59E59 Theaters (Val Day, Artistic Director; Brian Beirne, Managing Director) presents the NYC premiere of AGNES, written by Catya McMullen and directed by Jenna Worsham. Produced by Lesser America, in association with Hugh Hayes, AGNES begins performances on Saturday, September 8 for a limited engagement through Saturday, September 29. Press Opening is Thursday, September 13 at 7:30 PM. The performance schedule is Tuesday - Friday at 7:30 PM; Saturday at 2:30 PM and 7:30 PM; and Sunday at 2:30 PM. Performances are at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street, between Park and Madison Avenues). Single tickets are $25 ($20 for 59E59 Members). To purchase tickets, call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 or visit www.59e59.org.
Charlie's been missing, and his roommates have a lot of questions for him. Trapped by a storm on the night of his mysterious return, they each discover how easy it is to miss the mark when it comes to the people you love. With heart, humor and a touch of the bizarre, AGNES explores vulnerability, our limited understanding of Asperger's, and how we strive for human connection, even when it seems impossible.
The cast features John Edgar Barker (Off Broadway premiere!);
Hiram Delgado (NYC premiere!); Mykal Monroe (Wishes Don't Die and Fly, Baby with EST/Youngblood);
Laura Ramadei (
Bekah Brunstetter's The Oregon Trail with Fault Line Theatre/
Women's Project; In a Word, Carnival Kids, and Wyoming with Lesser America); and
Claire Siebers (LA Party with Collapsible Hole, Public Theater Under the Radar).
The design team includes Angelica Barrero (set design);
Cheyenne Sykes (lighting design);
Daniel Melnick (sound design); and
Nicole Slaven (costume design). The Production Stage Manager is Seth Betzler.
Catya McMullen (playwright) is a playwright and comedian. Her short play, Missed Connection won the 37th annual Samuel French OOB Short Play Festival, was directed by
Leslye Headland and is published by Samuel French. She is the author of eight full length plays (The Collective, Rubber Ducks and Sunsets, Everything is Probably Going to be Okay, AGNES, We Pray to Elephants, A**holes in Gas Stations, LOCKED UP B*TCHES and GEORGIA MERTCHING IS DEAD) along with numerous shorts. She is a proud alum of the Obie Award-winning EST/Youngblood, and a company member of The Middle Voice Theater Company, the apprentice company of Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. She was a finalist for the City Theater National Award for Short Playwriting and is the Creator of the WE ARE ANIMALS series, a quarterly variety show series she writes with Scott Klopfenstein of the Gold Record selling band Reel Big Fish, where she raps under her feminist hip hop alias "Chihuahua Fancy." She has been produced by or developed work with The Middle Voice Theater Company, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, EST/Youngblood, the PIT, The LARK,
Naked Angels, The
Flea Theater, The F*it Club, Rising Phoenix Rep, Playmakers Repertory Company, The Estrogenius Festival, The Shelter, Ground UP Productions, Ugly Rhino,
Primary Stages and UNC Chapel Hill's Department of Dramatic Art. BA UNC Chapel Hill Dramatic Art, Creative Writing.
Jenna Worsham (director) is a stage director and activist. Broadway credits include: The Parisian Woman by
Beau Willimon & The Heidi Chronicles (Associate Director to
Pam MacKinnon); Picnic (SDC Fellowship). Off Broadway/Regional credits include: Belleville (
Pasadena Playhouse); Dear by
Lily Houghton (MCC PlayLab Series); Blue Ridge by
Abby Rosebrock (Williamstown); The Siblings Play by Ren Dara Santiago (Cherry Lane); Street Children by Pia Scala-Zankel (The New Ohio, NY Times Critic's Pick); Gun Country (A.R.T/New York); The First Immigrant by
Martyna Majok (Williamstown); East Coast Curriculum by
Lucy Thurber (
Lee Strasberg Institute); Invincible Ones by Samantha Cooper (Signature Center); Have You Been There by Emily Zemba (Rattlestick); Here to Be Seen (featuring a cast of formerly incarcerated women, commissioned by the Brooklyn DA); The Vagina Monologues for Taconic Correctional Facility. She has developed work at
Playwrights Horizons, The Public, Labyrinth, EST/Youngblood, MTC,
Primary Stages, MCC, The Atlantic, among others. Jenna is a 2018 National Directing Fellow at The O'Neill Theater Center, as well as the recipient of a Drama League/Boris Sagal Directing Fellowship, a
Jonathan Alper Award (MTC) and two SDCF Observerships. Proud member of
The Actors Studio Directors Unit, the Lincoln Center Directors Lab, and an Affiliated Artist of New Georges. Jenna is also the co-founder of Creative Solutions, a residency program at SPACE on Ryder Farm for human rights advocates.
