UNDERGROUND Set for 'Brits Off Broadway' at 59E59 Theaters

59E59 Theaters will present UNDERGROUND, written by Isla van Tricht and directed by Kate Tiernan. Produced by Shrapnel Theatre & Hartshorn - Hook Foundation for Brits Off Broadway, UNDERGROUND begins performances on Wednesday, June 14 for a limited engagement through Sunday, July 2. Press Opening is Sunday, June 18 at 3:30 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 at 3:30. Performances are at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street, between Park and Madison Avenues). Tickets are $25 ($20 for 59E59 Members). To purchase tickets, call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 or visit www.59e59.org.

Claire and James take the same Tube to work, at the same time, every morning. Claire and James drink at the same pub with their same friends, every night. Claire and James have never met. But all that is about to change when, after matching on a familiar dating app, they meet for an awkward first date. On their way home together, the brand new Night Tube breaks down. Forced to get to know each other a little better, things start to get weird.

Featuring an interfering public address system, a wise - and drunk - pub landlord, and a big swipe right, UNDERGROUND looks at the phenomenon of loneliness in a crowd, and what happens when the daily grind gets disrupted. Claire and James May never be the same again.

UNDERGOUND was called "a blistering zeitgeist on modern malaise and loneliness" by Grumpy Gay Critic when it premiered during The VAULT Festival, which features some of London's most innovative theater that takes place in eight unbelievable venues in the labyrinthine vaults beneath Waterloo.

The cast features Michael Jinks (How to Hold Your Breath, dir. Vicky Featherstone, at The Royal Court); Andrew McDonald (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in the West End); and Bebe Sanders (3 Winters, dir. Howard Davis, at The National Theatre).

The production stage manager is Whitney M. Keeter.

Isla van Tricht (playwright) is a playwright and theater director and graduate of RADA (MA in Text and Performance) and the University of York (BA English and Related Literature). Her first two plays As Thyself and Threadbare premiered in York in 2012 and 2014, with As Thyself also performed in Illinois in 2013. With Shrapnel, they were presented as a double bill entitled The Remnants (Above the Arts, London; and C venues, Edinburgh). In 2016, Underground premiered at VAULT Festival with Shrapnel, and she returned to VAULT in 2017 with her fourth play with the company, The Litterati. Her other plays include Gonzo, Spring Daughter, and The Two Gentlemen of the Hollow Heart.

Kate Tiernan (director) is an artist graduating Goldsmith's in Fine Art and Critical Theory and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art for an MA in Text and Performance. Working across sculpture, text, and performance; previously with Arnolfini, Tate, V&A, The British Museum, BFI, ETH, and Urban Think Tank. Kate lectures at Sotheby's Institute and Tate; writes for Studio International and Zoo. Her past works include the plays Holy Contract, Freight, Considering This (RADA, Above the Arts, Hornsey Town Hall, P2, and Cape Town Fringe Festival); Performance Call & Response (DRIFT Rio de Janiro, Sluice Art Fair, Tate, Charles Dickens Museum). Upcoming work includes a collaborative residency at Metal in 2017. Kate has directed multiple performances for Shrapnel Theatre, including their original production of Underground and their most recent play The Litterati.

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