Maggie Hoffman, Mike Iveson, Vin Knight, Susie Sokol and Ben Williams will lead the Public Theater’s playful political riff Arguendo, created and performed by the acclaimed theater ensemble Elevator Repair Service. The show, directed by John Collins, begins preformances at the Public on September 10, 2013, and will run through October 6.
Arguendo re-tells the story of the provocative 1991 Supreme Court case Barnes v. Glen Theatre, in which a group of exotic dancers challenged a ban on public nudity. The production features projections by visual artist Ben Rubin.
Hoffman is a co-founder of the avant-punk performance ensemble Radiohole. Iveson, Knight and Williams share a slew of ERS credits including Fondly, Collette Richland, The Select (The Sun Also Rises), Shuffle, The Sound and the Fury (April Seventh, 1928) and Gatz. Sokol is a second-grade teacher who has performed with ERS in all productions since 1992.
Arguendo was co-commissioned by the Public, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company and Wexner Center for the Arts at the Ohio State University. Every performance on Wednesdays and Sundays will be followed by a talkback with Collins, who also serves as Elevator Repair Service’s Artistic Director. ERS and the Public previously collaborated in 2012 in the innovative production Gatz.