2017-2018 Season Brochure

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You know the pitch: Subscribe now! Get great seats for the best price. Enjoy savings and flexibility. Every theatre in town offers the same reasons to subscribe.

And you’ll get that here—value, convenience, service. But at Studio, we believe you get something more. Something you can’t get at larger, stadium-sized theatres.

INTIMACY. IMMEDIACY. CLOSENESS. To performances of nuance and ferocity.

To world-class design.

To the finest writing one can find in the contemporary theatre.

To stories that may change you.

WE OFFER EXCELLENCE, UP CLOSE. Our work fosters a direct connection between artists and audiences. We’re purposefully intimate, intentionally small. But make no mistake: The plays we present, the ideas we explore, and the lives we share are expansive.

GET CLOSER. Become a Studio season ticket holder.

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SUBSCRIBE TODAY.

DEAR FRIENDS, Over the years, as Studio has expanded, we’ve preserved the intimacy of our spaces, the immediacy of your connection with the artistry on our stages. By betting on the economies of a small scale, we’ve cultivated a quality that feels particularly Studio to me—the chance for a personal encounter with a surprising performance or bold idea. This season, we invite you to a constellation of timely plays that bring large questions to a human scale.

Our fall will showcase the groundbreaking work of an impressive slate of emerging female playwrights: You’ll encounter a Detroit motor factory in decay, and meet the people who still find a home in its break room in Dominique Morisseau’s powerhouse play Skeleton Crew. You’ll overhear the awkward and heartfelt negotiations of an extended family crammed into a single hotel room on the eve of a funeral in Rachel Bonds’s Curve of Departure. You’ll sit in the stands of a soccer stadium we’ve erected in Stage 4 for Sarah DeLappe’s The Wolves, a Pulitzer finalist fresh from a sold-out and commercially remounted run in New York.

The season will also feature master dramatist Brian Friel’s ever-timely classic Translations (directed by fellow Northern Irishman Matt Torney), and the world premiere of The Remains

by Ken Urban, which I’ll direct, starring my friend Maulik Pancholy, whom you may know from 30 Rock and Weeds.

Studio X is our laboratory for experiments in form and design, a place for raucous or unique events. On offer this season: a critically acclaimed play about psychopharmacology and love; a madcap hip-hop refugee romance; the hyper-verbal prose stylist Daniel Kitson in his first US engagement outside of New York; and one summer project still to be named.

And for the first time this season, we’re offering subscribers a choice. You can purchase our traditional Main Series subscription: five plays of exceptional style and substance that form the core of our programming, with seats that are yours for as many years as you subscribe.

Or you can take a chance on some of our more adventuresome Studio X programming and curate your own 5-9 play subscription, on dates of your choosing. It’s a measure of flexibility that we’re happy to offer.

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This is a particularly ambitious and exciting year at Studio. I hope you’ll join us.

Yours,

DAVID MUSE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

PHOTO: TEDDY WOLFF.

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MAIN SERIES Studio’s Main Series is the core of our programming, offering a repertoire of provocative new and contemporary writing from around the world and inventive stagings of contemporary classics.

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A timely and searing portrait of the American working class by Detroit native Morisseau.

Skeleton Crew is generously underwritten by Steve and Linda Skalet.

“A DEEPLY MORAL AND DEEPLY AMERICAN PLAY.” — THE NEW YORK TIMES

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Faye has spent her career at one of the last auto-stamping plants in Detroit. Shanita is pregnant, Dez has a whole future to plan, and their manager Reggie must navigate his debt to his work family and need to support his family at home. As rumors spread of a plant shutdown, these tight-knit workers face what they’re willing to sacrifice to survive.

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The night before a funeral, family members gather in a single hotel room in New Mexico, shuffling sleeping arrangements, dealing with absent family members, and preparing for their uncertain futures.

A play about the moment you choose how much you will give to someone you owe nothing to.

Straight from its world premiere production at South Coast Rep, Curve of Departure returns the acclaimed playwright and director of The Wolfe Twins to Studio.

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Curve of Departure is generously underwritten by David and Jean Heilman Grier.

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Winter indoor soccer. Saturdays.

Over quad stretches and squats, a team of young women prepares to defend the Wolves’ undefeated record, their banter spilling from tampons to genocide to the pressures of preparing for their adult lives. With an ear for the bravado and vulnerability of the teenage years, Pulitzer finalist The Wolves follows a group of 16-yearold girls who turn into warriors on the field.

It’s a good time for plays that take young women seriously.

Join the pack.

The Wolves is generously underwritten by Dr. Mark Epstein and Amoretta Hoeber.

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“A O P HA F I ER D I R OW ES VE EA OD — O H S P TH N N A … L EN A A U EW ER N N TH Y YO A C RK .

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S AN TR It is 1833, and change is coming to rural County Donegal: While a hodgepodge group gather at an Irish-language hedge school to study classics of Greek and Latin literature, British army engineers arrive to map the country, draw new borders, and translate local place names into the King’s English.

A modern classic from an Irish master directed by Studio’s Belfast-born Associate Artistic Director, Translations reminds us just how personal the political can be.

Translations is generously underwritten by Joan and David Maxwell.

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WORLD PREMIERE Ten years after their historic wedding, Kevin and Theo host a dinner for their families. In their gorgeously renovated condo, they talk philosophy, overcook lasagna…and reveal the truth of their seemingly perfect relationship.

A comedy about the tragedy of loving, starring Maulik Pancholy (Weeds, 30 Rock, Star Trek: Discovery).

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The Remains is generously underwritten by Albert Lauber and Craig Hoffman.

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T, USH AN G LI D IL AN BR E IS TIV A AN OC .”

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STUDIO

The work of Studio X is purposefully eclectic, encompassing plays that will benefit from particularly intimate or immersive stagings, presented work, and some of Studio’s world premiere projects.

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The Effect is generously underwritten by Teresa and Daniel Schwartz.

THE EFFECT

Connie and Tristan can’t hide how they feel around each other. They’ve fallen, and fallen hard. Unless their infatuation is a side-effect of an experimental antidepressant. As the supervising doctors of their clinical trial untangle the ethical implications of this illicit relationship—and Big Pharma’s investment in medicating sanity—Connie and Tristan engage body and mind with the mysteries and chemistry of love.

BY LUCY PREBBLE DIRECTED BY DAVID MUSE “AN ASTONISHINGLY RICH AND REWARDING PLAY AS INTELLIGENT AS IT IS DEEPLY FELT.” — DAILY TELEGRAPH (UK)

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A SHORT SERIES OF DISAGREEMENTS PRESENTED IN

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CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER

WORLD PREMIERE

BEGINS NOV 2

2017

WRITTEN & PERFORMED

BY D ANIEL KIT S O N SUPPORTED BY STUDIO R&D, STUDIO’S NEW WORKS INITIATIVE A brand-new story told entirely through the peripheries and pivot points of an as-yet undetermined number of debates, wrangles, quarrels, arguments, discussions, tiffs, altercations, contretemps, and squabbles.

Daniel Kitson, a well-regarded but baldheaded forty-year-old writer and performer from a small village in the north of England, visits Washington DC for the very first time with the world premiere of a brand new show written in this particular time, for this particular place, and likely to be both funny and thoughtful, absurd and serious, rich with humanity and riddled with frustration.

“ONE OF THE BRIGHTER STARS IN THE THEATER FIRMAMENT…NOT TO BE MISSED.” — NEW YORK MAGAZINE

“MONOLOGIST EXTRAORDINAIRE— UNCONDITIONALLY ENGAGED AND ENGAGING.” — NEW YORK TIMES

A Short Series of Disagrements Presented Here in Chronological Order is generously underwritten by Susan and Dixon Butler.

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VIETGONE

BY QUI NGUYEN DIRECTED BY NATSU ONODA POWER 2018

“A SKILLFULLY WROUGHT TALE OF IMMIGRATION, ASSIMILATION— AND SEX.” — SEATTLE TIMES

ONE ADDITIONAL STUDIO X OFFERING WILL BE ANNOUNCED.

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BEGINS APR 25

In this high-octane comedy, Nguyen recreates (and kinda makes up) his parents’ reluctant courtship: Fresh from Saigon, they meet in an Arkansas refugee relocation camp in 1975. Vietgone follows these new Americans through a bewildering land in a story full of lust and heartache, hiphop and motorcycles.

Vietgone is generously underwritten by Bobbi and Ralph Terkowitz.

GO ABOVE AND BEYOND: DONATE TO STUDIO WHEN YOU SUBSCRIBE

By contributing to Studio, you support our efforts to explore the human experience, question the status quo, and embrace the differences that enrich our society and our art.

With a gift of $300 or more, join our Inside Studio program and engage with the work you make possible. You can join all at once, or make monthly contributions as low as $25 per month to spread out your giving.

Some perks include admittance to Studio Theatre events, complimentary drink vouchers for use at our bars, and exclusive invitations for behind-the-scenes experiences of our upcoming productions.

DONATE TODAY STUDIOTHEATRE.ORG/SUPPORT

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Please contact the Development Office at 202.232.7267 x373 for more information on how to make a gift or to learn more about giving programs.

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Become a season ticket holder and receive an entire season of incredible benefits.

SAVINGS

ALL SEASON TICKET HOLDERS SAVE Up to 20% off regular ticket prices.

10% off Studio Theatre Acting Conservatory classes.

FLEXIBILITY

Can’t make your show? No problem. Change your tickets as many times as you need.

(Really. You have unlimited ticket exchanges into the same production.*)

NO FEES EVER

We won’t nickel and dime you: No ticketing fees. No exchange fees. No handling fees.

No convenience fees. Period.

ACCESS

Call dibs. If you want to add a ticket or two (or more) to your subscription, you can buy them before they’re on sale to the general public.

BONUSES

THE 2017-2018 PERFORMANCE GUIDE Read on. Season ticket holders receive a complimentary copy of the 2017-2018 Performance Guide—our insider’s look at the plays of the season, telling the story behind the stories.

COMPANION PASSES Share the wealth. Season ticket holders receive two complimentary companion tickets per household. It’s the perfect way to invite friends to Studio.

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*Exchanges must be made no less than 24 hours prior to your scheduled performance.

Ticket prices vary depending on day of the week. Seats are subject to availability.

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PICK THE PACKAGE THAT’S RIGHT FOR YOU Our Picks THE CLASSIC PACKAGE

Your Picks THE CUSTOM PACKAGE

Curated with an eye to variety and excellence, Main Series plays feature an uncommonly rich repertoire of contemporary writing. You’ll have the same great seats throughout the season on the day you choose.

Feel daring? Any way you slice it, this package offers ultimate flexibility. Choose your shows. Choose your dates. Mix in a little of the adventurous Studio X with our traditional core programming.

PRICE PER FIVE-PLAY PACKAGE

PRICE PER PLAY

Choose your day and we’ll take care of the rest.

Mix and match and make it your own.

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B

TUES/WED/THURS/SUN EVE

$285

$235

TUE/WED/THUR/SUN EVE

$57

$47

FRI/SAT/SUN MAT

$380

$300

FRI/SAT/SUN MAT

$76

$60

MAIN SERIES

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TUE/WED/THUR/SUN EVE

$36

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FRI/SAT/SUN MAT

$44

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STUDIO X

Want more? Go for it. The minimum is five, but don’t let that stop you from getting everything you want to see.

Why Pick?

THE COMPLETE PACKAGE

Go all in. Five Main Series plays. Four Studio X plays. Unbelievable prices.

Select your day to see all nine plays of the season and drinks are on us. Save up to $262.

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TUES/WED/THURS/SUN EVE

$405

$355

FRI/SAT/SUN MAT

$500

$420

PRICE PER NINE-PLAY PACKAGE

Packages for sign-interpreted, open/closed captioned and audio-described performances are available on select days and times. A discussion series subscription is also available.

Visit StudioTheatre.org for dates and details.

MAIN SERIES: Varied, thought-provoking, nuanced.

STUDIO X: Bolder experiments in form or design.

202.332.3300 STUDIOTHEATRE.ORG/SUBSCRIBE