“How Shakespeare Saved My Life”: Jacob Ming-Trent’s solo show opens tonight at The Public Theater in New York

New York welcomes tonight, September 27, the official premiere of “How Shakespeare Saved My Life,” actor Jacob Ming-Trent’s solo show, taking the stage at the Shiva Theater of The Public Theater. The Red Bull Theater production, co-produced with Berkeley Repertory Theatre and Folger Theatre, brings to New York for the first time the semi-autobiographical story of a Black, unhoused boy who loves Shakespeare — and finds his salvation in the Bard’s poetry, as BroadwayWorld reports.

Ming-Trent, known for his roles in “Merry Wives,” “Medea Re-Versed” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” wrote and performs the show himself, daring — as the production describes it — to “save himself from the slings and arrows of his past.” His journey, the announcement says, is by turns funny and tragic: calling on the Bard and a crowd of genius rappers, half-mad preachers and soulful poets, he undertakes a voyage that reaffirms the power of language. Direction is by Tony Taccone, the director known for his collaboration with John Leguizamo.

After a warmly received world premiere at Berkeley Rep earlier this year and performances at Washington’s Folger Theatre, the production made its New York debut with previews that began September 15 — with a free Joseph Papp show on opening night — and, according to BroadwayWorld, was extended by an additional week due to public demand, through Sunday, October 25. The Public Theater, at 425 Lafayette Street in the East Village, is Ming-Trent’s artistic home, and tonight’s opening marks his return to the stage where the search for home and belonging has accompanied him all his life. Tickets for performances through October 25 are on sale, and for those who want to try their luck, the theater also offers a digital lottery for free tickets.