The New York Times reports that 59E59 Theaters will present the New York premiere of Edmund White's 'Terre Haute' from January 13 - February 15, 2009. The show which originated at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival has also been performed throughout England and in San Francisco.
A haunting imagination of Gore Vidal's relationship with Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh, Terre Haute is Edmund White's two-character play about America's most notorious terrorist and the visit paid him just before his execution by a celebrated writer," states press notes. "One man has a story to write, the other a story to tell. There are many differences between them - the former is young, virginal, poor, and friendless, while the latter is a rich, well-connected homosexual patrician.
But both men are facing death and worrying about their legacy. The criminal wants the writer to be a Homer to his Achilles in hopes that the writer can justify his violent acts, and the writer is attracted to the young man's ideas - and to his looks. As the clock ticks on death row, the conflict between political conviction and personal remorse intertwined with sexual tension result in an utterly unexpected bond between the two men
