Keen Company and Working Theater Bring FISH to the Stage in March

Keen Company and Working Theater will present the world premiere of Kia Corthron’s Fish. Directed by Adrienne D. Williams, Fish is a frank, funny, and fearless new play about the everyday people who make up America’s education system. Fish is scheduled to run March 19 – April 20, 2024, with an opening set for Tuesday, April 2, at Theatre Row in Theatre Four, located at 410 W 42nd St in Manhattan. Tickets, which are priced at a $0–$130 sliding scale, are currently on sale at www.keencompany.org.

Between acting as guardian to her little brother and losing her best friend to the charter school on the upper floor, Tree is just trying her best to get through senior year at her underfunded public school. Ms. Harris, the new English teacher, has grown embittered over budget cuts and standardized testing – keeping every student afloat is proving easier said than done. When questions arise that no textbook can answer, both student and teacher will face their most challenging assignment to date.

The cast for Fish includes Torée Alexandre (Fairview), Mikayla LaShae Bartholomew (King Richard w/ Will Smith), Josiah Gaffney (Tina: The Tina Turner Musical), Morgan Siobhan Green (Be More Chill, White Girl in Danger), Rachel Leslie (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child), Margaret Odette (Shakespeare in the Park’s Much Ado About Nothing,Rattlestick’s The Convent), and Christopher B. Portley (La Race).

Playwright Kia Corthron remarked, “I’d already been thinking about addressing public education when I was invited to become a member of the 2018 Keen Playwrights Lab. Digging into the issues, I was looking at budget cuts and school choice and standardized testing and poverty—a thousand directions I could go—but the one thing I knew for sure is that I was interested in the struggles of both students and teachers: parallel journeys. I wrote the play over the course of my lab year, had a public reading that December, the Working Theater eventually joined in and here we are. The Working Theater is committed to working people on its stages and in its seats, and Keen Company is a theater of humanity and heart—and I would like to think all that pretty much sums up my writing. So Fish couldn’t premiere at a more perfect place.”

Keen Company’s Artistic Director Jonathan Silverstein and Working Theater’s Artistic Director Colm Summers said, “Keen Company and Working Theater are thrilled to announce the cast and creative teams for Fish. We cannot wait to see the magic they will create with Adrienne Williams at the helm. Fish is a perfect play for our companies to collaborate on. Its timely focus on the challenges of the educational system, together with the moving tale of the human toll the system exerts, beautifully speaks to both of our companies’ missions. We look forward to sharing Kia’s powerful play with our communities in New York City.”

The creative team for Fish includes Jason Simms (scenic design), Mika Eubanks (costume design), Nic Vincent (lighting design), Michael Keck (sound design), Yudelka Heyer (prop design), Stephanie Yankwitt, tbd casting (casting), and Shane Schnetzler (production stage management). 

Thirty-four performances of Fish will take place March 19 – April 20, 2024, at Theatre Row in Theatre Four, located at 410 W 42nd St in Manhattan. Critics are welcome as of Thursday, March 28 for an opening on Tuesday, March 2. The performance schedule is Tuesday–Saturday at 7pm and Saturday & Sunday at 2pm with an additional 2pm performance on Wednesday, April 17. The anticipated running time is 1 hour, 40 minutes, with no intermission. Tickets, which are priced at a $0–$130 sliding scale, are available at www.keencompany.org. Standard ticketing fees apply.

Please visit https://www.keencompany.org/fish for more information on the production.

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