A unique showcase of 13 New York shows headed to Scotland for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe (the largest arts festival in the world). East to Edinburgh was created as a way to help shows get on their feet so companies experience the same production constraints that all shows experience during the Fringe, while giving companies a clean, comfortable and nurturing space to fine-tune their productions. This year's whirlwind festival features thirteen adventurous productions from around New York and across the US.
The 2023 East to Edinburgh line up is:
Solo Heroes & JJ Pyle present
How to Find a Husband in 37 Years or Longer
Written and performed by JJ Pyle
Directed by Mark Cirnigliaro
... it's about my failed relationships and my father...
and my father's failed relationships... so, it's about Love.
Umm... is it about Love?... ok, then Hope!
...a coming of (middle) age story
Christian Hege Inc. presents
Alexander Klaus, The One-Legged Shoemaker Man
Written and performed by Christian Hege
Directed by Jenny Mercein
A 16-year-old American Civil War veteran struggles to live a normal life, on New York City’s Lower East Side. But when his flashbacks happen, there are toys. Everywhere. An achingly beautiful fairy tale for grownups.
Flying Bridge Theatre Company & Twilight Theatre Company present
Shortlist
By Brian Parks
Directed by Margarett Perry
Two enemy novelists duel for the ultimate prize in a fast-paced, war-of-the-words comedy by multiple Fringe First-winning playwright Brian Parks. Year after year, Higgins and Houghton find themselves pitched against each other on the shortlist for literature's number-one title, never winning. But this year is different, each primed to strike and finally grab it. All that stands in their way is each other. A world premiere directed by Fringe First winner Margarett Perry, starring Matthew Boston and Daniel Llewelyn-Williams. "A refreshingly mischievous, inventive author" (Times of London).
Ricky Sim Comedy presents
Coming Out to Dead People
With Ricky Sim
Coming Out to Dead People is a coming-of-age story that follows 19-year-old Ricky who had to decide whether to come out to his conservative Chinese-Malaysian immigrant mother after she's diagnosed with terminal cancer. Combining stand-up and storytelling, the show explores the meaning of acceptance, grief and why you should not think about your ancestors when having gay sex.
Seoulful Productions presents
Did You Eat? (? ????)
Written and performed by Zoë Kim
Directed by Chris Yejin
Did You Eat? (? ????) is an original semi-autobiographical solo show. While this is primarily a story about generational trauma and how it affects our love language between lovers, friends and family — it’s also a story about food, identity, parent-child relationships and the Korean-American experience.
KB Productions presents
Call Me Elizabeth
Written and performed by Kayla Boye
Directed by Michael Weber
Fresh off her 1961 Academy Awards triumph and a recent brush with death, Elizabeth Taylor is struggling with her hardest role yet: herself. An intimate look at the movie star’s early life, career and loves as she grapples with the culture of celebrity and her place as Hollywood’s brightest star.
New Genesis Productions presents
The Mrs. DeWinters
Written and performed by Liz Boiko Burdick and Lesley Sawhill
On the eve of the funeral of her last remaining friend, 95-year-old Helen enters the mid-century world of Daphne DuMarier's "Rebecca." Aided and abetted by her daughter-in-law, they take a jaunty romp through twisty time. A play about the triumph of imagination over dementia, anxiety and mortality. Based on an actual recorded conversation.
Twilight Theatre Company in association with New Jersey Repertory Company present
The Rosenberg/Strange Fruit Project
By John Jiler
Directed by Margarett Perry
Award-winning actor/playwright John Jiler and clarinetist Sweet Lee Odom tell the remarkable story of the youngest child of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Orphaned at six following his parents' execution for espionage, the boy was adopted by the man who wrote the song "Strange Fruit," seared into our consciousness by Billie Holiday. To the jazz accompaniment of Odom, Jiler plays a gallery of rogues, heroes and saints and takes us on a journey of American politics from then until now. Directed by Fringe First Award winner, Margarett Perry.
Yonder Window presents
Violet and Me
Written and performed by Dorothy Lyman
Directed by Katie McHugh
A meditation on motherhood, feminism and fame, two-time Emmy award winner Dorothy Lyman premieres her story at 59E59 Theaters. Discover her journey as she tells it from her Midwestern childhood, through motherhood, her marriages and her successful Hollywood career. Violet and Me places a microscope on the progression of gender equality since the 50s, questioning how far we’ve come.
Forgotten Ones presents
The Temp
Written and performed by Kristina DeGiovanni
Directed by Alexandra Scordato
Are we all faking it at our jobs? Or is that just the temp – a pretentious ingenue spilling the truth on her undercover acting role at a dysfunctional media company. Office Space meets Fleabag for the post-Great Resignation era, The Temp is a satirical, genre-bending soloplay lampooning white-collar work culture through a tale of lies, desperation and egregious misconduct.
Basement Light Productions presents
Ivories
Written and directed by Riley Elton McCarthy
What do you get when A24's horror is captured through tragicomedy? This haunted evening follows nonbinary playwright Sloane and their botanist husband Gwyn settling the estate of Sloane's ailing grandmother. When Gwyn's childhood friend Beckham arrives to help the couple bury the hatchet, they soon discover there may be more to the house, and to Sloane, hidden beneath the foundation.
Leading Lady Creative and Guptanya Studios present
The Leading Lady Club
Written by Sarah Hogewood
You're invited to a private meeting of the Leading Lady Club! At this meeting, members discuss dating apps, self defense, workplace interactions, women's health, assault plus varying degrees of manspreading, mansplaining and manipulation with humor and grace. Well...they'll do their best. Imagine SNL-meets-the gynecologist waiting room in this hilariously dark commentary on womanhood in 2023.
Flying Solo! presents
blood(line)
By Dennis Elkins
Directed by Karla Knudsen
Composed by Brandon Grayson
I’m Normal! I gotta be normal! mr. dennis is convinced hard work and god-fearing obedience is rewarded with a happy home, good job and white picket fence. How’s that working for ya’, mr. dennis?! Join master storyteller, Dennis Elkins, in a riotous solo musical as he tracks down the culprits responsible for rocking his dreamboat. Celebrate casting free from “normal.”
