St. Louis Actors' Studio's LaBUTE THEATRE FESTIVAL to Return to 59E59 Theaters This January

59E59 Theaters will welcome the return of St. Louis Actors' Studio with their acclaimed LaBUTE NEW THEATER FESTIVAL, an evening of one-act plays featuring the NYC premieres of short plays by Neil LaBute, Gabe McKinley, CaRy Pepper, and Adam Seidel.

Directed by Kel Haney, Michael Hogan, and John Pierson, the LaBUTE NEW THEATER FESTIVAL begins performances on Friday, January 13 for a limited engagement through Sunday,February 5. Press opening is Wednesday, January 18 at 7:30 PM.

The performance schedule is Tuesday - Thursday at 7:30 PM; Friday at 8:30 PM; Saturday at 2:30 PM & 8:30 PM; and Sunday at3:30 PM & 7:30 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 go to www.59e59.org.

An evening of three one-act plays that received their world premieres at past LaBute New Theater Festivals at St. Louis Actors' Studio's Gaslight Theater, plus the world premiere of Neil LaBute's What Happens in Vegas.

In American Outlaws (by Adam Seidel, director by John Pierson), a love triangle develops between a hit man, an accountant with a propensity towards self destruction, and his unhappy wife. What could go wrong?

In Mark My Worms (by CaRy Pepper, directed by Michael Hogan), fledgling actor Mason has been cast in a newly-discovered, never-before-seen play by the world-class absurdist LaSalle Montclare. Problem is, the estate insists on it being performed exactly as written, and Montclare was a terrible typist.

Homebody (by Gabe McKinley, directed by John Pierson) is a macabre tale about a young, poverty-stricken writer who is forced to move back in with his mother.

In the world premiere of What Happens in Vegas (by Neil LaBute, directed by Kel Haney), a man and a woman break down the cost of an evening of passion in Sin City.

The cast features Clea Alsip (Neil LaBute's The Way We Get By at Second Stage and 10K at Summer Shorts/59E59); Justin Ivan Brown (LaBute New Theater Festival 2016 at 59E59); Michael Hogan (see full bio); Donna Weinsting (winner of a Kevin Kline Award for Outstanding Lead Actress and a St. Louis Theatre Circle Award); and Eric Dean White (The Ride Down Mt. Morgan at St. Louis Actors' Studio).

The design team includes Patrick Huber (set design); Jonathan Zelezniak (lighting design); and Carla Evans (costume and prop design). The Production Stage Manager is Seth Pyatt.

Neil LaBute (playwright/What Happens in Vegas) received his Master of Fine Arts degree in dramatic writing from New York University and was the recipient of a literary fellowship to study at The Royal Court Theatre, London and also attended The Sundance Institute's Playwrights Lab. His films include: In the Company of Men (New York Critics' Circle Award for Best First Feature and the Filmmaker Trophy at the Sundance Film Festival), Your Friends and Neighbors, Nurse Betty, Possession, The Shape of Things (a film adaptation of his play by the same title), The Wicker Man, Lakeview Terrace, Death at a Funeral, Some Velvet Morning and Dirty Weekend. LaBute's plays include: Bash: latter-day plays, The Shape of Things, The Mercy Seat, The Distance From Here, Autobahn, Fat Pig (Olivier Award Nominated for Best Comedy), Some Girl(s), This Is How It Goes, Wrecks, Filthy Talk For Troubled Times, In a Dark Dark House, Reasons To Be Pretty (Tony Award Nominated for Best Play), The Break of Noon, In a Forest Dark and Deep, Reasons To Be Happy, The Money Shot,The Way We Get By and All the Ways to Say I Love You. He has also adapted Woyzeck, Dracula, Miss Julie, Antigone, and Uncle Vanya for the stage. For television he has written the series Full Circle, Ten X Ten and BILLY & BILLIE for DirecTV and created the series VAN HELSING for the SYFY network. LaBute is also the author of Seconds of Pleasure, a collection of short fiction which was published by Grove Atlantic.

Gabe McKinley's (playwright/Homebody) plays have been produced and developed by companies nationally and internationally, including Atlantic Theater Company, Naked Angels, Premiere Stages, The Old Vic, American Theater Company, Ensemble Studio Theater, The LARK, Keen Company, Route 66, Williamstown Theater Festival and Red Dog Squadron, among others. His plays include The Kitchen Sink Play, Welcome Home Rock Rogers, Funny, Floodplains, Skopje, The Source and the critically acclaimed Extinction and CQ/CX (John Gassner Outer Critics Award nomination). A graduate of NYU and The New School for Drama, Gabe lives in Brooklyn.

CaRy Pepper (playwright/Mark My Worms) has had work presented throughout the United States and internationally. Among his full-length plays, How It Works won the 2012 Ashland New Plays Festival and Cufflinked was a semifinalist for the 2014 Ashland New Plays Festival. Among his one-act plays, The Walrus Said won the Religious Arts Guild Playwriting Competition; Small Things won the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival 2006 One Act Play Contest; and Party Favors won the 2016 Goshen Peace Play Contest. Cary is a member of the Dramatists Guild, and a four-time contributor to Applause Books' Best American Short Plays series (Small Things; House of the Holy Moment; Come Again, Another Day; Irish Stew).

John Pierson (director/American Outlaws, Homebody). For the LaBute Festivals in St. Louis and New York, John has directed the premieres of The Thing with Feathers (STL); A Stranger Here Myself (STL); Fire Sans Matches (STL); Stand Up for Oneself (STL, NYC); Coffee House-Greenwich Village (STL, NYC); and Neil LaBute's Kandahar (STL, NYC) and Life Model (STL). He also directed the St. Louis festival premiere of American Outlaws. He has directed for HotCity Theatre's Greenhouse festival and serves as the chair of the Theatre, Speech & Dance department of the John Burroughs School, where his directing credits include the world premiere of Intelligent Life. Acting credits include The Late Henry Moss; Closer; The Goat, Or Who is Sylvia; and Seminar all at STLAS. Film: How I Got Lost; Exorcist House of Evil; The Lipinski (with Jack Kehler). Proud Equity member.

Adam Seidel (playwright/American Outlaws) is a Chicago-based playwright. His work has been featured at and produced by the Milwaukee Rep, The Cherry Lane in NYC, The Road Theatre in LA, Seattle Rep, Historic Elitch Theatre in Denver, St. Louis Actors' Studio, Playhouse on the Square in Memphis, Collaboraction Theatre in Chicago and many more. His full length play Catch the Butcher was a New York Times Critics Pick and is currently receiving its European premiere in Athens, Greece and his play Other People's Happiness will be receiving its world premiere at Playhouse on the Square in Memphis in January 2017.

Kel Haney (director/What Happens in Vegas). With Neil LaBute: The Way We Get By (American Theater Group, regional premiere). Other recent directing credits include: Vickie Ramirez's Glenburn 12wp(59E59, Summer Shorts); Haney/Comfort's The Elephant In Every Room I Enter (La MaMa); Jonathan Caren's The Recommendation (The Flea); Gardiner Comfort's You're Not Tough (HERE, Dixon Place); Jordan Jaffe's Crude (Black Lab Theatre/Theater 511 @ Ars Nova); Deborah Brevoort's My Lord, What A Night, Kate Cortesi's Great Kills, Quiara Alegria Hudes's Water By The Spoonful (all at Premiere Stages). She has directed/developed new work with Abingdon Theatre Company, The Amoralists, Ars Nova, Atlantic Theater Company, Cherry Lane, Keen Company, Labyrinth, The Lark, Ma-Yi, Naked Angels, New Dramatists, New Georges, Partial Comfort, Playwrights Realm, Rattlestick, Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, Westport Country Playhouse, & Williamstown. Also: MTC Directing Fellow, Lincoln Center Directors Lab, Mabou Mines Residency, Old Vic/New Voices Exchange and a member of Ensemble Studio Theatre. Ms. Haney also directed the critically acclaimed short films, I Am Them and Stay Close. www.kelhaney.com

Michael Hogan (director/Mark My Worms). As an actor, Michael Hogan has appeared in the LaBute New Theater Festival productions of Neil LaBute's Kandahar (world premiere), Gabriel McKinley's Homebody(world premiere), and The Comeback Special. As a director: Mark My Worms, Winter Break. NYC Theater: Extinction by Gabriel McKinley; Welcome to Arroyo's by Kristopher Diaz; Much Ado About Nothing, dir. Louis Scheeder; Last Day (Audax Theatre Co.); Welcome Home Rock Rogers by Gabriel McKinley. Regional: A Man's A Man (Arena Stage); Biloxi Blues (Geva Theater); A Midsummer Night's Dream (Shakespeare Festival St. Louis); Yasmina Reza's ART and Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap(Shawnee Playhouse). TV/Film: Hank Boyd Is Dead, Forgiving Kevin, Kensho at the Bedfellow, I Don't Know How She Does It, Staten Island, The Kill Point, Chicago P.D., Rosewood, The Sopranos, Psych, Law & Order C.I. Graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.

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