2015-2016 Season Brochure | Studio Theatre

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YOU’RE BUSY.

We understand how busy life can be. By purchasing a subscription now to Studio Theatre’s 2015-2016 season, you are guaranteeing yourself five great nights out! Make time in your life for Studio’s brand of intimate, adventurous, and provocative contemporary theatre.

WE’RE FLEXIBLE.

Subscribers receive free and unlimited ticket exchanges. If you can’t make your scheduled performance, you can exchange your tickets to another performance of the same show.

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DEAR FRIENDS, Our coming season, like those that preceded it, promises to be ambitious, varied, and thrilling.

The plays take on a quickly changing modern world through human-sized encounters, and they shine a bright light on significant moments of families with particularly entrenched dynamics.

As my fifth season as Studio’s Artistic Director draws to a close and the new season begins, I’ve been reflecting on the successes and lessons of my time here, and am looking forward to both staying true to our core mission and introducing some programmatic changes. The core of what we do remains unchanged: producing plays by today’s best writers with sophistication and style, and doing it in particularly intimate spaces. This season’s Main Series of plays includes Stephen Adly Guirgis’ brash and big-hearted Pulitzer-winning play, a searing Irish family drama (directed by veteran director Ethan McSweeny), and Lucy Kirkwood’s epic play about the relationship between the US and China.

This year, we also introduce Studio X, our new off-subscription series. Inspired by years of productions from the Studio Lab and 2ndStage, Studio X produces immersive productions like this season’s Murder Ballad, alongside groundbreaking plays by artists and ensembles from around the world and bold new projects from emerging writers and directors. This season’s offerings include a particularly intimate production of the Broadway hit Constellations that I’ll direct in our raw space, and a new drama that we produce as part of the Women’s Voices Theater Festival, a thrilling city-wide effort to stage new plays by women on area stages large and small.

When we ask our audience members why they become subscribers, they tell us about the quality of the productions, and say that if they didn’t make the commitment ahead of time, they might not end up attending all of the plays. I feel lucky to program plays for people who believe so strongly in what we do that they make sure to carve time out for Studio.

I want to thank you for believing in what we do. I’m so pleased that we continue to capture the attention of such a deeply engaged family of subscribers and theatregoers.

See you at the theatre.

DAVID MUSE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

PHOTO: TEDDY WOLFF.

C US PREMIERE

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

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In 1989, Joe, a young American journalist, photographs a protester facing down four tanks in Tiananmen Square. In 2012, with election season bringing US-China relations into the spotlight, Joe decides to seek out the subject of his most famous image—just as an old friend from China reaches out with an agenda of his own. A sensation in its London run, Chimerica covers two decades in the history of two superpowers as it considers political change, personal responsibility, and the stories that exist beyond the margins of a frame.

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The final plays in Richard Nelson’s Apple Family quartet explore the immediate present and evolving future of the United States. Over meals at the family homestead, the tensions and compromises, affections and resentments of the Apple family’s lives play out against a rapidly changing America. The Apple Family Cycle reunites the “generous, feisty ensemble of DC’s finest acting talent” (DC Metro Theater Arts) from Studio’s 2013 production.

PRESENTED IN ROTATING REPERTORY

SORRY It’s 5am on Election Day 2012.

Obama’s bruised reelection campaign is almost won and the Apple siblings have gathered to move their ailing Uncle Benjamin into an assisted care facility. Over orange juice and cold Chinese food, they grapple with their unease about the paths they are taking, as a family and a nation.

REGULAR SINGING Late into the night, the Apple Family keeps vigil for a beloved family member on the 50th anniversary of JFK’s assassination and raise their voices together one last time—in discussion, dissent, hope, and song.

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— *Subscribers will be placed into one of the productions according to series.

Subscribers can purchase the other play for just $40.

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Irrepressible ex-cop Walter Washington is facing eviction, City Hall, and the recent death of his wife.

Clinging to both his grievances and the palatial rent-controlled apartment he shares with his ex-con son and a ragtag surrogate family, Walter needs to shake the past—but isn’t ready to move on. A boisterous and unflinching dark comedy from the playwright of The Motherfucker with the Hat.

“A SMART, EXUBERANTLY FUNNY URBAN DRAMEDY WITH SPIRIT AS SHREWD AND FORGIVING AS ITS MOTORMOUTH LANGUAGE IS WILD AND LUSH.” — NEWSDAY

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“ONE OF THE MOST QUIETLY SHATTERING EVENINGS IN THE THEATRE THAT I HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED.” — THE INDEPENDENT

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In the suburbs of Dublin, a longabsent son returns home to visit his ailing mother. But his reappearance­— and the welcome he receives— ignites his sister’s long-simmering resentments and sets the siblings on a collision course over his criminal past. Riveting and insightful, Moment considers the slippery nature of memory and forgiveness, and how the consequences of one tragic decision can ripple through an entire family.

Directed by Helen Hayes- and Tonynominated director Ethan McSweeny in his Studio debut.

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A C T R E S S : K AT E E A S T W O O D N O R R I S

The work of Studio X is purposefully eclectic, encompassing plays t h a t w i l l b e n e f i t f ro m p a r t i c u l a r l y i n t i m a t e o r i m m e r s i ve s t a g i n g s , p re s e n t e d w o r k , a n d s o m e o f S t u d i o ’s w o r l d p re m i e re p ro j e c t s .

ANIMAL

BY CLARE LIZZIMORE DIRECTED BY GAYE TAYLOR UPCHURCH SEP 30 - OCT 25

2015

“LIZZIMORE’S WRITING IS I M P R E S S I V E LY P E R C E P T I V E A N D O B S E R VA N T. ” — THE ARTS DESK (UK)

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WORLD PREMIERE

R a c h e l h a s i t a l l : m a rr i a g e , h o u s e , c a re e r. S o w h y d o e s s h e s u d d e n l y h a ve t h i s c re e p i n g f e e l i n g ? D i d s h e l e a ve s o m e t h i n g b e h i n d ? O r i s t h e re s o m e t h i n g i n t h e w a l l s … ?

Her husband thinks she needs time; her psychiatrist suggests p o s i t i ve t h i n k i n g . B u t t h e n t h e visions start. Apparitions of d o u b t s , p a s t d e c i s i o n s , f u t u re mistakes. Is it time for Xanax?

P ro z a c ? O r p e r h a p s s h e j u s t n e e d s t o f o rg e t i t a l l , f o l l ow h e r i n s t i n c t , a n d k i s s a s t ra n g e r. A d a r k l y comic play about the underside of domesticity, the complexity of the b ra i n i n c h a o s , a n d t h e t h i n l i n e b e t we e n s i n k i n g a n d s u r v i v a l .

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BY NICK PAYNE

CONSTELLATIONS

A physicist and a b e e ke e p e r m e e t a t a barbecue—again and a g a i n , a s ve r s i o n s o f t h e i r re l a t i o n s h i p play out in a distinctly intimate staging by A r t i s t i c D i re c t o r D a v i d M u s e . Wr i t t e n b y o n e o f B r i t a i n’s m o s t i n n ov a t i ve p l a y w r i g h t s , Constellations tackles choice and chance and charts the infinite possibilities of one re l a t i o n s h i p .

DIRECTED BY DAVID MUSE “ W H O K N E W T H AT H I G H E R PHYSICS COULD BE SO S E X Y, S O A C C E S S I B L E — A N D S O E M O T I O N A L LY D E VA S TAT I N G ? ” — THE NEW YORK TIMES

STUDIO WILL ANNOUNCE ADDITIONAL STUDIO X OFFERINGS IN THE COMING MONTHS.

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The night after their grandfather’s funeral, three cousins engage in a verbal battle royale over a family heirloom. In one corner is the unstoppable and self-assured force of “Super Jew” Daphna. In the other, the immovable and entitled object of her secular cousin Liam.

And in the middle is Liam’s brother Jonah, trying to stay out of the fray. This savage comedy about family, faith, and legacy became the best-selling play in Studio’s history during its 2014 run.

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Back by popular demand— in time for the holidays.

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IT’S EASY TO SUBSCRIBE. 1. Visit STUDIOTHEATRE.ORG and subscribe online.

2. Call us at 202.332.3300.

BENEFITS OF SUBSCRIBING BEST SEATS Subscribers get the best seats in the house and can renew those seats show after show, year after year.

SAVINGS Subscribers save up to 20% off of regular ticket prices.

NO FEES EVER Purchase additional tickets or exchange tickets without ever paying any service fees.

EXCHANGES Free and unlimited ticket exchanges into the same production.

BRING FRIENDS Five-play subscribers receive two complimentary companion tickets to a Main Series production to introduce friends to the theatre.

20% DISCOUNT Need a great space for an event? Subscribers save 20% off of Studio facility rentals.

FIVE-PLAY MAIN SERIES SUBSCRIPTION A

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$270

$220

FRI/SUN EVE; SAT/SUN MAT

$285

$235

SAT EVE

$365

$315

Sign interpreted, audio described, open captioned, and discussion series available.

OPTIONS 3 PLAY ADD-ON / $99 Become a Studio Super Subscriber by adding on your choice of three plays from among Studio X productions and the special remount of Bad Jews (back by popular demand!).

APPLE FAMILY PLAY / $40 Five-play subscribers receive tickets to one of the two plays in the Apple Family repertory. Purchase tickets to the other play for just $40.

PERFORMANCE GUIDE / $20 Studio’s annual literary magazine delves into each Main Series production with engaging articles on playwrights, themes, and larger artistic and historical contexts.

Individual Tickets and Mini Packages are available online or by calling 202.332.3300. Individual ticket prices range from $45 to $96, and Choose Your Own Packages begin at $116.

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