Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen will debut their newest work, The Line, via a world-premiere live stream this summer. A documentary work based on the first-person accounts of New York City’s first responders during the COVID-19 pandemic, the play will be presented by The Public Theater (where Blank and Jensen's other docu-drama Coal Country was in the midst of its run when the coronavirus outbreak occurred).
The Line will be live streamed on July 8 at 7:30 PM and will feature a company made up of Santino Fontana, Arjun Gupta, John Ortiz, Alison Pill, Nicholas Pinnock, Jamey Sheridan, and Lorraine Toussaint. The presentation will be available to watch for free via both YouTube and The Public’s website, and will remain online through August 4.
“In spring 2020, we conducted anonymous interviews with NYC frontline medical workers battling the COVID-19 virus,” shared Blank and Jensen. “Through these interviews, we began to see care as a radical response to institutionalized violence and the systems that perpetuate it. Created from quarantine in ‘rapid response’ to this national emergency, The Line presents a fundamental redefinition of what it means to protect and serve, examining the fault lines in our system through the words of the brave people who show up every day to care for us all.”
The Line features original music composition by Aimee Mann, and Janelle Caso will serve as production stage manager.
