Running May 8-July 3, "Americas Off-Broadway" offers New York theatregoers the chance to catch critically acclaimed regional productions in their own back yard. Americas Off-Broadway replaces 59E59's annual spring offering Brits Off-Broadway, which will now be presented in the fall.
The Chester Theatre Company (Chester, MA) production of Morris Panych's The Dishwashers, launches the festival from May 8-June 7. Byam Stevens directs the play in which "Dressler scrambles to keep the basement scullery of an upscale eatery functioning, marshaling his rag-tag team with a stream of hilarious rhetoric and old-fashioned working class pride. His fellow wage slaves, the ancient Moss and the downwardly mobile Emmett, just can’t seem to grasp his inspirational style."
The Kitchen Theatre Company (Ithaca, NY) is represented with Brian Dykstra's latest work, A Play on Words, running May 13-30 under the direction of Margaret Perry. "'Seinfeld' meets Waiting for Godot in this ferociously witty play on, about and exploding with language. Rusty and Max have been friends since grade school and they’ve been arguing almost the entire time. Today they're scheming up something big. Brian Dykstra’s signature style crackles in this uproarious romp through backyard suburbia where two (slightly above) Average Joes spar in a relentlessly fanatical pursuit of what is said, what is intended, and what is."
Mix Blood Theatre Company (Minneapolis, MN) arrives with Tony nominee Marion McClinton's staging of the Carlyle Brown play Pure Confidence, May 22-July 3. "Set against a backdrop of fast horses, gritty racetracks, and high stakes betting, Pure Confidence is an extraordinary tale of one of the most successful athletes of his day—Simon Cato, a slave."
Project Y (Washington, DC) offers Karl Gajkdusek's FUBAR, under the direction of Larissa Kokernot from June 11-28. "Mary and David live in a small apartment crammed full of boxes her abused mother left behind, while outside in San Francisco people self-actualize like crazy. When Mary is the victim of random violence, their protected world is ripped open and the lives of four people get totally FUBAR." The final offering is the Waterwell (New York, NY) production of #9, which runs June 5-28 under the direction of Tom Ridgely. The work is described as "a dizzying new music theater piece about the tools we use - and how they use us. Waterwell dives into a strange, bewildering world of digital immersion where the virtual is more real than reality."
Complete casting and creative duties will be announced shortly. For tickets phone (212) 279-4200 or visit TicketCentral.
For further information visit 59E59Theaters.
