'Vincent River' Comes Brits Off Bway 6/10 @ 59E59

 59E59 Theaters (Elysabeth Kleinhans, Artistic Director; Peter Tear, Executive Producer) is thrilled to premiere Philip Ridley's striking drama VINCENT RIVER at Brits Off Broadway. Directed by Steve Marmion, VINCENT RIVER comes to NY after a critically acclaimed run at London's Trafalgar Studios, produced by Old Vic Productions. The Brits Off Broadway run is produced by TFP in association with Old Vic New Voices.  VINCENT RIVER begins performances on Tuesday, June 10 for a limited engagement through Sunday, June 29.  Press opening is Sunday, June 15 at 7:15 PM.  The performance schedule is Tuesday – Friday at 8:15 PM; Saturday at 2:15 PM and 8:15 PM; and Sunday at 3:15 PM and 7:15 PM. Tickets are $37.50 ($26.25 for 59E59 Members). To purchase tickets, call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 or go to www.ticketcentral.com.  For more information, visit www.59e59.org or www.britsoffbroadway.com.

A critical hit in London's West End last year and now starring Olivier Award-winner Deborah Findlay and rising British newcomer Mark Field, this gripping thriller by the acclaimed writer of The Pitchfork Disney focuses on the meeting between a grief-stricken mother and a young boy who is in some way connected to the death of her son.  Engrossing, savage and darkly humorous by turns, VINCENT RIVER was called "shockingly good!" by Sam Marlowe of The Times of London and Time Out London called it "devastating! (Ridley's) writing is among the very sharpest in British Theatre."

Deborah Findlay is one of the most prolific and acclaimed actress of her generation. New York audiences will remember her Obie-winning role as part of the original cast of Caryl Churchill's Top Girls and for her remarkable performance opposite Antony Sher in the RNT/Circle in the Square production of Stanley, for which she received the Olivier Award and the Outer Critics' Circle Award for Outstanding Featured Actress.  Just out of Oxford Drama School in 2005 (where he received an Alan Bates Award for outstanding newcomer) Mark Field's career has already encompassed lead roles in Stephen Daldry's RNT production of An Inspector Calls (Australian tour), When Five Years Pass at the Arcola Theatre and Carrie's War at Sadler's Wells. He recently finished his first film role in the forthcoming feature film Brideshead Revisited starring Emma Thompson and Michael Gambon.

Philip Ridley (playwright) has written many stage plays including the award-winning The Pitchfork Disney, which premiered at the Bush Theatre in 1991 and received its New York premiere in 1992.  His Second Stage play, The Fastest Clock In The Universe opened to critical acclaim at The Hampstead Theatre in 1992, and went on to win the Evening Standard Most Promising Newcomer Award, one of the 1992 Time Out Theatre Awards, the prestigious Meyer Whitworth Award for New Theatre Writing, 1992 and the 1992 Critics' Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright. It received its US premiere in New York in 1998.  Other plays include Ghost from a Perfect Place, Vincent River, Leaves of Glass and the controversial Mercury Fur. His feature film debut as both writer and director was the highly controversial The Reflecting Skin (1990), which won eleven international awards, was voted one of the Best Ten Films of 1991 by the L.A. Times and prompted Rolling Stone to describe him as "a visionary". He is the only writer to have won both the Evening Standard's Most Promising Newcomer to British Film and Most Promising Playwright Awards.  He is currently in pre-production with his latest film Heartless and his new play Piranha Heights opens at the Soho Theatre in May 2008.

Steve Marmion (director) has worked as Associate Director at the RSC and for Headlong Theatre, most recently working with Rupert Goold on the transfer of the critically acclaimed Macbeth with Patrick Stewart onto Broadway. In Autumn 2008 he will be directing a version of Metropolis for Theatre Royal Bath and Edward Gant's Amazing Feats of Loneliness for Headlong, following his successful production of Faustus in 2007.  Previous directing credits include several premieres for Sir Alan Ayckbourn at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, productions at The National Theatre, Theatre Royal Plymouth, Soho Theatre, Royal Court and Theatre Royal Bath. He has worked with the Young Writer's Programs at the RNT, RSC and Royal Court. Steve has worked closely with a number of directors and writers including Silviu Pucarete, Greg Doran, Rupert Goold, Anthony Nielson, Alan Ayckbourn, Sean Holmes, Katie Mitchell, Roy Williams and Simon Stephens.

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