Andy Bragen's DON'T YOU F**CKING SAY A WORD to Premiere at 59E59 Theaters

Andy Bragen Theatre Projects and Rachel Sussman will present the World Premiere of Andy Bragen's DON'T YOU F**KING SAY A WORD, directed by Lee Sunday Evans (2015 Obie Award-winner for A Beautiful Day in November on the Banks of the Greatest of the Great Lakes) at 59E59 Theaters, November 4-December 4.

Performances are Tuesdays through Thursdays at 7:15pm, Fridays 8:15pm, Saturdays at 2:15pm & 8:15pm, and Sundays at 3:15pm. Tickets ($35; $24.50 for 59E59 Members) are available online at www.59e59.org or by calling 212-279-4200. 59E59 Theaters is located at 59 East 59th Street (between Park and Madison Avenues). The performance will run approximately 80 minutes, with no intermission.

Don't You F**king Say a Word is a play about love and hate, about friendly and not so friendly competition. Tennis is just tennis...until it isn't.

In this structurally innovative comic drama, which takes place simultaneous over the course of a single tennis match, and over the course of two years, Kate and Leslie explore the complexities of their boyfriends' competitive spirits. Russ has a temper. Brian has been known to cheat. As their weekly tennis sets play out aggressively on stage, Kate and Leslie dissect their friendship and rivalry in a volley of sharp observation and wry wit. An explosive comedy about love, relationships and the consequences of a lousy backhand.

Don't You F**cking Say a Word will be the inaugural production for Andy Bragen Theatre Projects, an NYC-based writer-centered company that produces formally ambitious, highly theatrical plays. Building upon the legacy of 13P, ABTP believes in the value and vision of independent artists and producers, in a "de-institutionalized' model, wherein artists are given the direct support they need to realize their work. By demonstrating the viability of a playwright-centered model, and by sharing this approach with other aspiring writers/producers, ABTP aspires to have a significant impact on the way theatre is made in NYC and regionally.

Andy Bragen (Playwright) is a graduate oF Brown University's MFA Program in Literary Arts, and is the recipient of Workspace and Process Space Residencies from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. Other honors include the Clubbed Thumb Biennial Commission, a Tennessee Williams Fellowship from Sewanee: The University of the South, a Jerome Fellowship, a New Voices Fellowship from Ensemble Studio Theatre, a Dramatists Guild Fellowship, and residencies at Millay Colony and Blue Mountain Center. Produced plays include: The Hairy Dutchman, Spuyten Duyvil, Greater Messapia, Game, Set, Matchand This Is My Office, which was produced off-Broadway by The Play Company, and received a Drama Desk Nomination for Best Solo Performance. His co-translation from the Japanese of Yukiko Motoya's Vengeance Can Wait was produced at Performance Space 122, and has been published by Samuel French. A member of New Dramatists, Andy teaches playwriting at Barnard College. www.andybragen.com.

Lee Sunday Evans (Director) is an Obie Award winning director + choreographer. Credits include: Macbeth (Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival), Wellesley Girl by Brendan Pelsue (Humana), D Deb Debbie Deborah by Jerry Lieblich (Clubbed Thumb), A Beautiful Day in November on the Banks... by Kate Benson (OBIE Award - New Georges/Women's Project), The Play About My Dad by Boo Killebrew (59E59), God's Ear by Jenny Schwartz (Juilliard), Family Play (1979 to Present) by CollaborationTown, The Caucasian Chalk Circle by Bertolt Brecht with original music by Nicholas C. Williams. Her work has been presented/developed at: Baryshnikov Arts Center, Sundance Theater Lab, BAX, CATCH, LMCC, Robert Wilson's Watermill Center, Juilliard. As the resident director for CollaborationTown, Lee is currently developing a new musical as part of New Victory's LabWorks, and is under commission from LCT3. New Georges Affiliated Artist, NYTW Usual Suspect. Lee received the 2016 Susan Stroman Directing Award from The Vineyard Theater. Upcoming: Caught by Christopher Chen (Play Co.), [Porto] by Kate Benson at The Bushwick Starr, and a new play by Jacklyn Backhaus developed thru a partnership between Playwrights Horizons Theater School and Clubbed Thumb.

Rachel Sussman (Producer) is a New York-based creative producer who currently serves as Director of Programming and Artist Services for the New York Musical Festival (NYMF). She is also a co-founder of The MITTEN Lab, an emerging artist residency in her native Michigan. Rachel has previously worked with Second Stage Theatre, 321 Theatrical Management, RKO Stage, The Sundance Institute Theater Lab, and CREATE-Ireland in Dublin, Ireland. Independent producing credits include: The Woodsman (59E59/New World Stages), The Rug Dealer (WP's Pipeline Festival, 2016 Kilroys List), Talk to me about Shame(FringeNYC), and The Imaginary Menagerie (Joe's Pub). Rachel is a 2014-2016 Women's Project Lab Time Warner Foundation Fellow and sits on the Advisory Board for Strangemen & Co. and Musical Theatre Factory. She is a graduate of the Commercial Theatre Institute and University Scholar alumna of NYU Tisch. www.rachel-sussman.com

For more about the production, go to www.andybragentheatreprojects.com or www.59e59.org.

Photo Credit: Dmitry Gudkov

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