Photo Flash: Brian Dykstra's EDUCATION Receives World Premiere at 59E59 Theaters

59E59 Theaters (Val Day, Artistic Director; Brian Beirne, Managing Director) is thrilled to present the world premiere of EDUCATION, written by Brian Dykstra and directed Margarett Perry. Produced by Sanguine Theatre Company, EDUCATION begins performances on Friday, March 9 for a limited engagement through Sunday, April 8. The performance schedule is Tuesday - Friday at 7:15 PM; Saturday at 2:15 PM & 7:15 PM; Sunday at 2:15 PM. Performances are at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street, between Park and Madison Avenues). Single tickets are $25 - $35 ($24.40 for 59E59 Members). To purchase tickets, call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 or visit www.59e59.org.

A high school senior is suspended when he tries to burn an American flag for a school art fair project. Undeterred, he conspires with his classmate, a slam poet in trouble for an expletive-laden poem, to enter a controversial new piece, setting off a free-speech firestorm in a small Ohio town. EDUCATION is a provocative new play about two young people who fight for their right to express themselves in a society hostile to and fearful of change.

Theater provocateur Brian Dykstra returns to 59E59 with an explosive new play about free-speech, the dangers of polarization, and using art as a means for change. Follow #ArtIsActivism on Twitter and Instagram to take part in this important conversation happening both on and off stage.

The cast features Matthew Boston (Water by the Spoonful, dir. Davis McCallum at Hartford Stage); Bruce Faulk (True Westat Lincoln Center); Wesley T. Jones (Off Broadway debut); Elizabeth Meadows Rouse (The Rose Tattoo on Broadway); and Jane West (Amazon's "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel").

The design team includes David L. Arsenault (scenic and lighting design) and Amanda Aiken (costume design), Kevin Heard (sound design).

Brian Dykstra (playwright) is an actor, playwright and HBO Def Poet. His play Clean Alternatives received its world premiere Off Broadway at 59E59 Theaters and went on to win the Fringe First Award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. It has also seen productions at the Kitchen Theatre and Yellow Taxi Productions (winning the New Hampshire Theatre Award for Best Original Production). After producing his play Clean Alternatives, Brian has become a regular at the Kitchen Theatre in Ithaca, seeing productions of his plays The Two of You, Strangerhorse, The Jesus Factor, A Play on Words, his holiday solo show, HO! and most recently, Brian Dykstra Selling Out (which went on to a run in NY and Los Angeles and was one of the Top Ten Los Angeles Theatre Productions by the Huffington Post). Hiding Behind Comets received its world premiere at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park during its 2004 Tony Award winning season and was awarded the National Theatre Conference Playwright Award. It received an extended run Off Broadway at 29th Street Rep and has had productions at World Premiere Theatre (Eureka, CA), Birmingham Theatre (Alabama), Zeitgeist Theatre (Boston), and Nicu's Spoon (NYC). Forsaking All Others received a sold-out extended run in London at Pentameters Theater and has also been produced at the Powerhouse Theatre in Los Angeles (Drama-logue Critic's Pick) and Access Theater in NY. A Play on Words was produced at 59E59 Theaters' America's Off Broadway Festival. Silence was commissioned and produced by Holy Cross College and has had productions at Stella Adler and At Hand Theatre (NY). Spill the Wine was produced by GayFest NYC and HO! received its NY premiere at The Drilling Company. His plays have also been produced at the Harold Clurman, the West Bank, the Know Theatre, Carnegie Mellon New Play Project, among others. A collection of Brian's short plays, That Damn Dykstra: The Boxed Set was produced by Access Theater. Brian's solo show The Jesus Factor is out on DVD and received a 3-month Off Broadway run at The Barrow Street Theatre. His first solo show, Cornered & Alone, received an extended Off Broadway run and was hailed by critics, but landed him on several watch-lists including the NRA and Rush Limbaugh. Currently he's working on two new musicals, an adaption of The Learned Ladies with composer Ray Leslee and Crazy Make Crazy with Terry Delsing. He has also been in development with the Lark and Center Theatre Group on his Hip-Hop play, Used to Was (Maybe Did). He is a Core Artist at The Lark Play Development Center where he develops all of his work. He was awarded The Vault's It's the End of the World As We Know It Award for exceptional cutting edge artists who consistently take risks with their art. www.briandykstra.net

Margarett Perry (director) is an award-winning director of new plays and is a frequent collaborator with Brian Dykstra having directed over a dozen world premieres of his work. She directed the critically acclaimed production of his play, Clean Alternatives, at 59E59 Theaters that went on to win the Fringe First Award in Edinburgh. Other collaborations with Dykstra include A Play On Words (59E59 Theaters & Kitchen Theatre), The Two of You (Kitchen), Strangerhorse (Kitchen Theatre, Access Theatre, Carnegie Mellon Summer New Play Project), Spill the Wine (TBG Theatre, GayFest NYC), Forsaking All Others (Access Theater), Silence (College of the Holy Cross/Commission) and his three solo shows Cornered & Alone (The Triad), The Jesus Factor (Barrow Street Theatre, Kitchen Theatre, Comix, Whitefire, among others), and his latest Selling Out, which was named one of the Top Ten Los Angeles Theatre Productions by the Huffington Post (Barrow Street, Whitefire & Kitchen). Most recently she directed the critically acclaimed world premiere of Seared by Theresa Rebeck at San Francisco Playhouse and Shrek the Musical at Connecticut Rep. Recent Off Broadway premieres include Half Moon Bay by John Jiler (Nylon Fusion/New Ohio Theatre), Call Me Waldo by Rob Ackerman (The Working Theatre), First Prize by Israela Margalit (Arclight), Mother Tongue by FJ Hartland (Abingdon), and Every Day A Visitor by Richard Abrons (Clurman). Margarett is the Resident Director at The Kitchen Theatre Company in Ithaca, NY having directed more than 15 productions including Seminar, Cock, The Motherfucker with the Hat, Call Me Waldo, Private Lives, Old Times, Mrs. Mannerly, A Marriage Minuet, and several Dykstra premieres. Perry is a regular at the Human Race Theatre Company in Dayton, Ohio where she has directed Hail Mary, One Slight Hitch, Other Desert Cities, God of Carnage, Painting Churches, The Retreat from Moscow, the world premiere of Michael Slade's Under a Red Moon, and most recently the Midwest premiere of Brian Parks' play, The House. Her HRTC productions have won DayTony Awards for Best Overall Production and Best Ensemble, among others. Perry was the Producing Artistic Director of Access Theater in NYC for six years where she directed and produced numerous plays and world premieres. She is an Artistic Fellow at The Lark Play Development Center where she has worked with a variety of writers developing their work. www.margarettperry.com

Photos by Carol Rosegg

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