Richard Bean's TOAST Makes US Debut at 59E59 Theaters Today

59E59 Theaters hosts the US premiere of TOAST, written by Richard Bean and directed by Eleanor Rhode. Produced by Snapdragon Productions, in association with Jagged Fence Theatre for the 2016 Brits Off Broadway festival, TOAST begins performances today, April 20 for a limited engagement through Sunday, May 22. Press opening is Wednesday, April 27 at 7 PM.

The performance schedule is Tuesday - Thursday at 7:00 PM; Friday at 8:00 PM; Saturday at 2:00 PM & 8:00 PM; and Sunday at 3:00 PM. Performances are at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street, between Park and Madison Avenues). Tickets are $70 ($49 for 59E59 Members). To purchase tickets, call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 or visit www.59e59.org.

Another Sunday night shift. The smell of bread baking. The industrial thump, thump, thump of the machines that never stop. The ovens are cranked up to full blast, the factory is humming, and everyone wants to be somewhere else. But this shift is going to be different. Because when a crisis hits the factory, the men have more to lose than just their wages. Following the smash sell out production in London and UK tour, Richard Bean's (One Man, Two Guvnors) hilarious and brilliantly observed play arrives in New York for a strictly limited Brits Off Broadway engagement.

TOAST, Richard Bean's first major play, was originally produced at the Royal Court Theatre in 1999. The Snapdragon production marks the play's the first major revival in London, and the Brits Off Broadway run marks its US premiere. The play, which was called "a fine piece of work: a tender, ambivalent portrait of working class men raging against the dying of the light" by Time Out London, is loosely based on Bean's experiences working at a bread factory in Hull when he was 18 years old.

The stellar cast of TOAST features a veritable Who's Who of British theater. Olivier Award-winner Matthew Kelly (Of Mice and Men in the West End) leads the cast as Nellie. He is joined by Simon Greenall (I'm Alan Partridge for the BBC), Steve Nicolson (War Horse at the National Theatre), Will Barton (Bedtime Stories at the Stephen Joseph Theatre), Kieran Knowles (Operation Crucible at Finborough Theatre), Matt Sutton (The Ladykillers at the New Vic), and John Wark (Nobody Will Ever Forgive Us for the National Theatre of Scotland).

The design team includes James Turner (set design); Mike Robertson (lighting design); Max Pappenheim (composition and sound design); and Holly Rose Henshaw (costume design).

BIOS:

Richard Bean (playwright) was born in Hull in 1956. Toast was his first major play and was premiered at the Royal Court in 1999. In 2011 Richard became the first writer to win the Evening Standard Award for Best Play for two plays, The Heretic and One Man, Two Guv'nors. He also received the 2011 Critics' Circle Award for Best Play and 2012 WhatsOnStage Award for Best New Comedy, both for One Man, Two Guv'nors. The New York production of One Man, Two Guv'nors was awarded the 2012 Outer Critics' Circle Award for Outstanding New Broadway Play. 2014 saw the world première of three of Bean's projects: Nicholas Hytner directed Great Britain as a part of his final season at the National Theatre; Max Stafford-Clarke directed Pitcairn at Chichester Minerva Theatre / Shakespeare's Globe; and Rupert Goold directed Made in Dagenham: The Musical at the Adelphi Theatre for which Bean wrote the book. Richard's other work includes Under the Whaleback (Wilma Theatre, 2013 and Royal Court, 2003), The Heretic (Royal Court, 2011), House of Games (adapted from the screenplay by David Mamet, Almeida Theatre, 2010), The Big Fellah (Out of Joint/Lyric Hammersmith, 2010), England People Very Nice (National Theatre, 2009), The English Game (Headlong, UK Tour, 2008), Honeymoon Suite (Hull Truck, 2008), In the Club (Hampstead Theatre and UK Tour, 2007), Up On Roof (Hull Truck, 2006), The Hypochondriac (adapted from the original play by Molière, Almeida Theatre, 2005), Harvest (Royal Court, 2005), The God Botherers (Synapse Theatre, New York, 2004 and Bush Theatre, 2003), The Mentalists (National Theatre, 2002), Mr England (Sheffield Crucible), 2000), Of Rats and Men (Canal Café, 1996) and Paradise of Fools (Unicorn Arts Theatre, 1995).

Eleanor Rhode (director) is the Artistic Director of Snapdragon Productions. She trained at Mountview and the National Theatre Studio, and is a former Staff Director at the National Theatre. Her productions for Snapdragon include When We Were Women by Sharman Macdonald (Orange Tree, 2015), Teddy by Tristan Bernays and Dougal Irvine (Southwark Playhouse, 2015), Toast by Richard Bean (Park Theatre, 2014), Thark by Ben Travers / Clive Francis (Park Theatre, 2013), two sell-out runs of Generous and the London premiere of The Drawer?Boy by Michael Healey, and the first London revival in over 30 years of A Life by Hugh Leonard (all Finborough Theatre). Her international work includes the World Premiere of the musical For All That for Centerstage Theater, Seattle. Other directing includes The Gypsy Thread (National Theatre Studio), Can I Be Straight With You? (Bush Theatre), The Error of Their Ways (Cockpit Theatre), A Number (Camden People's Theatre), This Lime Tree Bower (Edinburgh Festival) and staged readings of The Session (Pushkin House), The Promised Land (Tristan Bates), The Geese of Beverly Road (Theatre503) and Photos of You Sleeping (Hampstead Theatre). Eleanor works frequently on the development of new works, including with Paul Herzberg on the London premiere of The Dead Wait and with Rick Bland on Full of Bees (both Park Theatre).

Matthew Kelly (Nellie) won an Olivier Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of 'Lenny' in Of Mice and Men (Birmingham Rep and West End). His other theater credits include Cinderella, (Richmond Theatre), Volpone, Love's Sacrifice, The Jew of Malta (Royal Shakespeare Company), Twelfth Night (Liverpool Everyman), To Sir With Love (Royal & Derngate and UK tour), The History Boys (Sheffield Crucible), The Seagull (Southwark Playhouse), God of Carnage (Nuffield, Southampton), Educating Rita (Menier Chocolate Factory and Edinburgh Festival), Legally Blonde, Spamalot (UK tours), Buried Child (Curve Leicester), Waiting For Godot (Theatre Royal Haymarket), Sign Of The Times and Lend Me A Tenor - The Musical (both West End), Comedians (Lyric Hammersmith), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Trafalgar Studios), Troilus and Cressida (Shakespeare's Globe), Victory (Arcola Theatre), Amadeus (Wilton's Music Hall), Mirandolina (Manchester Royal Exchange), Endgame (Liverpool Everyman) and Forgotten Voices (Riverside Studios). For television, his work includes Cold Blood, Bleak House, Egypt: The Pharaoh and the Showman and The Temple of the Sands, Moving On, Benidorm, MI High, My Family at War, Forensic Casebook, City Hospital and Stars in their Eyes. For film: Showreel, Tribute, Two Stops to Bank and Tortoise.

Simon Greenall (Cecil) returned to the stage for the first time in twenty years for Snapdragon's original production of Toast, which premiered at Park Theatre in 2014. Since then he has performed at the Edinburgh Assembly Rooms for the live recording of The Missing Hancocks (2015). His other theater credits include Seven Stories (Mermaid Theatre), Merchant of Venice, Woundings and Hannah Smith Casket (Royal Exchange). Perhaps best known for his role as Michael in the TV series I'm Alan Partridge, his other television work includes Cardinal Burns, W1A, Inspector George Gently, Common People, It's Kevin, Pete vs Life, Trapped, Harry and Paul, Holy Flying Circus, The Impressions Show, The Wrong Door, Secret Diary of a Call Girl, Saxondale, Lead Balloon, The Charlotte Church Show, Bremner, Bird and Fortune, Funland, Popetown, Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married, Smith and Jones and Barking. His film work includes The Alan Partridge Movie, Acts of Godfrey, Wimbledon and Tube Tales. Simon's extensive voice credits include creating the voice of the meerkat Aleksandr Orlov in the companythemarket.com series. For radio, Simon's work includes many series for BBC Radio 4, Talkback, Tiger Aspect, Above the Title and Hat Trick Comedy.

Steve Nicolson's (Blakey) theatre credits include When We Were Women (Orange Tree and Snapdragon Productions), War Horse and The Good Hope (National Theatre), Elder Latimer is in Love and Small Craft Warnings (Arcola Theatre), Mr. Peter's Connections (Almeida Theatre), Waking (Soho), Blue Remembered Hills (Sheffield Crucible), A Taste of Honey (Cambridge Theatre), Otherwise Engaged (Yvonne Arnaud), and Maple Tree Game (West Yorkshire Playhouse). His television work includes Homeland, River, Silent Witness, Whitechapel, Spooks, Eastenders, The Take, Space Race, Vital Signs, Regicide, Rose and Maloney, Big Bad World, Out of Line, Dangerfield, Rules of Engagement and Martin Chuzzlewit. For film: Johnny English, K19: The Widowmaker, Bravo Two Zero, Six Bullets, White Lightning and Made in Romania.

Will Barton's (Colin) theater credits include Fings Ain't Wot They Used To Be (Stratford East Theatre Royal), Joking Apart (Salisbury Playhouse and Nottingham Playhouse), Boy On The Swing (Arcola), Festen (Almeida Theatre on tour), Woman in Mind and Lady Windermere's Fan (Salisbury Playhouse), Feelgood and Because It's There (Nottingham Playhouse), Young Emma and Neville Southall's Washbag (Finborough), Bedtime Stories (Stephen Joseph Theatre), What The Butler Saw (Royal and Derngate, Northampton), All That Trouble That We Had (Birmingham Rep), Elton's John's Glasses (Watford Palace, UK Tour and West End), The Visit (Chichester Festival Theatre), The Merry Wives of Windsor and Women Of Troy (National Theatre), Angry Old Men (Plymouth Theatre Royal and UK Tour), The Ingolstadt Plays (The Gate) and The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists (Sheffield Crucible). His work for television includes Switch, New Tricks, City Lights, How Do You Want Me, Barking, My Family, Where The Heart Is, and Doctor Who. For film, his credits include The Theory of Everything, City Slacker and Oscar and Lucinda.

Kieran Knowles' (Dezzie) theater credits include Operation Crucible (Finborough Theatre and UK Tour), The Bear, The Owl and The Angel (New Wimbledon Studio), The Winter's Tale (RSC), The Witches Promise (Birmingham Repertory Company), The Taming of the Shrew (Royal Shakespeare Company), Darkness (Lakeside Theatre Colchester), Waiting for Lefty (Theatre Royal Haymarket), The Exclusion Zone (Southwark Playhouse). Kieran is also a writer. He was nominated for the Off West End Most Promising Playwright award for Operation Crucible.

Matt Sutton's (Peter) theater credits include Cinderella (Lyric, Hammersmith), The Ladykillers (New Vic), Jumpers for Goalposts (Paines Plough), King Lear (RSC), The Game and Romeo and Juliet (Northern Broadsides), Up On Roof (Hull Truck Theatre), The Magic Paintbrush (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Steve and Then It Ended (Theatre503), Me & My Friend (King's Head) and Night Cellar (BAC). For television, his work includes Hoff the Record, No Offence, The Secret Files, Our Zoo, Distant Shores, Shakespeare Stories: Much Ado About Nothing and The Taming of the Shrew, 55 Degrees North, FC Dave, Cocaine Nation, Rum, Sodomy and the Lash and The Bill: Beech is Back. For film, his credits include A Royal Night Out, Girls' Night Out, Goal 2: Living the Dream, Peter: Portrait of a Serial Killer and The Notebooks of Cornelius Crow.

John Wark's (Lance) theater credits include The Cocktail Party (Print Room at the Coronet), Thark and The Keepers of Infinite Space (Park Theatre), The Winter Guest (West Yorkshire Playhouse/Almeida Theatre), Nobody Will Ever Forgive Us (National Theatre of Scotland/Traverse Theatre), Dog in the Manger, Tamar's Revenge and Pedro the Great Pretender (RSC), Tamburlaine (Bristol Old Vic/Barbican), The Fear of Breathing and Jamie the Saxt (Finborough Theatre), The Only Girl in the World (Arcola Theatre), The Torchsong Trilogy (Tron Theatre). Television work include Outlander, The Ten Commandments, Robin Hood, Taggart and G-Force. For film: Queen of the Desert, A Little Chaos, The Fitzroy, Within the Woods, The Oxford Murders, Late Night Shopping and Breaking the Waves.

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