Lineup Set For 59E59 Theaters Rent-Free Fall 2024 Season
Learn more about the lineup here!
By: Stephi Wild Aug. 06, 2024
59E59 Theaters has announced the lineup of its Fall 2024 season, which includes 8 productions under the Off Broadway theater's rent-free model. In an engaging year for social and political commentary, each show brings an entertaining and deeply-human element to stories that span decades and themes, including feminism, family histories, political activism, gun violence and more.
“The shows throughout our Fall season are filled with moments that will make our audiences reflect, laugh and feel the connection that only theater can bring to individuals and communities,” said Val Day, artistic director of 59E59 Theaters. “I selected each of these companies to our stages based on their demonstrated creativity and ability to produce shows that are entertaining and relevant. From a heartwarming, holiday story to a historical drama, we're inviting audiences to leave our theater feeling transformed, empowered and hopeful.”
59E59 Theaters' Off Broadway Resident Company Primary Stages will present a new work titled The Light and The Dark (the life and times of Artemisia Gentileschi) by esteemed playwright Kate Hamill (Pride and Prejudice and Little Women) and directed by Jade King Carroll, which provides a groundbreaking perspective into how the at the height of the Italian Renaissance, Artemisia Gentileschi reclaimed her power to become one of the most successful artists of her time and an inspiration for women throughout the ages.
Co-Op Resident Company New Light Theater Project returns with Room 1214, written by Michelle Kholos Brooks and directed by Sarah Norris. Inspired by real interviews with a history teacher who experienced the 2018 tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School firsthand, this play follows a teacher as she returns to her beloved school to deliver one final poignant lesson in honor of the past.
Opening the season will be What Doesn't Kill You presented by New Jersey Repertory Company in association with Vasi Laurence Productions and M. Green Productions, followed by Mrs. Stern Wanders the Prussian State Library presented by Luna-Stage/">Luna/">Luna Stage, Thistles presented by White Horse Theater Company in association with Anthony W. Lopez, and the return of Alexander Klaus, the One-Legged Shoemaker Man presented by Christian Hege, Epyllionard after performing in East to Edinburgh 2023. The season continues in January with Radio Downtown: Radical '70s Artists Live on Air presented by The Civilians, and Pecking Order presented by American Bard Theater Company.
In March 2024, 59E59 Theaters announced that the Elysabeth Kleinhans Theatrical Foundation gifted an additional $10 million to support the theater and its artistic programs, allowing the 30-plus productions that open annually at 59E59 Theaters to use the company's three performance spaces and equipment without the financial burden of rent. The model, which went into full effect for the Summer 2024 season, removes financial barriers for emerging companies and provides opportunities to bring more diverse, innovative productions to the theater's stages.
“Our mission is grounded in supporting non-profit theater companies, and we strive to include a wide diversity of perspectives from companies whose work deserves to be seen by New York City Audiences,” said Brian Beirne, managing director of 59E59 Theaters. “We're incredibly grateful for the support of the Elysabeth Kleinhans Theatrical Foundation and are excited to continue witnessing how this model removes financial barriers, lending itself to welcoming even more companies whose artists possess a masterful command of their craft.”
Full casting and creative teams for the productions will be announced at a later date. More information about the shows can be found below. For details regarding tickets and performance schedules, visit www.59E59.org.
About the Shows
WHAT DOESN’T KILL YOU
October 9 - 27
Opening: October 12
New Jersey Repertory Company in association with Vasi Laurence Productions and Mitchell Reeve for M. Green Productions presents
Written and performed by James Hindman
Directed by Suzanne Barabas
In this rousing true story, stage and screen veteran James Hindman is a man of a certain age who finds himself paralyzed by self-doubt, when a serious health scare upends his life. Luckily he isn’t the type to let a life-threatening heart attack dampen his spirits… or his obsession with Cher. In this fast-paced, one-man extravaganza, Hindman seamlessly moves between characters to tell a story that bounces from light-hearted camp to poignant reflections on life’s greatest challenges. The Irish Times called his performance “stagecraft and storytelling at its best.”
What Doesn’t Kill You is an invigorating reminder that the show must go on!
MRS. STERN WANDERS THE PRUSSIAN STATE LIBRARY
October 18 - November 10
Opening: October 24
Luna-Stage/">Luna Stage presents
Directed by Ari Laura Kreith
Berlin, 1933. With martial law in effect, political activism has become a capital crime.
A young Gestapo officer arrests a graduate student suspected of illegal research. This interrogation promises to be most challenging as he faces the iconic 20th-century thinker Hannah Arendt. Is she innocent? Or an enemy of the state? Inspired by real events, this fantastical drama delves into the life and mind of one of history's most profound thinkers.
The Light and The Dark
(the life and times of Artemisia Gentileschi)
November 2 - December 15
Opening: November 17
Primary Stages in association with Chautauqua Theater Company presents
By Kate Hamill
Directed by Jade King Carroll
At the height of the Italian Renaissance, artists are reshaping the very image of humanity. Artemisia Gentileschi wants to become one of the great painters...but women are not thought capable of true artistry. With persistence and bravado she quickly establishes a groundbreaking perspective, but just as her career begins to gain momentum, a series of devastating betrayals crack the foundation of her life and art. Told through her piercing point of view, The Light and The Dark (the life and times of Artemisia Gentileschi) weaves a magnetic and empowering tapestry of art, ambition, rage, and resilience.
From Kate Hamill, the playwright behind Primary Stages’ critically acclaimed adaptations of Pride and Prejudice and Little Women, comes a new play about how Gentileschi transcended trauma to become one of the most successful artists of her time and an inspiration for women throughout the ages.
ROOM 1214
November 15 - December 8
Opening: November 21
New Light Theater Project presents
By Michelle Kholos Brooks
Directed by Sarah Norris
Inspired by real interviews with a history teacher who experienced the 2018 tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School firsthand, this stirring memory play, by the playwright of the critically acclaimed H*tler’s Tasters, follows as she returns to the school to teach one final lesson, asking what if you could rewrite history?
She reunites with her students as they were – playful, funny, and full of life and potential – real kids with bright futures. Equal part memorial and essential history, Room 1214 overflows with truths both uncomfortable and necessary, offering a moving reminder that the best way to honor the past is to learn from it.
THISTLES
November 15 - December 1
Opening: November 17
White Horse Theater Company in association with Anthony W. Lopez presents
Directed by Dev Bondarin
With Leslie Alexander, Lisa Bostnar, Mel House, Gordon Stanley, and Rod Sweitzer
After fleeing New York City for the countryside during a global calamity, Rebecca finds herself alone in her family’s neglected farmhouse. She must do her best to manage the anxieties and expectations of her aging relatives as they clash over whether to sell the old house, all while surrounded by doorknobs and relationships that are both in desperate need of repair.
Thistles keenly explores family secrets, queerness, and the desperate desire to be accepted. Tragedy lurks as emotions are buried under ancestral floorboards.
ALEXANDER KLAUS, THE ONE-LEGGED SHOEMAKER MAN
December 4 - 22
Opening: December 7
Christian Hege, Epyllionard presents
Written and performed by Christian Hege
Directed by Jenny Mercein
A young soldier with the curious name Alexander “Sander” Klaus returns home from the Civil War forever changed, with wounds on his heart, mind, and body. In the immigrant melting pot of boisterous, soot-covered, 1800s New York City he forms relationships and builds a new life. What he can’t explain is why the wartime flashbacks that plague him somehow coincide with the mysterious appearance of children’s toys.
Told in ingenious rhyming verse by writer-performer Christian Hege, this optimistic play delights and surprises at every turn. An achingly beautiful fairy tale that raises the possibility of transforming pain into joy.
Radio Downtown: Radical ‘70s Artists Live on Air
January 11 - February 9
Opening: January 17
The Civilians presents
Created and directed by Steve Cosson
Made from archival interviews from WNYC’s “Arts Forum,” a 1970s radically open format radio show about avant garde artists, this world premiere enlists an experimental storytelling method in homage to its downtown subjects. The result is a hilariously naturalistic, wholly live experience.
The cast of Radio Downtown channels some of the era’s most audacious visionaries like Harry Smith, Yvonne Rainer, and Kenneth Anger using their words verbatim with arresting images and films made by these artists. The resulting show invites us to see a future as imagined by these ‘70s trailblazers—an erasure of the line between art & audience; a cultural community that embraces political activism; and an abundant, wild, and fully democratic creative life for America.
PECKING ORDER
January 29 - February 15
Opening: February 2
American Bard Theater Company presents
By Robin Rice
Directed by Basil Rodericks
Two red-tailed hawks have the nerve to build a nest on a ritzy apartment building on the Upper East Side. Doorman Albert is determined to protect them, but many of the building’s residents aren’t happy about it. Torn between his own dreams and responsibilities, Albert’s love of birds and longing for romance are thwarted by the need to financially support his ailing sister.
With elements of magical realism, this quirky, heartfelt drama explores the inequalities and conflicts of those who work to serve the wealthy, who work to protect the things they love, and who work to control the pecking order.
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