WORKING: A MUSICAL, PROMENADE, and ROAD SHOW Fill Encores Off-Center 2019 Season

Encores! Off-Center today announced programming for the 2019 season of New York City Center's popular summer musical theater series which concludes the landmark 75th Anniversary Season. The Encores! Off-Center series begins, June 26 through 29, with an updated version of Nina Faso and Stephen Schwartz's Working: A Musical, including songs by Craig Carnelia, Micki Grant, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mary Rodgers and Susan Birkhead, and James Taylor. The production will be directed by Off-Center artistic director Anne Kauffman.

The two-night-only presentation (July 10 & 11) will feature pillars of the experimental theater movement Al Carmines and Maria Irene Fornés' Promenade, directed by Laurie Woolery.

Closing out the season is Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman's Road Show, July 24 through 27, directed and choreographed by Will Davis.

"These three shows represent a status update on the American Dream. How are we defining success and freedom these days and who in this country has access to them," said Kauffman. "Off-Center is all about bringing the cutting-edge artists of today into contact with the groundbreaking works from the past. What is so vital about theater, whether we're talking about a revival or a new work, is that it is a living, breathing thing that takes shape in the exact moment an audience sees it."

An impassioned documentation of the people who make American run, Working (2019) explores the lives of working class men and women who are so often taken for granted. Based on the Studs Terkel best-selling book, the musical has gone through several updates-the latest of which adds two songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda to an already illustrious list of songwriters. Promenade (1965) follows two escaped prisoners, known only as 105 and 106, as they run through The City, mingling with an assortment of characters from the poor and homeless to the extremely wealthy-Maria Irene Fornés' absurdist look at the haves and have-nots features music by Al Carmines which ranges in style from rock to blues to Noel Coward and Puccini. Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman's Road Show (2003) tells the somewhat true story of two brothers who inherit a small fortune at the turn of the 20th Century and grab their piece of the American Dream in a country where anything seems possible.

The Civilians will once again team up with New York City Center as Artists?in?Residence forThe Lobby Project, a series of free, pre?performance events presented in conjunction with Encores! Off?Center productions.

In keeping with City Center's founding mission to make the arts accessible to all New Yorkers, many Off-Center tickets are $25.

New this season, Off-Center audiences will have advance access to tickets by purchasing a 3-Show Pack. The package offers all buyers the option to choose their seats for each production in advance of single ticket sales in March, as well as saving on handling fees.

City Center Members will have first access to the 3-Show Pack beginning January 14, followed by the Access City Center Club on January 18, and general public on January 22. Access City Center Club (previously Peer-to-Peer) is free and provides special ticket offers to City Center productions, including early access to Encores! Off-Center's $25 tickets. The program is newly expanded this season to include anyone 35 years of age or younger.

Single tickets for all three productions go on sale to Members March 25, followed by Access City Center Club on March 29, and general public on April 1. 3-Show Pack and single tickets can be purchased online at NYCityCenter.org, by calling 212.581.1212, or in person at the City Center Box Office (131 West 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues).