59E59 Theaters Presents Premiere of TAKE WHAT IS YOURS, 4/3-27

59E59 Theaters (Elysabeth Kleinhans, Artistic Director; Peter Tear, Executive Producer) welcomes anecdota with the Off-Broadway premiere of TAKE WHAT IS YOURS, with a script by Erica Fae and Jill A. Samuels, and directed by Jill A. Samuels.

TAKE WHAT IS YOURS begins performances on Thursday, May 3 for a limited engagement through Sunday, May 27. Press opening is Wednesday, May 9 at 7:15 PM. The performance schedule is Tuesday – Thursday at 7:15 PM; Friday at 8:15 PM; Saturday at 2:15 PM and 8:15 PM; and Sunday at 3:15 PM. Performances are at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street, between Park and Madison Avenues). Tickets are $35 for regular performances; $18 for previews ($24.50 regular performances; $12.60 for previews for 59E59 Members). To purchase tickets, call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 or go to www.59e59.org.

The little-known story of how women fought for, and eventually won, the right to vote, composed in the words of Alice Paul, members of the National Women’s Party, and documents from the time. TAKE WHAT IS YOURS is the fictionalized account, based on archival documents, of women’s suffrage leader Alice Paul’s time at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia, where she was held in solitary confinement for leading a hunger strike.

TAKE WHAT IS YOURS features Erica Fae (Vienna Lusthaus at New York Theatre Workshop), Adrian Jevicki, Wayne Maugans (August: Osage County on Broadway), David Riley, and Courtney Stallings.

The design team includes Alison Brummer (lighting design); Alixandra Gage Englund (costume design); Kristin Worrall (sound design); and Tal Yarden (video design). The moving set was conceived by Jill A. Samuels; Deb O is the set consultant.

As writer/performer, Erica Fae’s (original concept, playwright, performer) solo play A Girl Joan was commissioned by DTW, and performed at NYTW, the Culture Project, and HERE, where she was also awarded a HARP residency to develop new work. Her short films have screened at festivals worldwide and received awards for Best Short and Best Actress. As an actor, she has worked with Martha Clarke, Rachel Dickstein/Ripe Time, and Ping Chong, among others; and can be seen in films Synecdoche, New York; The Savages; Little Children; Please Give; and others. She also teaches physical acting training at Yale and The New School (MFA programs), and has taught at NYU’s ETW, where she also studied.

For more than a decade, Jill A. Samuels (director, playwright, scenic concept) has been working and creating at the intersection of theatre, performance, poetry, puppetry, film, dance, music and politics. Her work as an multi-disciplinary writer, director and artist has appeared in over 40 festivals and venues in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Australia. She has worked for and with the Museum of Modern Art, The Public Theater, Ideal Film, Reverse Angle, The Obama Campaign, The Democracy Collaborative, Boca del Lupo Theater, Ripe Time, The South Wing Theater, JoAnne Akalaitis, Lisa Peterson, Deke Weaver, Ivan Talijancic, and many others. She is a graduate oF Brown University and a Resident Artist of undergroundzero.