59E59 Presents CLIFFORD CHASE'S WINKIE, 3/5-4/10

59E59 Theaters (Elysabeth Kleinhans, Artistic Director; Peter Tear, Executive Producer) welcomes the return of Godlight Theatre Company with the World Premiere adaptation of CLIFFORD CHASE'S WINKIE, adapted by Matt Pelfrey and directed by Joe Tantalo. CLIFFORD CHASE'S WINKIE begins previews on Saturday, March 5 for a limited engagement through Sunday, April 10.  Press Opening is Sunday, March 13 at 3:30 PM.  The performance schedule is Tuesday - Wednesday at 7:30 PM, Thursday - Friday at 8:30 PM; Saturday at 2:30 PM and 8:30 PM; Sunday at 3:30 PM. There is an added performance on Sunday, March 6 at 7:30 PM. Performances are at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street, between Park and Madison). Tickets are $25 ($17.50 for 59E59 Members) and are available by calling Ticket Central at 212-279-4200 or online at www.59E59.org.

Clifford Chase's scathingly funny novel WINKIE Is brought to life by the Drama Desk Award-winning Godlight Theatre Company. When a mild mannered teddy bear finds himself on the wrong side of America's War on Terror, he becomes trapped inside the jaws of a society rabid with fear and paranoia. Is WINKIE the evil mastermind behind dozens of terrorist attacks? Or is he an innocent scapegoat for zealots on both sides of the terror wars? An emotionally gripping and intellectually compelling exploration of the absurdities of our post-9/11 age.

In addition to WINKIE (which New York Magazine called "a parable, a bedtime story, and a phenomenal character study of a teddy bear"), Clifford Chase's books include The Hurry-Up Song: A Memoir of Losing My Brother and the anthology Queer 13: Lesbian & Gay Writers Recall Seventh Grade (which he conceived and edited). Currently at work on a second memoir, he has contributed to publications ranging from Newsweek.com to The Yale Review to McSweeney's. He teaches creative writing at Wesleyan University.

The production team includes three-time Drama Desk nominee Maruti Evans (set and lighting design), Elizabeth Rhodes (sound design), Virginia Monte (costume design) and Andrew Recinos (original music). Rick Sordelet is the fight director.

Matt Pelfrey (playwright) writes for theatre, film and television. He is currently a staff writer for the MTV series SKINS.  He is the resident playwright at Furious Theatre and Godlight Theatre Company. His plays include Pure Shock Value, An Impending Rupture of the Belly, Cockroach Nation, Terminus Americana, Honkies with Attitude, Gore Hounds, Drive Angry, FrEAk StORm, Jerry Springer is God, Monkey and A Feast of Famine and adaptations for Godlight of In The Heat of the Night, Jim Carroll's The Basketball Diaries and Will Elliott's The Pilo Family Circus. His plays have been have been produced by such companies as the Actors Theater of Louisville (Humana Festival '99), Furious Theatre Company, Godlight Theatre Company, Roadworks, American Theater of Actors, Hexagon Theatre and the Lodestone Theatre Ensemble. He is the recipient of the Heideman Award (National Ten-Minute Play Award) for his play Drive Angry, whichwas subsequently produced at the Humana Festival of New American Plays. Mr. Pelfrey recently won a Back Stage Garland Award. He has been nominated for an American Critic's New Play Award, LA Weekly Playwriting Award and a Los Angeles Ovation Award. Jerry Springer is God and Drive Angry are published by Samuel French and Smith & Kraus. Cockroach Nation, Terminus Americana and Gore Hounds are published by Original Works Publishing. An Impending Rupture of the Belly and FrEAk StORm are published by Broadway Play Publishing.

Joe Tantalo (director) won the 2010 Special Drama Desk Award for consistent originality and excellence in dramatizing modern literature, and especially for the vibrant theatricality of Godlight Theatre Company's innovative productions. Godlight also won the 2010 Person of the Year by nytheatre.com. Joe has been the Artistic Director of Godlight Theatre Company since 1994. Most recently, Joe directed Godlight's reading of Lee Stringer's Grand Central Winter (adapted by Sean Tyler) at the Emelin Theater in Mamaroneck, NY. Theatre Row: An Impending Rupture of the Belly by Matt Pelfrey (New York premiere).

59E59 Theaters: John Ball's In the Heat of the Night (World premiere adapted by Matt Pelfrey), George Orwell's 1984 (exclusive New York engagement adapted by Alan Lyddiard), Jim Carroll's The Basketball Diaries (workshop adapted by Matt Pelfrey), Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five Or: The Children's Crusade (New York premiere adapted by Eric Simonson), Jose Saramago's Blindness (American premiere adaptation), Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 (New York premiere/East to Edinburgh), Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange (New York premiere/East to Edinburgh). Edinburgh Festival Fringe: Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 (2006), Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange (2005). Ensemble Studio Theatre:  Only We Who Guard The Mystery Shall Be Unhappy, The Trial of George W., Brown, Big Al, Beds are Made to Lie In. Other New York credits: The Manchurian Candidate, The House of Yes, Poor Superman (New York premiere and 2001 NYCFringe Award Winner). He was named Director of the Year (2002) by www.nytheatre.com.