Presented by 59E59 Theaters' Elysabeth Kleinhans and Peter Tear, Brits Off-Broadway will run April 23-June 29 on East 59th Street. A selection of plays from England, Scotland and Wales — as well as the festival's first musical offering — are on the bill.
The 2008 line-up will include:
Guy Hollands directs the import from Glasgow's TAG Citizens Theatre, described as "a fast-paced modern Bonnie and Clyde tale of two teenagers on the run in the Highlands of Scotland." April 23-May 18.
Directed by Muriel Romanes, from Edinburgh's Stellar Quines Theatre Company, the drama centers on "a fiercely intelligent young girl and her relentless refusal of the establishment. When a people's revolution breaks out and a mercenary soldier intrudes the family home, the conflict between the regime and the unconquered girl is revealed." May 1-18.
Philip Howard will stage the work, from Edinburgh's Traverse Theatre. It will star Ewen Bremner "as an English language textbook salesman on assignment to the oldest continuously inhabited city on earth." May 7-June 1.
Directed by James Grieve, From London's nabokov and the Bush Theatre, comes the story of "16-year-old Kelly [who] is having a normal Saturday when her unknown father, who is Iraqi, turns up out of the blue. He's smuggled a priceless antique from the Baghdad Museum and wants Kelly to look after it." May 20-June 8.
From the F.A.B. Theatre in Cardiff, Steve Fisher directs the work inspired by a real-life report into the systematic abuse of children at a Welsh language school. May 21-June 8.
The festival's first-ever musical production. Daniel Buckroyd directs the musical from Nottingham's New Perspectives Theatre Company, which "tells the timeless, moving story of a young married couple and their struggle to carve a living from the land, just as the rhythms of English country life are being interrupted by the gathering storm of war in Europe." June 5-29.
From London's Old Vic productions comes this new work "about a woman visited by a teenager who has some connection with the death of her son." Steve Marmion directs. June 10-29.
Toby Frow stages the comedy from London's Trafalgar Studios starring Lucy Briers in which "Rachel, a small-time hack and seeker of minor adventure, sets off down the Thames Path to Greenwich to interview British pop legend Lulu for her tabloid's glossy supplement. But between London Bridge and Lulu's mirrored hallway lies a series of unpredicted and comic events." June 10-29. Single tickets for Brits Off-Broadway range $27.50-$50. Four-show passes are also available for $125. For tickets and further information phone (212) 279-4200, or visit www.britsoffbroadway.com.