Coordinates: 40°43′45.1848″N 73°59′30.4548″W / 40.729218°N 73.991793°W / 40.729218; -73.991793

The Public Theater in 2011

The Astor Library in the latter half of the 19th century

The Public Theater is a New York City arts organization founded as The Shakespeare Workshop in 1954 by Joseph Papp, with the intention of showcasing the works of up-and-coming playwrights and performers. It is headquartered at 425 Lafayette Street in the former Astor Library in the East Village section of Lower Manhattan. The venue opened in 1967, mounting the world-premiere production of the musical HAIR as its first show. It currently is led by Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Patrick Willingham.^[1]

The Public is dedicated to embracing the complexities of contemporary society and nurturing both artists and audiences, as it continues Joseph Papp's legacy of creating a place of inclusion and a forum for ideas.^[2]

In addition to five theater venues – the Shiva, the Martinson, the LuEsther Hall, the Anspacher and the Newman – the site is home to Joe's Pub, a cabaret-style setting used for new work, musical performances, spoken-word artists and soloists.

The Public also operates the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, where it presents Shakespeare in the Park, one of New York City's most beloved summer traditions. New York natives and visitors alike have been enjoying free Shakespeare in Central Park since performances began in 1954.^[3] Notable productions in recent years include: The Merchant of Venice in 2010, featuring Al Pacino as Shylock; Twelfth Night in 2009, with Anne Hathaway; the 40th anniversary production of Hair in 2008; and Mother Courage And Her Children, with Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline.

Programs and series[link]

In addition to each season of full-scale theatrical productions, The Public also produces a number of different series, festivals and programs each year.

In 2008, The Public presented its inaugural Public LAB series, an annual series of new plays presented in collaboration with LAByrinth Theater Company. Public LAB lets New Yorkers see more of the work they love from The Public in scaled-down productions, and allows The Public to support more artists, as well as gives audiences immediate access to new plays in development at affordable prices. With each Public LAB show, corresponding speaker series are presented as after-show talkbacks to discuss prominent themes, ideas and topics in the plays. A number of plays that have appeared in the Public LAB series have gone onto full-scale productions, including Tracey Scott Wilson’s The Good Negro, which ran at The Public in 2009, and Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson , which had a sold-out, thrice-extended Off-Broadway run at The Public in the spring of 2010 and transferred to Broadway that fall.^[4]

Public LAB was expanded in 2011 to include Public LAB SHAKESPEARE, a vital new platform for The Public's ongoing exploration of the Shakespeare canon that continues the growth of The Public's Shakespeare Initiative and expand the many ways The Public produces American interpretations of Shakespeare. The premiere production of Public LAB SHAKESPEARE was Timon of Athens in March 2011, featuring Richard Thomas in the title role.^[5]

The Public Forum, begun in 2010, is an exciting series of lectures, debates and conversations that showcase leading voices in the arts, politics and the media. Curated by Jeremy McCarter, a senior writer at Newsweek, Public Forum events explore issues raised by plays in The Public's season, as well as the political and cultural headlines of today's world. In keeping with the best traditions of The Public, the Forum hosts a wide diversity of views and brings the theater into contact with the society around it. Notable participants in the series include Stephen Sondheim, Tony Kushner, Ariana Huffington, Alec Baldwin and Anne Hathaway.^[6]

The Public hosts the annual Under the Radar Festival, directed by Mark Russell. Begun in 2004, Under The Radar spotlights international artists ranging from emerging talents to masters in the field. The festival is a wild mix of works by ensembles, solo artists, writers, and creators. The ultimate goal of UTR is to offer a crash course in theater that is exciting, independent, and experimental, created by some of the most dynamic artists working today. As of April 2011, there have been 104 productions from over 18 countries,^{[citation needed]} including the United States, Australia, Belarus, Bolivia, Brazil, France, Ireland, Mali, Mexico, the Netherlands, Russia, and the United Kingdom. Some artists who have collaborated with UTR include SITI Company, Elevator Repair Service, Nature Theater of Oklahoma, Superamas, Abbey Theatre, Mike Daisey, Reggie Watts, Teatro De Los Andes, and many more.^[7]

The Public serves as the home of the Emerging Writers Group, which seeks to target playwrights at the earliest stages in their careers. In so doing, The Public hopes to create an artistic home for a diverse and exceptionally talented group of up-and-coming playwrights. Through the Emerging Writers Group, The Public continues its rich legacy of supporting current and future generations of our country’s most important writers via The Public Writers Initiative – a long-term initiative that provides key support and resources for writers at every stage of their careers. The Public Writers Initiative creates a fertile community and fosters a web of supportive artistic relationships across generations. The Emerging Writers Group is a component of The Public Writers Initiative.^[8]

The Public also fosters New Work Now!, a play reading series that has become a nationally recognized showcase for emerging writers and established artists. New Work Now! allows audiences an opportunity to experience new work by a diverse selection of established and emerging theater artists—all for free.^[9]

The Public Theater invests in theater education, training classical actors through the annual summer acting intensive known as the Shakespeare Lab. The Shakespeare Lab is The Public Theater’s professional actor development program that immerses a carefully-selected company of professional, mid-career actors in a summer intensive exploring the rigors, challenges, and joys of performing Shakespeare.^[10]

The Public also educates through its Shakespeare Spring Break, Summer ShakeUP, and A Midsummer Day’s Camp programs, all for teenagers interested in learning about and performing Shakespeare.^[11]

Suzan-Lori Parks, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and Master Writer Chair of The Public, debuted her performance piece Watch Me Work as part of the 2011 Under The Radar Festival. As of April 2011, Parks continues to perform the piece in the main lobby of The Public Theater. A meditation on the artistic process and an actual work session, Watch Me Work features Parks working on her newest writing project in the main lobby of The Public Theater. The audience is invited to come and watch her work and/or to share the space and get some of their own writing work done. During the last fifteen minutes of the performance Parks answers questions the audience might have regarding their own work and their creative process.^[12]

Notable works and awards[link]

The most famous work to emerge from The Public, other than the original production of Hair, is the Michael Bennett musical A Chorus Line, based on the lives and careers of Broadway dancers. The show created such a stir of anticipation among the theatrical community that the entire limited run sold out long before opening night. Demand for tickets was such that the show moved uptown to Broadway's Shubert Theatre, where it remained "one singular sensation" for fifteen sold-out years. Over the years, revenue from the many worldwide productions, both professional and amateur, of the show has been a steady and main source of income for The Public.

The Public Theater has won 42 Tony Awards, 151 Obies, 41 Drama Desk Awards and four Pulitzer Prizes. Fifty-four Public Theater productions have moved to Broadway, including Sticks and Bones; That Championship Season; A Chorus Line; For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf; The Pirates of Penzance; The Tempest; Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk; The Ride Down Mt. Morgan; Topdog/Underdog; Take Me Out; Caroline, or Change; Passing Strange; the revival of HAIR; Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson; The Merchant of Venice and "The Normal Heart"

A drawing of the Library published in 1900

Astor Library Building[link]

The Public has been housed in a landmarked Romanesque revival structure at 425 Lafayette Street since 1967, built between 1853 and 1881 as the Astor Library, which later merged with the Tilden and Lenox collections to become the New York Public Library. The library was built by William B. Astor, son of the library's founder, John Jacob Astor. A German-born architect, Alexander Saeltzer, who had been the architect of the Anshe Chesed Synagogue, ^[13][14] designed the building in Rundbogenstil style, then the prevailing style for public building in Germany. Astor funded two expansions of the building toward Astor Place, designed by Griffith Thomas (1856–1869) and Thomas Stent (1879–1881).^[15] Both large expansions followed Saeltzer's original design so seamlessly that an observer cannot detect that the edifice was built in three stages.

In 1920, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society purchased the building. By 1965 it was in disuse and faced demolition. The Public Theater, then the New York Shakespeare Festival, persuaded the city to purchase it for use as a theater. It was converted for theater use by Giorgio Cavaglieri between 1967 and 1976.^[15][16]

The building is a New York City Landmark, designated in 1965.^[17] It was one of the first buildings to be recognized as such by the newly-formed Landmarks Preservation Commission of New York City, thanks to Joseph Papp’s perseverance.^[18]

In 2009, The Public began its “Going Public” campaign to raise funds for a major renovation of the historic building.^[19][20] Groundbreaking for the $35 million renovation occurred on March 9, 2010, with notables such as Liev Schreiber and Philip Seymour Hoffman in attendance.^[21] Plans include a renovation of Joe’s Pub; the Pub went on a three-month hiatus during the summer of 2011 to allow for construction.^[22]

Benefits[link]

In late 1995, a benefit show was held (at the Manhattan Center Ballroom) for the Joseph Papp Public Theater, drawing such performers as David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Heavy D and Salt-n-Pepa.^[23]

References[link]

The set of Mom, How Did You Meet the Beatles? in the Shiva Theater

Notes

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Astor Library

• Official Website
• Official Joe’s Pub Website
• Official Shakespeare In The Park Website
• Official Under The Radar Website
• Official Public Theater Blog
• New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theatre records. Held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
• Joseph Papp at the Internet Broadway Database

The Public is the people and society of a nation or community, or the whole of mankind.

The Public may also refer to:

• The Public (band), a rock band from Illinois, United States
• The Public (indie band), an indie rock band from New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
• The Public, a play by Federico García Lorca, known in the original Spanish as El público
• The Public Theater, a theatre company in New York City
• The Public, West Bromwich, an English community arts project based in West Bromwich.

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

"The Christmas Song" (commonly subtitled "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire" or, as it was originally subtitled, "Merry Christmas to You") is a classic Christmas song written in 1944 by musician, composer, and vocalist Mel Tormé (aka The Velvet Fog), and Bob Wells. According to Tormé, the song was written during a blistering hot summer. In an effort to "stay cool by thinking cool", the most-performed (according to BMI) Christmas song was born.

"I saw a spiral pad on his piano with four lines written in pencil", Tormé recalled. "They started, "Chestnuts roasting..., Jack Frost nipping..., Yuletide carols..., Folks dressed up like Eskimos.' Bob (Wells, co-writer) didn't think he was writing a song lyric. He said he thought if he could immerse himself in winter he could cool off. Forty minutes later that song was written. I wrote all the music and some of the lyrics."

The Nat King Cole Trio first recorded the song early in 1946. At Cole's behest – and over the objections of his label, Capitol Records – a second recording was made the same year utilizing a small string section, this version becoming a massive hit on both the pop and R&B charts. Cole again recorded the song in 1953, using the same arrangement with a full orchestra arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle, and once more in 1961, in a stereophonic version with orchestra conducted by Ralph Carmichael. Nat King Cole's 1961 version is generally regarded as definitive, and in 2004 was the most loved seasonal song with women aged 30–49,^[1] while Cole's original 1946 recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1974.^[2] Mel Tormé recorded the song himself in 1954, and again in 1961, 1966 and 1992.

The Nat King Cole recordings[link]

First recording: Recorded at WMCA Radio Studios, New York City, June 14, 1946. Label credit: The King Cole Trio (Nat King Cole, vocal-pianist; Oscar Moore, guitarist; Johnny Miller, bassist). Not issued until 1989, when it was (accidentally) included on the various-artists compilation Billboard Greatest Christmas Hits (1935–1954) Rhino R1 70637(LP) / R2 70637(CD).

Second recording: Recorded at WMCA Radio Studios, New York City, August 19, 1946. First record issue. Label credit: The King Cole Trio with String Choir (Nat King Cole, vocal-pianist, Oscar Moore, guitarist; Johnny Miller, bassist; Charlie Grean, conductor of 4 string players, a harpist and a drummer) Lacquer disc master #981. Issued November 1946 as Capitol 311 (78rpm). This is featured on a CD called The Holiday Album, which has 1940s Christmas songs recorded by Cole and Bing Crosby. In 2005 Capitol restored and re-released it for the 25 bit re-mastered Cole album "The Christmas Song", which also contains tracks from his 1960 and 1963 holiday albums.

Third recording: Recorded at Capitol Studios, Hollywood, August 24, 1953. This was the song,s first magnetic tape recording. Label credit: The King Cole Trio with String Choir (Actual artists: Nat King Cole, vocal; Nelson Riddle, orchestra conductor) Master #11726, take 11. Issued November 1953 as the "new" Capitol 90036(78rpm) / F90036(45rpm) (Capitol first issued 90036 in 1950 with the second recording). Correct label credit issued on October 18, 1954 as Capitol 2955(78rpm) / F2955(45rpm). Label credit: Nat "King" Cole with Orchestra Conducted by Nelson Riddle. This recording is available on the 1990 CD Cole, Christmas and Kids, as well as the various-artists compilation Casey Kasem Presents All Time Christmas Favorites. It was also included, along with both 1946 recordings, on the 1991 Mosaic Records box set The Complete Capitol Recordings of the Nat King Cole Trio.

Fourth recording: Recorded at Capitol Studios, New York City, March 30, 1961. This rendition, the first recorded in stereo, is widely played on radio stations during the Christmas season, and is probably the most famous version of this song. Label credit: Nat King Cole (Nat King Cole, vocal; Charles Grean and Pete Rugolo, orchestration; Ralph Carmichael, orchestra conductor). The instrumental arrangement is nearly identical with the 1953 version, but the vocals are much deeper and more focused. Originally done for The Nat King Cole Story (a 1961 LP devoted to stereo re-recordings of Cole's earlier hits), this recording was later appended to a reissue of Cole's 1960 holiday album The Magic of Christmas. Retitled The Christmas Song, the album was issued in 1963 as Capitol W-1967(mono) / SW-1967(stereo) and today is in print on compact disc. This recording of "The Christmas Song" is also available on numerous compilation albums. Some are Capitol pop standards Christmas compilations while others are broader-based. It's available on WCBS-FM's Ultimate Christmas Album Volume 3, for example.

There were several covers of Nat Cole's original record in the 1940s. The first of these was said to be by Dick Haymes on the Decca label, but his was released first – not recorded first. The first cover of "The Christmas Song" was performed by pop tenor and bandleader Eddy Howard on Majestic. Howard was a big Cole fan, and also covered Nat's versions of "I Want to Thank Your Folks" and "I Love You for Sentimental Reasons", among others.

Selective list of notable recordings[link]

	"The Christmas Song" by CeCe Peniston noicon Peniston recorded the composition for the Merry Arizona II: Desert Stars Shine at Christmas compilation in 1996.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

"The Christmas Song" has been covered by numerous artists from a wide variety of genres, including:

• Aaliyah
• Trace Adkins
• Christina Aguilera (#18 in US, #22 in Canada)
• Clay Aiken
• Herb Alpert
• Thomas Anders
• India.Arie and Stevie Wonder (winner of the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals in 2003)
• Aska
• Babyface
• Tony Bennett
• Polly Bergen (who sang the song on the December 14, 1957 airing of her NBC variety show, The Polly Bergen Show)^[3]
• Justin Bieber and Usher (#58 in US, #59 in Canada)
• Michael Bolton
• Toni Braxton
• Garth Brooks
• James Brown
• Les Brown and his Orchestra (with Doris Day on lead vocal)
• Michael Bublé (his version, bearing close similarities to Celine Dion's recording of the song, reached #6 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart in December 2003.)
• Kenny Burrell
• The Canadian Brass (from their 1985 Christmas album A Canadian Brass Christmas)
• The Carpenters (from their 1978 Christmas album Christmas Portrait)
• Celtic Woman
• Charice
• Chicago
• Christmas Who? (a SpongeBob Christmas special. SpongeBob and Patrick in a Christmas song sing as a lyric "...chestnuts roasting and burns in the third degree" before the ending of their song.)
• Charlotte Church
• Rosemary Clooney
• Natalie Cole
• Bing Crosby
• Danny Davis and the Nashville Brass (1970)
• Sammy Davis, Jr.
• Doris Day (from her 1964 Christmas album The Doris Day Christmas Album)
• Gavin DeGraw
• Celine Dion
• Vanessa Doofenshmirtz (voiced by Olivia Olson on the album Phineas and Ferb Holiday Favorites)
• Bob Dylan
• Gloria Estefan
• Connie Francis
• Aretha Franklin
• Judy Garland, who sang the song in a duet with its composer, Mel Torme, on a Christmas-themed episode of her television show in December 1963.
• Amy Grant (from her 1983 Christmas album A Christmas Album)
• Josh Groban (from his 2007 holiday album, Noël)
• Robert Goulet
• Hampton String Quartet
• Eddie Higgins
• Hootie and the Blowfish
• Whitney Houston
• Ramon "RJ" Jacinto (from his 1988 Christmas album Pasko Na Naman)
• The Jackson 5
• Alan Jackson (from his 2007 Christmas album Let It Be Christmas)
• Joni James (from her 1956 Merry Christmas from Joni). Joni's version alters the lyric: "I'm offering this simple phrase, for kids from one to ninety-two" to "... kids from one to ninety-one".
• Al Jarreau
• Joe
• Wynonna Judd
• Peggy Lee
• Damien Leith (from a special limited Christmas edition of his 2007 album Where We Land)
• The Lettermen
• Lovedrug
• Aimee Mann (from her 2006 album One More Drifter in the Snow)
• Johnny Mathis
• Martina McBride
• Reba McEntire
• Brian McKnight
• *NSYNC
• Ricky Nelson (on the episode of TV's The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet titled "A Busy Christmas")
• Aaron Neville
• New Kids on the Block
• Des O'Connor (from a Tesco Christmas advert)
• Alexander O'Neal
• Olivia Olson (from a 2010 Christmas album Phineas and Ferb: Holiday Favourites)
• The Partridge Family (from their 1971 Christmas album A Partridge Family Christmas Card)
• Les Paul
• CeCe Peniston (from the 1996 Christmas album Merry Arizona II: Desert Stars Shine at Christmas)
• LeAnn Rimes (on her first holiday album What a Wonderful World)
• Raven-Symoné
• Smokey Robinson and The Miracles (from their 1963 Christmas album Christmas with The Miracles)
• Linda Ronstadt (from her 2000 Christmas album A Merry Little Christmas)
• SWV
• Diane Schuur (nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Female in 1990)
• Neil Sedaka (from his 2008 first-ever holiday album, The Miracle of Christmas)
• Jessica Simpson
• Frank Sinatra (including two recordings: a virtual duet with Nat King Cole, and an actual duet with Bing Crosby)
• Tom Smith (of the Editors) and Agnes Obel (on the 2011 Smith and Burrows album, Funny Looking Angels)
• George Strait
• Donna Summer
• Demi Lovato
• The Supremes (remained unreleased until their 1965 Christmas album, Merry Christmas, was re-released in 1999 with additional tracks)
• Kim Taeyeon (of the South Korean pop group Girls' Generation)
• Take 6
• James Taylor
• Team Rocket (voiced by Rachael Lillis, Eric Stewart and Maddie Blaustein on the album Pokémon Christmas Bash)
• The Temptations
• Mel Tormé – recorded by the writer four times (1954, 1961, 1966 and finally in 1992 as part of his album "Christmas Songs")
• Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons
• Luther Vandross
• Andy Williams
• Stevie Wonder (from his 1967 Christmas album Someday at Christmas)
• Dwight Yoakam
• Ascap entry for song showing numerous other covers

Parodies[link]

• The title of The Simpsons episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" is a parody of the song.
• Bob Rivers parodied the song with his 2000 album, and the title track from said album, "Chipmunks Roasting On an Open Fire".
• Stan Freberg's "Green Chri$tma$" includes several snippets of holiday songs. One segment begins with a sincere-sounding "Chestnuts roasting..." and quickly segués into a mock 1950s radio or TV ad, for a brand of chestnuts, being described as if they were toothpaste or cigarettes.
• Twisted Sister parodied the song in his 2006 album A Twisted Christmas.

Footnotes[link]

External links[link]

• Mark Evanier on Tormé and "The Christmas Song"

Randy Harrison
Harrison in December 2007
Born	Randolph Clarke Harrison (1977-11-02) November 2, 1977 (age 34) Nashua, New Hampshire, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2000–present

Randolph Clarke "Randy" Harrison^[1] (born November 2, 1977)^[1] is an American actor best known for his portrayal of Justin Taylor on the Showtime drama Queer as Folk.

Early life and college[link]

Harrison was born in Nashua, New Hampshire, but moved to Alpharetta, Georgia with his family at age eleven.^[2] He attended Pace Academy, a private prep school in Atlanta.^[3] His father is an executive with a large paper company, while he has described his mother as a "thwarted artist."^[4] His only sibling, an older brother, is a bank manager.^[4]

Harrison attended the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music (CCM), where he ultimately received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in musical theatre. During his time at CCM, Harrison starred in university productions, such as Hello Again, Shopping and Fucking, and Children of Eden. He also had roles in other theatrical venues across the U.S., playing in productions such as Violet at the Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati, 1776 at the St. Louis Municipal Theatre and West Side Story at the Forestburg Playhouse, as well as productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Real Inspector Hound and A Cheever Evening.

Career[link]

Harrison made his television debut playing Justin Taylor, a gay teen, in 2000's American version of Queer as Folk, based upon the British television series. The series ran for five seasons, ending in 2005. In 2002, Harrison played the character "Sean" in a made-for-television movie entitled Bang Bang You're Dead, which is based on the play of the same name. Harrison stars as Brutus in cinematographer/director/writer Patrick Donelley's upcoming post-modern feature film adaptation of "Julius Cesar" opposite actor John Shea as the title role, which as of 2012 is still in post-production.

In 2002, Harrison starred in the play Deviant at the New York International Fringe Festival. In the summer of 2004, Harrison made his Broadway debut as Boq in the musical Wicked. His Off Broadway credits include "A Letter for Ethel Kennedy" (MCC Theatre, 2002), the Father in "Oak Tree" (Perry Street Theatre, 2006), Young Spencer in "Edward II" (Red Bull Theatre, 2007–2008),Eros in "Antony and Cleopatra" (Theatre for a New Audience, 2008), and Laszlo Fickes/Gerhardt Zeitzler in "A Singing Forest" (Public Theatre, 2009). Harrison has also done several staged readings for Red Bull Theatre, where he starred in their 'In the Raw' workshop production of "A Tyger's Heart" in February 2011.

Harrison has a substantial resume in regional theatre, most prominently as a featured player since 2005 at the Berkshire Theatre Festival. Roles with BTF include Alan Strang in "Equus" (2005), the title role in "Amadeus" (2006), Bill Bibbit in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (2007), Frank Gardner in "Mrs. Warren's Profession"(2007), Lucky in "Waiting for Godot" (2008), Osvald Alving in "Ghosts" (2009), Nagg in "Endgame" (2010), and the title character in "The Who's Tommy" (2011). Other regional theatre credits include Lysander/Thisbe/Cobweb in the Alabama Shakespeare Festival production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, presented in the Spring of 2006 by the SITI Company (where Harrison has studied extensively through Skidmore College and in Manhattan); Young Tom in the Guthrie Theater's production of The Glass Menagerie(2007); Andy Warhol in the Yale Repertory Theatre's production of Pop! (2009); Sebastian in the Shakespeare Theatre Company's production of "Twelfth Night" (2010); Tim in the Studio Theatre's production of "Habit of Art"; and Ken in the George Street Playhouse's production of "Red" (2012).

In 2006, Harrison co-founded the Arts Bureau (tAB) [1], an umbrella organization encompassing theatre, film, music, and writing. In July 2007, Harrison starred in the first play through tAB, a heartwarming story, ultimately, based on the work of Anton Chekhov. In late 2007/early 2008, Harrison shot and starred in the first tAB short film,Thinking, which has shown at several film festivals and is currently available for purchase on the official tAB website . In Summer 2008, tAB shot its first feature film, "Lorton Lake".

Personal life[link]

Harrison, who is openly gay, dated Advertising Age columnist Simon Dumenco from 2002 to 2008; the two met when Dumenco interviewed Harrison for a New York magazine cover story.^[5][6][7] As of December 2009, Harrison lives in Williamsburg, Brooklyn with his cats Ella and Aggie.^[8]

Credits[link]

Television[link]

• Queer as Folk (U.S. version) (2000–2005) as Justin Taylor

Theater[link]

• Hello Again
• Shopping and Fucking
• Children of Eden
• Violet
• 1776
• West Side Story
• The Real Inspector Hound
• A Cheever Evening
• Deviant (2002)
• Wicked (2004), as Boq
• Equus (2005), as Alan Strang (Berkshire Theatre Festival)
• A Midsummer Night's Dream (2006) as Lysander/Thisbe/Cobweb
• Amadeus (2006) as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Berkshire Theatre Festival)
• An Oak Tree (2006) as the father
• A Letter From Ethel Kennedy
• The Glass Menagerie (2007) as Young Tom (Guthrie Theater)
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (2007) as Billy Bibbit (Berkshire Theatre Festival)
• Mrs. Warren's Profession (2007) as Frank Gardner (Berkshire Theatre Festival)
• Edward the Second (2007/2008) as Young Spencer
• Antony and Cleopatra (April/May 2008) as Eros
• Waiting for Godot (Summer 2008) as Lucky (Berkshire Theatre Festival)
• The Singing Forest (April/May 2009) as Laszlo Fickes/Gerhardt Zeitzler (The Public Theater)
• Ghosts (Ibsen) (Summer 2009) as Oswald (Berkshire Theatre Festival)
• POP! (Fall 2009) as Andy Warhol (Yale Repertory Theatre)
• Caligula by Albert Camus (January 2010) as Scipio (Red Bull Theatre)
• Endgame (Summer 2010) as Nagg (Berkshire Theatre Festival)
• The Who's Tommy (Summer 2011) as Tommy (Berkshire Theatre Festival)
• The Habit of Art (Fall 2011) as Tim (The Studio Theatre)
• Red (play) (January 31 - February 26 2012) as Ken at George Street Playhouse

Films[link]

• Bang Bang You're Dead (2002) as Sean
• Thinking... (2008) as "Boy"
• Lorton Lake (2011)
• Julius Cesar (2010) as Brutus

References[link]

External links[link]

• Randy Harrison at the Internet Movie Database
• Randy Harrison at the Internet Broadway Database

Mike Posner
Mike Posner, July 2010.
Background information
Birth name	Michael Robert Posner
Born	(1988-02-12) February 12, 1988 (age 24) Southfield, Michigan, U.S.
Origin	Detroit, Michigan, United States
Genres	R&B, dance, electronic, hip hop
Occupations	Singer, songwriter
Years active	2007–present
Labels	J, RCA
Associated acts	Big Sean, Lil Wayne, Cher Lloyd, Your Favorite Martian, Justin Bieber
Website	mikeposner.com

Michael Robert "Mike" Posner (born February 12, 1988) is an American singer, songwriter, and producer.^[1] Posner released his debut album, 31 Minutes to Takeoff, on August 10, 2010. The album includes the Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 single "Cooler Than Me," his second single, "Please Don't Go," as well as his third single, "Bow Chicka Wow Wow". As of 2012, he is the ambassador of Reebok Classic's RealFlex range.^[2]

Early life and education[link]

Posner was born and raised in Southfield, Michigan.^[3][4] His father, a criminal defense attorney, is Jewish, and his mother is Catholic.^[5][6] Posner attended and graduated from Groves High School, where he ran varsity track and cross-country, and went on to attend Duke University. There, Posner went Sigma Nu^[7] and graduated in 2010 with a degree in sociology and a certificate in markets and management, with an overall GPA of 3.59.^[3][4][8]

Career[link]