Austin Pendleton to Direct NYC Premiere of GIDION'S KNOT at 59E59 Theaters, 2/20-3/9

59E59 Theaters has announced the NYC premiere of GIDION'S KNOT, written by Johnna Adams and directed by Austin Pendleton. GIDION'S KNOT begins performances on Thursday, February 20 for a limited engagement through Sunday, March 9. Press opening is Wednesday, February 26 at 7:30 PM. The performance schedule is Tuesday - Thursday at 7:30 PM; Friday - Saturday at 8:30 PM; and Sunday at 3:30 PM. Performances are at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street, between Park and Madison Avenues). Tickets are $18 ($12.60 for 59E59 Members). To purchase tickets, call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 or go to www.59e59.org.

Over the course of a parent/teacher conference, an emotionally overwhelmed elementary school teacher and an anguished mother have a fraught conversation about her troubled son, Gidion. Was Gidion bullied severely? Or was he the bully? As Gidion's story slowly unravels, the two women struggle with each other to reconstruct a satisfying explanation for Gidion's actions and come to terms with excruciating feelings of culpability.

Making its NYC premiere in a production directed by acclaimed theater artist Austin Pendleton (last seen at 59E59 in Cormac McCarthy's The Sunset Limited), GIDION'S KNOT was a finalist for the 2013 Harold and Mimi Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award.

The cast of features Karen Leiner (The Birthday Party at Classic Stage Company) and Dara O'Brien (The Seagull, dir Austin Pendleton, at CSC First Look Festival).

The design team includes Stephen Dobay (set design); Ryan Metzler (lighting design); and Ryan Rummery (sound design). The Production Stage Manager is Kathryn "China" Hazer.

Austin Pendleton (director) just directed Tribes at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre, where he is a member of the Acting Ensemble and has also recently directed Detroit (premiere), Time Stands Still, and The Birthday Party. He has directed many productions in New York with Mississippi Mud, most recently SeaGull69. Three of his Broadway productions have been Tony-nominated: The Little Foxes (with Elizabeth Taylor), Spoils of War (with Kate Nelligan) and Shelter (with Marcia Rodd). His three most recent Chekhov productions in New York have been Ivanov (with Ethan Hawke), Three Sisters (for which he won an Obie), and Uncle Vanya (with Denis O'Hare, Maggie Gylenhall, Peters Sarsgaard, and Mamie Gummer). As an actor his most recent New York appearances have been in the American premieres of Choir Boy, at Manhattan Theatre Club, and Playing Sinatra, at Theatre for the New City. He has acted in more than 100 movies, and appeared in recurring roles on TV in Homicide, Oz, and Law and Order. He is a playwright, produced in New York, around the country, and internationally. He teaches acting at New York's HB Studio, where he studied with Uta Hagen and Herbert Berghof. He apprenticed, and has directed and acted many times, at the Williamstown Theatre Festival.

Johnna Adams (playwright) received a Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association Citation in April 2013 for her play Gidion's Knot. She is the 2011 recipient of the Princess Grace Award and a 2012 Finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Award. Gidion's Knot was published in the December 2012 edition of American Theatre Magazine. The Contemporary American Theatre Festival premiered Gidion's Knot in Shepherdtown, WV, in summer of 2012 and twelve regional productions are planned around the country for the 2013-14 season, including productions at InterAct Theatre (Philadelphia), Profiles (Chicago), Kitchen Dog (Dallas), Stages (Houston) and Furious Theatre Company (Los Angeles). Flux Theatre Ensemble (New York) produced her play Sans Merci in spring of 2013 in New York. The script was nominated for a New York Innovative Theatre Award for best play. Her play Skinless was developed at the 2012 MFA Playwrights' Workshop at the Kennedy Center and read at Rattlestick (New York) in winter of 2012. Her play Lickspittles, Buttonholers, and Damned Pernicious Go-Betweens was produced by Impetuous Theatre in autumn of 2013. Johnna's plays Angel Eaters, Rattlers, 8 Little Antichrists, Sans Merci, Cockfighters and The Sacred Geometry of S&M Porn are published by Original Works Publishing (www.originalworksonline.com). Johnna graduated from the DePaul University Theatre School with a BFA in Acting and received a 2012 MFA in Playwriting from Hunter College with Tina Howe.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride

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