Gail Merrifield Papp Developer of New Plays | Joseph Papp Public Theater

“Gail Papp was the anchor and ballast for so many of us who began our careers at the Public Theater.”

~ Mandy Patinkin

Photo: Linda Lenzi/BroadwayWorld.com

Producer Joseph Papp at the Delacorte Theater in New York’s Central Park
Photo: © Estate of Barbra Walz

About

JOSEPH PAPP

Joseph Papp was the legendary producer/director who established non-traditional casting on the American stage, brought us Free Shakespeare in the Park, and founded The Public Theater as a platform for new voices.

The Public’s earliest successes, including Hair, A Chorus Line, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf, Sticks and Bones, and The Normal Heart, were followed by George C. Wolfe’s acclaimed productions of Top Dog/Underdog, and Bring in ‘da Noise, Bring in ‘da Funk.

Launching award-winning works like Fun Home, Hamilton, and Sweat, The Public Theater, now under Artistic Director Oskar Eustis, continues to fulfill Joe Papp’s manifesto: “The Public is Theater Of, By, and For All People.”

Gail

Merrifield

Papp

THE JOSEPH PAPP PUBLIC THEATER

“For anyone that was lucky enough to work at the Public Theater at its very beginnings, they immediately discovered that the essential person to get to know was not necessarily Joe Papp, but his personal and creative muse, right hand and left sounding board and advisor in all things political and theatrical, Gail Merrifield Papp. Gail was the head of play development throughout the years when playwrights like David Rabe, Thomas Babe, Elizabeth Swados, Larry Kramer and Ntozake Shange, among many others, were finding their theatrical homes thru Gail . . . and playwrights felt unusually safe with her and came to depend and trust her incisive responses to their work.”

~ Kathryn Grody

Joe and Gail Papp working at home
Photo: © Estate of Barbra Walz

*Ntozake Shange in for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf, 1976*

*Festival Latino 1990. The International Latino Festival at the Public and Delacorte Theaters, an annual event that ran for ten years*

*Meryl Streep in Elizabeth Swados’ musical Alice, 1981*

*Poster celebrating the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia in 1989. Playwright Václav Havel became President of the Czech Republic in 1993*

*Betty Buckley in Rupert Holmes’ musical The Mystery of Edwin Drood, 1985*

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PUBLIC THEATER POSTERS BY PAUL DAVIS

The above posters by Paul Davis represent six plays Gail worked on at the Public Theater and felt especially close to. Paul Davis’ distinctive work is included in collections throughout the world and at MoMa in New York. He is in the Hall of Fame of both the Art Directors Club and the Society of Illustrators. In 1987, The Drama Desk created a special award to recognize Davis’ iconic posters for Joseph Papp’s Public Theater.

As Director of New Plays and Musicals Development at the Public Theater, Gail was responsible for some of its best-remembered productions. Partners in both work and life, Gail and Joe married in 1976.

From her unique perspective and role working daily alongside Joseph Papp and the extraordinary talent in their orbit, Gail Merrifield Papp is now completing a memoir which will offer new insights for theater professionals and fans, and will introduce today’s audience to this “pragmatic radical touched with public genius who has special relevance for all of us in the troubled 21st century.”*

More than anyone else, Gail can pull back the curtain on the most dynamic story in New York theater’s recent history.

Gail and Joe Papp before a preview at the Delacorte Theater
Photo: George E. Joseph

Author’s note

from the forthcoming memoir

by Gail Merrifield Papp

Cartoon by Tom Toro

At home Joe and I did all of our reading and writing at the L-shaped table in our dining alcove. There was no separation there between our home life and our work, and little tension between professional activity and a private world that had to be protected from it. It was all of one piece, a seamless existence…

Joe’s role in the forefront of theatrical achievement was short circuited much too soon by illness. Although a generation has passed since then, I believe it’s an excellent time to become reacquainted with him as a pragmatic radical touched with public genius who has special relevance for all of us in the troubled 21st century.

Gail Merrifield Papp
New York City
January 18, 2019