An Evening of Plays Based on Tennessee Williams Stories Set for at 59E59 Theaters

59E59 Theaters will welcome The Acting Company to the 2015/2016 5A Season with the US premiere of DESIRE An Evening of Plays Based on Six Stories by Tennessee Williams. Directed by Michael Wilson, DESIRE features new plays written by John Guare, Beth Henley, Marcus Gardley, Rebecca Gilman, David Grimm and Elizabeth Egloff. DESIRE begins performances on Wednesday, September 2 for a limited engagement through Sunday, October 11. Opening Night is Thursday, September 10 at 7 PM. The performance schedule is Tuesday - Thursday at 7 PM; Friday at 8 PM; Saturday at 2 PM & 8 PM; Sunday at 3 PM. Single tickets are $70 ($49 for 59E59 Members). To purchase tickets, call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 or visit www.59e59.org.

Tennessee Williams' life changing short stories depict loss of innocence, coming of age, fighting loneliness and isolation, and what it means to love and to lose it. Adapted by some of America's leading playwrights, Williams' striking stories explode off the page.

The Resemblance Between a Violin Case and a Coffin by Pulitzer Prize-winner Beth Henley is about love, loss of talent and innocence, sexuality and death. The Field of Blue Children is a study in class differences and pride written by Olivier and Pulitzer Prize-nominee Rebecca Gilman. Tent Worms by Elizabeth Egloff is the bittersweet story of death and loss. Oriflamme by David Grimm addresses stemming the tide of dullness and conspiracy. PEN/Laura Pels Award-winner Marcus Gardley's adaptation desire quenched by touch (adapted from Desire and the Black Masseur) is a detective story set during the height of the Cold War, and mired in racism, hatred, and fear. Finally, John Guare adapts Portrait of a Girl in Glass, the short story that inspired The Glass Menagerie, with You Lied to Me About Centralia.

The cast features Kristen Adele (Myrna In Transit at Ensemble Studio Theater), Megan Bartle (Of Mice and Men with The Acting Company), Juliet Brett (Beth Henley's The Jacksonian at The New Group), Brian Cross (The Snow Geese on Broadway), Liv Rooth (Venus In Fur on Broadway), John Skelley (Hamlet with The Acting Company), Derek Smith (The Green Bird on Broadway, Tony nominee for Best Featured Actor in a Play), Mickey Theis (Posterity at Atlantic Theater Company), and Yaegel T. Welch (Of Mice and Men with The Acting Company).

The design team includes Jeff Cowie (scenic design); David C. Woolard (costume design); Russell H. Champa (lighting design); and John Gromada (original music and sound design). The musical director and pianist is Jono Mainelli. Choreography is by Peter Pucci. The Production Stage Manager is Jereme Kyle Lewis.

Michael Wilson (director) is one of America's foremost directors of Tennessee Williams. NY: The Red Devil Battery Sign and The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore. As Hartford Stages' Artistic Director, he helmed a ten-year Williams Marathon, directing nine works and winning the Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Revival. Broadway: 2013 Tony Award-winning revival of Horton Foote's The Trip to Bountiful, Gore Vidal's The Best Man, Dividing The Estate, Enchanted April and Old Acquaintance (revival). He has won Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards. Films: The Trip to Bountiful (DGA and NAACP Image Award noms.) and, upcoming, Showing Roots.

Elizabeth Egloff's (playwright) plays include Ether Dome, The Swan and Peter Pan and Wendy.

Marcus Gardley (playwright), a PEN/Laura Pels Awardee, is recognized for his poetry and plays such as ...And Jesus Moonwalks the Mississippi, The Box: A Black Comedy, and Every Tongue Confess.

Rebecca Gilman (playwright) is a Pulitzer and Olivier Award nominee. Her plays include Spinning into Butter, Boy Gets Girl and The Heart is a Lonely Hunter.

David Grimm (playwright) is best known for The Miracle at Naples, Measure for Pleasure and Tales from Red Vienna.

John Guare (playwright) has written extensively for the theater including The House of Blue Leaves and Six Degrees of Separation. He has been nominated for two Pulitzer Prizes, six Tony Awards (winning for Best Book of a Musical for Two Gentlemen of Verona), and an Academy Award. He won the Olivier Award for Six Degrees of Separation.

Beth Henley (playwright) is the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of Crimes of the Heart and, most recently, Abundance.

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