Matthew Spangler's Multimedia Work ALBATROSS Makes NYC Premiere Tonight at 59E59 Theaters

59E59 Theaters is hosting the New York premiere of ALBATROSS by Matthew Spangler and Benjamin Evett and directed by Rick Lombardo. Produced by The Poets' Theatre, Inc. (Arlington, MA) and Michael Seiden, ALBATROSS begins performances tonight, January 12, for a limited engagement through Sunday, February 12. Press opening is Thursday, January 19 at 7:15 PM.

The performance schedule is Tuesday - Thursday at 7:15 PM; Friday at 8:15 PM; Saturday at 2:15 PM & 8:15 PM; and Sunday at 3:15 PM. Performances are at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street, between Park and Madison Avenues). Tickets are $35 ($24.50 for 59E59 Members). To purchase tickets, call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 or visit www.59e59.org.

Grounded by a tour-de-force performance by Benjamin Evett and inspired by the poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," ALBATROSS combines sophisticated multimedia with a performance that is "dazzling" (ArtsFuse). Full of privateers, storms, battles, spirits, and (yes) penguins, ALBATROSS is a thrilling supernatural sea yarn. The winner of two of Boston's distinguished Elliot Norton Awards (Outstanding Solo Performance and Outstanding Production), ALBATROSS drives the audience to the edges of our humanity.

The design team includes Cristina Todesco (set design); Garrett Herzig (lighting and projection design); and Frances McSherry (costume design). The production stage manager is Leslie Sears.

Matthew Spangler's (playwright) plays have been produced by the San Jose Repertory Theatre, Arizona Theatre Company, San Diego Repertory Theatre, Cleveland Play House, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Theatre Calgary, New Repertory Theatre, Nottingham Playhouse, Liverpool Playhouse, Oxford Playhouse, La Jolla Playhouse (staged reading), and the Avignon Theatre Festival in France, among other theaters and festivals. His adaptation of Khaled Hosseini's novel The Kite Runner earned five San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics' Circle Awards, including awards for Best Original Script and Overall Production, and has been performed all over the United States and Great Britain. It will be opening in the West End of London in the spring. His adaptation of T.C. Boyle's novel Tortilla Curtain received an Edgerton New American Play Award and was a finalist for the San Diego Theatre Critics' Circle Award for Best New Play. His book, Staging Intercultural Ireland: New Plays and Practitioner Perspectives (co-edited with Charlotte McIvor), about immigration and theater in Ireland, was published in 2014. Matthew holds degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Trinity College in Dublin, and Northwestern University. Visit www.matthewspangler.org for more information.

Rick Lombardo (director) is a stage director, artistic director, adapter and educator. During the 2016-17 season he will be directing two New York premieres: Ring Twice for Miranda at City Center Stage 2 and Albatross at 59E59, which he has previously directed in Boston (2015 Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Production) at Gloucester Stage Company and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Lombardo was the Artistic Director at San Jose Repertory Theatre for six seasons, where he directed the world premieres of The Snow Queen (New York Musical Theatre Festival Outstanding Production and Publishing Awards), Game On (Theatre Bay Area Award Best New Play 2014), and Love in American Times. For 13 years he was the Producing Artistic Director of Greater Boston's New Repertory Theatre, where his productions were regularly recognized with awards and for which he received the 2008 Elliot Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence. His New Rep production of Bill W. and Dr. Bob played an engagement Off Broadway at New World Stages. Lombardo is currently the Chair and Artistic Director of the Department of Theatre and Performance Studies at Kennesaw State University. He has served on the boards of the Society of Directors and Choreographers and the National New Play Network. Go to www.ricklombardo.net.

Benjamin Evett (performer) is one of the premier actors, directors, and producers in the Boston area. Before joining the Poets' Theatre in June of 2014, he was the Founding Artistic Director of the Actors' Shakespeare Project, where he played Hamlet, Coriolanus, Petruchio, Edmund, Caliban, Cassius, and others. Previous to ASP, he was a member of the Resident Acting Company at The American Repertory Theatre, appearing in more than fifty productions and working with some of the greatest creative artists in the world, including Julie Taymor, Anne Bogart, Robert Wilson, and Dario Fo. He has performed at the Arizona Theatre Company, the San Jose Repertory Theatre, the Missouri Rep, the Virginia Stage Company, the Alley Theatre, the New Repertory Theatre, the Stoneham Repertory Theatre, the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, the Taiwan National Theatre, the Venice Biennale, and the Moscow Art Theatre. As a producer, Ben currently serves as Executive Director of the Poets' Theatre. He also produced, co-wrote and directed Blood Rose Rising, a cutting edge multimedia serial ghost drama. Ben has taught acting and directing at Emerson College, The Boston Conservatory, The American Repertory Theatre Institute, as well as numerous master classes on audition technique, Shakespeare, and scene study. He is a graduate of Harvard College with a degree in Classics.

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