Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

**Artists and Producers available for interviews**

First Comes Love.

Then Comes Marriage Counseling.

James Braly (NPR, The Moth National Story Tour) joins forces with Director Hal Brooks (No Child, Thom Pain) for this hilarious, heartbreaking monologue on sex, love, betrayal, death…and dinner parties.

New York, NY November 9, 2007 – The Deep End Productions and Little Johnny Koerber present the U.S. Premiere of James Braly’s Life In A Marital Institution (20 years of monogamy in one terrifying hour), directed by acclaimed director Hal Brooks (No Child and the Pulitzer-nominated Thom Pain (based on nothing)). The show will have its first previews on Tuesday, February 19th and Wednesday February 20th at 59E59 Theaters. The show will be open to the press on Thursday, February 21st and opening night is on Sunday, February 24th. The show will run Tuesday through Saturday at 8:30 p.m. and Sundays at 3:30 and 7:30 p.m.

Life In A Marital Institution is a comedic, poignant, and insightful portrait of the tragicomedy of married life. Braly’s performance will make you laugh wildly at one turn, and nod in recognition at the next.

“I’ve been watching this show grow from a 10-minute piece at The Moth/Urban Storytelling and have been increasingly excited by its wit, vulnerability, and artistic power” stated Anna Becker, one of the show’s producers. “The overwhelmingly enthusiastic response at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe affirms our conviction that James Braly is a brilliant raconteur and the next voice of New York.”

JAMES BRALY performed his Life in a Marital Institution at The 2007 Edinburgh Festival Fringe’s Assembly Theatre to critical acclaim (quote sheet attached). It will be published in book form in 2009 by Algonquin Press. Braly has performed other of his autobiographical stories on NPR, and in New York City at The Whitney Museum, Dixon Place, LIAR, Night and Day, and The Moth/Urban Storytelling (where he is the only two-time winner of their GrandSlam storytelling competition). James has spent the last 24 years researching his life in a marital institution. Please visit www.jamesbraly.com.

HAL BROOKS (Director) directed NO CHILD...by Nilaja Sun, which ran at the Barrow Street Theatre for over 350 performances, and is touring this year at Lookingglass (Chicago), ART (Cambridge), Woolly Mammoth (DC), Kirk Douglas (LA), and Berkeley Rep. He also directed Will Eno's Pulitzer Finalist Thom Pain (based on nothing) at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Soho Theatre, London, and DR2 in NYC. Recent projects: Lee Blessing’s Lonesome Hollow (Contemporary American Theater Festival), Athol Fugard’s “MASTER HAROLD”…and the boys (Weston Playhouse), Jessica Provenz's Better Than Chocolate (Juilliard). NY Credits include: Rinne Groff’s What Then (Clubbed Thumb); Don DeLillo's Valparaiso (NY Times Top Ten) and Will Eno's The Flu Season (Oppy winner). Regional: Sharr White’s Six Years (Actors Theater of Louisville - Humana Festival); Baby with the Bathwater (American Conservatory Theater, MFA program) A Drama League Fall Directing Fellow, Hal is also a proud member of the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab and SSDC and is a recipient of the 2007-09 NEA TCG Career Development Program for Directors.

Executive Producer: Little Johnny Koerber Producer: Anna Becker

Associate Producer: Joel Bassin Lighting Designer: Colin D. Young
Set Designer: Michael V. Moore Stage Manager: Lauren McArthur

TICKETS/INFORMATION
Show Schedule: Tuesday-Saturday at 8:30, Sundays at 3:30 & 7:30.

1st Preview: Tuesday, February 19th

To Purchase Tickets:
IN PERSON AT 59E59 THEATERS BOX OFFICE

59 EAST 59TH STREET (PARK/MADISON)

BY PHONE 212-279-4200

ONLINE AT WWW.TICKETCENTRAL.COM

ABOUT 59E59 THEATERS

59E59 Theaters is a brand new, state-of-the-art theater complex in a spectacular location on 59th Street between Park and Madison Avenues in Manhattan. Owned and operated by the Elysabeth Kleinhans Theatrical Foundation, a not-for profit operating foundation, 59E59 Theaters has set an invigorating policy of bringing new, challenging and experimental work to a new neighborhood.

59E59 Theaters presents Off-Broadway and Off-Off Broadway productions by not-for-profit companies from across America and around the world, including an annual festival of new British theater called Brits Off Broadway and a preview of shows going to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe called East to Edinburgh.

ABOUT THE DEEP END PRODUCTIONS

The Deep End Productions was founded by its producer, Anna Becker, and is dedicated to presenting world-class, professional artists in an intimate setting. Provocative and inspiring material and audience access to the artistic process are central to The Deep End’s mission. The Deep End is the producer of The Insights & Revelations Performance Series in Westchester where Life in a Marital Institution was workshopped, as well as in co-presentations with The Ridgefield Playhouse in Connecticut and Riverspace in Nyack. The Insights & Revelations Performance Series also has presented The New Group, The Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, The Atlantic Theater Company, Classic Stage Company, and The Barrow Group. Anna Becker has produced for theatre, television and film for more than 20 years. She served as Theatre Program Director for the New York State Council on the Arts, and as a consultant for the National Endowment for the Arts, Theatre Communications Group, AT&T Foundation, and the Lila Acheson Wallace Theater Fund. In New York City, Becker most recently produced A Celebration of the Actor at the Joseph Papp Public Theater with Kate Burton, Charles Busch, Charlayne Woodard, and Julie Halston.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING ABOUT LIFE IN A MARITAL INSTITUTION:

From Edinburgh:

“A masterpiece of storytelling full of humour and pungent observation.”

– The List

“This is a stylish monologue, reminiscent of those of Spalding Gray. Excellent.”

– The London Times

“An hysterically funny, often profoundly affecting one-man show. Mesmerising.”

- The Scotsman

“Disarming insight into how the male mind works.”

- The Herald

“Rich, amusing…brilliantly odd…the tale sparkles with originality.”

- The Skinny Fest

“There can be few more engaging acts on this year’s Fringe than James Braly.”

- The List

“Hilarious.”

- Metro UK

From the United States:

"James Braly is, simply put, one of the finest storytellers in New York. In the tradition of John Irving and Spalding Gray, Braly writes openly about the things that most of us are afraid to admit we even think. With great humor and elegance, he reveals complex psychological and emotional truths, effectively taking us on a tour of our own inner lives.”

--Catherine Burns, Artistic Director, The Moth

"Riveting, hilarious, beautifully told and utterly real.”

--Melissa Bank, Author of The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing

"If Walt Whitman had been straight, married, and hilarious he would have

been James Braly."

--Andy Borowitz, New Yorker and NPR contributor

- more praise for James Braly -

"James Braly is a master storyteller. He appears to be so sane, but that is a ruse, and a fascinating one at that. This calm, grey-maned fellow is actually losing his mind twenty-four hours a day and delights in regaling his pleased and happy audiences with his absurd, hyper-observational perils-of-Pauline adventures."
--Jonathan Ames, Author of Wake Up, Sir! and numerous other books

"Without a scrap of sentimentality, James Braly manages to infuse his stories of life on the home front with humor, authenticity, edge and that rarest of all qualities, heart.”
--Joyce Maynard
Author of To Die For

"James Braly has a great wife, great kids, and a great life. Which is why it's great to hear him onstage admitting that the universe is making him lurch and stumble through his very own brilliant, heartfelt comedy of errors and neurotic torture.”
--Dan Kennedy
McSweeney's columnist, Author of Loser Goes First and Rock On