at the public theater, papp's focus moved away from the shakespeare classics and toward new work. notable public theater productions included charles gordone's "no place to be somebody" (the first off-broadway show, and the first play by an african american, to win the pulitzer prize) and the plays of david rabe, tom babe and jason miller. papp called his productions of rabe's plays "the most important thing i did at the public. papp's 1985 production of larry kramer's play "the normal heart" addressed, in its time, the prejudicial political system which was turning its back on the aids crisis and the gay community. designer ming cho lee commented: "with the new playwrights, the whole direction of the theater changed [but] none of us realized for a while. ... the public theater became more important than the delacorte. the new playwrights became more interesting to joe than shakespeare."