THE BUS Comes To 59E59 Theaters, Opens 10/9

59E59 Theaters (Elysabeth Kleinhans, Artistic Director; Peter Tear, Executive Producer) welcomes Starry Night Theater with the New York premiere of THE BUS, written by James Lantz and directed by John Simpkins.  Press opening is Sunday, October 9 at 3:30 PM. The performance schedule is Tuesday - Thursday at 7:30 PM; Friday at 8:30 PM; Saturday at 2:30 PM and 8:30 PM; and Sunday at 3:30 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.

THE BUS is a story about gay teens, a small town and one very big church.

Two teenage boys regularly rendezvous late at night in a parked church bus. When their place of refuge is in danger of being discovered, the boys find themselves in the middle of a conflict between a large church and a small town gas station - and the clash proves explosive. Alternatively touching, haunting, humorous and swirling with suspense, THE BUS is a provocative look at small town homophobia and a timely drama about a community at odds with itself.

THE BUS makes its first stop in NY before traveling on to Topeka, Kansas to perform in the hometown of the Westboro Baptist Church, known for protesting military funerals to draw attention to their homophobic beliefs.

The cast includes Ben Ash, Bryan Fitzgerald, Julia Lawler, Kerry McGann, Bob Nuner and Will Roland.

James Lantz (playwright) is the writer of four plays including American Machine, which was a co-commissioned project of The Flynn Center for the Performing Arts and was called "powerful" by the Burlington Free Press. As a filmmaker, he has produced, written and directed over 200 commercial films, videos and live events for clients such as American Express, American Airlines, Amtrak, Alamo Rental Cars, Mobil Oil and The Brooklyn Museum of Art. He is the recipient of numerous commercial filmmaking awards including The International Television and Video Association's Award, Best in Show, several Telly Awards, and the Best in Show Award at the Rosebud Film Festival. Last year, his screenplay Hide Fox won awards at eight national film festivals. As a screenwriter, his work has received recognition from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Nicholl Fellowship for Screenwriting (quarter finalist), Writer's Digest (finalist), and the Austin Film Festival (quarter finalist). He has served as a film programmer for The Brooklyn Museum of Art, and he created and produced Dreams and the Art of Filmmaking, a conference devoted to exploring the synergy between cinema and dream psychology.

John Simpkins (director) recently directed the three-time Drama Desk nominated Off-Broadway production of Bloodsong of Love: The Rock and Roll Spaghetti Western (by Joe Iconis) at Ars Nova. Other New York credits include the Off-Broadway productions of ReWrite (Urban Stages); The Plant That Ate Dirty Socks (Theatreworks, USA- Lucille Lortel Theatre); Things to Ruin (which he co-conceived and directed productions of at Second Stage, Le Poisson Rouge, Zipper Factory, Joe's Pub) and The Black Suits (SPF at The Public Theatre). Regional productions include Hairspray (North Carolina Theatre); Damn Yankees (Engeman Theatre); Annie and Cabaret (Sacramento Music Circus); Evita (Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma); Rent, A Funny Thing...Forum and The Wedding Singer (TriArts Sharon Playhouse). He has directed workshops/ readings/ productions of new works including ReWrite (Goodspeed Opera House); Fantasy Football, the Musical; When the World Ends (Blaemire- Ars Nova); Ripper (NAMT); Party Come Here (David Kirshenbaum/ Daniel Goldfarb); Next Thing You Know (Berkshire Theatre Festival); Half Married (Cunningham/ Antin); Plastic! (Maddock/ Iconis/ Jacobs - York Theatre), You Don't Know Jack (York Theatre), Bad Kid School (Barrington Stage), 29 (Alter/ Newman), Lyrical Langston Hughes (New Triad- Lincoln Center) and Blood Drive (Rachel Sheinkin). He is the Artistic Director at TriArts Sharon Playhouse.