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The cast of INITIATIVE reflect on bringing Else Went’s epic coming-of-age to life in its world premiere, and making their Public Theater debuts! 🫶

🔗: thepublic.nyc/Initiative

Would you rather go to Hogwarts or live in Middle Earth? 🤔

Else Went’s INITIATIVE follows the intertwined lives of seven teens from California as they come of age, explore the adventures of D&D, and more! 📓🐉 🗡️

INITIATIVE runs through Dec 7. Standby tickets may become available close to curtain time!
Are you down? 🔗: thepublic.nyc/Initiative 💘

🎲 🐉 ⚔️ 🧙🪄🔮📜
Following 7️⃣ teens in Coastal Podunk, California at the dawn of the new millennium. INITIATIVE takes us on an epic journey through friendship, love, and loss — where a D&D campaign transforms one of many ways the gang make sense of their lives and an uncertain world. ꩜ 💭

Don’t miss the final performances of Else Went’s EPIC coming-of-age, now through Dec 7! 💥

🎟️🔗: thepublic.nyc/initiative
📹 by Jessie Rogowski

“Witty, evocative, and ever-prescient, the emotional saga at NYC’s Public Theater is well worth every second.” —Shania Russell, Entertainment Weekly

INITIATIVE by Else Went, a Susan Smith Blackburn Prize finalist, is now in its final week at The Public Theater! Don’t miss this bold five-hour coming-of-age epic following seven teenagers in early-2000s “Coastal Podunk”, California as they navigate growing up, the trials of teenagehood, and the refuge they find in a D&D campaign.

Named one of Entertainment Weekly’s Must-See picks, INITIATIVE is funny, intimate, and aching with the emotional truths of adolescence.

Don’t miss INITIATIVE through December 7.
🎟️ thepublic.nyc/initiative
📸 Joan Marcus

Grateful to have Initiative land on the @nymag Approval Matrix this week — and even more grateful to be part of this wild, generous ensemble in our ‘Buffy-meets-Our Town’ epic.

Sara Holdren wrote that “the seven actors… thrive on the meticulously detailed self-consciousness of teenhood… there’s gorgeous confidence, sensitivity, and specificity in their characterizations.”

Every night, five hours, three acts — we carry this story together.
One week left at @publictheaterny.
Come roll the dice with us. 🎲💛

#ThePublicTheater #ApprovalMatrix #OffBroadway #NewWork #dungeonsanddragons

Never have you ever seen INITIATIVE?! Don’t miss your chance! Catch the FINAL performances of Else Went’s EPIC coming-of-age new play! ➡️ thepublic.nyc/INITIATIVE 💫

📹 by Jessie Rogowski

“The most extravagant Dungeons & Dragons story of 2025… a five-hour stage play using D&D as the emotional architecture of its story.” — Corey Plante, Polygon (@polygondotcom)

INITIATIVE by Else Went is a five-hour coming-of-age epic charting four years of high school in early-2000s California. At its center is a Dungeons & Dragons campaign that becomes the heartbeat of the story — a place where seven teens build trust, forge bonds, and grow up together in ways real life doesn’t always allow.

Went describes the campaign as a way to show how communities form and identities take shape. “I wanted to show the game itself, and its impact on the communities that form around it,” she says. As the characters fight through quests and battles, the tabletop world becomes a place to test who they might be — and, in moments of tragedy, a lifeline. “My hope is that the role-playing offers more than just fantasy fun… that audiences connect with the feeling of liberty and boundless possibility afforded by a world in which magic is possible.”

Read Corey Plante’s full Polygon feature and don’t miss INITIATIVE through December 7: thepublic.nyc/initiative

“It’s fun to see a big swing from a rising playwright…a sweeping play about a clique of teenagers in early-aughts ‘Coastal Podunk, California’ that’ll run for five hours” — Jackson McHenry, New York Magazine

INITIATIVE by Else Went is a bold, five-hour coming-of-age epic that captures the beauty, heartbreak, and joy of growing up in small-town California at the dawn of the new millennium. Named in New York Magazine’s November must-see list, the play follows seven teens navigating friendship, love, and loss — where a D&D campaign becomes one of many ways they make sense of themselves and an uncertain world.

Don’t miss INITIATIVE on stage at The Public now through December 7!

🎟️ Tickets: thepublic.nyc/initiative
📸 Joan Marcus

What advice would you give your high school self?

For the cast of INITIATIVE, a brand-new epic at The Public Theater following seven teens coming of age in early-2000s California, played by actors who grew up in that same era, this question has been key in rediscovering their high school selves.

For Christopher Dylan White, who plays Em, the advice is both honest and hopeful:

“The world is crueler, uglier, more unfair, and conservative than you think—but there is so much joy, community, help, and healing. Maybe wait to do the drinking and drugging, but you needed that as a Band-Aid. It’s okay to ask for help when the world feels like it’s falling apart; there is safety and community in what you love—don’t be afraid to seek it. And buy bitcoin.”

Don’t miss Christopher in INITIATIVE, now in performances!
🎟️ thepublic.nyc/initiative

What advice would you give your high school self?

For the cast of INITIATIVE, a brand-new epic at The Public Theater following seven teens coming of age in early-2000s California, played by actors who grew up in that same era, this question has been key in rediscovering their high school selves.

For Christopher Dylan White, who plays Em, the advice is both honest and hopeful:

“The world is crueler, uglier, more unfair, and conservative than you think—but there is so much joy, community, help, and healing. Maybe wait to do the drinking and drugging, but you needed that as a Band-Aid. It’s okay to ask for help when the world feels like it’s falling apart; there is safety and community in what you love—don’t be afraid to seek it. And buy bitcoin.”

Don’t miss Christopher in INITIATIVE, now in performances!
🎟️ thepublic.nyc/initiative

It’s a crazy time to be alive in….America…..it’s good to take some time…..to do something you enjoy….. we have this legend of a play PREMIERING at the Public….starting Nov 4…could it change your life?… could it restore some past hurt?….could it make you believe in the magic of theater and life and time and the reality of opposition and acceptance and coming into being in this crazy time?…..could it?…. Idk….Come and find out….we’ll find out together….@publictheaterny @its_andrea_lopez_ @jmesanders @obarresi55 @itsgregcuellar @carsonhiggins @brandonsburk @soyjoseuseche @marisa_tapes_herself @a_modern_classic @tessa.rae.bagby @emmarosawent

Link in bio. Come and see this modern masterpiece.

amidst ALL of it…the credits….will roll