About The Film

JOE PAPP IN FIVE ACTS is the story of a street-wise kid from Brooklyn who became an indomitable champion for the arts and forever transformed New York’s theater scene. Joe Papp, founder of the New York Shakespeare Festival and The Public Theater, began his theater career mounting free, outdoor Shakespeare plays for working-class audiences in the East Village. Papp was a tireless fighter for the arts whose productions often addressed political, racial, and economic issues. Using his life as a prism, the film explores the issues he chose to champion: freedom of expression, democracy in the arts, and the definition of American culture. Includes interviews with Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Martin Sheen, Mandy Patinkin, James Earl Jones, and more.