Freed, by Charles Smith at 59e59 Theater A

59E59 Theaters welcomes Penguin Rep Theatre, in association with Chase Mishkin, to Americas Off Broadway festival with the New York City premiere of Freed, written by Charles Smith and directed by Joe Brancato, as part of their Americas Off Broadway festival.

Freed will open at 59E59's Theater A on 16 Jun 2010, following previews from 11 Jun and will run through to 3 Jul 2010.

Freed: 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.

John Newton Templeton 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 as 'John Newton Templeton,' Emma O'Donnell as 'Jane Wilson' and Christopher McCann as 'Robert Wilson.'