Public Theater

SoHo & Chinatown


This legendary theater was founded as the Shakespeare Workshop back in 1954 and has launched some of New York's big hits, including Hamilton in 2015. Today, you'll find a lineup of innovative programming as well as reimagined classics, with Shakespeare in heavy rotation. Speaking of the bard, the Public also stages star-studded Shakespeare in the Park performances during the summer.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby SoHo & Chinatown attractions

1. Cooper Union Building

0.07 MILES

The large brownstone Cooper Union is a private college offering degrees in architecture, fine arts and engineering; it was founded by glue millionaire…

2. 41 Cooper Square

0.08 MILES

This state-of-the-art academic building, which opened in 2009, was designed by Pritzker Prize–winning architect Thom Mayne. One of the more eye-catching…

3. Astor Place

0.08 MILES

Even with the Alamo, an iconic piece of public art more often referred to as 'The Cube,' restored after several years absence, this is not the Astor Place…

4. Merchant's House Museum

0.11 MILES

Built in 1832 and purchased by merchant Seabury Tredwell three years later, this red-brick mansion remains the most authentic Federal house in town. It's…

5. Grace Church

0.19 MILES

This Gothic Revival Episcopal church, designed in 1843 by James Renwick Jr, was made of marble quarried by prisoners at ‘Sing Sing,’ the state…

6. Mosaic Trail

0.2 MILES

Follow St Marks Pl from Broadway to Ave A to seek out the tile-encrusted street poles of this grassroots civic-art project, now in its fourth decade. In…

7. New York University

0.21 MILES

In 1831 Albert Gallatin, formerly Secretary of the Treasury under President Thomas Jefferson, founded an intimate center of higher learning open to all…

8. St Mark's Church in-the-Bowery

0.27 MILES

Though it’s most popular with East Village locals for its cultural offerings – readings hosted by the Poetry Project or cutting-edge dance performances…