “LADY” at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in New York. She is profiled in Jade Magazine.
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