59E59 Theaters to Launch 2015-16 5A Season with THREESOME

59E59 Theaters will the 2015/2016 5A Season with the New York premiere of THREESOME, written by Yussef El Guindi, and directed by Portland Center Stage Artistic Director Chris Coleman. Produced by Portland Center Stage and A Contemporary Theatre (ACT), THREESOME begins performances on Saturday, July 11 for a limited engagement through Sunday, August 23. Opening Night is Wednesday, July 22 at 7 PM. The performance schedule is Tuesday - Thursday at 7 PM; Friday at 8 PM; Saturday at 2 PM & 8 PM; Sunday at 3 PM. There is no matinee performance on Saturday, July 11. There are added 7 PM performances on Sunday August 2, 9, and 16. Single tickets are $70 ($49 for 59E59 Members). To purchase tickets, call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 or visit www.59e59.org.

Please Note: THREESOME is recommended for ages 17+; contains male and female nudity, strong language, and mature content.

Leila and Rashid, Egyptian Americans with ties to Cairo, attempt to solve their relationship issues by inviting a relative stranger into their bedroom to engage in a threesome. But this hilariously awkward evening becomes an experience fraught with secrets, raising issues of sexism, possession and independence. THREESOME comes direct from ACT in Seattle after a critically acclaimed sold out run at Portland Center Stage, where it was called "a dizzying piece...simultaneously funny, thought-provoking, and brave. An updated version of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" by The Portland Mercury.

The cast features Alia Attallah, Quinn Franzen and Karan Oberoi.

The design team includes David McCrum, Seth Chandler and Erinn McGrew (scenic design); Alison Heryer (costume designer); Peter Maradudin (lighting designer); and Casi Pacilio (sound designer). The Production Stage Manager is Emily N. Wells.

Yussef El Guindi's (playwright) most recent productions include The Ramayana (co-adaptor with Stephanie Timm) at ACT; Pilgrims Musa and Sheri in the New World (winner of the Steinberg/American Theater Critics Association's New Play Award in 2012; Gregory Award 2011; Seattle Times' "Footlight Award" for Best World Premiere Play, 2011) at ACT and Center Repertory Company (Walnut Creek, CA) 2013; Language Rooms (Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award, as well as ACT's New Play Award), co-produced by the Asian American Theater Company and Golden Thread Productions in San Francisco, at the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia (premiere), and at the Los Angeles Theater Center. Other productions: Jihad Jones and The Kalashnikov Babes produced at Golden Thread Productions in San Francisco, at InterAct Theater in Philadelphia, and at Kitchen Dog Theater in Dallas, as part of the National New Play Network. It has also been performed at Theater Schmeater in Seattle, Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater in Massachusetts, and Cyrano's Theatre Company in Anchorage. His play Our Enemies: Lively Scenes of Love and Combat was produced by Silk Road Theater Project and won the M. Elizabeth Osborn award. His plays Back of the Throat (winner of L.A. Weekly's Excellence in Playwriting Award for 2006), Pilgrims Musa and Sheri in the New World, Jihad Jones and The Kalashnikov Babes, Such a Beautiful Voice is Sayeda's and Karima's City have been published by Dramatists Play Service. The latter one-acts have also been included in The Best American Short Plays: 2004-2005 published by Applause Books. Ten Acrobats in an Amazing Leap of Faith (winner of Chicago's "After Dark/John W. Schmidt Award" for Best New Play in 2006) is included in Salaam/ Peace: An Anthology of Middle-Eastern American Playwrights, published by TCG, 2009. Our Enemies: Lively Scenes of Love and Combat is included in the anthology Four Arab American Plays published by McFarland Books. Pilgrims Musa and Sheri in the New Word was included in the September 2012 issue of American Theatre Magazine. Language Rooms was published in Rain City Projects' anthology Manifesto Series, Volume 3. Yussef is the recipient of the 2010 Middle East America Distinguished Playwright Award. He holds an M.F.A. from Carnegie-Mellon University and was playwright-in-residence at Duke University.

Chris Coleman (director) joined Portland Center Stage as artistic director in May 2000. Before moving to Portland, he was artistic director at Actor's Express in Atlanta, a company he co-founded in the basement of an old church in 1988. Chris recently returned to Atlanta to direct the world premiere of Edward Foote at Alliance Theatre. He also directed Phylicia Rashad and Kenny Leon in Same Time Next Year at True Colors Theatre Company in Atlanta in 2014. Favorite PCS directing assignments include Threesome, Dreamgirls, Othello, Fiddler on the Roof, Clybourne Park, Sweeney Todd, Shakespeare's Amazing Cymbeline (which he also adapted), Anna Karenina, Oklahoma!, Snow Falling on Cedars, Ragtime, Crazy Enough, Beard of Avon, Cabaret, King Lear, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Man and Superman, Outrage, Flesh and Blood and The Devils. Chris has directed at theaters across the country, including Actor's Theater of Louisville, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, ACT-Seattle, The Alliance, Dallas Theatre Center, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop and Center Stage in Baltimore. A native Atlantan, Chris holds a B.F.A. from Baylor University and an M.F.A. from Carnegie Mellon. He is currently the board president for the Cultural Advocacy Coalition.

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