59E59 Theaters Unveils Exciting Lineup for Fall 2023

59E59 Theaters has revealed their Fall 2023 Season.
 
2024 marks 59E59 Theaters’ 20th Anniversary. Founded by Elysabeth Kleinhans and operating under the Elysabeth Kleinhans Theatrical Foundation since 2004, 59E59 has been honored to serve as an artistic home for over 400 non-profit theater companies presenting more than 600 shows in their three spaces to over 1.4 million audience members. The Foundation provides a uniquely supportive model that makes producing more affordable to independent theater groups and allows new work to be generated and produced through special programs such as Space Lab, Makers Program, and Residencies. The upcoming year will be a mix of celebrating the theater makers 59E59 hosted in the last 20 years and eagerly looking forward to welcoming new companies and the opportunity to champion their work in 2025 and beyond. 
 
“In the last 20 years we’ve hosted theater companies and audiences from all over the world, playing a crucial role in the professional development of so many theater makers,” says Managing Director Brian Beirne. “Over one million audience members have visited our three spaces, and we look forward to continuing to challenge and entertain audiences for the next 20 years.”
 
"The Fall season is bursting with imagination, music, and entertainment featuring both returning companies and some exciting newcomers to our stages who are all tackling innovative and timely topics,” says Artistic Director Val Day. “Every one of these companies have something in common- they are not afraid to make theater that asks essential questions about who we are as a society and the value of community.”
 
The 59E59 Theaters Fall 2023 Season will begin with Artificial Flavors, presented by The Civilians; followed by Pair, presented by No.11 Productions; and Hershey Felder as Monsieur Chopin.
 
The season will continue with ADRIFT|A Medieval Wayward Folly, presented by Happenstance Theater; followed by UNCONFINED, presented by KAZAN CO-OP.
 
The season will conclude in 2024 with The Greatest Hits Down Route 66, presented by New Light Theater Project in association with Calliope Stage; followed by Beverly Johnson: IN VOGUE, presented by ACT II Playhouse, in association with Bud Martin; and The Sweet Spot, presented by American Bard Theater Company.
 
Full casting and creative teams for the productions will be announced at a later date. More information about the shows can be found below. For details regarding tickets and performance schedules, visit 59E59.org.
 
The 59E59 Theaters Fall 2023 Season will include:
 
The Civilians presents

Artificial Flavors

Created & Directed by Steve Cosson
Theater B
Previews begin October 22
Opening Night is October 27
Limited run through November 19
 
In a novel collaboration between humans and AI, Artificial Flavors turns the hot topic of artificial intelligence into a theater experience like nothing else. Knowing that the stories we tell ourselves shape and influence what happens in society, what will happen when many of those stories are computer generated? Hosted by The Civilians’ Artistic Director Steve Cosson, parts of the show are generated live by the latest AI programs and immediately performed, creating an entirely different show every night.
 
The evening culminates with an original musical in which the performers roll with the punches, nimbly adjusting to every bizarre plot twist and oddly phrased original song the AI throws their way to surprising and hilarious effect.
 
Artificial Flavors is a fascinating evening of barely-controlled chaos that you won’t want to miss. 
 
 
No.11 Productions presents

Pair

By No.11 Productions
Directed by Ryan Emmons
Theater C
Previews begin November 3
Opening Night is November 5
Limited run through November 18
 
Inspired by the lives of world-famous artists Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Pair is a playful meditation on the nature of art and partnership. Claes and Coosje were renowned for their larger-than-life pop art sculptures that inflated everyday objects to extraordinary proportions. As the artists explore their creative process, something fantastical is happening as a pear (yes, the fruit) embarks on a worldwide quest for self-discovery. What emerges is a funny and intimate play about collaboration, imagination, and love.
 
Pair explores the duality of Claes and Coosje's 30 year artistic and romantic collaboration and their artistic vision. They carry on a spirited debate about color, composition, scale, and the messy, exploratory way that art is made in this refreshingly whimsical love story.
 
 
Hershey Felder as

Monsieur Chopin

A Play with Music
Directed by Joel Zwick
Theater A
Previews begin November 16
Opening Night is November 19
Limited run through December 24
 
Monsieur Chopin features the romantic story and music of the Polish pianist-composer Fryderyk Chopin, set in Chopin’s Parisian salon where he will teach a piano lesson that actually took place in March 1848, just days after the February 1848 revolution. As the piano lesson unfolds, Chopin reveals secrets about the art of the piano and composition, as well as secrets about himself. Hershey Felder delves deep into the music and psyche of the man, considered by his contemporaries, and now by history, as the true “Poet of the Piano.”
 
In Monsieur Chopin, Hershey features some of the pianist-composer’s most beautiful and enduring music while entertaining us in his unique and theatrical style.
 
 
Happenstance Theater presents

ADRIFT|A Medieval Wayward Folly

Devised by Happenstance Theater
Under the Co-Direction of Mark Jaster and Sabrina Mandell
Theater B
Previews begin November 29
Opening Night is December 5
Limited run through December 24
 
A ship of fools adrift at sea.
They ask, “What do we do now?”
After an apocalypse, the search begins.
 
Characters from the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch and archetypes from the tarot are brought to life in this ingeniously staged production of theatrical alchemy using live music, physical comedy, puppetry, and so much more. This pod of eccentrics will drift into the world to bring delight, share hopes and fears, and find a way forward.
 
A dynamic medieval tapestry of pure theater…and it wouldn’t be the Middle Ages without a hellmouth, demons, and angels.
 
 
KAZAN CO-OP presents

UNCONFINED

Written & Performed by Liz Richardson
Directed by Ed Thomason
Theater C
Previews begin December 6
Opening Night is December 9
Limited run through December 22
 
Can a young man guilty of a terrible crime rehabilitate himself in spite of an incarceration system bent on de-humanizing him?
 
UNCONFINED is based on the true story of a man who spent 18 years on death row, during which he developed into an artist and spiritual practitioner. What unspools is a very personal story, told from multiple viewpoints, of how he changed the lives of the people around him in ways they could never have anticipated. In this monodrama, the central figure remains unseen but is reflected in each of the three characters that Liz Richardson portrays: a painter, a professor, and another prisoner.
 
The play challenges our preconceptions about what it means to really know someone—and to know yourself.

New Light Theater Project, in association with Calliope Stage, presents

The Greatest Hits Down Route 66

By Michael Aguirre
Musical Arrangements by Grace Yukich and Jennifer C. Dauphinais
Directed by Sarah Norris
Theater A
Previews begin January 13
Opening Night is January 23
Limited run through February 18
 
It’s the summer of ‘99. The Franco family is taking the Great American Road Trip and getting to know each other along that legendary highway, whether they like it or not.
 
Accompanied by live music drawn from Carl Sandburg’s American Songbag, an eclectic 1920s anthology of American folk songs, the parents are challenged at every turn by their unpredictable children and soon find themselves detouring into their own childhood memories. History lessons are peppered in as the family careens around America’s iconic landmarks and cultural relics, framed by the familiar music of a bygone era.
 
One-part family comedy, one-part musical odyssey, The Greatest Hits Down Route 66 navigates the wide-open spaces in our personal and collective histories and the spaces that exist between people — even those we think we know best.
 
 
ACT II Playhouse, in association with Bud Martin, presents

Beverly Johnson: IN VOGUE

Written by Beverly Johnson and Josh Ravetch
Directed by Josh Ravetch
Theater B
Previews begin January 9
Opening Night is January 14
Limited run through January 28
 
Exactly fifty years ago, Beverly Johnson made history as the first Black woman to appear on the cover of American Vogue. The iconic supermodel has graced more than 500 magazine covers and worked in theater and TV while mingling with some of the biggest stars of the last fifty years from Elizabeth Taylor to the great Ella Fitzgerald.
 
IN VOGUE takes us on a journey through her super-modeling career, her unimaginable tumultuous relationships, the truth about Bill Cosby, and her involvement in the #MeToo movement. Like Johnson herself, this show is funny, fearless, and unapologetic while illustrating how she bucked trends and broke through barriers, blazing a trail that continues to burn brightly today. In this intimate “live-autobiography” Johnson takes the stage to share her personal dispatches in the ever-shifting but never dull fashion and entertainment industries which all began just blocks from 59E59 Theaters.
 
 
American Bard Theater Company presents

The Sweet Spot

By Alice Jankell
Directed by Page Clements
Theater C
Previews begin January 11
Opening Night is January 13
Limited run through January 27
 
Jerry and Vita are an independent, passionate couple with 50 years of marriage under their belts. The type of couple who knows each other so well they can finish each other's complaints.
 
An opportunity to move to an assisted living community arrives sooner than expected and they must quickly make a life-changing decision. We follow the pair over three intimate, banter-filled mornings as they grapple, negotiate, and reminisce to determine what decision they can live with.
 
The Sweet Spot examines how people grow together, how our sense of identity shifts over time, and how love conquers all if we’re brave enough to let it.
 
 

ABOUT 59E59 Theaters

59E59 Theaters was established by the Elysabeth Kleinhans Theatrical Foundation in 2004 to grant professional space and expertise to non-profit theater companies premiering their work in New York City. Under the leadership of Val Day, Artistic Director, and Brian Beirne, Managing Director, 59E59 Theaters presents a year-round curated program of Off Broadway plays and musicals that are nurtured and supported through highly-subsidized rental rates as well as production, ticketing, FOH, marketing, and press support.
 
FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT
www.59e59.org