1st Stage Unveils 2024-2025 Season, Kicking Off With LOGAN FESTIVAL OF SOLO PERFORMANCE

1st Stage will kick off the 2024-2025 season with the Logan Festival of Solo Performance, running from July 18-28, 2024.

This innovative festival, acclaimed in The Washington Post with “three plays prove the power of one,” will gather celebrated solo performers from across the country for two weeks of performances, workshops, discussions, and events. The 2024 festival will feature three Dynamic Productions:
 

Fly Me to the Sun

Written and Performed by Brian Quijada
Directed by Raymond O. Caldwell
Following a tragedy in El Salvador, Abuela Julia moves in with her family in a Chicago suburb. Her grandson, BQ, learns about America through his grandmother’s eyes while also teaching her to enjoy simple pleasures. Told in the style of a late-night talk show with Julia as a special guest (in the form of a puppet), Quijada weaves a beautiful story about the moments that move us and what calls us home. 
 

Too Fat for China

Written and Performed by Phoebe Potts
The story follows Phoebe Potts, a self-described comic storyteller and professional Jew, as she tries, fails and eventually succeeds to adopt a baby.  After a US adoption goes horribly wrong, Potts finds herself surprised, disgusted and ultimately resigned to the role she plays as a middle-class white lady in the business of adopting babies in the US and internationally. Potts’ tragi-comic journey is about looking for more— more love, more life and more family and will do anything to get it, including having her morals and values fold in on themselves.
 

GUAC

Written and Performed by Manuel Oliver
Co-Written by James Clements
Directed by Michael Cotey
What do you do when you lose a son? Take it from Manuel Oliver, the father of Parkland shooting victim Joaquin Oliver, you have to do what you do best. Fearless, funny, and pulling zero punches, GUAC is a one-man tour-de-force theatrical experience about a father turned activist, his undying love for his son, and the story of an immigrant family in search of the American Dream only instead to be confronted by a uniquely American Nightmare.
 
The Logan Festival of Solo Performance will run July 18-28 with performances of each show as follows:
Fly Me to the Sun: Thursday, July 18 at 7:30pm, Saturday, July 20 at 8:00pm, Sunday, July 21 at 8:00pm, Tuesday, July 23 at 7:30pm, Saturday, July 27 at 5:00pm, Sunday, July 28 at 8:00pm
Too Fat for China: Friday, July 19 at 7:30pm, Saturday, July 20 at 2:00pm, Sunday, July 21 at 2:00pm, Wednesday, July 24 at 7:30pm, Saturday, July 27 at 8:00pm, Sunday, July 28 at 2:00pm
GUAC: Saturday, July 20 at 5:00pm, Sunday, July 21 at 5:00pm, Thursday, July 25 at 7:30pm, Friday, July 26 at 7:30pm, Saturday, July 27 at 2:00pm, Sunday, July 28 at 5:00pm
 
Please email the box office at boxoffice@1ststage.org for reservations.
 
General admission tickets are $20 per show and $10 per show for Students with valid ID. Individual tickets can be purchased online at www.1stStage.org or by calling the 1st Stage box office at 703-854-1856.
 
 
The full schedule of the 2024-2025 mainstage season is as follows:
 

From September 12 to October 6, 2024, 1st Stage will present The Waverly Gallery by Kenneth Lonergan, directed by Alex Levy

In this 2019 Tony Award nominee for Best Revival of a Play, Gladys, the elderly matriarch of the Green family, has run an art gallery in a small Greenwich Village hotel for many years. The management wants to replace her less-than-thriving gallery with a coffee shop. Always irascible but now increasingly erratic, Gladys becomes a cause for concern to her family. By the Academy Award winning writer of Manchester by the Sea, this production is poignant, wacky, and heartrending. “Deeply theatrical and often deeply funny.” –The New York Times
 

From December 12 to 29, 2024, 1st Stage will present Laughs in Spanish by Alexis Scheer, directed by Elena Velasco

Step into the vibrant world of Miami's Wynwood arts district with a joyous and downright hilarious snapshot of Cuban and Colombian-American culture. As Art Basel approaches, Mariana, the director of a swanky modern art gallery, faces a serious dilemma: her showroom has become an active crime scene. Part crime-comedy, part mother-daughter story, this play follows Mariana and her eccentric squad including her larger-than-life mother, a film and television star determined to save the show. “A poignant and playful exploration of family, identity and comedy.” – Boulder Weekly
 

From January 30 to February 16, 2025, 1st Stage will present The Lake Effect by Rajiv Joseph, directed by Alex Levy

A drama of family secrets by Pulitzer Prize finalist Rajiv Joseph. During a fierce Cleveland mid-winter storm, estranged siblings are reunited by their father's sudden death. In the midst of closing his failing Indian restaurant, they must confront the painful memories and secrets that drove them apart. With witty dialogue, richly drawn characters, and a deep understanding of the complexities of human relationships, The Lake Effect is a must-see. “Simply brilliant.” –Showbiz Chicago
 

From March 13 to 30, 2025, 1st Stage will present hang by Debbie Tucker Green, directed by Deidra LaWan Starnes

One crime. One room. Three people. A woman’s unspeakable decision as the criminal’s fate hangs in the balance. Set in a haunting world where every word is a revelation and every silence speaks volumes, this electrifying production will take you on a journey through the complexities of justice and human nature. This 2015 hit from London’s Royal Court is provocative, touching, and darkly humorous. 
 

From June 5 to 22, 2025, 1st Stage will present The Piano Lesson by August Wilson, directed by Danielle A. Drakes

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, this haunting, luminous play is fourth in Wilson’s famous American Century Cycle. Set in 1930s Pittsburgh, Berniece and her brother Boy Willie navigate the complexities of their past and the weight of their future, all centered around an heirloom piano with a story of its own. “Like other Wilson plays, it seems to sing even when it is talking.” –The New York Times
 
Subscriptions and Flex Passes are available for savings of up to 50% off regular price tickets. Tickets, Subscriptions, and Flex Passes can be purchased online at www.1ststage.org or by calling the Stage box office at 703-854-1856. 
 

To post a comment, you must register and login.