Hawke, Landau, Guirgis and Gurney to Be Part of Arab/Israeli-Focused New Work Now! at Public

//assets.playbill.com/editorial/c6f6585e7e0286a4ddcc608f0821ab37-ethanhawke200.jpg — Ethan Hawke Photo by Paul Kolnik

Along with the fall lineup of new plays, this season the Public's festival will team with The Flea Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, Nibras and the Arab-American Comedy Festival to present plays by Israeli, Arab and American playwrights that "were born of and respond to the turmoil in the Middle East," according to an announcement.

Past New Work Now! productions developed in the series include Caroline, or Change by Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori; the 2002 Pulitzer Prize-winning Topdog/Underdog by Suzan-Lori Parks; as well as John Jeter's Dirty Tricks; David Grimm's Kit Marlowe and Measure for Pleasure; José Rivera's References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot; and Diana Son's Stop Kiss and Satellites.

The free public readings (at 8:30 PM unless noted otherwise) in the New Work Now! schedule are as follows:
(Arab/Israeli Festival works are denoted by an asterisk*)

Oct. 23: Things We Want by Jonathan Marc Sherman - directed by Ethan Hawke

Oct. 24: iWitness* by Joshua Sobol and dir. Barry Edelstein

Oct. 25: In The Red and Brown Water by Tarell McCraney - directed by Tina Landau

Oct. 26: When The Bulbul Stopped Singing* David Greig adapts from the diaries of Raja Shehadeh - directed by JoAnne Akalaitis

Oct. 27: New York Theatre Workshop and Nibras* (Program A):
Najla Said's untitled one-woman show, Nathalie Handal's Between Our Lips and Kia Corthron's Power Lunch

Oct. 28: New York Theatre Workshop & Nibras* (Program B):
Leila Buck's untitled one-woman show, Nathalie Handal's La Cosa Dei Sogni and Nibras' Lebanon

Oct. 29 at 7 PM: The Good Negro by Tracey Scott Wilson - directed by Leisl Tommy

Oct. 30: The Murder of Isaac* by Motti Lerner (Anthony Berris translation) - directed by Irene Lewis

Nov. 1: Americans Respond: An Evening of Short Plays in Response to the Crisis in the Middle East*
world-premiere short pieces by American playwrights like Stephen Adly Guirgis, Naomi Wallace and David Grimm

Nov. 2: Celebrity Row by Itamar Moses - directed by Oskar Eustis

Nov. 3 at 7:30 PM: Untitled Darfur Play by Winter Miller - directed by Joanna Settle

Nov. 4:

Again And Against - The Art of Hoping Indefinitely* by Betty Shamieh - directed by Robert O'Hara

Nov. 4 at 11 PM: Sneak Preview of the NY Arab-American Comedy Festival*

Nov. 6: O Jerusalem* by A.R. Gurney - directed by Jim Simpson
For reservations (limit of two per reading), call (212) 967-7555. For more information, visit publictheater.org.