LORENZO, WINDRUSH SECRET & More Set for Brits Off Broadway 2024 Season

59E59 Theaters has unveiled the productions for the Brits Off Broadway 2024 Season, their annual celebration of the U.K.’s most innovative theater. 
 
"Over the past two decades, Brits Off Broadway has become a vital platform, fostering cultural exchange and providing a launchpad for the most exciting voices from the UK," said Artistic Director Val Day. "These innovative companies bring their raw talent and fresh perspectives to New York audiences, enriching the city's theatrical landscape. This season's characters are all about making differences, big or small. We invite you to embrace the chaos and good trouble with these intrepid characters and to experience their glorious stories unfolding on our stages!"
 
2024 marks 59E59 Theaters’ 20th Anniversary. Founded by Elysabeth Kleinhans and operating under the Elysabeth Kleinhans Theatrical Foundation since 2004, 59E59 Theaters has been honored to serve as an artistic home for over 400 non-profit theater companies presenting more than 600 shows in their three spaces to over 1.4 million audience members. The Foundation provides a uniquely supportive model that makes producing more affordable to independent theater groups and allows new work to be generated and produced through special programs such as Space Lab, Makers Program, and Residencies.
 
The 59E59 Theaters Brits Off Broadway 2024 Season will begin with LORENZO, presented by Soho Theatre in association with Barrow Street Theatricals & Jean Doumanian Productions; followed by Windrush Secret, presented by A&R Film Media; and The Brief Life & Mysterious Death of Boris III, King of Bulgaria, presented by Out Of The Forest Theatre in association with Something For The Weekend.
 
The season will continue with Watson: The Final Problem, presented by Twilight Theatre Company and Smokescreen Productions; followed by Chopped Liver & Unions, presented by Blue Fire Theatre Co.
 
The season will conclude with Appraisal, presented by Twilight Theatre Company and Smokescreen Productions; and Blizzard, presented by Soho Theatre in association with Shared Experience.
 
More information about the shows can be found below. For details regarding tickets and performance schedules, visit 59E59.org.
 
The 59E59 Theaters Brits Off Broadway 2024 Season will include:
 
Soho Theatre in association with Barrow Street Theatricals & Jean Doumanian Productions presents

LORENZO

Written and Performed by Ben Target
Directed by Adam Brace and Lee Griffiths
Theater B
Previews begin April 24
Opening Night is April 27
Limited run through May 19
 
Facing the absurdities of life is no easy task for two intergenerational roommates with problems of their own. LORENZO is the true story of how multi-award-winning stand-up comedian Ben Target gave up his career to move in with his favorite elderly uncle and become his live-in caretaker.
 
Frustrations quickly arise between Ben and this mischievous octogenarian. This life-affirming story tackles death, caregiving, and grief in a brave and lighthearted way. Target’s witty and energetic style keeps the show flowing through the popular mediums of storytelling and live carpentry, a combination not seen on the world stage since Nazareth (circa 30 AD).
 
A&R Film Media presents

Windrush Secret

Written and Performed by Rodreguez King-Dorset
Theater C
Previews begin May 1
Opening Night is May 5
Limited run through May 18
 
A black Caribbean diplomat. A white far-right party leader. A white government official. Based on the 2018 real-world controversy that shook Britain, they each explain the “Windrush Scandal” from wildly opposing perspectives.
 
Half a million people migrated to Britain from the Caribbean between 1948 and 1973. In 2018 new immigration laws were passed and thousands of this so-called Windrush generation were deprived of their liberty, wrongfully deported, dismissed from their jobs, lost their homes, and denied services such as healthcare after decades of being citizens of the UK.
 
In a powerful, stripped-down performance, Rodreguez King-Dorset plays all three characters, switching nimbly between each one. Windrush Secret doesn’t shy away from the legacy of empire, imperialism, or the outcry of broken promises a nation makes to its people. The result is a provocative unmasking of a horrific calamity in history that forced a nation to look in the mirror and reconsider its path. 

 
Out Of The Forest Theatre in association with Something For The Weekend presents

The Brief Life & Mysterious Death of Boris III, King of Bulgaria

By Sasha Wilson and Joseph Cullen
Directed by Hannah Hauer-King
With Lawrence Boothman, Joseph Cullen, Clare Fraenkel, David Leopold and Sasha Wilson
Theater A
Previews begin May 2
Opening Night is May 5
Limited run through June 2
 
The year is 1943 and Bulgaria has just told Hitler where to stick it.
 
Europe’s major powers are at war and King Boris III must choose a side or be swept away. A raucous and poignant tale in which a bunch of underdogs use every trick in the book to outwit the Nazis and save nearly 50,000 Jewish lives.
 
Award-winning Out of the Forest Theatre's irreverent comedy - featuring live music inspired by Bulgarian and Jewish folk tunes - tells the incredible true story that the world forgot.
 
“Whether a jazz fan, a history buff or just someone who loves gripping real-life stories, this is a must see.”- Kyril, Prince of Preslav, Boris III's Grandson
 
Twilight Theatre Company and Smokescreen Productions presents

Watson: The Final Problem

Written and Directed by Bert Coules
Written and Performed by Tim Marriot
Theater B
Previews begin May 22
Opening Night is May 25
Limited run through June 9
 
Watson. An old soldier with a few bruises and a cracking story to tell.
1894. Watson is alone. His beloved wife Mary and the great Sherlock Holmes are both gone. But London seethes with false reports and rumors. It is time to set the record straight.
So Watson tells his tale... a tale of long buried secrets, betrayal, and death. For there is a shadow in the gutters of London. A spider's web of poisonous intrigue lies across the city. Someone is playing a long game and Holmes and Watson face their greatest ever challenge. But as Watson unravels the story, is the game really over?
 
Blue Fire Theatre Co. presents

Chopped Liver & Unions

By J.J. Leppink
Directed by Laura Killeen
Performed by Lottie Walker
Theater C
Previews begin May 22
Opening Night is May 25
Limited run through June 7
 
For centuries women have stoked the fires of rebellion and change in the East End of London.

Sara Wesker was an ardent trade unionist organizer and activist who galvanized a traditionally compliant workforce. She marched in 1936, sang on the picket lines, and took part in the Battle of Cable Street against Oswald Mosley's Fascist Blackshirts. This is her story.
 
Featuring protest songs sung by the “Singing Strikers of 1928,” Chopped Liver and Unions delves into Sara's personal story, how she worked hard, played hard, and remained committed to the fight for equality her entire life. A tale from a century ago but very much a play for today.

Twilight Theatre Company and Smokescreen Productions present

Appraisal

By Tim Marriot
Directed by Margarett Perry
With Tim Marriot and Alex Sunderhaus
Theater B
Previews begin June 12
Opening Night is June 20
Limited run through June 30
 
An annual performance review that goes horribly wrong.
 
Department head Nicky wants to get on with her job; her boss has other ideas.
This dark comedy is a power play of manipulation, subtext, and subterfuge, exploring the explosive consequences that can arise out of a seemingly innocent conversation.
 
 
Soho Theatre in association with Shared Experience presents

Blizzard

Written and Performed by Emily Woof
Directed by Hamish McColl
Theater C
Previews begin June 12
Opening Night is June 19
Limited run through June 30
 
Dottie & Dottie are an English couple who have been together so long that they share the same pet name. But when Dottie’s neuroscientist husband falls ill, she must deliver a lecture on his behalf.
 
The journey takes her to a conference in Pontresina, Switzerland, where Nietzsche once holed up. The great thinker looms in the background as Dottie struggles to translate her husband’s rational analysis of the human mind in a way that she and the world can understand. This philosophical adventure asks what is the self, what is thinking, what is the body? And in a godless universe, how do we connect with this thing called the soul?
 
Actor and author Emily Woof (The Full Monty) gives an expressive performance full of humor and joy, and makes use of mixed media storytelling techniques, simple props, and dance to unspool a surreal investigation of what it means to be a fully-integrated human.

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