DELIVERANCE Stage Adaptation Premieres at 59E59 Theaters, Now thru 11/9

59E59 Theaters will welcome Godlight Theatre Company with the world premiere of James Dickey's DELIVERANCE, based on his acclaimed novel, adapted by Sean Tyler, directed by Joe Tantalo. DELIVERANCE begins performances tonight, October 10 for a limited engagement through Sunday, November 9. Press opening is Tuesday, October 21 at 7:30 PM. The performance schedule is Tuesday - Thursday at 7:30 PM; Friday at 8:30 PM; Saturday at 2:30 PM & 8:30 PM; and Sunday at 3:30 PM. Please note, there is no performance on Sunday, October 19, and an added performance on Sunday, October 12 at 7:30 PM. Performances are at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street, between Park and Madison Avenues). Tickets are $25 ($17.50 for 59E59 Members). To purchase tickets, call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 or go to www.59e59.org.

Four friends embark on a three-day canoe trip down a wild section of river in the heartland of Georgia. On the morning of the second day, their adventure explodes into a horrific struggle for survival.

The play is adapted from the unsettling, best-selling novel by National Book Award-winner James Dickey. Released in 1972, DELIVERANCE was called "A novel that will curl your toes...Dickey's canoe rides to the limits of dramatic tension" by the New York Times Book Review and "A brilliant and breathtaking adventure" by the New Yorker. The Drama Desk Award-winning Godlight Theatre Company, widely praised for their stage translations of challenging literary works, marks their 20th Anniversary with this world premiere.

The cast features Eddie Dunn, Bryce Hodgson, Gregory Konow, Nick Paglino, Jason Bragg Stanley, Sean Tant, and Jarrod Zayas.

The design team is Maruti Evans (set and lighting); Ien DeNio (sound); and Orli Nativ (costumes). Rick Sordelet is the fight choreographer. Original music is by Bryce Hodgson and Danny Blackburn.
James Dickey (1923-1997) was recognized in his lifetime as one of the great American poets of his generation. He won the National Book Award, and he was appointed as Poetry Consultant to the Library of Congress, a position that now bears the title "Poet Laureate." But Dickey, without question, was best known to the general public as the author of the best-selling novel Deliverance, published in 1970 and produced as a major Hollywood motion picture in 1972. Those who had read his poems found themselves on familiar territory when they began to turn the pages of the novel. The story is that of a thriller: the tale of four friends from Atlanta who take a weekend canoe trip only to become caught up in a horrifying fight for survival against degenerate killers in the rugged mountains of North Georgia. But the language is that of a poet whose fascination with the wild, in nature and in human nature, gave his writing a power and distinctiveness rarely achieved by more conventional authors of contemporary verse. Dickey the poet-protagonist might be transformed into a wolverine, a sheep-child, a stewardess falling from an airplane to ecstatic death. Despite the popularity of the film made from Deliverance, much of that poetry and originality was lost. This dramatic production brings us back into the wild, into the drama of survival, and tells the story in the language of the poet.

Sean Tyler (stage adaptation) is a playwright and theater-maker. In New York, his work with Godlight Theatre Company includes the stage adaptation of Lee Stringer's Grand Central Winter. His play The Heroism of Failure was showcased at The Edward Hopper House Art Center, Nyack, New York. He is a former Writer-in-Residence at The Gershwin Hotel, Manhattan. In the UK, Sean's plays have been performed at off-West End theaters including: Sheep/Wolf (The King's Head), I met this girl... (Camden People's Theatre) and Now I Wonder (Greenwich Playhouse). He is co-founder of theplaygroup, a writer-led theatre company that produces plays in non-theatre spaces. His play The Disappearing Disease was presented in the cafe at Farnham Maltings Arts Centre, Surrey. His short film Al Pacino was shortlisted in the 2013 Southampton Film Festival.

Joe Tantalo (director) is Artistic Director of Godlight Theatre Company since 1994, recipient of a 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". 59E59 Theaters: Clifford Chase's Winkie (premiere), John Ball's In the Heat of the Night (premiere), George Orwell's 1984 (premiere), Jim Carroll's The Basketball Diaries (workshop production), Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five (premiere), Jose Saramago's Blindness (premiere), Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 (premiere), Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange (premiere). New Ohio Theatre: Will Elliott's The Pilo Family Circus (premiere). On Stage at Kingsborough: Dale Wasserman's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Emelin Theatre: Lee Stringer's Grand Central Winter (adapted by Sean Tyler). Theatre Row: An Impending Rupture of the Belly by Matt Pelfrey (premiere). 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. Edinburgh Festival Fringe: Fahrenheit 451, A Clockwork Orange. Godlight was part of the 2010 People of the Year by nytheatre.com. He is a Drama League New Directors/New Writer's Fellow.

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