INTERVIEW: 59E59 reimagines ‘East to Edinburgh’ festival
Photo: East to Edinburgh goes virtual in 2021 and features Black Women Dating White Men, a new show starring, on top, left to right, Christelle Belinga, Merryl Ansah, Clara Emanuel, and on bottom, left to right, Risha Silvera and Arianne Carless. Photo courtesy of 59E59 / Provided by press rep with permission.
This year’s East to Edinburgh theater festival, an annual hallmark of the calendar at New York City’s 59E59 Theaters, has been reimagined with the pandemic still lingering out there. The offerings will be virtual, and the shows have been in curated in the “spirit” of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Whether the productions actually make it across the Pond to Scotland is secondary.
At the helm of this summer’s fest, which kicks off July 15 and runs for 11 days, is Jessica Hart, associate curator for 59E59.
“So many people have made so many wonderful things over this past year that have not gotten to be seen,” Hart said in a recent phone interview. “That’s kind of what this was for us is getting the chance and getting the opportunity to be able to first-look on some of these things and then finding a pathway to bring it to a wider audience.”
Hart admitted that the 2021 version is quite different from years past. Besides the jump to virtual programming, 59E59 has also reevaluated its commitment to IDEA — inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility — and the festival demonstrates the company’s renewed call for more and varied voices.
“We’re taking an active role in making sure that the festival has diversity in what kind of productions there are, which are ensemble pieces, solo shows, musicals, but also that the shows themselves, the individuals in those shows reflect the greater theater community,” she said. “They won’t be going to Edinburgh necessarily, but they are still those Fringe-style shows, those indie theater shows. I know a lot of folks have been focusing on Broadway and everything, the outstanding performers, directors and designers coming back and all the work they’ve been doing, but this [puts] a spotlight on those small indie theaters, those off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway pieces that have been popping up.”
Included among this year’s offerings are Testament by Tristan Bernays, produced by the Via Brooklyn Theatre Company. The play is a reimagining of four biblical characters and features a score of gospel and blues music. Marry, Marry, Quite Contrary is a new show created and produced by Paper Doll Ensemble, featuring Grayce Hoffman, Taiwo Sokan and Sara Vanasse. The piece follows three women who form an alliance on a Bachelor-style reality series, according to press notes. Another offering: #Charlottesville, written and performed by Priyanka Shetty. The show is built from interviews with local residents in Charlottesville, Virginia, as they remember the events of August 2017 and the deep-seated racial inequities in the town.
To choose these plays, Hart and her team had to dig through a number of exceptional submissions. “Like most theaters, we had to cut down to a smaller staff, and we got a bunch of folks writing in and sending us their applications,” Hart said. “We had a small team of us that went through preliminaries, and then it was a conversation between everybody there. And then certain final decisions were made by me, but most of the decisions were made by the rest of [the team].”
Hart is particularly excited for audience members to experience the many shows written by female playwrights and overseen by female directors. She pointed out Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary as one superlative example. “It’s such a group of comedy and drama,” she said. “We do have a lot of female voices, and I think that might be because when you have female curators, they don’t necessarily have mostly men.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
East to Edinburgh returns virtually to 59E59 July 15 and runs through July 25. Click here for more information and tickets.
