NEWSLETTER
New York, N.Y. (October 22, 2026) – The Public Theater (Artistic Director, Oskar Eustis; Executive Director, Patrick Willingham) will soon begin previews for the world premiere production of WE’LL SEE, written and directed by Tony Award winner Richard Nelson. The beloved Apple Family will once again grace The Public’s stage with timely conversation around the dinner table for the first time since 2013. After three recent presentations on Zoom over the course of the pandemic, the latest installment will take place on the eve of the 2026 midterm elections.
Performances will begin in The Public’s Barbaralee Theater on Sunday, October 25 with a Joseph Papp Free Performance. The production will now run through Sunday, November 29 following a one-week extension, with an official opening night on the day the show takes place—Tuesday, November 3.
The latest in Richard Nelson’s The Rhinebeck Panorama, his acclaimed 12-play series about three families in Rhinebeck, New York, WE’LL SEE follows the Apple family on midterm election day, November 3, 2026. The Apples are anxious, looking for a way to get through the night. They gather at Barbara’s for a family dinner. They tell stories, catch up, laugh, make fun of themselves, eat, sing, and talk about their lives and the incidental moments of their day, while asking themselves a question: “Do we define ourselves by what we are not, by what we hate?”
“It's a rare and moving experience to work again with these wonderful actors, on this journey that began 16 years ago,” shares Rhinebeck Panorama playwright and director Richard Nelson. “We last met the Apple Family on Zoom during the pandemic. Today we find them, like ourselves, in uncharted territory, confused, upset, lost, asking, as always, what have we become?”
Reprising their roles as the Apple family, WE’LL SEE features Sally Murphy (Jane), Maryann Plunkett (Barbara), Laila Robins (Marian), and Jay O. Sanders (Richard). Yvonne Woods (Yvonne) joins this iteration as Richard’s partner.
The Public’s production of WE’LL SEE features scenic design by Jason Ardizzone-West, costume design by Susan Hilferty, lighting by Jennifer Tipton, and sound design and composition by Scott Lehrer. Nicole Caroselli is the production stage manager and Molly Foy is the stage manager.
The Public will also host THE SHAPE OF OUR TIME, a weekend of three special events celebrating Richard Nelson’s extraordinary body of work. All events are free and open to all, November 4, 6, and 9. View schedule and learn more publictheater.org.
BIOS:
RICHARD NELSON (Playwright and Director)’s plays include More Beauty Than Sorrow, When the Hurlyburly’s Done (Theater on Podil, Kyiv, Ukraine); Notre Vie Dans l’Art (Theatre du Soleil, Paris); and the 12-play cycle, The Rhinebeck Panorama, all of which he directed. Other plays include Springwood, Illyria, Nikolai and the Others, Farewell to the Theatre, An Actor Convalescing in Devon, Conversations in Tusculum, Goodnight Children Everywhere (Olivier Award, Best Play), Two Shakespearean Actors (Tony Award nomination, Best Play), Some Americans Abroad (Olivier Award nomination, Best Comedy), New England, Frank’s Home, and others. His musicals include James Joyce’s The Dead (Tony Award, Best Book of a Musical) and his screenplays include Hyde Park on Hudson (Roger Michell, director). With Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, he has co-translated plays by Chekhov, Gogol, Gorky, Turgenev, and Bulgakov. His books include his Kyiv diaries: A Diary of War & Theatre, Six Young Women Putting on a Play and Theatre Keeps Us Warm. He is an honorary associate artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company and recipient of the PEN/Laura Pels Master Playwright Award. He lives in Upstate New York.
THE PUBLIC continues the work of its visionary founder Joe Papp as a civic institution engaging, both on-stage and off, with some of the most important ideas and social issues of today. Conceived over 60 years ago as one of the nation’s first nonprofit theaters, The Public has long operated on the principles that theater is an essential cultural force and that art and culture belong to everyone. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Patrick Willingham, The Public’s wide breadth of programming includes an annual season of new work at its landmark home at Astor Place, Free Shakespeare in the Park at The Delacorte Theater in Central Park, the Mobile Unit touring throughout New York City’s five boroughs, Public Works, and Joe’s Pub. Since premiering HAIR in 1967, The Public continues to create the canon of American Theater and is currently represented on Broadway by the Tony Award-winning musical Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Their programs and productions can also be seen regionally across the country and around the world. The Public has received 64 Tony Awards, 197 Obie Awards, 63 Drama Desk Awards, 66 Lortel Awards, 36 Outer Critic Circle Awards, 13 New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards, 70 AUDELCO Awards, 6 Antonyo Awards, and 6 Pulitzer Prizes. publictheater.org
The Public Theater stands in honor of the first inhabitants and our ancestors. We acknowledge the land on which The Public and its theaters stand—the original homeland of the Lenape people. We acknowledge the painful history of genocide and forced removal from this territory. We honor the generations of stewards and we pay our respects to the many diverse indigenous peoples still connected to this land.
TICKET INFORMATION
WE’LL SEE begins performances in The Public’s Barbaralee Theater with the Joseph Papp Free Performance on Sunday, October 25. The production officially opens on Tuesday, November 3 and runs through Sunday, November 29.
Tickets are available now and can be accessed by visiting publictheater.org, calling 212.967.7555, or in person at the Taub Box Office at The Public Theater at 425 Lafayette Street.
The Public’s Joseph Papp Free Performance initiative will offer free tickets to the performance on Sunday, October 25 through TodayTix. The Lottery will open for entries on Sunday, October 18 and will close at 12:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 25. Winners will be notified by email and push notification anytime from 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., and if selected, winners will have one hour to claim their tickets.
The performance schedule is Tuesday through Sunday at 7:30 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday at 1:30 p.m. (There will be no 1:30 p.m. performance on Saturday, October 31 and Sunday, November 1. There will be no 7:30 performance on Wednesday, November 25. There is no performance on Thursday, November 26.) There will also be two added matinee performances on Tuesday, November 24 at 1:30 p.m. and Wednesday, November 25 at 1:30 p.m.
The performance on Friday, November 20 at 7:30 p.m. will be ASL-interpreted. There will be a combined Audio Described and Open-Captioned performance on Saturday, November 21 at 1:30 p.m.
The full performance calendar can be found at publictheater.org.
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