59E59 Theaters Sets Fall 2015 Shows: DESIRE, PONDLING & More

59E59 Theaters has announced the line-up of shows for Fall 2015. All performances take place at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street, between Park and Madison Avenues). Ticket prices and performance schedules vary. For tickets, call Ticket Central at 212-279-4200 or online at www.59e59.org.

Tickets for the Fall 2015 shows go on sale on Monday, August 24 at Noon for the general public with a special pre-sale available for 59E59 Members beginning Tuesday, August 18 at Noon. Tickets to the shows in the 5A Season and 1st Irish are on sale now.

September 2 - October 11
DESIRE An Evening of Plays Based on Six Stories by Tennessee Williams by John Guare, Beth Henley, Marcus Gardley, Rebecca Gilman, David Grimm and Elizabeth Egloff; directed by Michael Wilson
With Kristen Adele, Megan Bartle, Juliet Brett, Brian Cross, Liv Rooth, John Skelley, Derek Smith, Mickey Theis, and Yaegel T. Welch
Produced by The Acting Company
Tickets: $70 ($49 for 59E59 Members)
Opening Night: Thursday, September 10 at 7:00 PM
Part of the 5A Season

Tennessee Williams' life changing short stories depict loss of innocence, coming of age, fighting loneliness and isolation, and what it means to love and to lose it. Adapted by some of America's leading playwrights, Williams' striking stories explode off the page.

The Resemblance Between a Violin Case and a Coffin by Pulitzer Prize winner Beth Henley is about love, loss of talent and innocence, sexuality and death. The Field of Blue Children is a study in class differences and pride written by Olivier and Pulitzer Prize-nominee Rebecca Gilman. Tent Worms by Elizabeth Egloff is the bittersweet story of death and loss. Oriflamme by David Grimm addresses stemming the tide of dullness and conspiracy. PEN/Laura Pels Award-winner Marcus Gardley's adaptation desire quenched by touch (adapted from Desire and the Black Masseur) is a detective story set during the height of the Cold War, and mired in racism, hatred, and fear. Finally, John Guare adapts Portrait of a Girl in Glass, the short story that inspired The Glass Menagerie, with You Lied to Me About Centralia.

September 2 - September 27
LITTLE THING, BIG THING written by Donal O'Kelly, directed by Jim Culleton
With Sorcha Fox and Donal O'Kelly
Produced by Fishamble: The New Play Company
Ticket price: $35 ($24.50 for 59E59 Members)
Opening Night: Tuesday, September 8 at 7:15 PM
Part of Origin's 1st Irish Theatre Festival

An ex-con and nun are chased across Ireland for a roll of film - why the bleedin' fuss? Sorcha Fox and Donal O'Kelly play Martha and Larry, who take a high octane jump into the world of international energy skullduggery, awakening passions they thought were dead.

September 8 - October 4
PONDLING written and performed by Genevieve Hulme-Beaman, directed by Paul Meade
Produced by Gúna Nua Theatre Company and Ramblin Man
Ticket price: $25 ($17.50 for 59E59 Members)
Opening Night: Sunday, September 13 at 7:30 PM
Part of Origin's 1st Irish Theatre Festival

Proud she was in the park that day with her shiny black shoes from a shiny green box. As she pedaled through the park she took quick glances down to her feet, deciding that cream tights were definitely the right choice; they did accentuate her raven black shoes. She was free, brave and beautiful. And she was ready to go back to school in a week and a half and show Johnno Boyle O'Connor how free and brave she really was.

This macabre play about a young girl in rural Ireland whose big imagination lands her in even bigger trouble was called "funny, scary and full of rich, exuberant language" by RTE. PONDLING features "a sterling performance" (The Public Reviews) by Genevieve Hulme Beaman, for which she won the Best Actress Award at the 2013 Dublin Fringe.

September 30 - October 24
PLEASE EXCUSE MY DEAR AUNT SALLY by Kevin Armento, directed by Ianthe Demos
With Danny Bernardy, Sarah-Jane Casey, Nick Flint, Christina Bennett Lind, and Ethan Slater
Produced by One Year Lease Theater Company
Ticket Price: $35 ($24.50 for 59E59 Members)
Opening Night: TBD

An illicit affair between a high school math teacher and her fifteen year-old student is told through the eyes of the student's cell phone.

October 8 - October 25
WELCOME TO THE KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA book by Luke Leonard; lyrics by Katie Pearl and Luke Leonard; music by Peter Stopschinski; directed by Luke Leonard
With Christopher McLamb, Sarah Grace Sanders, John Gasper, and Ruthy Froch.
Produced by Monk Parrots
Ticket price: $18 ($12.60 for 59E59 Members)
Opening Night: TBD

This dark musical comedy set in Dharhan takes an intimate look at the barriers between genders and cultures through the lives of American expatriates.

October 20 - November 29
SONGBIRD book by Michael Kimmel, music and lyrics by Lauren Prichard, directed by JV Mercanti
With Ephie Aardema, Kate Baldwin, Erin Dilly, Adam Cochran, Kacie Sheik, Andy Taylor, and additional cast members TBD
Produced by Allison Bressi and Diana Buckhantz, by special association with Less Than Rent Theatre
Ticket price: $70 ($49 for 59E59 Members)
Opening Night: Wednesday, October 28 at 7 PM
Part of the 5A Season

Dreams, ambition, love, and heartbreak. SONGBIRD, based on Anton Chekov's The Seagull, is a striking new show about a fading country star returning home to Nashville. After many years away, Tammy returns to the Honky Tonk that launched her music career to help the son she abandoned launch his own. But with jealousy and self destruction (along with copious amounts of whiskey) fueling this homecoming, will Tammy's arrival do more harm than good?

October 29 - November 21
CUCKOOED written and performed by Mark Thomas, directed by Emma Callander
Produced by All for One
Ticket price: $35 (24.50 for 59E59 Members)
Opening Night: TBD

In this comedy of betrayal, comedian and performer Mark Thomas makes his US debut telling a remarkable true story: how he discovered his close friend was spying on him for Britain's biggest arms dealer. CUCKOOED comes to New York from the Traverse Theatre and The Tricycle Theatre, where it played to sold out houses.

October 29 - November 15
WIDOW OF TOM'S HILL written by Aleks Merilo, directed by Rachel Black Spaulding
With cast TBD
Produced by Scripts Up! (Janet McCall and David Spaulding, producers)
Ticket price: $18 (12.60 for 59E59 Members)
Opening Night: TBD

It is 1918 and the deadliest plague in human history has erupted across the globe - the influenza pandemic. When a small American town on the Washington coast becomes the subject of an armed quarantine, two liaisons from opposite sides of the blockade - a nineteen-year-old widow and a young sailor - engage in a surprising and dangerous match. Suspenseful and emotional, award winning playwright Aleks Merilo weaves a gritty, spellbinding tale.

November 19 - December 5
GLUTEN! written and directed by Stephen Kaliski
With Roger Manix, Jeremiah Maestas, Maggie Low, Shawna Cormier
Produced by Adjusted Realists
Ticket price: $18 ($12.60 for 59E59 Members)
Opening Night: TBD

Newlyweds Copious Fairchild and Hibiscus Van der Waal are doing everything they can to conceive a child. They've moved into a dazzling new apartment that's free of all the common killers, including plastic, sunlight, and IKEA. They're seeing the best doctors. They're even trying sex the new way, but that doesn't seem to be working out too well. When Copious' estranged hippie mother and her mysterious companion pay an unexpected visit with a radical proposition, Copious and Hibiscus suddenly face an impossible decision, one that may cure their malady but still kill them in the process. This timely romp exposes demonic glutens in the less obvious culprits of language, parenthood, sexuality, and (of course) God.

November 27 - December 13
H2O written by Jane Martin, directed by West Hyler
With Diane Mair and Alex Podulke
Produced by Ground UP Productions
Ticket price: $35 (24.50 for 59E59 Members)
Opening Night TBD

After arriving to the City of Angels, an aimless young man catapults to movie stardom and into Hollywood's sleazy celebrity culture. Banking on his fame (and name), he is soon selected to appear on Broadway in Hamlet. Given full casting approval, he embarks to New York City to seek out his Ophelia and encounters his muse and his match -a young evangelical Christian woman set on getting the role...and saving his life. H2O transports audiences into the reclusive, madcap world of Jane Martin's drama/comedy/love story about self-destruction, notoriety, and the dark journey to purity and salvation.

December 16 - January 3
HOW ALFO LEARNED TO LOVE written by Vincent Amelio, directed by Brad Raimondo
With Mike Basile, Joanna Bonaro, Kelli K. Barnett, Armen Garo, Elaine Del Valle, Robert Funaro, Sylvie Preston, and Christian Thom
Produced by Al Dente Productions
Ticket price: $18 ($12.60 for 59E59 Members)
Opening Night: TBD

At 16 Alfo Idello had one magical kiss that sparked love. Since then no woman can compare. Now at 36, Alfo must find true love or lose the family's Italian bakery to his married sister. Grandpa, the bakery's founder, wants Alfo to get the bakery. But there's a hitch. Grandpa is dead and his spirit is trapped on the BQE. Can Grandpa's ghost teach Alfo how to find true love?

January 19 - February 28
I AND YOU, written by Lauren Gunderson, directed by Sean Daniels
With a cast to be announced
Produced by Merrimack Repertory Theatre
Ticket price: $70 ($49 for 59E59 Members)
Opening Night: Wednesday, January 27 at 7 PM
Part of the 5A Season

Caroline hates poetry. She's also something of a loner. So just about the last thing she wanted was a complete stranger named Anthony walking through her bedroom door to work on a school project about Walt Whitman. But as the two very different teenagers uncover deep bonds, Caroline finds herself opening up in ways she never imagined possible. Their journey is an explosion of thought on art, connection, and identity that will warm your heart, with an ending that will leave you breathless. Winner of the Steinberg/ACTA New Play Award, I AND YOU was called "sharp and funny" by the Washington Post.

March 5 - April 17
IDEATION, written by Aaron Loeb, directed by Josh Costello
With Carrie Paff, Mark Anderson Phillips, Michael Ray Wisely and two additional members to be announced
Produced by San Francisco Playhouse
Ticket price: $70 ($49 for 59E59 Members)
Opening Night: Wednesday, March 16 at 7 PM
Part of the 5A Season

In Aaron Loeb's "devilishly funny and demonically dark comedy" (San Francisco Chronicle), a group of corporate consultants work together on a mysterious and ethically ambiguous project. As the lines between right and wrong are blurred, these corporate cogs must navigate cognitive dissonances and moral dilemmas. Is everything really as it seems?

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