Brits Off Broadway 2023

Brits Off Broadway is FINALLY back

Co-curated by 59E59 Theaters and London’s New Diorama Theatre, this program bottles the spark, breadth, and electric brilliance of the current UK theater scene. Hotly debated over late night drinks in Scotland and lively zoom calls between New York and London, we couldn’t be prouder of this line-up.

We’re importing many of the most talked about shows from Edinburgh and London. The Fringe First Award-winning Breathless, the experimental storytelling of we were promised honey!, and, the UK’s 2023 Theatre of The Year, Bush Theatre is transferring Nikhil Parmar’s hit play, Invisible Boondog Theatre will also present Orlando, inspired by Virgina Woolf’s legendary novel. Each full of theatrical dynamite and featuring star-making central performances.

After multiple sold-out runs in London, Dexter Flanders’ multi-award winning Foxes highlights London’s British Jamaican community with a powerful family drama about different kinds of love and how they can both trap and free us.

with a program more dynamic, diverse, and down-right unmissable than ever before!

Full of arresting performances and well-earned humor, Foxes interrogates the cultural taboos and gender expectations that shape families and individuals while exploring how living the life you want may mean giving up the life you know.

We are also delighted that Original Theatre Company (Caroline’s Kitchen, 2019) is returning with two new shows, including the US premiere of The Habit Of Art by Alan Bennett who, with a cavalcade of stage and screen blockbusters including The History Boys and The Madness of King George, needs no introduction.

London’s Patch of Blue also returns after premiering the New York Times Critic’s Pick We Live By The Sea in 2018. Based on true stories from interviews with children in the foster care system, Cassie and the Lights uses live music and multimedia theater to keep the playful tone that the company is known for while examining the challenges these families face.

We are thrilled and grateful to bring these and many other exciting new works, featured in the following pages, to you this year. There’s so much more to say but we’d rather let you see for yourself. We hope you’ll agree it was worth the wait. Cheers!

VAL DAY Artistic Director, 59E59 Theaters

DAVID BYRNE Artistic Director & CEO, New Diorama Theatre

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PARK AVENUE ALL-ACCESS

YOUNG PATRON PROGRAM $150 $35

Access to 2 discounted tickets for every show

• 2 complimentary tickets to the next Primary Stages production

• Exclusive member-only presales for every show

• Invitations to Primary Stages

Developmental Programming and discounts to ESPA classes

• Discounts to local restaurants, drinks at the E:Bar, and parking

•

Free ticket exchanges and no booking fees

*Partially Tax deductible

Ages 16 - 35

•

Access to 2 discounted tickets for every show

•

2 complimentary tickets to the next Primary Stages production

• Invitations to Primary Stages

Developmental Programming and discounts to ESPA classes

• Discounts to local restaurants, drinks at the E:Bar, and parking

• Free ticket exchanges and no booking fees

*Not Tax deductible

ORIGINAL THEATRE COMPANY presents

The Habit of Art

APRIL 29 — MAY 28

Original Theatre Company (Caroline’s Kitchen, Brits Off Broadway 2019; Invincible, Brits Off Broadway 2017) returns to 59E59 Theaters with the US Premiere of The Habit of Art by one of Britain’s most prolific playwrights Alan Bennett (The History Boys, The Madness of King George, and Talking Heads).

Benjamin Britten, sailing uncomfortably close to the wind with his new opera, Death in Venice, seeks advice from his former collaborator and friend, W.H. Auden. During this imagined meeting, their first for twenty-five years, they are observed and interrupted by, amongst others, their future biographer and a young man from the local bus station.

The Habit of Art looks at the unsettling desires of two difficult men, and at the ethics of biography. Exploring friendship, rivalry, and heartache this multi layered masterpiece examines the joy, pain, and emotional cost of creativity.

By ALAN BENNETT

Directed by PHILIP FRANKS

First Look $25†

Sat, April 29 at 2:00

Sat, April 29 at 7:00

Previews $35†

Sun, April 30 —

Sat, May 6

Regular $60-$80‡

59E59 Members $50

“Witty, moving, laugh-aloud funny and understatedly profound... the cast are uniformly stunning”

– The Guardian

THEATER C

THEATRE ROYAL PLYMOUTH presents

Breathless

APRIL 18 — MAY 7

What happens when the things we covet hide us from ourselves?

Opening up to new experiences in her latethirties, Sophie is exploring long repressed sides of herself. When a secret she’s keeping from those she loves, and even from herself, threatens to unravel it all, she must make a choice. Who or what will she decide to give up?

Breathless is a funny, honest, and stylish exploration of the knife-edge of hoarding, from the joy to the addiction and suffocating shame.

Originally supported by Pleasance as part of the Edinburgh National Partnerships.

“

By LAURA HORTON

Directed by STEPHANIE KEMPSON

Regular $30‡

59E59 Members $25

Breathless was effortlessly entertaining and moving”

– Voice Mag

Cecil Beaton’s Diaries

MAY 2 — 21

For the first time, the diaries of photographer and designer Sir Cecil Beaton come to the stage to accompany his most iconic images of everyone from film stars like Marilyn Monroe to political figures like Winston Churchill. Beaton’s photographs showed his versatility while his diaries exposed his inner turmoil. Not even his triumphant designs for My Fair Lady could quiet his restless mind and his passion for Greta Garbo was as complicated as it was powerful.

Blisteringly funny, with appearances ranging from the Queen Mother and Elizabeth Taylor to Audrey Hepburn and Truman Capote, the diaries paint a self-portrait of the 20th century’s most compelling dandy.

Adapted and performed by RICHARD STIRLING

Text © The Literary Executor of the late Sir Cecil Beaton. Used with Kind Permission of the Literary Executor of the late Cecil Beaton and Rupert Crew Limited.

First Look $25†

Tue, May 2 at 7:15

Wed, May 3 at 7:15

Regular $40‡

59E59 Members $30

“Richard Stirling epitomises Beaton’s crisply tailored demeanour” – Edinburgh Guide

We Were Promised Honey!

MAY 9 — 20

A lone performer tells the story of the future of the audience; what’s going to happen to them in the decades, centuries, millenia after the end of this show. There’s a baby born in a lighthouse, there’s someone on fire in the middle of the desert, there’s two lovers reunited in a flooded city, there’s a spaceship on the edge of a black hole. Everything has already been decided. This is the story of the end.

From multi-award winning performance company YESYESNONO comes an act of communal storytelling. A hopeful, hopeless prophecy for earth and humankind. A story of us, our future, of paradise and how we get there in the end.

Written and performed by

SAM WARD

Regular $30‡

59E59 Members $25

The Guardian

“Ward creates a sense of joyful collective enterprise”

–

THEATER B

ORIGINAL THEATRE COMPANY presents ADRIAN LUKIS IN

Being

Mr. Wickham

MAY 25 — JUNE 11

Adrian Lukis, who starred in the renowned BBC TV adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, returns to the role of Mr. Wickham this spring.

Join Pride and Prejudice’s most roguish gentleman, George Wickham, on the eve of his sixtieth birthday, to lift the sheets on what exactly happened thirty years from where we left him and discover his own version of some very famous literary events.

What really happened with Mr. Darcy?

Were his feelings for Lizzie real?

What about Georgina and Lydia?

By ADRIAN LUKIS and CATHERINE CURZON

Directed by GUY UNSWORTH

First Look $25†

Thu, May 25 at 7:15

Fri, May 26 at 7:15

Regular $40‡

59E59 Members $30

would be” – The Reviews Hub

“Smart and thoughtful... expansion of Pride and Prejudice ... all the fun you’d hope it

Foxes

JUNE 1 — JULY 2

If one kiss had the power to destroy everything, would you risk it?

Foxes follows Daniel, a young black man trying to keep up with his life in London’s Caribbean community while balancing his own goals with his family’s expectations. When his relationship with best friend Leon brings an unexpected change it creates turmoil, bringing a taboo into his family home that has the power to tear the closest and most loving relationships apart.

A deeply moving and complex story of family, community, and sexual identity, Foxes tackles the Black gay experience with tenderness and beautiful depth.

By DEXTER FLANDERS

Directed by JAMES

HILLIER

First Look $25†

Thu, June 1 at 7:00

Fri, June 2 at 7:00

Previews $35†

Sat, June 3 —

Fri, June 9

Regular $60 - $80‡

59E59 Members $50

DEFIBRILATOR PRODUCTIONS LTD and M. GREEN PRODUCTIONS LTD present

“ Foxes provides a voice to a community too often marginalised by theatre and demonstrates that the stories that emerge as a result have a universal resonance.”

– Broadway World

THEATER C

JESSIE ANAND PRODUCTIONS in association with BOONDOG THEATRE present

Orlando

MAY 23 — JUNE 11

“I’m sick to death of this particular self. I want another.”

Lucy Roslyn’s play is the story of a person looking for escape - just as Virginia Woolf imagined her own freedom in the pages of Orlando, a book which strains at the boundaries of identity: are we any one thing? Or are our selves “stacked like dinner plates,” one on top of the other?

A new play that defies labels, directed by JMK Award winner Josh Roche and inspired by Virginia Woolf’s legendary novel.

Written

and performed by

LUCY ROSLYN

Directed by JOSH ROCHE

Regular $30‡ 59E59 Members $25

“Roslyn is a completely captivating and magnetic performer. There is...no chance to take your eyes off her”

– Theatre Review Edinburgh

PATCH OF BLUE, IN ASSOCIATION WITH NEW DIORAMA THEATRE AND XINYI SHEN FOR VERSE UNBOUND PRESENT

Cassie and The Lights

JUNE 13 — JULY 2

Can kids be parents? Three sisters in foster care wrestle with that question as they try to write the next chapter in their story after important pages are torn out in this new play from Patch of Blue (We Live by the Sea, 2018).

Based on real life events and interviews with children in foster care, the show incorporates live music and video projection to transport audiences between the adult world and the at once more honest and more fantastical world of childhood, where much is mysterious but everything is possible.

Cassie and the Lights is a tender and playful examination of what makes a family and what holds it together.

Written and directed by ALEX

HOWARTH

First Look $25†

Tue, June 13 at 7:15

Wed, June 14 at 7:15

Regular $40‡

59E59 Members $30

“Glows in the darkness... a thoughtful, warm, moving hour that will leave you wanting to call whoever you think of as family” – The Guardian

Invisible

JUNE 13 — JULY 2

“No more quiet, no more model minority, no more wacky best friend. At least when we were the bad guys we existed.”

Meet Zayan, an under-employed actor and over-employed dealer who sees himself as the hapless lead in the sitcom that is his life. Everyone else sees him as lazy, self-centered, and useless – if they even notice him at all. As Zayan attempts to transition from being neglected to being notorious, we see how a man whose brushes with oppression, grief, and the sneaking suspicion that he’s become invisible have driven him to the unforgivable.

Invisible is a hilariously dark story tracking one man’s desperate struggle to be seen as the hero of his own narrative.

Written by and starring NIKHIL PARMAR

Directed by GEORGIA GREEN

Regular $30‡

59E59 Members $25

“It’s expertly performed throughout... go see it.”

– The Nudge

AMEENA HAMID PRODUCTIONS presents THE BUSH THEATRE production of

59E59 Theaters has been growing a global audience of fans who celebrate excellent, groundbreaking theater (BroadwayWorld).

59E59 Theaters has served as a home for playwrights, artists, and a space for all. We have given more than 300 non-profit theater companies an artistic home through our unique curatorial model so that their work can be broadly accessible to as many New Yorkers as possible. With over 500 productions in our history and many more to come, we always have something you can drop in on.

We can’t wait to see you at our newly renovated E:Bar to share a toast!

“THE END OF THE PLAY IS JUST THE BEGINNING OF THE EVENING”

– The New York Times

CALENDAR

APRIL

Tuesday, April 18 7:30 Breathless

Wednesday, April 19 7:30 Breathless

Thursday, April 20 7:30 Breathless

Friday, April 21 7:30 Breathless

Saturday, April 22 2:30 Breathless 7:30 Breathless

Sunday, April 23 2:30 Breathless

Tuesday, April 25

7:00 The The Habit of Art 7:30 Breathless

Wednesday, April 26

7:00 The Habit of Art 7:30 Breathless

Thursday, April 27 7:00 The Habit of Art 7:30 Breathless

Friday, April 28

7:00 The Habit of Art 7:30 Breathless

Saturday, April 29

Cecil Beaton’s Diaries

7:30 Breathless

Sunday, May 7

2:00 The Habit of Art

2:15 Cecil Beaton’s Diaries

2:30 Breathless

Tuesday, May 9 7:00 The Habit of Art 7:15 Cecil Beaton’s Diaries 7:30 we were promised honey!

Wednesday, May 10 7:00 The Habit of Art 7:15 Cecil Beaton’s Diaries 7:30 we were promised honey!

Thursday, May 11

7:00 The Habit of Art

7:15 Cecil Beaton’s Diaries

7:30 we were promised honey!

Friday, May 12

7:00 The Habit of Art

7:15 Cecil Beaton’s Diaries

7:30 we were promised honey!

Saturday, May 13

2:00 The Habit of Art

Thursday, May 18

7:00 The Habit of Art

7:15 Cecil Beaton’s Diaries

7:30 we were promised honey!

Friday, May 19

7:00 The Habit of Art

7:15 Cecil Beaton’s Diaries

7:30 we were promised honey!

Saturday, May 20

2:00 The Habit of Art

2:15 Cecil Beaton’s Diaries

2:30 we were promised honey!

7:00 The Habit of Art

7:15 Cecil Beaton’s Diaries

7:30 we were promised honey!

Sunday, May 21

2:00 The Habit of Art

2:15 Cecil Beaton’s Diaries

2:30 we were promised honey!

Tuesday, May 23

7:00 The Habit of Art

7:30 Orlando

Wednesday, May 24

7:00 The Habit of Art

7:30 Orlando

Thursday, May 25

7:00 The Habit of Art

7:15 Being Mr Wickham

7:30 Orlando

Friday, May 26

7:00 The Habit of Art

7:15 Being Mr Wickham

7:30 Orlando

Sunday, April 30

2:15 Cecil Beaton’s Diaries

2:30 we were promised honey! 7:00 The Habit of Art

7:15 Cecil Beaton’s Diaries

7:30 we were promised honey!

Saturday, May 27

2:00 The Habit of Art

2:15 Being Mr Wickham

2:30 Orlando

7:00 The Habit of Art

Tuesday, May 2 7:00 The Habit of Art 7:15 Cecil Beaton’s

Wednesday, May 3

Sunday, May 14

2:00 The Habit of Art

2:15 Cecil Beaton’s Diaries

7:30 we were promised honey!

Tuesday, May 16

7:00 The Habit of Art

7:15 Cecil Beaton’s Diaries

7:30 we were promised honey!

Wednesday, May 17

7:00 The Habit of Art

7:15 Cecil Beaton’s Diaries

7:30 we were promised honey!

7:15 Being Mr Wickham

7:30 Orlando

Sunday, May 28

2:00 The Habit of Art

2:15 Being Mr Wickham

2:30 Orlando

Tuesday, May 30

7:15 Being Mr Wickham

7:30 Orlando

Wednesday, May 31

7:15 Being Mr Wickham

7:30 Orlando

7:15 Being Mr Wickham

Friday, June 2

Being Mr Wickham

Being Mr Wickham

Being Mr Wickham

Being Mr