59E59 Theaters Unveils Winter 2025 Season Productions
The season features the premiere of Amerikin, the final production in playwright Chisa Hutchinson's AMPLIFY Festival, and more.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Nov. 12, 2024
59E59 Theaters revealed the productions in its Winter 2025 season, which includes works by award-winning Broadway playwrights Ken Ludwig and Robert Schenkkan. The season features the premiere of Amerikin, the final production in playwright Chisa Hutchinson's AMPLIFY Festival, and two US premieres from Fishamble as part of Origin's 1st Irish, an annual city-wide festival that celebrates Ireland's innovative artists.
"This winter season offers a rare opportunity to experience Off-Broadway premieres by Broadway icons Ken Ludwig and Robert Schenkkan in good company with inventive talents such as Chisa Hutchinson. Our season is a testament to the wide range of theater we strive to present," said Val Day, artistic director of 59E59 Theaters. "The creative freedom we offer companies allows them to fully tap into a wellspring of innovation to bring forth meaningful stories leaving our audiences feeling entertained, connected, and excited to return for more."
Penguin Rep Theatre and Shadowland Stages will present Dear Jack, Dear Louise by Tony Award-winning playwright Ken Ludwig (Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery, Lend Me a Tenor), directed by Stephen Nachamie, with Alexandra Fortin and Michael Liebhauser. Dear Jack, Dear Louise details the joyous, heart-warming courtship and love story of Ludwig's parents against the backdrop of World War II, and the results are anything but expected.
Presented in partnership with UNDER THE RADAR, New York City's premiere experimental theater festival, Portugal's Mala Voadora, in association with Twilight Theatre Co. and Peacedale Global Arts, will bring Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright Robert Schenkkan's work Old c*ckto 59E59 Theaters. Directed by Jorge Andrade, the play transports audiences to Portugal and chronicles the escapades of Rooster of Barcelos in an outrageous political satire.
59E59 Theaters' Off Broadway Resident Company Primary Stages will present Amerikin, the final production of Chisa Hutchinson's AMPLIFY Festival, in March. A biting yet compassionate satire, Amerikin tells the story of a new father who joins a white supremacist group to protect his son. When his attempt to join is thwarted by some surprising ancestry test results, the line between “us” and “them” gets incredibly blurry.
Rounding out the season Radio Downtown: Radical '70s Artists Live on Air presented by The Civilians, Pecking Order presented by American Bard Theater Company, Sugarcraft presented by No.11 Productions, and two shows in the LAB: STRIPPED series presented by LAByrinth Theater Company. The season will close with two shows presented by Fishamble: The New Play Company as part of Origin's 1st Irish festival – Rise Productions' Fight Night and In Two Minds.
Following a $10 million gift from the Elysabeth Kleinhans Theatrical Foundation, 59E59 Theaters allows the 30-plus productions that open annually to use the company's three performance spaces and equipment by dramatically reducing costs. The model, which went into effect starting in Summer 2024, provides opportunities to bring more diverse, innovative productions to the theater's stages.
“The slate of productions, city-wide festival connections and award-winning playwrights in our Winter season are all a testament to the role 59E59 Theaters plays in uplifting artists and the enduring importance of preserving theater in New York City,” said Brian Beirne, managing director of 59E59 Theaters. “We're grateful to be able to lift a financial burden for these companies as they work diligently and collaboratively to bring compelling stories and the magic of theater to new and returning audience members.”
Full casting and creative teams for the productions will be announced at a later date. More information about the shows can be found below.
About the Shows (in chronological order)
January 8 - 19
Mala Voadora in association with Twilight Theatre Co. and Peacedale Global Arts presents
OLD COCK
Directed by Jorge Andrade
The Rooster of Barcelos is Portugal's most popular souvenir. Legends say he miraculously came back to life at the dinner table to save a pilgrim wrongly accused of a crime, but the rooster himself has more than a few questions about his own story.
He demands answers from Prime Minister Salazar, the fascist dictator who ruled Portugal for 40 years. The gloves are off and the feathers are flying as the Rooster and Salazar throw down over the pretty lies and ugly fictions that crippled the people of Portugal for decades.
From Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright Robert Schenkkan in collaboration with Portugal's premier Theater Company, Mala Voadora, comes an outrageous political satire that reminds us how easily stories can be corrupted and cautions us to watch out for fowl play.
January 11 - February 9
Opening January 16
The Civilians presents
Radio Downtown: Radical ‘70s Artists Live on Air
Created and directed by Steve Cosson
Made from archival interviews from WNYC's “Arts Forum,” a 1970s radically open format radio show about avant garde artists, this world premiere enlists an experimental storytelling method in homage to its downtown subjects. The result is a hilariously naturalistic, wholly live experience.
The cast of Radio Downtown channels some of the era's most audacious visionaries like Harry Smith, Yvonne Rainer, and Kenneth Anger using their words verbatim with arresting images and films made by these artists. The resulting show invites us to see a future as imagined by these ‘70s trailblazers—an erasure of the line between art & audience; a cultural community that embraces political activism; and an abundant, wild, and fully democratic creative life for America.
January 18 - February 16
Opening January 22
Penguin Rep Theatre and Shadowland Stages present
Ken Ludwig's DEAR JACK, DEAR LOUISE
Directed by Stephen Nachamie
With Alexandra Fortin and Michael Liebhauser
Two strangers – a military doctor in Oregon and an aspiring actress in New York City – meet by letter during World War II. They dream of being together someday, but the war keeps them apart for years. Will Letters be enough to spark a love story?
Tony Award-winning playwright Ken Ludwig (Lend Me a Tenor, Crazy for You) tells the true story of his parents' courtship during World War II in this new play, signed, sealed, and delivered straight from the heart.
January 29 - February 15
Opening February 2
American Bard Theater Company presents
PECKING ORDER
By Robin Rice
Directed by Basil Rodericks
Two red-tailed hawks have the nerve to build a nest on a ritzy apartment building on the Upper East Side. Doorman Albert is determined to protect them, but many of the building's residents aren't happy about it. Torn between his own dreams and responsibilities, Albert's love of birds and longing for romance are thwarted by the need to financially support his ailing sister.
With elements of magical realism, this quirky, heartfelt drama explores the inequalities and conflicts of those who work to serve the wealthy, who work to protect the things they love, and who work to control the pecking order.
February 26 - March 15
Opening March 2
No.11 Productions presents
SUGARCRAFT
By Danny Tieger
Directed by Ryan Emmons
You are cordially invited to Lady Dupray's exclusive parlour for a cooking presentation by the ingenious Mary Eales. Mrs. Eales dazzled the royal court with her most famous recipe for ice cream – and now her innovation, once only available to Queen Anne and her guests, will be crafted just for you! No need to bring your own straw and salt; all will be provided.
No.11 Productions has whipped up a new theatrical confection, written by Danny Tieger and inspired by the 1718 cookbook, Mrs. Mary Eales' Receipts. As Mary presents her famed dishes à la Julia Child, snippets from her past bubble up and we see how she's used the extraordinary power of sugar to overcome seemingly impossible odds. But Mary's past is hurtling towards a secret future that hangs on the success of her cooking presentation.
Note: The show involves actors onstage working with real food ingredients including nuts. Allergen warning for almonds.
March 1 - April 13
Opening March 18
Primary Stages presents
AMERIKIN
Directed by Jade King Carroll
In small-town Maryland, Jeff Browning resolves to give his newborn son every possible advantage – by joining a local white supremacist group. When his attempt to join is thwarted by some surprising ancestry test results, the line between “us” and “them” gets incredibly blurry. Jeff scrambles to maintain appearances, but his sanitized story starts to unravel when a prominent Black journalist and his daughter start asking questions.
Both bitterly funny and deeply compassionate, Amerikin explores the lengths we go to protect our own, the lies we tell ourselves, and the cost of division on us all.
Chisa Hutchinson developed Amerikin as part of the Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group at Primary Stages, and the play was featured in the 2018 Fresh Ink Reading Series. Primary Stages is honored to produce Amerikin as part of 59E59's AMPLIFY Festival.
March 7 - 30
LAByrinth Theater Company presents
LAB: STRIPPED
LAByrinth Theater Company presents LAB: STRIPPED, two week runs of staged works in progress. More than a reading, but not quite a production, STRIPPED keeps the focus on the script with minimal technical elements.
March 7 - 16
STRIPPED: House of Blue Robes
Directed by Brian Roff
Hell's Kitchen, 1985. Roommates Ralph Ramirez, an actor, and Schlomo D., an aspiring rapper, are struggling to break through as artists. Ralph is torn between his love for Marisol and his father's old-world ideas, while Schlomo's own tortuous relationship with girlfriend Maylin Chang has brought his life to a standstill. When Ralph meets Florence, a transplant from Naples, their connection sets a series of events in motion, to devastating effect for all.
House of Blue Robes is a complex and very funny journey of identity, friendship, love, and fidelity.
March 21 - 30
STRIPPED: Recurring
Directed by John Gould Rubin
Recurring is a gripping, cinematically vivid drama that graphically unveils how a deep and horrific history insinuates itself into a woman's present and future. Through fragmented memories propelled by sharp suspense, acid humor, and a gripping magical realism, we're spun through a dizzying array of events—from adulthood to girlhood, back and forth—culminating in a visceral confrontation with the horrifying truth of what she endured.
April 1 - 20
Opening April 5
Fishamble: The New Play Company presents Rise Productions'
Comments
Videos