59E59 Theaters' 2018 winter season will kick off at the Off-Broadway space in January 2018 and continue through April. The lineup includes a return of The Civilians’ sold-out show The Undertaking, Wendell Pierce (The Wire, Suits) and Tony winner Roger Robinson in a new play by James Anthony Tyler, Kevin Armento and Bryony Lavery’s tennis drama Balls, a new play by Max Baker staring Tony-winning Broadway vet John Glover, a play by Pulitzer Prize finalist Adam Rapp, and more.
Following a hit run at the 2016 BAM Next Wave Festival, The Civillians’ The Undertaking will return Off-Broadway beginning January 11 at 59E59 Theaters. Written and directed by Steve Cosson and created in collaboration with visual artist Jessica Mitrani, the show is a playful take on the journey to the land of the dead. Performances will continue through February 4.
Also beginning January 11, St. Louis Actors’ Studio’s LaBute New Theater Festival will return for another year. The festival features one-act plays by Neil LaBute, James Haigney, and Carter W. Lewis.
The third engagement slated for January is Balls, a theatrical re-telling of the 1973 tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs. The show is a co-production from One Year Lease Theater Company and Stages Repertory Theatre (OYL’s Ianthe Demos and Nick Flint direct). Performances are scheduled for January 16–February 25.
In February, Berkshire Playwrights Lab will present Tyler’s two-hander Some Old Black Man starring Pierce and Robinson (Joe Turner’s Come and Gone). The story details a clashing of wills between a Harlem college professor and his aging father from Mississippi. The play, directed by Joe Cacaci, will run February 8–March 4.
The February lineup also includes The Dreamscape Theatre’s production of Pete Rex by Alexander V. Thompson, directed by Brad Raimondo. The show, billed as part comedy, part absurdism, and part horror, will play February 8–March 3.
In March, Broadway veteran Glover (The Cherry Orchard, Death of a Salesman, Waiting for Godot), will star in Baker’s Hal & Bee, directed by Sarah Norris. The dark comedy is about a middle-aged hippie couple from the Upper West Side trying to hold on to their bohemian roots. Stable Cable Lab Co. and New Light Theater Project produce.
The March lineup also includes Brian Dykstra’s new play Education (produced by The Drilling Company, Fresh Ice Productions, and White Plains Performing Arts Center, March 8–April 7); and the Klezmer-folk musical Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story, inspired by the true stories of two Jewish Romanian refugees who came to Canada at the turn of the 20th century (March 8–April 22).
Completing the winter season will be TUTA Theatre’s production of Rapp’s coming-of-age story The Edge of Our Bodies, directed by Jacqueline Stone. Performances will run April 4–April 22.
All performances take place at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street). For tickets, on sale beginning November 28, call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 or online at 59E59.org.
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