{"value"=>"<p>This series contains the institutional records of the New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theater from 1992-2010, arranged in season files which cover specific productions, festivals and other special events as well as literary files kept on contributing playwrights.</p> <p>The productions files, listed alphabetically within each season, contain copious research conducted and maintained by the Public's thorough dramaturgy department. These research files were kept on many major productions, especially new works with period settings or historical backgrounds. The department also did extensive research on the Shakespeare plays. Even though the Public had produced some of them many times before, the department approached each production afresh. Materials include articles, notes, timelines, photographs and in the case of Anna Deveare Smith's <span class=\"title\">Let Me Down Eas</span>y, which was developed at the Public, but eventually produced at the Second Stage Theatre, transcribed interviews with victims of recent wars and natural disasters.</p> <p>There are drafts of scripts and in many cases, multiple revisions illustrating the level of the Public's involvement in the creative process and commitment to nurturing the talents of playwrights, whether a new author seeing their first professional production or one of the many established playwrights who returned to the Public many times throughout their careers. Playwright files, maintained over many years, will be listed in the season in which they were archived by the Public's administrative staff and taken out of active use. These include files, by author or by play title, documenting works in development through annotated scripts, notes and correspondence. The Public was a pioneer in its commitment to nurturing playwrights from minority groups which had previously been under-represented in the American theatre, focusing on African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Latinos and Native Americans.</p> <p>Administrative files; such as correspondence, agreements, cast lists, contact sheets, rehearsal notes and schedules and performance reports; for many productions are also here. Occasionally there are scores for musicals or plays with incidental music, including new musical settings of songs from the Shakespeare plays. The technical aspects of production, including costume, lighting and scenic design are only occasionally represented. There are publicity materials, such as flyers, mailers, articles, press releases and programs. Files on some programming for Joe's Pub, the Public's Cabaret are held in this series.</p>"}