First Performance “Free For All” on Tuesday, October 17
September 7, 2017 - The Public Theater (Artistic Director, Oskar Eustis; Executive Director, Patrick Willingham) announced complete casting today for the New York premiere of OFFICE HOUR, written by Julia Cho and directed by Neel Keller, part of The Public’s Astor Anniversary Season at their landmark downtown home on Lafayette Street, celebrating 50 years of new work at 425 Lafayette Street and the 50thAnniversary of HAIR. OFFICE HOUR will begin performances on Tuesday, October 17 and run through Sunday, December 3 with an official press opening on Wednesday, November 8. Continuing The Public’s mission to make great theater accessible to all, The Public’s First Performance “Free for All” continues this fall; free tickets to the first preview on Tuesday, October 17 will be available beginning October 10, via TodayTix mobile lottery.
The complete cast of OFFICE HOUR features Greg Keller (David), Sue Jean Kim (Gina), Ki Hong Lee (Dennis), and Adeola Role (Genevieve).
Public Theater Partner, Supporter, and Member tickets, as well as single tickets starting at $75, are available now and can be accessed by calling (212) 967-7555, visiting www.publictheater.org, or in person at the Taub Box Office at The Public Theater at 425 Lafayette Street.
Playwright Julia Cho returns to The Public with a taut new drama about a teacher and student desperate to change the narrative of who they are and how their story ends. Gina was warned that one of her students would be a problem. Eighteen years old and strikingly odd, Dennis writes violently obscene work clearly intended to unsettle those around him. Determined to know whether he’s a real threat, Gina compels Dennis to attend her office hours. But as the clock ticks down, Gina realizes that “good” versus “bad” is nothing more than a convenient illusion, and that the isolated young student in her office has learned one thing above all else: that for the powerless, the ability to terrify others is powerful indeed. Neel Keller directs this inventive, penetrating new drama about a single day that could end in tragedy or hope − and the endless possibilities in between.
OFFICE HOUR will feature scenic design by Takeshi Kata, costume design by Kaye Voyce, lighting design by Christopher Akerlind, and original music and sound design by Bray Poor.
JULIA CHO (Playwright) plays include Aubergine, The Language Archive (Susan Smith Blackburn Award), The Piano Teacher, Durango, The Winchester House, BFE, The Architecture of Loss and 99 Histories. They’ve been produced in New York at Playwrights Horizons, Roundabout Theatre Company, The Vineyard Theatre and New York Theatre Workshop, and regionally at South Coast Repertory, Berkeley Repertory Theatre and Long Wharf Theatre, among others. Julia has developed work for HBO and TNT and was a writer/producer on AMC's Halt and Catch Fire. She studied playwriting at Amherst College, New York University and The Juilliard School and is an alumna of New Dramatists.
NEEL KELLER (Director)’s recent productions include the world premieres of Julia Cho’s Office Hour, Lucy Alibar’s Throw Me On The Burnpile and Light Me Up, Dael Orlandersmith’s Forever and Until The Flood, Kimber Lee’s different words for the same thing, and Jennifer Haley’s The Nether. Other favorite productions include Jessica Goldberg’s Good Thing, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, staged in a prickly Berkshire meadow, and, the American premiere of David Greig’s The Cosmonaut’s Last Message to the Woman He Once Loved in the Former Soviet Union. Keller has directed at many theaters including, Center Theatre Group’s Mark Taper Forum and Kirk Douglas Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, South Coast Repertory, La Jolla Playhouse, The Abbey Theater, Long Wharf Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Remains Theatre and Portland Center Stage. He is an Associate Artistic Director at Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles and a member of The Stage Directors and Choreographers Society and the Directors Guild of America.
GREG KELLER (David) has appeared on Broadway in Our Mother’s Brief Affair and Wit at MTC. His Off-Broadway credits include Animalat Atlantic; Sundown, Yellow Moon at Ars Nova/WP; Of Good Stock at MTC; The Who and The What at LCT3; Belleville at NYTW; Somewhere Fun at Vineyard; Cradle and All (MTC); That Pretty Pretty, Steve & Idi (Rattlestick); Smudge (Women’s Project); Telethon (Clubbed Thumb);The Seagull with Dianne Wiest (CSC). His regional credits include War, Elevada, Scenes From Court Life (Yale Rep), Seminar with Jeff Goldblum, 33 Variations with Jane Fonda (Ahmanson).
SUE JEAN KIM (Gina)’s selected credits include The End of Longing at MCC; Aubergine, Assistance, Drunken City and BFE at Playwrights Horizons; The Chinese Room at Williamstown Theatre Festival; 10 Out of 12 at Soho Rep; Water by the Spoonful at Second Stage; and The Hallway Trilogy at Rattlestick. Her film and television credits include Maggie’s Plan, James White, Bachelorette, “Crash and Burn” (Hulu pilot), “High Maintenance,” “The Blacklist,” “Elementary,” "Nurse Jackie," “Falling Water,” "Girls," "Cop Show" as a series regular, and "Delocated" in a recurring role.
KI HONG LEE (Dennis) stars as the lead runner ‘Minho’ in the Maze Runner franchise, which will premiere the third installment, Maze Runner: The Death Cure, in January 2018. His additional film credits include The Stanford Prison Experiment, Wish Upon, and the film adaptation of David Henry Hwang’s Yellowface. His television credits include ‘Dong’ in “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” “The Nine Lives of Chloe King,” “Modern Family,” and “New Girl.” He has appeared on stage in LA in Wrinkles and is a graduate of UC Berkeley.
ADEOLA ROLE (Genevieve) has appeared on Broadway in Eclipsed as Helena and the understudy for Rita, and appeared in the tour as Maima. She will be seen in the upcoming Broadway production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Her Off-Broadway credits include Joy in Invisible Thread. Regionally she has appeared in Witness Uganda and Lily's Revenge at A.R.T. She received her B.A. from UC Berkeley and her M.F.A from MXAT/ART at Harvard University.
ABOUT THE PUBLIC THEATER:
The world-renowned Public Theater, under the leadership of Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Patrick Willingham, is the only theater in New York that produces Shakespeare, the classics, musicals, contemporary, and experimental pieces in equal measure. This fall begins The Public’s Astor Anniversary Season celebrating 50 years of new work at 425 Lafayette Street and the 50th Anniversary of HAIR which opened the landmark theater in October 1967. The Public continues the work of its visionary founder, Joe Papp, by acting as an advocate for the theater as an essential cultural force, and by leading and framing dialogue on some of the most important issues of our day. Creating theater for one of the largest and most diverse audience bases in New York City for nearly 60 years, today the Company engages audiences in a variety of venues—including its landmark downtown home at Astor Place, which houses five theaters and Joe’s Pub; the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, home to Free Shakespeare in the Park; and the Mobile Unit, which tours productions for underserved audiences throughout New York City’s five boroughs. The Public’s wide range of programming includes Free Shakespeare in the Park, the bedrock of the Company’s dedication to making theater accessible to all; Public Works, an expanding initiative that is designed to cultivate new connections and new models of engagement with artists, audiences and the community each year; the Under the Radar Festival, a yearly festival celebrating diverse and cutting-edge performance from the U.S. and abroad; and audience and artist development initiatives that range from the Emerging Writers Group to the Public Forum series. The Public’s work is also seen on tour throughout the U.S. and internationally and in collaborations and co-productions with regional and international theaters. The Public is located on property owned by the City of New York and receives annual support from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. The Public is currently represented on Broadway by the Tony Award-winning acclaimed American musical Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda and in Fall 2017, John Leguizamo’s Latin History for Morons. The Public has received 59 Tony Awards, 169 Obie Awards, 53 Drama Desk Awards, 54 Lortel Awards, 32 Outer Critics Circle Awards, 13 New York Drama Critics Awards, and six Pulitzer Prizes. www.publictheater.org.
TICKET INFORMATION
OFFICE HOUR begins performances in The Public’s Martinson Theater on Tuesday, October 17 and runs through Sunday, December 3, with an official press opening on Wednesday, November 8.
Public Theater Partner, Supporter, and Member tickets, and single tickets, starting at $75, are available now and can be accessed by calling(212) 967-7555, visiting www.publictheater.org, or in person at the Taub Box Office at The Public Theater at 425 Lafayette Street.
Continuing The Public’s mission to make great theater accessible to all, The Public’s First Performance “Free for All” continues this fall; free tickets to the first preview on Tuesday, October 17 will be available beginning October 10, via TodayTix mobile lottery.
The performance schedule is Tuesday through Sunday at 8:00 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday at 2:00 p.m. There is an added 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 1 and at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 22. There is no performances on Sunday, November 5 and Thursday, November 23.
The Library at The Public is open nightly for food and drink, beginning at 5:30 p.m., and Joe’s Pub at The Public continues to offer some of the best music in the city. For more information, visit www.publictheater.org.
