"Basketball Diaries" Will Bounce Into 59E59 Theaters in Manhattan (Playbill)

Public performances will be presented July 15-27 at the venue on E. 59th Street in Manhattan.

According to production notes, "Matt Pelfrey adapts for the stage Jim Carrolls remarkable book of a key period in American culture. Set in New York City, starting in 1963, Jim is an all-star basketball player at an elite catholic school leading a double life - experimenting with drugs and getting hooked, hustling gay men to support a heroin addiction, and becoming a poet and a future rock singer. Carroll began writing his Basketball Diaries at the age of 12 in 1963. Influenced by the Cold War, the war in Vietnam, the race riots in New York City and New York Citys counter-culture movement, Basketball Diaries chronicles a turning point in American culture and is now considered a classic piece of literature."

The cast features Aaron Paternoster as Jim Carroll with Katherine Boynton, Deanna McGovern, Alex Pappas, Nick Paglino, John Porto, Mike Roche, Michael Shimkin, Arthur Solomon and Sam Whitten.

Two-time Drama Desk Award nominee Maruti Evans is the production designer. Original music and sound design are by Andrew Recinos. Fight choreography is by Josh Renfree.

The world premiere stage version of the book was commissioned by Godlight Theatre Company under an exclusive arrangement with the Betsy Lerner Agency.

Pelfrey (adaptation) is an award-winning, critically acclaimed playwright and teacher. His plays include An Impending Rupture of the Belly, Cockroach Nation, Terminus Americana, Honkies with Attitude, Gore Hounds, Drive Angry, FrEAk StORm, Jerry Springer is God, Monkey and A Feast of Famine.

The performance schedule is Tuesday-Saturday at 8:15 PM and Sunday at 3:15 PM and 7:15 PM. Single tickets are $18 ($12.60 for 59E59 Members) and are available by calling Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 or online at www.ticketcentral.com. For more information visit www.59E59.org.