More than half a century after the Public Theater opened its doors with Hair, Gail Merrifield Papp will speak for the first time about her vivid and fascinating behind-the scenes memoir, Public/Private: My Life with Joe Papp at The Public Theater. The event will be held on Monday, September 18 at 6pm at Joe’s Pub – the Public Theater venue named for Joseph Papp.
Audio for the story.
Grace Hou is the secretary of the Illinois Department of Human Services.
She explained that she and Deputy Governor Sol Flores came up with the idea for the grant during a conversation. Both have done community-based work and have experienced racial healing activities.
Then came the events of the past year.
“And so, you know, we re in the middle of the pandemic, and we continue to be in the summer. And then the images and the reports of the police brutality,” she recalled. “There was so much anguish, and hurt in Illinois, you know, protests, civil unrest.”