FREED

59E59 Theaters (Elysabeth Kleinhans, Artistic Director; Peter Tear, Executive Producer) welcomes Penguin Rep Theatre, in association with Chase Mishkin, to AMERICAS OFF BROADWAY with the New York City premiere of FREED, written by Charles Smith and directed by Joe Brancato. 

In 1824, on the edge of the frontier, a college president, his wife and a former slave explore the limits of their freedom. Based on the true story of John Newton Templeton, the first African-American to attend college in the Midwest -- 40 years before the Emancipation Proclamation.

The story of John Newton Templeton is extraordinary. He was the first African American man to attend and graduate from college in the mid-west (Ohio University), and the fourth to do so in the entire country. He went on to become the first teacher, and later Principal, of the African School in Pittsburgh, the first school for African American children in the city. A relentless political activist, he was also co-editor of The Mystery, a newspaper “dedicated to the fight for freedom and political emancipation.”

The cast of FREED includes Sheldon Best (Vampire Cowboy’s Soul Samurai) as John Newton Templeton, Emma O’Donnell (The Hairy Ape at Irish Rep) as Jane Wilson and Christopher McCann (Charles Mee's Paradise Park at The Signature Theater; Buried Child on Broadway) as Robert Wilson.

For more information, visit www.59e59.org.

• promoting new voices and works which enrich the body of American drama;
• nurturing and developing new talent  for the stage;
• and reaching new audiences for theatre.