Alan Ayckbourn, Richard Bean, Philip Ridley & More Set for 2016 BRITS OFF BROADWAY at 59E59 Theaters

59E59 Theaters has announced the line-up for the this year's Brits Off Broadway festival, the critically acclaimed annual festival of New British Theater. Now in its 12th Season, the 2016 Brits Off Broadway festival kicks off on Tuesday, April 19 and runs through Sunday, July 3. Single ticket prices range from $25 - $70 ($17.50 - $49 for 59E59 Members). Tickets to Brits Off Broadway go on sale to the general public on March 7, with an exclusive pre-sale for 59E59 Members beginning on March 1. Tickets are available by calling Ticket Central at 212-279-4200 or online at www.59e59.org.

The 2016 Brits Off Broadway line up continues its 12-year tradition of bringing challenging and provocative new British theater to NYC.

ECHOES confronts religious fundamentalism through the lives of two contrasting women. BUTTERFLY is a captivating, puppet-filled retelling of Madame Butterfly. Olivier-nominated playwright James Fritz tackles romance and heartbreak through a sitcom lens in ROSS & RACHEL.

Brits Off Broadway welcomes playwright Richard Bean (One Man, Two Guvnors) with his critically-acclaimed and semi-autobiographical play, TOAST. Fascinating Aïda's Dillie Keane goes solo for the first time in New York with her hilarious HELLO DILLIE! And in RADIANT VERMIN, Philip Ridley casts his keen eye and razor sharp pen on the perils of home ownership.

Brits Off Broadway 2016 wraps up with the return of Alan Ayckbourn with two plays running in rep: the long-awaited arrival of his 1974 play CONFUSIONS in New York and the US premiere of his latest play (number 79), HERO'S WELCOME.

The full 2016 Brits Off Broadway lineup:

April 19 - May 1
ECHOES written by Henry Naylor, directed by Mr. Naylor and Emma Buttler
With Filipa Braganca and Felicity Houlbrooke
Produced by Redbeard Theatre Ltd and Gilded Balloon Productions
Tickets: $25 ($17.50 for 59E59 Members)

ECHOES tells the parallel stories of two women born 175 years apart. A Victorian pioneer woman wants to build an Empire. And Islamist schoolgirl wants to build a Caliphate. Both travel to the East, to impose their ideals upon unwilling peoples...and both see their ideals drowned in seas of blood. Winner of the prestigious Spirit of the Edinburgh Fringe Award 2015, ECHOES transferred to London's off-West End.

April 20 - May 22
TOAST written by Richard Bean, directed by Eleanor Rhode
With Matthew Kelly, Simon Greenall, Steve Nicolson, Will Barton, Kieran Knowles, Matt Sutton, and John Wark
Produced by Snapdragon Productions, in association with Jagged Fence Theatre
Tickets: $70 ($49 for 59E59 Members)

Another Sunday night shift. The smell of bread baking. The industrial thump, thump, thump of the machines that never stop. The ovens are cranked up to full blast, the factory is humming, and everyone wants to be somewhere else. But this shift is going to be different. Because when a crisis hits the factory, the men have more to lose than just their wages. Following the smash sell out production in London and UK tour, Richard Bean's (One Man, Two Guvnors) hilarious and brilliantly observed play arrives in New York for a strictly limited Brits Off Broadway engagement.

April 23 - May 14
BUTTERFLY written and directed by Ramesh Meyyappan
With Chris Alexander and Nicola Daly
Tickets: $25 ($17.50 for 59E59 Members)

This striking adaptation of Madame Butterfly uses a poetic narrative and stunning, handcrafted puppets to tell the tragic tale of Butterfly, a kite-maker, whose lover has left her, alone and isolated.

May 17 - June 5
ROSS & RACHEL written by James Fritz, directed by Thomas Martin
With Molly Vevers
Produced by MOTOR
Tickets: $25 ($17.50 for 59E59 Members)

A mind-bending, heart-breaking story of what happens when a couple that was always meant to be together, gets together. And stays together. Olivier-nominated playwright James Fritz (Four Minutes Twelve Seconds, Hampstead/West End) takes an unflinching look at the myths of modern love. Molly Vevers reprises her heartbreaking, award-winning performance fresh from the production's critically acclaimed, sell-out world premiere at the Edinburgh Festival 2015.

May 10 - May 29
CITY STORIES Tales of Love and Magic in London written and directed by James Phillips, original music composed and performed by Rosabella Gregory
With Daphne Alexander, Alan Cox, Louisa Clein, Tom Gordon, Phoebe Sparrow, Jay Villiers and Sarah Quintrell
Tickets: $35 ($24.50 for 59E59 Members)

What happens when someone tells you that you're the answer to the riddle of life? What happens when a stranger in Starbucks gives you something that will change your world forever? What happens if the world starts to fall asleep, hour-by-hour? Featuring a ravishing set of new plays mixed with live music, CITY STORIES is a sequence of interwoven love stories that take audiences on a magical journey through a magical London. "Sublime, atmospheric and enchanting" (LondonTheatre.com).

June 2 - July 3
RADIANT VERMIN written by Philip Ridley, directed by David Mercatali
With Debra Baker, Sean Michael Verey, and Gemma Whelan
Produced by Supporting Wall, Metal Rabbit Productions, and Soho Theatre
Tickets: $35 ($24.50 for 59E59 Members)

A young couple is offered their dream house by a mysterious new scheme. How far are we prepared to go to get the home of their dreams? Acclaimed playwright and provocateur Philip Ridley turns his attention to one of the defining social conversations of our. RADIANT VERMIN premiered at Bristol's Tobacco Factory Theatres and London's Soho Theatre in spring 2015, where it was called "A deeply macabre, stingingly funny modern fairy tale... clever, funny and provocative" by The Financial Times.

June 6 - July 3
HELLO DIILLIE! written by Dille Keane and Adele Anderson, directed by Simon Green
With Dillie Keane
Produced by Pleasance Theatre Trust Ltd
Tickets: $25 ($17.50 for 59E59 Members)

The incomparable Dillie Keane of Fascinating Aïda goes solo in NYC for the first time! Tender yet hilarious, melancholy yet furious, Dillie Keane's songs speak of a lifetime fully, if not

always sensibly, lived. Her show starts the morning after a half-remembered night on the tiles, and takes you through her years of love, friendship and an addiction to psychics and crystal ball-gazers. Funny, despairing, hopeful, gutsy, and always brutally honest, Dillie's original take on life and on song-writing clearly show why her group, Fascinating Aïda, have been Britain's No. 1 cabaret entertainment for over three decades.

May 26- July 2
HERO'S WELCOME written and directed by Alan Ayckbourn
With Stephen Billington, Elizabeth Boag, Russell Dixon, Evelyn Hoskins, Charlotte Harwood, and Richard Stacey
Produced by the Stephen Joseph Theatre Company
Tickets: $70 ($49 for 59E59 Members)
** Running in rep with CONFUSIONS

Seventeen years ago, Murray fled the neighborhood under somewhat of a cloud and certain local folk have long memories, not least Alice, the mayor, whom he left standing at the altar. Indeed few of his friends, once the welcome flags have stopped waving and the town band has ceased playing, seem particularly happy to see him back. Murray's declared intention of staying put and settling down with his new bride threatens to stir up all sorts of old rivalries and resentments. Suddenly the couple, in search of peace, find themselves once more in the firing line.

May 28 - July 3
CONFUSIONS written and directed by Alan Ayckbourn
With Stephen Billington, Elizabeth Boag, Russell Dixon, Charlotte Harwood, and Richard Stacey
Produced by the Stephen Joseph Theatre Company
Tickets: $70 ($49 for 59E59 Members)
** Running in rep with HERO'S WELCOME

From a devoted and isolated mother, to her unfaithful travelling salesman husband, through a solicitous waiter to well-heeled diners and an utterly shambolic garden fete, human frailty is laid bare as one hilarious situation after another unfolds. Each of the plays connects to the next through one of its characters until the final one is reached when four people sit alone on park benches. From high farce to poignant observation; the laughs, however dark, keep coming.

Alan Ayckbourn's 1974 play, one of the most popular and studied plays of the last 40 years, comes to New York City for the first time.

Photo Credit: Henry DiRocco

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