Celebrating 20 years, 59E59 Theaters (Artistic Director Val Day and Managing Director Brian Beirne) has announced the lineup of its Fall 2024 season, which includes 8 productions under the Off Broadway theater’s rent-free model. In an engaging year for social and political commentary, each show brings an entertaining and human element to stories that span decades and themes, including feminism, family histories, political activism, gun violence and more.
Theaters’ Off Broadway resident company, Primary Stages, will also present a new work titled The Light and The Dark (the life and times of Artemisia Gentileschi) by playwright Kate Hamill (Pride and Prejudice and Little Women) and directed by Jade King Carroll, which provides perspective into how the at the height of the Italian Renaissance, Gentileschi reclaimed her power to become one of the most successful artists of her time and an inspiration for women throughout the ages.
Co-Op eesident company New Light Theater Project returns with Room 1214, by Michelle Kholos Brooks and directed by Sarah Norris. Inspired by real interviews with a history teacher who experienced the 2018 tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School firsthand, this play follows a teacher as she returns to her beloved school to deliver one final poignant lesson in honor of the past.
About the Shows:
October 9 – 27: WHAT DOESN’T KILL YOU
Written and performed by James Hindman and directed by SuzAnne Barabas
In this true story, stage and screen veteran James Hindman is a man of a certain age who finds himself paralyzed by self-doubt, when a serious health scare upends his life. Luckily he isn’t the type to let a life-threatening heart attack dampen his spirits… or his obsession with Cher. In this fast-paced, one-man outing, Hindman seamlessly moves between characters to tell a story that bounces from light-hearted camp to poignant reflections on life’s greatest challenges.
October 18 – November 10: MRS. STERN WANDERS THE PRUSSIAN STATE LIBRARY
By Jenny Lyn Bader and directed by Ari Laura Kreith
Berlin, 1933. With martial law in effect, political activism has become a capital crime. A young Gestapo officer arrests a graduate student suspected of illegal research. This interrogation promises to be most challenging as he faces the iconic 20th-century thinker Hannah Arendt. Is she innocent? Or an enemy of the state? Inspired by real events, this drama delves into the life and mind of one of history’s most profound thinkers.
November 2 – December 15: THE LIGHT AND THE DARK (the life and times of Artemisia Gentileschi)
By Kate Hamill and directed by Jade King Carroll
At the height of the Italian Renaissance, Artemisia Gentileschi wants to become one of the great painters…but women are not thought capable of true artistry. With persistence and bravado she quickly establishes a groundbreaking perspective, but just as her career begins to gain momentum, a series of devastating betrayals crack the foundation of her life and art.
November 15 – December 8: ROOM 1214
By Michelle Kholos Brooks and directed by Sarah Norris
Inspired by real interviews with a history teacher who experienced the 2018 tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School firsthand, this memory play, follows the protagonist as she returns to the school to teach one final lesson, asking what if you could rewrite history?
November 15 – December 1: THISTLES
By Cyndy A. Marion and directed by Dev Bondarin
After fleeing New York City for the countryside during a global calamity, Rebecca finds herself alone in her family’s neglected farmhouse. She must do her best to manage the anxieties and expectations of her aging relatives as they clash over whether to sell the old house, all while surrounded by doorknobs and relationships that are both in desperate need of repair.
December 4 – 22: ALEXANDER KLAUS, THE ONE-LEGGED SHOEMAKER MAN
Written and performed by Christian Hege and directed by Jenny Mercein
A young soldier with the curious name Alexander “Sander” Klaus returns home from the Civil War forever changed, with wounds on his heart, mind and body. In the immigrant melting pot of boisterous, soot-covered, 1800s New York City he forms relationships and builds a new life. What he can’t explain is why the wartime flashbacks that plague him somehow coincide with the mysterious appearance of children’s toys.
January 11 – February 9: RADIO DOWNTOWN: Radical ‘70s Artists Live on Air
Created and directed by Steve Cosson
Made from archival interviews from WNYC’s “Arts Forum,” a 1970s radically open format radio show about avant garde artists, this world premiere enlists an experimental storytelling method in homage to its downtown subjects. The result is a hilariously naturalistic, wholly live experience.
January 29 – February 15: PECKING ORDER
By Robin Rice and directed by Basil Rodericks
Two red-tailed hawks have the nerve to build a nest on a ritzy apartment building on the Upper East Side. Doorman Albert is determined to protect them, but many of the building’s residents aren’t happy about it. Torn between his own dreams and responsibilities, Albert’s love of birds and longing for romance are thwarted by the need to financially support his ailing sister.
For more information and tickets, click here.
59E59 Theaters is located at 59 East 59th Street (between Madison and Park Avenues), NYC
