Chill Out with SUMMER SHORTS 2016 at 59E59 Theaters

59E59 Theaters is thrilled to welcome Throughline Artists with SUMMER SHORTS 2016, the annual festival of six short plays tailor-made for summer viewing, now celebrating its 10th season.

SUMMER SHORTS 2016 begins on Friday, July 22 and runs through Saturday, September 3. The general performance schedule is Tuesday - Thursday at 7:15 PM, Friday at 8:15 PM; Saturday at 2:15 PM and 8:15 PM; and Sunday at 3:15 PM & 7:15 PM. Please note, there are no matinee performances on Saturday, July 23; Sunday, July 24; or Saturday, July 30. Individual performance dates for Series A and Series B are below. A downloadable calendar schedule is available [hyperlink here]. Press Opening for Series A is Sunday, July 31 at 3:15 PM. Press Opening for Series B is Sunday, August 7 at 3:15 PM.

Performances are at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street, between Park and Madison Avenues). Single tickets are $25 ($17.50 for 59E59 Members). A Pair of Shorts (a ticket to both Series A & B) is $40 (available until August 17). To purchase tickets, call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 or visit www.59e59.org.

New York City's cheekiest summer theater festival, called "shamelessly clever and deeply satisfying" by the New York Times, arrives at 59E59 for its 10th season! A celebration of summer, theater, and the short form, SUMMER SHORTS pairs top NYC playwrights with some of today's best directing and acting talents. Divided into two series, SUMMER SHORTS premieres six one-act plays, presented as two separate evenings of three each. The two series run in rotating repertory.

SUMMER SHORTS 2016 features new one-act plays from Neil LaBute, Richard Alfredo, Idris Goodwin, Cusi Cram, A. Rey Pamatmat and Alexander Dinelaris. Casting will be announced in the coming weeks.

The design team includes Rebecca Lord-Surratt (set design); Greg MacPherson (lighting design); Amy Sutton (costume design); Nick Moore (sound design/composer); Isabella Carter (prop design); and Daniel Mueller (projection design). The Production Stage Manager for Series A is Jenna R. Lazar. The Production Stage Manager for Series B is Dee Dee Katchen.

SUMMER SHORTS SERIES A

Performance schedule: 7/22 @8:15 PM; 7/23 @8:15 PM; 7/24 at 7:15 PM; 7/26 at 7:15 PM; 7/27 at 7:15 PM; 7/28 at 7:15 PM; 7/29 at 8:15 PM; 7/31 at 3:15 PM; 8/6 at 2:15 PM; 8/7 at 7:15 PM; 8/9 at 7:15 PM; 8/10 at 7:15 PM; 8/13 at 8:15 PM; 8/14 at 3:15 PM; 8/18 at 7:15 PM; 8/19 at 8:15 PM; 8/20 at 2:15 PM; 8/21 at 7:15 PM; 8/23 at 7:15 PM; 8/24 at 7:15 PM; 8/27 at 8:15 PM; 8/28 at 3:15 PM; 9/1 at 7:15 PM; 9/2 at 8:15 PM

Press Opening: Sunday, July 31 at 3:15 PM

THE HELPERS by Cusi Cram, directed by Jessi D. Hill
Jane and Nate have a complicated and thorny past. Jane used to help Nate but now that the tables are turned can Jane take the leap and let Nate help her? A bittersweet comedy about risk, kindness, and how difficult it can be to let people in.

AFTER THE WEDDING by Neil LaBute, directed by Maria Mileaf
A man and a woman meet to discuss her infidelities. However, the more the woman confesses, the more the man professes his love for her. AFTER THE WEDDING is a comedic and bittersweet look at love, lust and forgiveness.

THIS IS HOW IT ENDS by A. Rey Pamatmat, directed by Ed Sylvanus Iskandar
How would you spend your last day on Earth? Jake is about to find out, because his all-too-perfect roommate Annie has just broken some seriously disturbing news. She's the Anti-Christ, her co-workers are the Four Horseman, and the end is most definitely nigh. A hilarious and touching new play about life, love, and making the most of the time we're given.

SUMMER SHORTS SERIES B

Performance schedule: 7/30 at 8:15 PM; 7/31 at 7:15 PM; 8/2 at 7:15 PM; 8/3 at 7:15 PM; 8/4 at 7:15 PM; 8/5 at 8:15 PM; 8/6 at 8:15 PM; 8/7 at 3:15 PM; 8/11 at 7:15 PM; 8/12 at 8:15 PM; 8/13 at 2:15 PM; 8/14 at 7:15 PM; 8/16 at 7:15 PM; 8/17 at 7:15 PM; 8/20 at 8:15 PM; 8/21 at 3:15 PM; 8/25 at 7:15 PM; 8/26 at 8:15 PM; 8/27 at 2:15 PM; 8/28 at 7:15 PM; 8/30 at 7:15 PM; 8/31 at 7:15 PM; 9/3 at 2:15 PM and 8:15 PM

Press Opening: Sunday, August 7 at 3:15 PM

THE DARK CLOTHES OF NIGHT by Richard Alfredo, directed by Alexander Dinelaris
Burke Sloane is a hard-knuckle Film Noir private eye, caught in a web of perfumed intrigue. Rob Marlowe is a professor of Film Semiotics, toggling between gender politics and fanboy fantasies. Their paths collide in a kaleidoscope of shifting identities, femme fatales and deadly horticulture. A doppelgänger whodunit.

QUEEN by Alexander Dinelaris, inspired by The Woman Who Came at Six O'Clock by Gabriel García Márquez, directed by Victor Slezak
Everyday at six o'clock a prostitute named Queen, comes into Joe's restaurant for a free meal. And everyday for years the routine has been the same. But today isn't everyday.

BLACK FLAG by Idris Goodwin, directed by Logan Vaughn
Sydney is from Georgia. Deja is from Detroit. These two new dorm-mates cannot wait to start their freshman year together. That is, until Sydney decides to decorate their room with a little piece of "Southern pride." Now, all bets are off. BLACK FLAG is a biting new play about allegiance, censorship, and the price of honoring the past.

BIOGRAPHIES:

Richard Alfredo (playwright/The Dark Clothes of Night) lives in New York, a city he loves and frequently abandons. His plays include Turn Around, Jimmy Booker (Shotgun Prods.); Where the Deer and the Antelope Play (NY Stage and Film / Naked Angels); The Rise and Fall of Father Dan and The Oyster's Bellyache. He recently had the pleasure of working with longtime co-conspirator Alex Dinelaris on the book for the Broadway musical On Your Feet! Richard is the screenwriter of the films Saving Oliver and Till Death Us Do Part. He is currently writing a feature film for director Bob Giraldi, starring the legendary Danny Aiello.

Cusi Cram's (playwright/The Helpers) plays have been produced by: Primary Stages, LABYrinth Theater, The Denver Center, The Williamstown Theater Festival, South Coast Repertory, Princeton University, New Georges and numerous theaters nationwide. She's written teleplays and pilots for kids and adults and wrote for Showtime's "The Big C." Cusi has received three Emmy nominations for her labors in TV. She recently directed her first film, Wild & Precious, through AFI's Directing Workshop for Women where it won The Adrienne Shelly and Nancy Mallone Awards. She teaches playwriting in the Fordham/Primary Stages MFA program and at NYU. She lives in Greenwich Village with her husband, the award-winning writer, Peter Hirsch and their two champagne tabbies.

Alexander Dinelaris (playwright/Queen; director/The Dark Clothes of Night) is an Academy Award and Golden Globe winner for the screenplay of Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance). He was a co-producer on The Revenant. He is co-creator and showrunner of the upcoming series, "The One Percent," for Starz network. Dinelaris also authored the hit Broadway musical On Your Feet!, the story of Gloria and Emilio Estefan. Other recent works include The Bodyguard musical for the West End and his plays Red Dog Howls, Still Life, The Chaos Theories and In This, Our Time. Dinelaris is a proud member of the Writer's Guild and the Dramatists Guild.

Idris Goodwin's (playwright/Black Flag) plays include How We Got On (Actors Theatre of Louisville/Humana Festival), This is Modern Art (Steppenwolf), And is this Corner: Cassius Clay (Stageone Family Theatre), Blackademics (Crowded Fire), Bars and Measures (NNPN Rolling World Premiere), and The Realness: a break beat play (Merrimack Repertory). He is one of six writers featured in the anthology play Hands Up! Goodwin is developing new plays with Oregon Shakespeare Festival, La Jolla Playhouse and Interact Theater. He has been writer in residence at The Eugene O'Neil Playwrights Center, Berkeley Rep's Ground Floor Program, The Lark Playwriting Center and New Harmony Project. He is an assistant professor at Colorado College.

Jessi D. Hill (director/The Helpers). Recent directing projects include new plays at New
York Theatre Workshop, The Public Theater/Joe's Pub, The Playwrights' Center, Primary Stages, Labyrinth, The Women's Project, 59E59, The New Group, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Culture Project, The Acting Company, The Barrow Group, PS122, Baruch Performing Arts Center, New Dramatists, The Lark, Theatre Row, The Playwrights Realm, New Georges, The Wild Project, Naked Angels and many others. She has been a guest director in professional training programs at Yale School of Drama, Fordham University, Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center/NTI, Long Island University, Powerhouse/NY Stage & Film, NYU/Tisch, Strasberg, CAP21, The Atlantic School, Playwrights Horizons Theatre School, Hunter College and others. Her work has been seen internationally in Edinburgh, London, New Zealand, Bucharest, Berlin and Hamburg. MFA Directing, Yale School of Drama. Member SDC. Current projects: www.jessidhill.com

Ed Sylvanus Iskandar (director/This is How It Ends) recently directed an immersive The Taming of the Shrew (Shakespeare Theatre Company, D.C.), and world premieres of Charles Francis Chan, Jr.'s Exotic Oriental Murder Mystery by Lloyd Suh (NAATCO, NYT Critics' Pick) and Sojourners by Mfoniso Udofia (Playwrights' Realm). Ed received a Drama Desk Special Award for the "visionary directorial excellence" of The Mysteries (The Flea, NYT Critics' Pick) and The Golden Dragon (PlayCo, TONY Critics' Pick), with additional nominations for Amy Freed's Restoration Comedy and Sean Graney's These Seven Sicknesses (The Flea, NYT Critics' Picks). MFA, Carnegie Mellon; BA, Stanford; and NYTW Usual Suspect. www.ediskandar.com

Neil LaBute (playwright/After the Wedding) received his Master of Fine Arts degree in dramatic writing from New York University and was the recipient of a literary fellowship to study at The Royal Court Theatre, London, and also attended The Sundance Institute's Playwrights Lab. His films include: In The Company Of Men; Your Friends and Neighbors; Nurse Betty; Possession; The Shape Of Things (a film adaptation of his play by the same title); The Wicker Man; Lakeview Terrace; Death at a Funeral; Some Velvet Morning and Dirty Weekend. LaBute's television work includes: "bash: latter-day plays" (Showtime); "Full Circle" (DTV); "10 X 10" (DTV); "Billy & Billie" (DTV) and the upcoming "Van Helsing" (SYFY). LaBute's plays include Filthy Talk for Troubled Times; bash: latter-day plays; The Shape Of Things; The Mercy Seat; The Distance From Here; Autobahn; Fat Pig; Some Girl(s); This Is How It Goes; In a Dark Dark House; Wrecks; Reasons to be Pretty; The Break of Noon; In a Forest, Dark and Deep; Lovely Head; Reasons to Be Happy; Things We Said Today (a collection of short plays and monologues); The Money Shot (MCC); The Way We Get By (Second Stage) and the upcoming All The Ways to Say I Love You (MCC). LaBute has also adapted Dracula, Woyzeck, Miss Julie, Antigone and Uncle Vanya for the stage. Seconds of Pleasure, a collection of his short fiction, was published by Grove Atlantic.

Maria Mileaf (director/After the Wedding) is thrilled to be back with Summer Shorts having directed Neil LaBute's Mulberry Bush in 2014. In New York City, she has worked at Play Company, Playwrights Horizons, Primary Stages, The Vineyard, New Georges, Women's Project, Lincoln Center Festival, DTW and PS122. Regionally, she has directed LaBute's reasons to be pretty at Philadelphia Theatre Company and has staged work at NY Stage and Film, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Actor's Theatre of Louisville, ACT in San Francisco, La Jolla Playhouse, The Old Globe and The Geffen.

A. Rey Pamatmat's (playwright/This is How It Ends) play House Rules premiered at Ma-Yi Theatre Company and his play after all the terrible things I do was produced as part of About Face's 25th Anniversary Season this past spring. Recently, his work was celebrated in Boston where the Huntington and Company One Theatres concurrently presented after all the terrible things I do and Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them in the Calderwood Pavilion. Rey is Co-Director of the Ma-Yi Writer's Lab, teaches at Primary Stages ESPA and SUNY Purchase, and was a 2012/2013 Hodder Fellow and the 2011/2012 PoNY Fellow.

Victor Slezak (director/Queen) trained with Uta Hagen, Geraldine Page, Kim Stanley and Wynn Handman and has worked with iconic film directors such as Clint Eastwood, John Boorman, Stephen Frears, Mary Harron, John Frankenheimer, Philip Noyce, Tony Scott, Neil LaBute, Mike Newell and Peter Bogdanovich He has appeared on Broadway, Off Broadway and has had a hand in developing new works with established as well as up and coming playwrights He recently has been made a member of the Directors unit of The Actor's Studio. Current endeavors include The Mulberry Bush (Tribeca, Palm Springs & Greenwich Film Festivals), "The Interestings" for Amazon, "The OA" for Netflix, and President U.S. Grant in "Hell on Wheels" for AMC.

Logan Vaughn (director/Black Flag) is a New York based Director from Chicago. In 2008, Logan was awarded the Goodman Theater's prestigious Joyce Arts Fellowship in Casting and subsequently worked as the Tony Award winning theater's Associate Casting Director for five seasons. In addition to the Goodman, she has cast for Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Berkeley Repertory, Cardinal Stage and Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival. Logan was Playwrights Horizon's Director in Residence 2012- 2013, where she assistant directed Amy Herzog's The Great God Pan and Lisa D'Amour's Obie Award-winning play, Detroit. In 2012, Logan was also named a Member of the Director's Lab, Lincoln Center. As a Director and Assistant Director, she has worked with Lincoln Center, The Public Theater, The Bushwick Starr, 59E59, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Playwrights Horizons, National Black Theatre Second City Theater, Victory Gardens, Teatro Vista and Court Theatre. Her work in film includes assisting the Academy Award-winning producing team behind Precious and Monster's Ball as well as serving as head of casting for several award-winning Independents including My Name is Jerry and Southern Cross. Last summer, Logan directed the Off Broadway premiere of Stella Fawn Ragsdale's Love Letters To A Dictator in Summer Shorts Festival at 59E59 and is currently directing Lena: A Moment with a Lady featuring Syndee Winters. Logan trained professionally as a dancer for fifteen years with various companies including Gus Giordano and Visceral Dance. She has a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Film from Columbia College Chicago and has been featured in national and international publications including Glamour, Essence, Lucky, Brune and Globetrotter Magazine.

Throughline Artists (J.J. Kandel, Producing Director) is committed to preserving the traditions of the theater for the next generation by providing opportunities for established professionals to work with and pass on knowledge to emerging artists. For more information, visit www.SummerShortsFestival.com.

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