Firework Theater's THE PILLOW BOOK to Premiere at 59E59 Theaters, 8/4 - 20

59E59 Theaters (Elysabeth Kleinhans, Artistic Director; Peter Tear, Executive Producer) welcomes the return of Firework Theater (formerly Kids with Guns) with the NYC premiere of THE PILLOW BOOK, by Anna Moench and directed by David F. Chapman. THE PILLOW BOOK begins previews on Thursday, August 4 for a limited engagement through Saturday, August 20. Press Opening is Sunday, August 7 at 3:30 PM. The performance schedule is Tuesday - Thursday at 7:30PM; Friday & Saturday at 8:30 PM; Sunday at 3:30 PM. Performances are at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street, between Park and Madison). Tickets are $18 ($12.60 for 59E59 Members) and are available by calling Ticket Central at 212-279-4200 or online at www.59E59.org.

Deb and John are married. Deb and John are strangers. Deb saves John's life on a mountain. John blinds Deb on the Serengeti. John works at an office. John works at a different office. Deb is a doctor, or an exterminator. THE PILLOW BOOK is a journey through the real, the imagined, the impossible, and the parallel-because who you were when you got married might not be who you are now.

The cast of THE PILLOW BOOK features Eric Bryant (Angels in America at the Signature Theater), Julie Fitzpatrick (Delaney Britt Brewer's Wolves at 59E59 Theaters) and Vanessa Wasche (Major Barbara at the Guthrie Theatre).

The design team includes set and lights by Maruti Evans and costumes by Heather Klar. Jessica Jolly is movement consultant. The composer is Michael Wall. Ben Cikanek and Mike Klar are producers.

Anna Moench's (playwright) plays include Hunger, In Quietness (Ensemble Studio Theatre) and Great Eastern (2009 EST/Sloan Commission). Her other work has been produced at The Flea, the Old Vic, Dance Theater Workshop, Dixon Place, The Looking Glass Theatre, and FringeNYC. Anna has developed plays with The Public Theater, [the claque], 3Graces Theater Co., the Great Plains Conference, the Last Frontier Conference, the Sewanee Writers' Conference and The Inkwell. Awards include the Jerome Foundation's 2009 Travel Grant, the 2010 T.S. Eliot Exchange with the Old Vic, the Sewanee Conference's Tennessee Williams Scholarship, the 2011 Tofte Lake Center Emerging Artist Residency and a 2011 EST/Sloan Commission. Anna is a member of the Emerging Writers Group at The Public, Youngblood at Ensemble Studio Theatre and is a New Georges Affiliated Artist.

David F. Chapman (director) has collaborated with Anna Moench on Halo/Titanic (TS Eliot Exchange, Old Vic, London), a reading of In Quietness (EST/Youngblood) and an untitled project about freeganism. Other New York credits include Jesse Alick's No Poem No Song (Subjective Theatre), Chris Sahar's Crossing the Straits (Metropolis Opera Project), Mike Lew's Virtual Congress (Keen Teens), Bekah Brunstetter's Roberta Laughs (Drama League), Jonathan Karpinos's Stay With Us, Megan Ketch and Todd Bartels' Sing Sing, and Matthew-Lee Erlbach's Sex of the Baby (all NYU Grad Acting Freeplay), plus work with Studio 42, Ars Nova's ANT Fest, FringeNYC, the Lark, and Playwrights Realm. Outside of New York, his work has been seen at the Edinburgh and Montreal Fringe Festivals, Chicago's New Leaf Theatre, London's Camden Peoples Theatre, Millbrook Playhouse (PA), and elsewhere. Assistant directing: Public, MTC, LCT, Primary Stages, Playwrights Horizons, Encores!, Chicago Shakespeare and Broadway. Member: Studio 42, DirectorsLabChicago, OV/NV and The Civilians R&D Group. Awards: Drama League Directing Fellowship, MTC Directing Fellowship, Luce scholarship to Vietnam, Fulbright scholarship to Hungary and a Chicago Area Artists Grant. David is a native of Chicago and a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill.

Firework Theater's 2011 season is made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, celebrating 50 years of building strong, creative communities in New York State's 62 counties.