Working, Promenade & Road Show Set for 2019 Encores! Off-Center Season

Encores! Off-Center Artistic Director Anne Kauffman has announced programming for the 2019 season of New York City Center's popular summer musical-theater series which concludes the landmark 75th Anniversary season.

The series will begin, June 26-29, with an updated version of Nina Faso and Stephen Schwartz's 1978 musical Working—a theatrical version of Studs Terkel's book—which will include songs by Craig Carnelia, Micki Grant, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mary Rodgers, Susan Birkhead and James Taylor. Working explores the lives of working-class men and women who are so often taken for granted. The production will be directed by Kauffman.

The two-night-only centerpiece presentation (July 10 and 11) will feature the 1969 musical Promenade, by Al Carmines and Maria Irene Fornés. Promenade follows two escaped prisoners, known only as 105 and 106, as they run through the city, mingling with an assortment of characters from the poor and homeless to the extremely wealthy. The production will be directed by Laurie Woolery.

Closing out the season will be a new production of Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman's 2008 musical Road Show, July 24-27, directed and choreographed by Will Davis. Road Show tells the somewhat true story of two brothers who inherit a small fortune at the turn of the 20th century and grab their piece of the American Dream in a country where anything seems possible.

"These three shows represent a status update on the American Dream. How are we defining success and freedom these days and who in this country has access to them," said Kauffman. "Off-Center is all about bringing the cutting-edge artists of today into contact with the groundbreaking works from the past. What is so vital about theater, whether we're talking about a revival or a new work, is that it is a living, breathing thing that takes shape in the exact moment an audience sees it."

The Civilians will once again team up with New York City Center as Artists‐in‐Residence for The Lobby Project, a series of free, pre‐performance events presented in conjunction with Encores! Off‐Center productions.

Encores! Off-Center was founded in 2013 with the mission of presenting off-Broadway musicals that pushed creative boundaries when they were first produced. Filtered through the lens of today's artists, these shows are presented not as historical documents but as living, vital works that speak to audiences both new and old.

Casting for the 2019 Encores! Off-Center season will be announced at a later date.