Marion McClinton to Direct Mixed Blood’s Pure Confidence for Americas Off Broadway Festival; Line-up Announced

Tony nominee Marion McClinton will direct Carlyle Brown’s Pure Confidence as part of the Americas Off Broadway Festival at 59E59 Theaters, May 22-July 3, with an opening set for May 27.

The play is set against a backdrop of fast horses, gritty racetracks, and high stakes betting, and tells the tale of one of the most successful athletes of his day — Simon Cato, a slave. The production originated at the Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis, under McClinton’s direction, and the New York mounting will reunite the entire Minnesota cast: Gavin Lawrence, Regina Williams, Mark Sieve, Karen Landry, and Chris Mulkey.

McClinton received a Tony nomination for his direction of August Wilson’s King Hedley II, and additional Main Stem credits include Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Drowning Crow. He received a Drama Desk nomination for his production of Jitney.

The festival, which looks at the American experience — past, present and future — will also include The Dishwashers (May 8-June 7), by Morris Panych, directed by Byam Stevans, about workers in a high end restaurant; Brian Dykstra’s A Play on Words (May 13-30), directed by Margarett Perry, about two Average Joes; Karl Gajdusek’s Fubar (June 11-28), directed by Larissa Kokernot, about a couple whose lives are disrupted by random violence; and Waterwell’s company-devised music theater piece, #9, directed by Tom Ridgely.

For more information, visit www.59E59.org.