Joe Papp, the founder of the New York Shakespeare Festival and, subsequently, The Public Theater—arguably the most important theatre in North America—is profiled in this documentary that neither sanctifies nor vilifies him. He brought us free Shakespeare in the Park, Hair and A Chorus Line, and nurtured many of America’s greatest playwrights, directors and actors. His complex personality and mercurial behavior are much in evidence and spoken of with frankness through interviews with some of America’s most celebrated artists, including Meryl Streep, Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen, Kevin Kline, and James Earl Jones.
Joe Papp in Five Acts (2012) is currently not available on any services.
Olympia Dukakis , David Hare , David Henry Hwang , James Earl Jones , Larry Kramer , Meryl Streep
Tracie Holder, Karen Thorsen
The Papp Project
