Oskar Eustis

For generations, the Public Theater has been the beating heart of New York City’s cultural scene. And now, as New York City staggers back after a deadly pandemic, the Public Theater is once again in the spotlight with a new all-black production of Merry Wives - bringing back Free Shakespeare in the Park after Covid shut it down for the first time in its 67-year history. This documentary chronicles the behind-the-scenes story of the Public Theater as it returns to the stage, and shows New Yorkers and the world that despite everything, art and artists will always survive and indeed thrive.

This documentary focuses on The Public Theater’s 2017 Public Works musical production of As You Like It, which was performed by 200 New Yorkers of all ages and boroughs, and was named one of the Top Ten shows of 2017 by The New York Times. Co-adapted by Shaina Taub and Laurie Woolery, with music and lyrics by Shaina Taub, original choreography by Sonya Tayeh, and direction by Laurie Woolery, As You Like It was set to be remounted as part of the 2020 Free Shakespeare in the Park season, but those plans were halted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This film tracks the creation of As You Like It and the ways this resilient community has banded together amidst the crises of 2020.

A little girl lives in a custodian apartment inside a New York Public Library, where her father stokes its coal furnace 24/7. Decades later, actor Sharon Washington chooses the theater to write her modern-day fairytale filled with real and imagined dragons, family secrets, forgiveness, and a world of books.