59E59 Theaters (Elysabeth Kleinhans, Artistic Director; Peter Tear, Executive Producer) is thrilled to welcome AMERINDA Inc. with the NY premiere MISS LEAD, written by Mary Kathryn Nagle and directed by Madeline Sayet. MISS LEAD begins performances on Thursday, January 16 for a limited engagement through Sunday, January 26. Press opening is Sunday January 19 at 7:15 PM. The performance schedule is Tuesday - Thursday at 7:15 PM; Friday - Saturday 8:15 PM; and Sunday at 3:15 PM. Please note, there are added performances on Saturday, January 18 at 2:15 PM & Sunday, January 19 at 7:15 PM. Performances are at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street, between Park and Madison Avenues). Single tickets are $18 ($12.60 for 59E59 Members). To purchase tickets, call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 or go to www.59e59.org.
Katie McCartney is 18 and sick. After just one semester away from college, she is forced to return home to the Tri-State Mining area to grapple with a debilitating illness. Just as Katie is diagnosed with a crippling auto-immune disease, the Environmental Protection Agency arrives at her home and finds the yard has high levels of lead. Her father, head of the Tri-State Mining Company, refuses to allow the EPA to remove the contaminated soil.
While in the hospital, Katie meets a member of the Quapaw Tribe, forcing her to reconcile her dismissal of her own Native roots. She learns that her illness, as well as her identity, is inextricably woven into the soil of the land.
MISS LEAD holds a holds up a magnifying glass to one of the United States' worst environmental disaster sites-the Tri-State Mining Area in Oklahoma, Missouri, and Kansas. During World War II, the area was the world's largest producer of lead. Now, small enclaves like Picher, Oklahoma are virtual ghost-towns, the land constantly caving in. Children in Cardin, Oklahoma have some of the highest blood-lead levels in the country. Seven federally recognized Indian Nations (the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma; the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma; the Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma; the Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma; the Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma; the Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma; the Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma, and the Wyandotte Tribe of Oklahoma) have been left with environmental contamination on their lands for mining that the BIA authorized-but the tribes never agreed to.
Set in and inspired by an EPA Superfund site in the Midwest, MISS LEAD is a cautionary tale of environmental malfeasance built on the back of a broken American dream.
The cast features
Claire Burke, Dylan Carusona, Brett Hecksher, Tyree Giroux (The Ministry at the Vineyard Theater), Michelle Honaker,
Dawn Jamieson (Inherit the Wind w/
George C. Scott &
Charles Durning), Stuart Luth (Speak Truth to Power at
The Public Theater),
Nancy McDoniel (United 93), Tanis Parenteau (House of Cards), and Elizabeth Rolston (Broken Footprints at Soho Playhouse).
Mary Kathryn Nagle (playwright) was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, and an honorary member of the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska. She studied theater at Georgetown University, and went on to study law at Tulane Law School, where she graduated summa cum laude and was the recipient of the Judge John Minor Wisdom Award. Following graduation she clerked for three federal judges, and her law review articles have been published in five different journals, including the Tulane Law Review and Tulsa Law Review. Her plays have been performed in theaters and law schools across the country. During her tenure in the 2013 Public Theater's Emerging Writers Group, Nagle wrote Manahatta. Manahatta was recently featured as a side-event in the 2013 United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous People, and was also featured in
The Public Theater's 2013 NEW WORK NOW series. In October 2013, her play Sliver of a Full Moon was performed at the National Congress of the American Indian's Annual Convention in Tulsa, OK. Most recently, Nagle was selected to be a member of
The Civilians 2013-2014 R&D Group.
Madeline Sayet (director) is a recipient of The White House Champion of Change Award for Native America for her work as a director, writer, performer, and educator. She is the Resident Artistic Director at Amerinda Inc. and the Artistic Director of The Mad & Merry Theatre Company. Recent directing credits include: Daughters of Leda (Dixon Place,
Culture Project), The Tempest (The Sylvester Manor, Brooklyn Lyceum),
Wendy Wasserstein's Uncommon Women and Others (The Connelly Theater), and Expecting Lila & Shades of Blue as part of Bottles on the Water (The Drama Bookshop Theatre). She holds her BFA in Theatre and MA in Arts Politics: Post-Colonial Theory from NYU.
