Playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins will make his Broadway debut in the 2017鈥�18 season with a new translation of Ibsen鈥檚 An Enemy of the People. The production, directed by Thomas Ostermeier, premiered at Berlin鈥檚 Schaub眉hne am Lehniner Platz in 2013 and featured a German adaptation by Ostermeier and Florian Borchmeyer.
Dates and a theatre, as well as casting and a design team, will be announced at a later time. Tony winner David Binder produces the Broadway engagement.
Jacobs-Jenkins鈥� work was most recently seen on the New York stage in Signature Theatre鈥檚 presentation of Everybody. His 2015 play Gloria was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. His additional credits include Appropriate and An Octoroon鈥攂oth of which won him Obie Awards鈥�War, and Neighbors. In 2016, Jacobs-Jenkins was named a MacArthur 鈥淕enius鈥� Grant recipient.
Watch the trailer for the Schaub眉hne production below:
Following its world premiere in Berlin, Ostermeier and Borchmeyer鈥檚 adaptation of An Enemy of the People went on to play Brooklyn Academy of Music and London鈥檚 Barbican Centre, as well as engagements in Buenos Aires, Copenhagen, Istanbul, Melbourne, Oslo, Paris, Seoul, and Venice.
Ostermeier鈥攁 resident director of the Schaub眉hne since 1999鈥攁nd Borchmeyer have collaborated previously on a number of productions, including Schaub眉hne鈥檚 presentations of The Little Foxes, The Marriage of Maria Braun, Richard III, Bella Figura, and Professor Bernhardi.
An Enemy of the People explores the moral quandaries of whistleblowing and follows the clash between Dr. Stockmann, who discovers that water from the town鈥檚 municipal baths is contaminated, and Peter Stockmann, his brother and mayor of the town, who fiercely opposes the publication of this information as it could be detrimental to the town鈥檚 tourism industry.
