NYC Off-Broadway theater – 59East59 features US Theatre company just weeks before they make their Scottish Debut at the Edinburgh Fringe. They are given 3-6 performance times in order to fine tune their performances.
These are the 12 shows being spotlighted.
How to Find a Husband in 37 Years or Longer
“… it’s about my failed relationships and my father…
and my father’s failed relationships… so, it’s about Love.
Umm… is it about Love?… ok, then Hope! …a coming of (middle) age story”
Playing July 11th to July 20th
Alexander Klaus, the One-Legged Shoemaker Man
“A 16-year-old American Civil War veteran struggles to live a normal life, on New York City’s Lower East Side. But when his flashbacks happen, there are toys. Everywhere. An achingly beautiful fairy tale for grownups.”
Playing July 11th to July 19th
“Coming Out to Dead People is a coming-of-age story that follows 19-year-old Ricky who had to decide whether to come out to his conservative Chinese-Malaysian immigrant mother after she’s diagnosed with terminal cancer. Combining stand-up and storytelling, the show explores the meaning of acceptance, grief, and why you should not think about your ancestors when having gay sex.”
Playing July 12th to 14th
“Two enemy novelists duel for the ultimate prize in a fast-paced, war-of-the-words comedy by multiple Fringe First-winning playwright Brian Parks. Year after year, Higgins and Houghton find themselves pitched against each other on the shortlist for literature’s number-one title, never winning. But this year is different, each primed to strike and finally grab it. All that stands in their way is each other. A world premiere directed by Fringe First winner Margarett Perry, starring Matthew Boston and Daniel Llewelyn-Williams. “A refreshingly mischievous, inventive author” (Times of London).”
Playing July 12th to 16th
“Did You Eat? (밥 먹었니?) is an original semi-autobiographical solo show. While this is primarily a story about generational trauma and how it affects our love language between lovers, friends, and family — it’s also a story about food, identity, parent-child relationships, and the Korean-American experience.”
Playing July 14th to July 23rd
“Fresh off her 1961 Academy Awards triumph and a recent brush with death, Elizabeth Taylor is struggling with her hardest role yet: herself. An intimate look at the movie star’s early life, career, and loves as she grapples with the culture of celebrity and her place as Hollywood’s brightest star.”
Playing July 15th to July 18th
“On the eve of the funeral of her last remaining friend, 95-year-old Helen enters the mid-century world of Daphne DuMarier’s “Rebecca.” Aided and abetted by her daughter-in-law, they take a jaunty romp through twisty time. A play about the triumph of imagination over dementia, anxiety, and mortality. Based on an actual recorded conversation.”
Playing July 19th to July 22nd
The Rosenberg/Strange Fruit Project
“Award-winning actor/playwright John Jiler and clarinetist Sweet Lee Odom tell the remarkable story of the youngest child of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Orphaned at six following his parents’ execution for espionage, the boy was adopted by the man who wrote the song “Strange Fruit,” seared into our consciousness by Billie Holiday. To the jazz accompaniment of Odom, Jiler plays a gallery of rogues, heroes and saints and takes us on a journey of American politics from then until now. Directed by Fringe First Award winner, Margarett Perry.”
Playing July 21st to July 25th
“A meditation on motherhood, feminism, and fame, two-time Emmy® Award winner Dorothy Lyman premieres her story at 59E59 Theaters. Discover her journey as she tells it from her Midwestern childhood, through motherhood, her marriages, and her successful Hollywood career. VIOLET AND ME places a microscope on the progression of gender equality since the ’50s, questioning how far we’ve come.”
Playing July 22nd to July 26th
“Are we all faking it at our jobs? Or is that just the temp– a pretentious ingenue spilling the truth on her undercover acting role at a dysfunctional media company. Office Space meets Fleabag for the post-Great Resignation era, The Temp is a satirical, genre-bending soloplay lampooning white-collar work culture through a tale of lies, desperation, and egregious misconduct.”
Playing July 26th
“What do you get when A24’s horror is captured through tragicomedy? This haunted evening follows nonbinary playwright Sloane and their botanist husband Gwyn settling the estate of Sloane’s ailing grandmother. When Gwyn’s childhood friend Beckham arrives to help the couple bury the hatchet, they soon discover there may be more to the house, and to Sloane, hidden beneath the foundation.”
Playing July 27th to July 30th
“You’re invited to a private meeting of the Leading Lady Club! At this meeting, members discuss dating apps, self defense, workplace interactions, women’s health, assault, plus varying degrees of manspreading, mansplaining, and manipulation with humor and grace. Well…they’ll do their best. Imagine SNL-meets-the gynecologist waiting room in this hilariously dark commentary on womanhood in 2023.”
Playing July 27th to July 30th
“I’m Normal! I gotta be normal! mr. dennis is convinced hard work and god-fearing obedience is rewarded with a happy home, good job, and white picket fence. How’s that working for ya’, mr. dennis?! Join master storyteller, Dennis Elkins, in a riotous solo musical as he tracks down the culprits responsible for rocking his dreamboat. Celebrate casting free from “normal.””
Playing July 28th to July 30th
All of the shows are available here: https://www.59e59.org/shows/