VULTURE’S BEST OF 2025: INITIATIVE / WHEN THE HURLYBURLY’S DONE / GLASS. KILL. WHAT IF IF ONLY. IMP.
Vulture has named three of The Public’s 2025 productions among the best of year! INITIATIVE is praised as an “epic elegy to the great loves and losses of high school.” WHEN THE HURLYBURLY’S DONE (ЯК СТИХНЕ ШУРУ-БУРЯ ЗЛА) is hailed for “finding an expression for contemporary grief through a gorgeous evocation of history.” And Deirdre O’Connell in GLASS. KILL. WHAT IF IF ONLY. IMP. is recognized for a performance that “crystallized into a bloodied spear point”.
Congratulations to the artists, crews, and audiences who made these groundbreaking works possible!
Feeling nostalgic, so I figured I’d share a little side by side with a piece from my audition for Babylon next to the finished product.
Making a self tape at home can be tough sometimes, but when you get a chance to go to work and bring the whole thing to life, it’s the dream.
This little tape that I made at the height of the pandemic became one of the most exhilarating and rewarding experiences of my personal/professional/creative life.
If you have an audition you’re preparing for, and you’re thinking to yourself, “yeah right. They’re never going to pick me”, just remember that sometimes…they pick you!
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Special shout out to @lotyscott for being the reader for this scene where she had to play SIX different characters 🤯
So last night was cool.
This whole experience has been more than I ever could’ve asked for. If you had asked me what kind of movie I’d like to be in for my first film, this is exactly the type of movie and the type of people I woulda dreamed up.
A whirlwind of emotions and a night I will never forget.
I love this movie so much ❤️
Go see BABYLON when it comes out next week!!!! @babylonmovie@paramountpics
Styled by @thisisbrooks
5 days.
CARSON HIGGINS is CHARLIE.
Carson Higgins is delighted to be bringing this wonderful new play to the East Village Basement. Credits include Damien Chazelle’s Babylon, Joker: Folie a Deux, Initiative (Public Theater), Golem Owned a Tropical Smoothie (SoHo Playhouse), Ludo’s Broken Bride, Memphis the Musical (Ivoryton), Green Day’s American Idiot (international tour), Love Actually Live (Wallis Annenberg Center). Love to Mom, Dad, Lauren, and Archimedes. @carsonhiggins
Get your tickets now | @eastvillagebasement
📸: @alexcolaphotography
#offbroadway #eastvillage #broadway #nyctheatre
Congratulations to the collective of collaborators and ensemble cast of INITIATIVE, winners of a Special Drama Desk Award for the 2025 production at The Public!! ✨
“The epic yet intimate Initiative gave us the full high school experience, making five-plus hours in the theatre somehow feel like no time at all thanks to the collective of writer Else Went, director Emma Rosa Went, and the extraordinary ensemble cast...Collaborating over almost nine years, the Initiative team tapped into the world of D&D to illuminate the magic that can be found in devoting time to process, showing how the richness of a shared language can conjure community, produce ambitious art, and captivate audiences.” — The Drama Desk Nominating Committee
We are so thrilled to celebrate everyone who made this incredible production possible. 🎉
You know how they say “it’s an honor just to be nominated”? Well, it is.
It really, truly is 🥰
Thank you to anyone that came out and saw our play and a HUGE shout out to anyone on the nominating committee at the Lucille Lortel Awards who decided to write down our show’s name when asked what their favorite ensemble of the year was 🥳
Had the honor of speaking the words of an American President today.
The People’s Filibuster was an incredible experience and The Public Theater did a tremendous job keeping everyone warm and cared for.
Proud to stand with my fellow artists and Americans today 🇺🇸
A few days ago on our anniversary (8 years!), I take Lauren on a walk to our favorite spot near my parent’s house to watch the sunset.
Lauren sets up her phone camera with a timer to snap a picture of us on our anniversary.
As it’s counting down, 3…2…1, I reach into my pocket and pull out a ring.
Lauren looks at the picture and sees that I’m holding something…
She turns to look at what it is as I get down on one knee and ask her to marry me.
After a moment of shock and disbelief, she says yes 🥰
1.12.2026
Love a Wrapped, but in the spirit of curation based on what I actually liked the most this year, here are my top 20 favorite albums of the year.
in alphabetical order:
54 Ultra - First Works
Bartees Strange - Horror
Chance the Rapper - STAR LINE
Geese - Getting Killed
Haley Williams - Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party
Jacob Collier - The Light for Days
Jason Isbell - Foxes in the Snow
Laufey - A Matter of Time
Olivia Dean - The Art of Loving
Rachael & Vilray - West of Broadway
ROSALÍA - LUX
Sinners Soundtrack
Sunny War - Armageddon in a Summer Dress
Swept Away Broadway Cast Album
Tame Impala - Deadbeat
The Beaches - No Hard Feelings
The Fearless Flyers - V
The Last Dinner Party - From the Pyre
The Milk - Borderlands
Vulfpeck - Clarity of Cal
Still trying to wrap my head around/put into words what this experience has meant to me.
The very first reading I did was in 2018(19?)
time is a blur.
From that first reading to the next several workshops and readings we did over the years, to getting the news that The Public was going to produce the show, to finding out they were keeping the whole cast for the production, our first days of rehearsal, our first run through, tech, first preview, opening night, and all the way to closing the show with a week of sold out houses and ending up on the list of best plays of the year.
The sense of accomplishment and the feeling of pride I have in this company of artists is one that I will look back on years from now and I will still be scratching my head wondering how and why they let us do it.
My favorite play got to open at The Public Theater and I got to experience it by doing it with my friends. What more could a guy ask for?
As I rest and recover from what felt like climbing Mount Everest six times a week, I sit and ponder the absolute weight of meaning this show has brought to my life.
Thank you Initiative.
Till next time.
