DC's Studio Theatre Announes 6 Plays for 2010-11

The Studio Theatre has announced their 2010-2011 season. The full eleven-production lineup continues the Theatre's ongoing commitment to the highest quality, cutting-edge writing and thrilling performances. The coming season covers territory from a rundown Chicago donut shop to a sweltering beach deep in the Louisiana bayou. As The Studio Theatre welcomes the new Artistic Director into its home in September 2010, it looks forward to collaborating with this artist on the Theatre's mission: to produce the best in Contemporary Theatre.

This season will also include two plays by a single writer, performed simultaneously in two separate theatres. Under the leadership of one director and design team, the two plays in The Enda Walsh Repertory will introduce Studio Theatre audiences to two new, thematically-linked works. The Studio Theatre continues its tradition of producing Irish playwrights with these plays by Enda Walsh, who The New York Times has praised for his breathtaking lyrical gift capable of encompassing daft humor and spine-chilling truths in language that still remains powerfully real.

The subscription season begins with Circle Mirror Transformation, a disarmingly moving play by
Annie Baker, one of the freshest young playwrights to emerge in recent years. The season continues with Superior Donuts, Tracy Letts's hilarious portrait of friendship and redemption. Next, The Studio Theatre concludes Tarell Alvin McCraney's stunning trilogy, The Brother/Sister Plays with Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet. Performed simultaneously, Enda Walsh's The Walworth Farce and The New Electric Ballroom bring both male and female perspective to the danger of living solely in the past. The 2010-2011 season will conclude with a yet-to-be announced production directed by The Studio Theatre's new artistic director, who will be announced later this spring.

Both of The Studio Theatre's 2010-2011 Special Events feature tour-de-force performances by a solo performer. In Tynan, Richard Nelson's new adaptation of famed theatre critic Kenneth Tynan's autobiography, one man (played by the unparalleled Philip Goodwin) reveals the salacious and secret truths of this theatrical legend. David Cale, award-winning playwright and actor, returns to The Studio Theatre to share his comic tale of a New York gigolo in Palomino.

The Studio 2ndStage presents its own unique combination of spirited and irreverent performances, all presented this season in its flexible raw space, Stage 4. Young Jean Lee, one of the hottest, most controversial young playwrights working today, explores cultural identity and minority rage in the hysterically funny Songs of the Dragon Flying to Heaven. Jez Butterworth's rock'n'roll tale Mojo takes the audience into the seedy underbelly of a London nightclub. In Pop!, Andy Warhol, murder and mayhem meet in Maggie-Kate Coleman and Anna K. Jacobs's exuberant musical.

The 2010-2011 Subscription Series:

CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION
by Annie Baker
September 8, 2010 - October 17, 2010
In the Mead Theatre

Emerging playwright Annie Baker took New York by storm this past year with her originality and quirky humor. This charming new play invites the audience into an amateur theatre class in rural Vermont. Theatre games and acting exercises mirror the real drama taking place between the students. The Studio Theatre, founded as an acting conservatory, finds a perfect match with a play about the life lessons stumbled across and relationship forged in acting class.

SUPERIOR DONUTS
by Tracy Letts
directed by Serge Seiden
November 3, 2010 - December 12, 2010
In the Metheny Theatre

In this delicious new comedy from the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of August: Osage County, an offbeat friendship grows between a cantankerous white shop owner and an ambitious black teenager with something to hide. As the two men bond over literature and entrepreneurship, they discover that family runs deeper than blood. Amidst the changing face of an old Chicago neighborhood, a local donut shop becomes the setting for old secrets and new beginnings.

MARCUS; OR THE SECRET OF SWEET
by Tarell Alvin McCraney
January 12, 2011 - February 20, 2011
In the Mead Theatre

The sweltering final chapter of The Brother/Sister Plays, including The Studio Theatre hits The Brothers Size (2008) and In the Red and Brown Water (2010), cuts close to the bone. In this whimsical story of a young boy becoming a man and discovering his sexuality, Marcus risks alienating his loved ones in his own search for love. Past and present, obligation and desire, lust and friendship all collide in the sultry Louisiana heat.

THE Enda Walsh REPERTORY
directed by Matt Torney

A brilliant duo of shocking storytelling from one of Ireland's most powerful voices. These haunting plays excavate the darkest recesses of memory. See both when they run simultaneously in two different theatres. Each play complements the other, yet stands alone as an independent work.

THE WALWORTH FARCE
by Enda Walsh
directed by Matt Torney
April 6, 2011 - April 24, 2011
In the Milton Theatre

A sinister twist on the classic farce, this chilling tale exposes a family's Sisyphean games as a father forces his two sons to reenact a shocking story from their troubled past. When a young woman from the outside unwittingly intrudes, things take a ghastly and irrevocable turn.

THE NEW ELECTRIC BALLROOM
by Enda Walsh
directed by Matt Torney
April 13, 2011 - May 1, 2011
In the Metheny Theatre

Three aging Irish sisters, long past their prime, are imprisoned inside their reenactments of
a tragic and pivotal night years ago. As the sisters faithfully rehearse these ancient scenes, a lonely fisherman interrupts, bringing both devastation and possible redemption to these three isolated women. In this beautiful and eerie family drama, the past is tyrannical.
A Special Introduction

TO BE ANNOUNCED
May 25, 2011 - July 3, 2011
In the Mead Theatre

Before planning his or her first full season, the Artistic Director will direct a production in the 2010-2011 season as an introduction for Studio Theatre audiences. The new Artistic Director will be announced later this spring.

THE 2010-2011 SPECIAL EVENTS:

TYNAN
Based on the book The Diaries of Kenneth Tynan edited by John Lahr Adapted for the stage by Richard Nelson with Colin Chambers.
directed by Paul Mullins
starring Philip Goodwin
February 16, 2011 - March 6, 2011
In Stage 4

Take an inside look at the twisted and incisive mind of Kenneth Tynan, starring Philip Goodwin as arguably the greatest theatre critic of the twentieth century. From this Englishman's own scandalous love affairs to celebrity dirt, Tynan unapologetically divulges all.

PALOMINO
Written, directed and performed by David Cale
June 15, 2011 - July 3, 2011
In the Milton Theatre

One-of-a-kind performer David Cale returns to The Studio Theatre in his newest one-man show, a touching and comic glimpse into the world's oldest profession. A carriage-driving gigolo and his female clients recount their experiences with sex and the search for human connection.

THE 2010-2011 STUDIO 2NDSTAGE SEASON:

SONGS OF THE DRAGONS FLYING TO HEAVEN
by Young Jean Lee
October 6, 2010 - November 2, 2010
In the Milton Theatre

A coterie of Korean women smash conventions of Asian-identity to bits and tossed them up like confetti in this violent, explosive and hilarious theatrical event by one of New York's hottest downtown playwrights.

MOJO
December 1, 2010 - December 26, 2010
by Jez Butterworth
directed by Chris Gallu
In Stage 4

Underground rock-and-roll meets the London underworld in this fierce, hip comedy. Buzzing with music and the raucous energy of the 1950s, Mojo won the Olivier Award for Best New Comedy after its original run at The Royal Court Theatre in London.

POP!
Books and Lyrics by Maggie-Kate Coleman and Music by Anna K. Jacobs
Directed by Keith Alan Baker
July 13, 2011 - August 7, 2011
In Stage 4

Who shot Andy Warhol? A musical murder-mystery extravaganza that peeks inside the tumultuous artistic revelry of Warhol's infamous Factory.

The Studio Theatre is Washington's premiere venue for Contemporary Theatre, and is "where local audiences will find today's edgiest playwrights...a place for innovation," according to Variety. The Studio Theatre's mission is to produce the best in Contemporary Theatre. Its restless, innovative spirit makes it a leader both in
Washington, DC, and in the nation.

Artist-founded and artist-driven, The Studio Theatre demands the highest quality production values, bringing audiences provocative writing along with unparalleled artistry in performance, directing and design. Founded in 1978, The Studio Theatre is led by the driving force of Joy Zinoman, Founding Artistic Director, whose recent work has been called "riveting," "beautifully orchestrated" and "inspired" by The Washington Post; along with Keith Alan Baker, Managing Director/Artistic Director, 2ndStage; Serge Seiden, Associate Producing Artistic Director; and Morey B. Epstein, Executive Director of Institutional Development. In 2004, The Studio Theatre opened a state-of-the-art four-theatre complex, a major landmark that anchors the 14th Street Arts District. With four theatres, the critics hailed that "The Studio Theatre now qualifies as a one-troupe theatre boom on 14th Street" (Washington City Paper). The award-winning Studio 2ndStage creates edgy, explosive and electrifying productions that complement The Studio Theatre's season. The Washington Post proclaimed that 2ndStage "has long been a playground for...directors and actors (and, naturally, some of its riskier experiments)" and that a "convention-defying approach informs many 2ndStage offerings." The Studio Theatre provides opportunities for developing theatre artists as year-long apprentices. The Studio Theatre Acting Conservatory offers rigorous professional theatre training in close partnership with the working artists at The Studio Theatre. Now in its 34th year, it has been called "the area's premiere professional training facility for actors and directors" by Variety. The Conservatory has trained over 8,000 actors and directors, now performing on Broadway, Off Broadway and in theatre and film across the country. The theatre is deeply invested in the community and in neighborhood revitalization.

To post a comment, you must register and login.