CONTACT:

Amy Horan

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ahoran@studiotheatre.org

DATE: July 5, 2017

UPDATES TO STUDIO 2017-2018 SEASON: BRIAN FRIEL’S

TRANSLATIONS ROUNDS OUT MAIN SERIES; TITLE ANNOUNCED FOR

DANIEL KITSON WORLD PREMIERE

• Brian Friel’s Translations slated between Sarah DeLappe’s The Wolves and Ken Urban’s

The Remains

• A Short Series of Disagreements Presented Here In Chronological Order. announced as

title for Daniel Kitson’s world premiere; Edinburgh Fringe favorite makes DC debut

• A fall of contemporary work by women in the US and UK ushers in the return of the

Women’s Voices Theater Festival

• New Work at Studio: Two world premieres, a new play by Rachel Bonds, and new

commissions announced

Brian Friel’s Translations will round out Studio’s 2017-2018 Main Series. A celebrated Irish

playwright, Friel published two dozen plays over his fifty-year career, including Molly Sweeney;

Faith Healer; Philadelphia, Here I Come!; and Dancing at Lughnasa (recipient of three Tony

Awards, a New York Drama Critics Circle award for Best Play and an Olivier Award for Best

Play). Friel wrote Translations in 1980, and it was the first production of the Field Day Theatre,

which Friel founded with actor Stephen Rea. Translations will open in the spring of 2018;

Studio’s Belfast-born Associate Artistic Director Matt Torney will direct.

“The time is right to return to this play,” says Artistic Director David Muse. “Born out of a

contested cultural moment, Friel’s classic about language and all of its limits will have particular

resonance in this town at this time.”

Daniel Kitson’s previously announced project is now titled A Short Series of Disagreements

Presented Here In Chronological Order. The piece marks the first time internationally acclaimed

“monologist extraordinaire” (New York Times) Kitson performs in the US outside of New York

City. The world premiere will open in the fall of 2017.

The Main Series kicks off with the DC debut of Skeleton Crew, a searing portrait of working

class survival, marking renowned playwright Dominique Morisseau's (Detroit '67, Paradise

Blue) first production in DC. Following Skeleton Crew is the reunion of The Wolfe Twins

playwright Rachel Bonds and director Mike Donahue for a production of Bond’s latest, Curve

of Departure, which comes to DC with the same director and design team as its world premiere

production at South Coast Rep this fall. Also in the fall, Studio X will kick off with Lucy

Prebble’s The Effect, a play about psychopharmacology and the chemistry of love. Muse will

direct.

2018 marks the return of the citywide Women’s Voices Theater Festival, which highlights the

scope of new work being written by women and the range of professional theatre produced in

DC. Animal by Clare Lizzimore, which Studio commissioned and premiered in the inaugural

festival, will open Off Broadway at the Atlantic Theater Company in May.

Studio's official entry into this year's Women's Voices Theater Festival is Sarah DeLappe's

critically acclaimed The Wolves in its first production since last season’s sold-out New York

run. But inspired by the spirit of the festival, Studio will give over its fall to three other

productions written by exciting contemporary women.

The final play of the Main Series will be the world premiere of The Remains by Ken Urban,

starring actor Maulik Pancholy (Weeds, 30 Rock), directed by Muse.

Springtime brings newly commissioned writer Qui Nguyen to Studio X. Studio Cabinet member

Natsu Onoda Power directs Nguyen’s award-winning Vietgone in Stage 4.

Studio also announces a series of five newly commissioned artists, including playwrights Sarah

DeLappe, Qui Nguyen, and Abe Koogler. In addition, Studio will support its first ever

commissions of directors, who will develop projects for coming seasons. The first

commissioned directors are Mike Donahue, Jackson Gay, and Lileana Blain-Cruz.

DeLappe, Nguyen, and Donahue also have projects in the 17-18 season.

Studio will announce one additional project for Studio X in the coming months.

MAIN SERIES Studio’s Main Series is the core of its programming, offering a diverse repertoire that

emphasizes extraordinary new and contemporary writing from around the world in productions

marked by their elegant design and indelible performance.

Skeleton Crew

by Dominique Morisseau

directed by Patricia McGregor

begins September 6, 2017

“A deeply moral and deeply American play.” —The New York Times

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 owes a nearly

unpayable debt to his work family. As rumors spread of a plant shutdown, these tight-

knit workers face what they’re willing to sacrifice to survive. A timely and searing

portrait of livelihoods under siege from Detroit native Morisseau.

Curve of Departure

a new play by Rachel Bonds

directed by Mike Donahue

begins November 29, 2017

“The gifted Rachel Bonds has a unique sensitivity to dialogue and modern locutions.” —DC

Metro Theatre Arts (about The Wolfe Twins)

The night before a funeral, family members gather in a tiny motel in New Mexico,

shuffling sleeping arrangements, dealing with absent family members, and preparing for

their uncertain futures. A play about the moments you decide 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 playwright and director of The Wolfe Twins to

Studio.

The Wolves

by Sarah DeLappe

directed by Marti Lyons

a part of the Women’s Voices Theater Festival

begins January 17, 2018

“Skillfully drawn and undeniably affecting.” —The New York Times

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 empathy of the teenage years, The Wolves explores the violence and

teamwork of sports and adolescence, following a pack of 16-year-old girls who turn into

warriors on the field. An acclaimed play from a new voice, Studio-commissioned writer

Sarah DeLappe.

Translations

by Brian Friel

directed by Matt Torney begins March 21, 2018

“Nothing short of glorious.” —The New York Times

“A period play of ideas…that have haunting resonance in our own era.” —The New York Times

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. Languages and histories collide, kindling romance and inciting violence. A modern classic from an Irish master, directed by Studio’s Belfast-born Associate Artistic Director, Translations reminds us how personal the political can be.

The Remains

world premiere

by Ken Urban

directed by David Muse

supported by Studio R&D, Studio’s New Works Initiative

begins May 16, 2018

“Urban is brilliant, provocative and gushing with talent.” —The OC Weekly

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, the upcoming Star Trek: Discovery).

STUDIO X

Studio X is home for work that breaks new ground in its style or staging. Complementing the

work of the Main Series, Studio X is a home for innovative or immersive productions, inventive

work by international artists and ensembles, and bold new works. Studio X represents the

unknown—an opportunity to connect Washington, DC audiences with work unlike any they’ve

seen before.

The Effect

by Lucy Prebble

directed by David Muse

begins October 4, 2017

“An astonishingly rich and rewarding play, as intelligent as it is deeply felt.” —Daily Telegraph

(UK)

Connie and Tristan can’t hide how they feel around each other: Hearts thumping,

sleepless nights, a slightly ill excitement. 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.

A Short Series of Disagreements Presented Here in Chronological Order.

world premiere

written and performed by Daniel Kitson

supported by Studio R&D, Studio’s New Works Initiative

begins November 2, 2017

“One of the brighter stars in the theater firmament…not to be missed.” —New York Magazine

“Monologist extraordinaire—unconditionally engaged and engaging” —The New York Times

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 bald-

headed 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.

Vietgone

by Qui Nguyen

directed by Natsu Onoda Power

begins April 25, 2018

“A skillfully wrought tale of immigration, assimilation—and sex”—Seattle Times

With hip-hop, pop culture, and motorcycles, Nguyen recreates (and kinda makes up) his

parents’ love story: from Saigon, they meet in an Arkansas refugee camp in 1975,

strangers in a strange land, dealing with language they can’t understand and a desire

they can’t resist. A high-octane comedy about learning where you came from.

And a project for Summer 2018, to be announced.

COMMISSIONED ARTISTS

Studio supports new writing from inception to first production: commissioning new work, giving

writers and directors time and resources to develop their work, and hosting them in residence

during the rehearsal process. The commissioned artists are supported by Studio R&D, Studio’s

incubator for new plays, new relationships, and new modes of collaboration. This season's

commissioned artists are playwrights Sarah DeLappe, Abe Koogler, and Qui Nguyen, as well

as directors Lileana Blain-Cruz and Mike Donahue.

Lileana Blain-Cruz is a director whose work includes Salome at Governor's Island, Suzan-Lori

Parks’ Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World at Signature, War at Yale

Repertory Theatre and Lincoln Center Theatre, Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again at Soho Rep, Red

Speedo at New York Theatre Workshop, a new translation of The Bakkhai at Fisher Center at

Bard College, Much Ado About Nothing at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and Christina

Anderson’s Hollow Roots at the Under the Radar Festival.

Sarah DeLappe’s play The Wolves (Playwrights Realm, New York Stage and Film) was a

recipient of the American Playwriting Foundation’s inaugural Relentless Award and a finalist for

the 2016 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. She will receive her MFA in playwriting at Brooklyn

College in May 2017.

Mike Donahue is a director whose recent productions include the world premieres of Rachel

Bonds’ The Wolfe Twins (Studio Theatre) and Swimmers (Marin Theatre Company), Matthew

Lopez’s The Legend of Georgia McBride (MCC and Denver Center Theatre Company); and several

shows by Jen Silverman: Collective Rage at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, The

Roommate at Actors Theatre of Louisville, Phoebe in Winter at Clubbed Thumb, and The

Hunters at Cherry Lane Mentor Project.

Jackson Gay (Director, Three Sisters) most recently directed Three Sisters at Studio

Theatre. She is a founding member of New Neighborhood and the Director of Artistic

Programming for Fuller Road Artist Residency. Recent projects include Lucy

Thurber's Transfers at New York Stage & Film; Much Ado About Nothing adapted with Kenneth

Lin at Cal Shakes; Jen Silverman's The Moors at Yale Rep; These Paper Bullets! - Rolin Jones'

adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing with music by Billie Joe Armstrong - at the Atlantic

Theater, Geffen Playhouse, and Yale Rep; Rolin Jones' The Jammer (Atlantic Theater Company);

and The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow (Atlantic and Yale Rep).

Abe Koogler's plays include Advance Man; Blue Skies Process; Kill Floor, which premiered at

Lincoln Center Theater with a regional premiere at American Theater Company; and Fulfillment

Center, which will premiere this May at Manhattan Theatre Club.

Qui Nguyen is a playwright, television/film writer, and Co-Founder of the OBIE Award-winning

Vampire Cowboys of New York City. His plays include Vietgone (South Coast Rep, Oregon

Shakespeare Company, Manhattan Theatre Club, Seattle Rep), She Kills Monsters (The Flea,

Buzz22 Chicago/ Steppenwolf, Company One); Krunk Fu Battle Battle (East West Players); Soul

Samurai; The Inexplicable Redemption of Agent G (Ma-Yi Theater & Vampire Cowboys); and the

critically acclaimed Vampire Cowboys productions of Six Rounds of Vengeance, Alice in

Slasherland; Fight Girl Battle World; Men of Steel; and Living Dead in Denmark.

SEASON ARTIST BIOS

Dominique Morisseau, writer and actress, is an alumna of the Public Theater Emerging

Writer’s Group, the Women’s Project Playwrights Lab, and Lark Playwrights’ Workshop. Among

her playwriting credits are: Detroit ’67 (Public Theater; Classical Theatre of Harlem/NBT;

Northlight Theatre), Sunset Baby (Labyrinth Theater Co – NYC; Gate Theater- London), and

Follow Me To Nellie’s (O’Neill; Premiere Stages). Her produced one-acts include: Third Grade

(Fire This Time Festival); Black at Michigan (Cherry Lane); Socks, Roses Are Played Out and

Love and Nappiness (Center Stage; ATH); love.lies.liberation (The NewGroup), Bumrush (Hip

Hop Theater Festival) and The Masterpiece (Harlem9/HSA). Dominique is currently developing a

3-play cycle on her hometown of Detroit, entitled “The Detroit Projects.” Detroit ’67 is the first of

the series. The second play, Paradise Blue, was developed with Voice and Vision, the Hansberry

Project at ACT, New York Theatre Workshop, McCarter Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival,

and the Public Theater. Dominique’s work has also been published in the New York Times

bestseller “Chicken Soup for the African American Soul” and in the Harlem-based literary journal

“Signifyin’ Harlem.” She is a Jane Chambers Playwriting Award honoree, a two-time NAACP

Image Award recipient, a runner-up for the Princess Grace Award, a recipient of the Elizabeth

George commission from South Coast Rep, a commendation honoree for the Primus Prize by

the American Theatre Critics Association, a recipient of the Barrie and Bernice Stavis Playwriting

Award, the Weissberger Award for Playwriting, the U of M – Detroit Center Emerging Leader

Award, a Lark/PoNY (Playwrights of New York) Fellow, and the Edward M. Kennedy Prize for

Drama.

Patricia McGregor is originally from St. Croix, US Virgin Islands. McGregor is a director, writer,

and devisor of new work. She has twice been profiled by the New York Times for her direction of

world premieres. Recent credits include Ugly Lies the Bone (Roundabout Theater); brownsville song: b-side for tray (Lincoln Center); the world premiere of Stagger Lee (Dallas Theatre

Center); and the world premiere of Hurt Village (Signature Theatre Center). Other credits include

Raisin in the Sun, Winter's Tale and Spunk (California Shakespeare Theatre); Adoration of an Old Woman (INTAR); Blood Dazzler (Harlem Stage); Holding it Down (The Metropolitan Museum);

Four Electric Ghosts (The Kitchen); Nothing Personal (New York Live Arts); and the world

premiere of The House That Will Not Stand (Berkeley Rep and Yale Rep). For several years she

has directed the 24 Hour Plays on Broadway where her casts included Paul Bettany, Tracy

Morgan, Sarah Silverman and Carmen Ejogo. She is currently developing several pieces,

including a musical based on the life of Nat King Cole with Colman Domingo. She is a Usual

Suspect at New York Theater Workshop, Co-Founder of Angela’s Pulse, and was a Paul and

Daisy Soros Fellow at the Yale School of Drama where she also served as Artistic Director of the

Yale Cabaret.

Rachel Bonds’ plays have been developed or produced by Studio Theatre, South Coast Rep, Ars

Nova, Manhattan Theatre Club, McCarter Theatre, Roundabout Underground, Atlantic Theater

Company, Williamstown Theatre Festival, New Georges, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Actors

Theatre of Louisville, SPACE on Ryder Farm, The Arden, and New York Stage & Film, among

others. Her plays include: Curve of Departure, a commission from South Coast Rep, featured as

part of the 2016 Pacific Playwrights Festival; Five Mile Lake, winner of the 2013 L. Arnold

Weissberger Award from the Williamstown Theatre Festival, which received its world premiere

at South Coast Rep, directed by Daniella Topol, and its east coast premiere at The McCarter in

May 2015, directed by Emily Mann; Swimmers, winner of the 2015 Sky Cooper Prize, which

received its world premiere at Marin Theatre Company in 2016, directed by Mike Donahue; The

Wolfe Twins, her commissioned play for Studio Theatre, which received its world premiere in

October 2014, directed by Mike Donahue; a musical collaboration with The Bengsons and

director Anne Kaufman, commissioned by Manhattan Theatre Club & Ars Nova; Alma,

commissioned by Atlantic Theatre Company; Michael & Edie, named a NY Times Critic's Pick,

directed by Robert Saenz de Viteri; At The Old Place, developed during her 2013 Writer’s Room

Residency at The Arden in Philadelphia; Winter Games, winner of the 2014 Heideman Award and

part of the Ten Minute Plays at the 2014 Humana Festival; and Anniversary, produced in EST’s

2010 Marathon of One-Act Plays, winner of the 2012 Sam French Festival and featured on Public

Radio’s “Playing on Air.” Bonds is an Alumna of EST’s Youngblood, Ars Nova’s Play Group, and

SPACE on Ryder Farm’s Working Farm Writers’ Group. She was the Fr. William Ralston Fellow

at the 2011 Sewanee Writers’ Conference. Ms. Bonds has served as a Volunteer at the 52nd

Street Project and as a dramaturg for the 2015 Young Playwrights Conference in NYC, and was

recently named the 2016 Tow Foundation Playwright in Residence at Ars Nova. She is currently

working on commissions for The Geffen and McCarter Theatre. Ms. Bonds is a graduate of

Brown University.

Mike Donahue is a New York-based director. NYC credits include: the world premieres of

Matthew Lopez’s The Legend of Georgia McBride (MCC, The Geffen and Denver Center, Joe A.

Callaway Award, Outer Critics Circle Nomination); Jordan Seavey’s Homos, Or Everyone In

America (Labyrinth); Jen Silverman’s The Moors (Playwrights Realm – NYC premiere), Phoebe

in Winter (Clubbed Thumb), and The Hunters (Cherry Lane Mentor Project); and Ethan Lipton’s

Red-Handed Otter (Playwrights Realm). Regionally: world premieres of Jen Silverman’s

Collective Rage (Woolly Mammoth) and The Roommate (Humana); world premieres of Rachel

Bonds’ The Wolfe Twins (Studio Theatre D.C.) and Swimmers (Marin); world premiere of Lauren

Feldman’s Grace, or The Art of Climbing (Denver Center); Shostakovich’s Moscow,

Cheryomushki with new libretto by Meg Miroshnik (Chicago Opera Theatre); Annie Baker’s

adaptation of Uncle Vanya (Weston); Amy Herzog's 4000 Miles (Actors Theatre); Antony &

Cleopatra (Shakespeare Festival St. Louis); and Assassins, Henry IV & V (co-directed with Joe

Haj), and A Number (Playmakers Rep, 2011/12 Distinguished Guest Artist). Select

readings/workshops: MTC, Roundabout Underground, New York Theatre Workshop, Soho Rep

(Writer/Director Lab), McCarter, The O’Neill, Berkley Rep Ground Floor, The Lark, Ars Nova,

Primary Stages, Chautauqua, Cape Cod Theatre Project, and Studio 42. Mike is recipient of a

Fulbright to Berlin, the Drama League Fall Fellowship, The Boris Sagal Fellowship at

Williamstown, winner of the Inaugural Opera America Director-Designer Showcase Award, and

was the artistic director of the Yale Summer Cabaret for two seasons. Mike is a graduate of

Harvard University and the Yale School of Drama. Upcoming: Jen Silverman’s The Roommate

(Williamstown Theatre Festival), and the world premieres of Rachel Bonds’ Curve of Departure

(South Coast Rep) and Matthew Lopez’s Zoey’s Perfect Wedding (Denver Center).

Sarah DeLappe’s play The Wolves premiered Off Broadway at The Playwrights Realm,

following an engagement at New York Stage and Film, and development at Clubbed Thumb and

the Great Plains Theatre Conference. The Wolves received the American Playwriting

Foundation’s inaugural Relentless Award, and was a finalist for the 2016 Susan Smith

Blackburn Prize and the Yale Drama Series Prize. Ms. DeLappe is the Page One Playwright for

The Playwright’s Realm and was a resident artist at the Sitka Fellows Program and SPACE on

Ryder Farm. An alumna of Clubbed Thumb Early Career Writers Group and New Georges Audrey

Residency, she is currently a member of the Ars Nova Play Group and a Resident Playwright at

LCT3. Commissions: Playwrights Horizons, Atlantic Theater, Studio Theatre, Two River Theater

Company, EST/Sloan, and Actors Theatre of Louisville. Ms. DeLappe is currently in the MFA

Playwriting program at Brooklyn College. Upcoming: Actors Theatre of Louisville Humana

Festival.

Marti Lyons most recently directed Wondrous Strange by Meg Miroshnik, Martyna Majok, Jen

Silverman, and Jiehae Park for the Humana Festival at Actors Theatre of Louisville, starring the

theatre's Apprentice Company. She also directed Anthony Giardina's The City or Conversation

for Northlight Theatre Company, Will Eno’s Title and Deed for Lookingglass Theatre Company,

Short Shakes! Romeo and Juliet for Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and a reading of Martín

Zimmerman's On The Exhale for the Goodman Theatre where she received the 2015 Maggio

directing fellowship. She has directed Laura Marks’ Bethany and Mine for The Gift Theatre,

where she is an ensemble member. Other credits include Prowess by Ike Holter for Jackalope

Theatre Company, Seminar by Theresa Rebeck for Haven Theatre, Boo Killebrew's The Play

About my Dad for Raven Theatre, and Give It All Back by Calamity West for Sideshow Theatre,

where she is an Artistic Associate. Ms. Lyons just opened Wit by Margaret Edson for The

Hypocrites, and next up will direct The Mystery of Love and Sex for Writers Theatre and Native

Gardens for Victory Gardens.

Brian Friel (1929-2015) is largely considered modern Ireland's leading playwright. His first

produced play Philadelphia, Here I Come debuted to rave reviews at the Dublin Theatre Festival

in 1964. He went on to write The Loves of Cass McGuire, The Mundy Scheme, The Freedom of

the City, Living Quarters, Faith Healer, an adaptation of Turgenev’s novel Fathers and Sons,

Dancing at Lughnasa (winner of three Tony Awards, a New York Drama Critics Circle award for

Best Play and an Olivier Award for Best Play), and Wonderful Tennessee. In 1980 Mr. Friel joined

Stephen Rea in founding the Field Day Theatre Company, where they first staged Translations,

which went on to receive the Ewart-Biggs Peace Prize.

Matt Torney is entering his third season as Associate Artistic Director at Studio, where he has

directed The Hard Problem, MotherStruck (nominated for two Helen Hayes Awards, including

Best Lead Actress and Best Production), Hedda Gabler, Jumpers for Goalposts (nominated for

two Helen Hayes Awards including Best Ensemble), The New Electric Ballroom, and The Walworth Farce (nominated for two Helen Hayes Awards). Prior to his work at Studio, Mr.

Torney served as the Director of Programming for Origin Theatre in New York, an Off Broadway

company that specializes in European new writing. His New York credits include Stop the Tempoand Tiny Dynamite (Origin Theatre, Drama Desk Award nominee), The Twelfth Labor (Loading Dock), The Dudleys (Theatre for the New City), The Angel of History (HERE Arts),

and Three Sisters and A Bright Room Called Day (Atlantic Theatre School). Regional credits

include Sherlock Holmes and the Crucifer of Blood and Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme (Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre) and Improbable Frequency (Solas

Nua, Helen Hayes Award nominee for ‘Best Choreography’). International credits

include Digging for Fire and Plaza Suite (Rough Magic, National Tour), Angola (workshop at the

Abbey Theatre), Paisley and Me (Grand Opera House, Belfast), The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (Making Strange, Irish Theatre Award nominee for Best Director), and Woyzeck (Rough

Magic, Best Production nominee at the Dublin Fringe Festival). Originally from Belfast,

Mr. Torney holds an MFA from Columbia University.

Ken Urban is a playwright based in New York. His plays include Nibbler, Sense of an Ending,

The Correspondent, A Future Perfect, The Awake, and The Happy Sad. His plays have been

produced in New York at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, The Amoralists, 59E59 Theatres, The

Summer Play Festival at The Public, and Studio 42. His work has also been produced at

Theatre503 in London, First Floor Theater in Chicago, and SpeakEasy Stage Company in Boston.

He has developed new plays at Playwrights Horizons, Huntington Theatre Company, Theatre @

Boston Court, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Donmar Warehouse (London), and The Civilians.

Awards include the Weissberger Playwriting Award, New York Foundation for the Arts

Fellowship, Huntington Theater Playwriting Fellowship, MacDowell Colony Fellowships,

Headlands Artist Residency, Djerassi Artist Residency, Dramatist Guild Fellowship, and Virginia

Center for the Creative Arts Fellowship. Mr. Urban is a Resident Playwright at New Dramatists

and a Core Writer at the Playwrights’ Center. He wrote the screenplay for the feature-film

adaptation of The Happy Sad, which screened internationally at over 25 film festivals. His TV

pilot, The Art of Listening, was optioned by ITV/Assembly Entertainment and is currently in

development. His plays are published by Dramatists Play Service in the United States and

Methuen in the United Kingdom and Europe, and they have been featured in numerous

monologue anthologies. His band Occurrence released their new album The Past Will Last

Forever this fall.

David Muse is entering his eighth season as Artistic Director of Studio Theatre, where he has

directed The Father, Constellations, Chimerica, Murder Ballad, Belleville, Cock, Tribes, The Real

Thing, An Iliad, Dirt, Bachelorette, The Habit of Art, Venus in Fur, Circle Mirror Transformation,

reasons to be pretty, Blackbird, Frozen, and The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow. Previously,

he was Associate Artistic Director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company, where he has directed

eight productions, including Henry V, Romeo and Juliet, Coriolanus, and this season's King

Charles III (a co-production of A.C.T. and Seattle Rep). Other directing projects include Frankie

and Johnny in the Clair de Lune at Arena Stage, The Bluest Eye at Theatre Alliance, and

Swansong for New York Summer Play Festival. He has helped to develop new work at

numerous theatres, including New York Theatre Workshop, Geva Theatre Center, Arena Stage,

Ford’s Theatre, and The Kennedy Center. Mr. Muse has taught acting and directing at

Georgetown, Yale, and the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Academy of Classical Acting. A

seven-time Helen Hayes Award nominee for Outstanding Direction, he is a recipient of the DC

Mayor’s Arts Award for Outstanding Emerging Artist and the National Theatre Conference

Emerging Artist Award. Mr. Muse is a graduate of Yale University and the Yale School of Drama.

Lucy Prebble won the George Devine Award 2004 for her debut play The Sugar Syndrome

followed by the TMA Award for Best New Play in 2004. She also won the 2004 Critics' Circle

Award for Most Promising Playwright. Lucy is the creator of the television series Secret Diary of

a Call Girl, starring Billie Piper in the main role. Secret Diary is on its fourth season and was sold

to Showtime. Prebble’s second play, Enron, transferred to The West End and Broadway in 2010

after sell out runs at both The Royal Court and Chichester Festival Theatre. Sony has optioned

the rights to develop Enron into a film. Enron won Best New Play at the TMA Theatre Awards,

and was shortlisted for The Evening Standard Award for Best New Play 2009.

Daniel Kitson is an stand-up comedian and “monologist extraordinaire” (New York Times). He

has written and performed numerous works for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, including

Something, which received the Perrier Comedy Award, Stories for the Wobbly Hearted, which

received the Scotsman Fringe First Award, and C-90, for which Kitson was awarded The Stage

Acting Award for Best Solo Show and a Fringe First. His shows C-90, It’s The Fireworks Talking,

Daniel Kitson Will Be Drinking Tea and Blowing Minds, Where Once Was Wonder, and After the

Beginning Before the End have toured Europe and Australia. In Australia, Kitson received the

Barry Award for It’s The Fireworks Talking and the Argus Angle Award for C-90. Kitson has

brought several shows to St. Ann’s Warehouse in the US, including The Interminable Suicide of

Gregory Church in 2011, It’s Always Right Now, Until it’s Later in 2012, Analog.Ue in 2013, and

Mouse in 2016. This will be his first appearance in DC.

Qui Nguyen is a playwright, screenwriter, and co-founder of the OBIE Award-winning Vampire

Cowboys Theatre Company of NYC. His plays include Vietgone (2016 Harold and Mimi Kennedy

Prize finalist); War is F**cking Awesome (Frederick Loewe Award); She Kills Monsters (2014

AATE Distinguised Play Ward, 2012 GLAAD Media Award nomination); Soul Samurai (2009

GLAAD Media Award nomination), and the critically acclaimed Vampire Cowboys shows: The

Inexplicable Redemption of Agent G, Alice in Slasherland, Fight Girl Battle World, Men of Steel,

Six Rounds of Vengence, and Living Dead in Denmark. Recent awards include a 2016 Daytime

Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Preschool Animated Program (Peg+Cat) and a 2015

New York Community Trust Helen Merrill Playwriting Ward. He is a proud member of the WGA,

The Dramatists Guild, The Playwrights Center, Ensemble Studio Theatre, and the Ma-Yi Writers

Lab. He is an alumnus of New Dramatists and Youngblood. For television, he’s written for

PBS's Peg+Cat and SYFY's Incorporated. Currently, he's a screenwriter for Marvel Studios.

Natsu Onoda Power is a writer/director/designer. Her plays include Astro Boy and the God of

Comics (premiered at Studio Theatre 2ndStage); Wind Me Up, Maria!: A Go-go Musical; The T

Party; and A Trip to the Moon. Directing credits include Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven

at Studio Theatre 2ndStage, White Snake at Baltimore Centerstage, Charm at Mosaic Theater,

and Yellow Face at Theater J. Her set design has been seen at Company One, Imagination

Stage, Forum Theatre, Synetic Theatre, and The Hub Theatre, among others. She is an

Associate Professor of Theater and Performance Studies at Georgetown University, where she

has adapted/directed numerous productions including War with the Newts, On the Origin of

Species, The Omnivore’s Dilemma and Madness and Civilization. Ms. Power holds a PhD in

Performance Studies from Northwestern University, and is the author of God of Comics: Osamu

Tezuka and the Creation of Post World War II Manga (The University Press of Mississippi, 2009).

Plus a fourth project to be announced.

STUDIO THEATRE

Entering its eighth season under the leadership of Artistic Director David Muse, Studio Theatre

is Washington’s premiere venue for contemporary theatre. Muse is joined by Managing Director

Meridith Burkus. One of the most respected midsized theatres in the country, Studio Theatre

produces the work of today’s greatest writers, augmented by occasional productions of modern

classics, performed by acclaimed actors in intimate spaces. Throughout the Theatre’s 39-year

history, the quality of its work has been recognized by sustained community support as well as

with 363 nominations and 68 Helen Hayes Awards for excellence in professional theatre.

STUDIO R&D

Studio’s new work is housed in Studio R&D, our incubator for new plays, new relationships, and

new modes of collaboration. Encompassing the full range of Studio’s commissioning and new

work development activities, Studio R&D supports artists through both the writing and

development of their work, offering commissions, residencies, and artistic retreats. Studio

R&D provides artists the resources and tools they need to create, and allows Studio to

introduce aesthetically diverse new work into the international repertoire. Recent world

premieres include No Sisters by Aaron Posner, Animal by Clare Lizzimore, Red Speedo by Lucas

Hnath, and Dirt by Bryony Lavery. Studio R&D has commissioned thirteen artists, including Stew

and Heidi Rodewald, Rachel Bonds, Ike Holter, and Vivienne Franzmann.

STUDIO CABINET

The Studio Cabinet is the Theatre’s affiliated artist program, a group of select artists from

different disciplines—directors, designers, actors, playwrights—who are in regular

conversation with Artistic Director David Muse as he develops future seasons. The Cabinet, as of

FY17, includes designer/director Brian MacDevitt, playwright/director Duncan Macmillan,

director/designer Natsu Onoda Power, director Joanie Schultz, actor/director Tom Story,

actor/director Holly Twyford, and director and former Producing Director Serge Seiden.

GENERAL INFORMATION

Location: 1501 14th Street NW (northeast corner of 14th and P Streets).

Parking: Studio has a parking partnership with Washington Plaza Hotel at 10 Thomas Circle

NW, three blocks south of Studio; patrons who park at the hotel’s parking garage can purchase

a $13 voucher at concessions.

Street parking is limited; arrive early to increase your options.

Metro Stops: Red Line: Dupont Circle, Orange/Blue Lines: McPherson Square, and Green/ Yellow

Lines: U Street/Cardozo.

Accessibility: Studio’s theatres are all wheelchair accessible; seats are available by reservation.

Assistive listen devices are available for all shows at concessions. Call the Box Office at

202.332.3300 for more information.

Contact Information:

Tickets and Subscriptions: 202.332.3300

Subscriptions on sale now. Single tickets available starting July 12, 2017.

Administration: 202.232.7267

Website: studiotheatre.org

E-mail: info@studiotheatre.org

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