666DSM, JAY Z & ME, NAKED IN ALASKA and More Among 59E59 Theaters' 2014 EAST TO EDINBURGH Festival Lineup, Running Now thru 7/27

By: Jul. 08, 2014
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59E59 Theaters presents the 2014 EAST TO EDINBURGH festival, beginning today, July 8 for a limited engagement through Sunday, July 27. The performance schedule varies. Performances are at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street, between Park and Madison Avenues). Tickets to each EAST TO EDINBURGH show range from $15 - $20 ($10.50 - $14 for 59E59 Members). Tickets can be purchased by calling Ticket Central at 212-279-4200 or online via www.59e59.org.

Each July, 59E59 Theaters hosts an abundance of innovative US productions en route to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the largest arts festival in the world. Created as a way to help shows get on their feet before flying off to Scotland, EAST TO EDINBURGH simulates the same production constraints that all shows experience during the Festival, while giving them a clean, comfortable and nurturing space to fine-tune their productions. This whirlwind three-week festival, featuring 20 productions, reflects some of the most adventurous theater from NY and across the US.

The 2014 EAST TO EDINBURGH line up:

July 8 & 9 at 6:30 PM
666DSM: A Dark Comedy About Sanity, Society and Spirituality, written by Douglas de Souza, directed by Cindy Sibilsky
With Douglas de Souza
Produced by INJOY ENTERTAINMENT
Tickets: $15 ($10.50 for 59E59 Members)
One actor portrays six characters with six different mental disorders inspired by the DSM. This darkly comedic show is a satire on how our society perceives mental "dis-orders," as well as the sanity (or lack thereof) in things both sacred and profane.

July 8 & 12 at 7:15pm; July 10 at 9:15
YEARS TO THE DAY, written by Allen Barton, directed by Joel Polis
With Jeff LeBeau and Michael Yavnieli
Produced by Gary Grossman and Skylight Theatre Company
Ticket price: $15 ($10.50 for 59E59 Memebrs)
Two 40-something men, friends for 25 years, get together for coffee for the first time in four years: Will their friendship survive it?

July 8 & 9 at 8:30 PM
RAZBITYE KUKLU (BROKEN DOLLS), written by Matthew Ackland, directed by Daniel Paul
With Javed Khan, other cast TBA
Produced by INJOY ENTERTAINMENT
Tickets: $15 ($10.50 for 59E59 Members)
After a recruitment meeting turned nightmare, a young Moldovan woman is tricked and sold into the sex industry. Razbitye Kuklu (Broken Dolls) exposes the traumatic process of desensitization, which indoctrinates victims, forcing them to become perpetrators of their own learned-abuse.

July 8 & 9 at 9:15 PM
REFRESH: STORIES OF LOVE, SEX, AND THE INTERNET, written by Matthew Schott, directed by Julia Katz
With Matthew Schott
Produced by Critical Point Theatre
Ticket price: $15 ($10.50 for 59E59 Members)
When teen nostalgia collides with twenty-something uncertainty, can young people can disentangle themselves from their screens? REFRESH is a hilarious chronicle of sexual awakening at the start of the computer-crazed 21st century.

July 9 at 7:15 PM; July 19 at 4:30 PM
JAY Z & ME: A FAST TALKING MEMOIR, by Brenda Cullerton, directed by MC Donnelly
With Brenda Cullerton
Produced by Latecomer Productions
Tickets: $15 ($10.50 for 59E59 Members)
Tiny, 60-year-old white woman obsessed with Jay Z, breaks her back at his baptismal concert at Barclays, solo shows the tale, and finally meets the MAN!

July 10 at 6:30 PM; July 17 at 8:30 PM; July 20 at 4:30 PM
LOVE. GUTS. HIGH SCHOOL., written by Jeanette Bonner, directed by Peter Michael Marino
With Jeanette Bonner
Produced by Kelly's Pool Hall Productions
Tickets: $15 ($10.50 for 59E59 Members)
Super high-schooler Jeanette achieves everything she sets her mind to...except for love. Traveling from 8th grade awkwardness to 90210-style sexuality, her biggest crush quickly goes from "like-like" to obsession. What happens when Jeanette stops listening to her Magic 8 Ball and listens to her heart?

July 10 & 13 at 7:15 PM
MY DAMAGE IS MY GIFT! THE DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILY MUSICAL, book, music and lyrics by Jonathan Prager, accompanist Matthew Oestreicher
With Jonathan Prager
Produced by The Serious Comic
Tickets: $15 ($10.50 for 59E59 Members)
Through song and story, NYTimes/BBC featured comedian/singer/songwriter Jonathan Prager explores the drama and inconsistency of family life, disclosing an unexpectedly healing message.

July 10 - 12 at 8:30 PM; July 13 at 2:30 PM
HI, HITLER, by Lucie Pohl, directed by Jessi D. Hill
With Lucie Pohl
Produced by Lucie Pohl
Tickets: $15 ($10.50 for 59E59 Members)
A German-Jew's heil-arious solo blitzcomedy on immigration, fitting in and growing up in the Pohl Circus. Fascinated by Der Fuhrer at age 4 and uprooted from Hamburg to New York City at 8, Bertolt Brecht's real-life niece yearns for normalcy, but her high-drama-loving family has other plans.

July 11 at 6:30 PM; July 12 & 13 at 4:30 PM
DRIVING WITH THE PARKING BRAKE UP, A comedy in two solo acts: Mangos & Rice and The Wedding Warrior, written and directed by Luis Sosa & Casey Dressler
With Luis Sosa & Casey Dressler
Tickets: $15 ($10.50 for 59E59 Members)
Giving all you got and still not making any headway? These two characters learn that the only road-block to reaching their dreams is themselves.

July 11 at 7:15 PM
THE AMAZING BUBBLE MAN, created and directed by Louis Pearl
With Louis Pearl
Tickets: $15 ($10.50 for 59E59 Members)
Louis explores the breath-taking dynamics of bubbles with comedy, artistry, and spellbinding bubble tricks. From square bubbles, bubbles inside bubbles, fog-filled bubbles, giant bubbles, bubble volcanoes, tornados and trampolines to people inside bubbles, the Amazing Bubble Man conjures shrieks of laughter and gasps of amazement from all ages.

July 11 & 12 at 9:15 PM; July 16, 18 & 19 at 8:30 PM
BETTE DAVIS AIN'T FOR SISSIES, written by Jessica Sherr, directed by Antony Raymond
With Jessica Sherr as Bette Davis
Tickets: $20 ($14 for 59E59 Members)
It's early evening of 1939 Academy Awards, young Miss Davis is nominated for Best Actress and the Los Angeles Times leaked the Oscar winners early!' Newspaper in hand, the bold Bette Davis decides to leave. See what happens when someone who always wins...loses.

July 12 at 2:30 PM, July 13 at 7:30 PM
RUNNING INTO ME, written by Vickie Tanner, directed by Padraic Lillis
With Vickie Tanner
Produced by Play Solo, LLC
Tickets: $15 ($10.50 for 59E59 Members)
The extraordinary, true story of Vickie Tanner's escape from the drug and prison culture of her youth in South Central Los Angeles to NYC.

July 12 at 6:30 PM; July 15 at 8:30 PM; July 20 at 2:30 PM
NAKED IN ALASKA, written by Valerie Hager, directed by Scott Wesley Slavin
With Valerie Hager
Produced by Legendary Hearts
Tickets: $20 ($14 for 59E59 Members)
Two girls escape California to work at a strip club in the Alaskan wilderness. An adventure that begins in innocence lures them into a 10-year career that tests the limits of friendship and the will to survive.

July 15 & 16 at 6:30 PM
THE RAP GUIDE TO RELIGION, written by Baba Brinkman, directed by Darren Lee Cole
With Baba Brinkman
Produced by Soho Playhouse Inc/Rap Guide Media, LLC
Tickets: $20 ($14 for 59E59 Members)
The creator of the off-Broadway hit Rap Guide to Evolution ("Astonishing and brilliant" NY Times) returns with a new show about the origins of religion. Is religious faith an evolutionary adaptation or a virus of the mind? Hip-hop and the science of spirituality. It's time to eff with the ineffable.

July 17 - 19 and July 24 - 26 at 6:30PM
A MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM, The Rock Musical, adapted from Shakespeare with music and lyrics by George Griggs, directed by Paul Andrew Perez
With Lindsay Avellino, Taylor Bazos, Bella Caico, Zach Gault, Margot Nohe, John Madigan, Mickey Melillo, Ricky Romano, Joey Sandak, Catherine Saraceno, Gabbie Sansone, Jessica Shaw
Produced by The Infinity Repertory Theatre Company
Tickets: $20 ($14 for 59E59 Members)
The Mayor's Re-election, Hermia loves Lysander, Dmitri loves Hermia, Helena loves Dmitri, Bottom and The Crew search for the lost Hermia, Tytania and Oberon battle, Puck plies her mischief, Bottom with an Donkey head, will anything ever be the same? Filled with madcap adventure and magic, infused with rock and roll.

July 19 at 2:30 PM; July 20 at 7:30 PM
SINGLEMARRIEDGIRL, written by Heather Bagnall based on a blog by Laurel Spears, directed by Luke Tudball
With Heather Bagnall
Produced by Tasty Monster Productions
Ticket price: $15 ($10.50 for 59E59 Members)
The popular SINGLEMARRIEDGIRL blog comes to life! Funny, poignant, quirky and cool, SINGLEMARRIEDGIRL Laurel is the girl you always thought you wanted to be...until you read her blog!

July 22 & 23 at 6:30 PM
THE GOD BOX, A DAUGHTER'S STORY, by Mary Lou Quinlan and Martha Wollner, directed by Martha Wollner
With Mary Lou Quinlan
Produced by Just Ask a Woman
Ticket price: $15 ($10.50 for 59E59 Members)
Based on Mary Lou Quinlan's NY Times best selling book! True story of a startling discovery after death: a mother's private scribbled notes to God trigger a devoted daughter's unraveling until she learns to let go. An emotional rollercoaster of the heart. You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll want to call your mom.

July 22 - 26 at 8:30 PM; July 27 at 2:30 PM
what do you mean, by Bruce A! Kraemer, directed by Joan Kane
With Dev Brand, Nick Palladino, J. Dolan Byrnes, Teddy Lytle, Ivette Dumeng and Ioan Ardelean.
Produced by Ego Actus
Tickets: $20 ($14 for 59E59 Members)
A wannabe playwright types frantically as the real theater people teach him how it's done. A hysterical look at how plays are created for festivals. Everyone who has seen a play thinks they can write one, but can they?

July 26 at 2:30 PM
ADVENTURES OF THE SINGING ACUPUNCTURIST: BIG O FINDS HER SOUL, written by Olivia Rhee, directed by Barry Lamm, with musical direction by Joung Choi
With Olivia Rhee
Produced by Diamond Wave Productions
Tickets: $15 ($10.50 for 59E59 Members)
A one-woman musical, Olivia the Singing Acupuncturist, explores the stuffs that heal the soul. Storytelling, music, and laughter for whole family.

July 26 & 27 at 4:30 PM
DECONSTRUCTING THE SURROGATE, choreographed by Bryce Vinnicombe Winkler, music and film by Daniel James Winkler
With Bryce Vinnicombe Winkler and Harold Burns
Produced by VINNICOMBE/WINKLER
Tickets: $15 ($10.50 for 59E59 Members)
Accompanied by an original soundtrack comprised of over a thousand individual tracks, and lit solely by a projected film based on the ocular phenomena of phosphenes, Deconstructing the Surrogate is an engaging, and fully immersive, multimedia experience that centers around the disarmingly intimate duet at its core.



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