Elevator Repair Service's THE SELECT (THE SUN ALSO RISES) Coming to Shakespeare Theatre Company

Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) will host acclaimed theatre ensemble Elevator Repair Service and their production of The Select (The Sun Also Rises) at the Lansburgh Theatre (450 7th St NW) from February 18-April 2, 2017. Directed by John Collins, this original adaptation is based on the novel The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway and was initially produced in partnership with New York Theatre Workshop.

A streamlined edit of the novel using only Hemingway's words and staying true to the writer's distinct style, the play follows a group of American and British expatriates winding their way through France and Spain and landing in Pamplona where bullfighting and the fiesta rage in the streets. Hemingway's narrator Jake Carries the heavy burdens of a war injury and his inability to have the woman he loves-a woman whose amorous escapades he follows with bemused but painful fatalism. Hemingway's classic tale of a lost generation and the odysseys of post-war ennui is brought to vivid life through the collective imagination of this talented ensemble of artists.

STC Artistic Director Michael Kahn said: "I'm delighted to welcome ERS to the Lansburgh. Back in 2006, they sparked an international revolution in Contemporary Theatre practice with the world premiere of Gatz, their path-breaking staging of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. For 25 years ERS has been creating extraordinary work in New York and around the world, focusing on opening up the theatre to material beyond traditional play scripts. They have a unique talent for adaptation and a deep understanding of the classics."

Director John Collins said: "Performing The Select at the Lansburgh is something of a milestone. It is our longest ever sit-down run outside of our home base of New York and it seems appropriate that it should happen in D.C. We thank Michael Kahn and everyone at Shakespeare Theatre Company for hosting us."

Elevator Repair Service performs with a rotating ensemble of artists that participate in the creation and performance of each work. Roles are frequently shared by multiple ensemble members over the course of a run. Director John Collins will play Robert Cohn. Rounding out the cast are: Paul Boocock, Daphne Gaines, Stephanie Hayes, Maggie Hoffman, Mike Iveson, Robert M. Johanson, Vin Knight, Gavin Price, Kate Scelsa, Kaneza Schaal, Pete Simpson, Susie Sokol and Matt Tierney.

Scenic & Costume Designer David Zinn, returns to STC after working on The Winter's Tale for the company. Award-winning Lighting Designer Mark Barton returns to ERS having previously worked on their productions of Arguendo,The Sound and the Fury, Gatz and Fondly, Collette Richland. Matt Tierney Sound Designer, returns to STC after working on The Metromaniacs for STC. Sound Designer Ben Williams continues his work with ERS having worked with them Off-Broadway and with their national and international tours. Producer Ariana Smart Truman has served as the Producing Director since 2008. Maurina Lioce Production Stage Manager & Assistant Director, has previously worked with ERS Off-Broadway and regional, and on national and international tours. Production Manager David Nelson has worked with ERS on The Select (The Sun Also Rises), The Sound and the Fury, Arguendo and Fondly, Collette Richland. Katherine Profeta is an ERS Founding member and the Dance & Movement Coach for this production. Jason Sebastian, Sound Engineer, has worked with ERS on The Select (The Sun Also Rises), Gatz, and Arguendo. Lindsay Hockaday, Associate Producer, has performed with ERS and worked as a casting director on Broadway, Off-Broadway and in regional theatre.

Director John Collins founded Elevator Repair Service in 1991 with a group of actors and designers working in New York's downtown performance scene. Since then, he has directed or co-directed all of the company's productions. John has also designed lighting and sound for some ERS productions and has occasionally performed as well. John is the recipient of a 2014 Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, a 2010 Guggenheim Fellowship in Drama and Performance Art and a 2011 United States Artists Donnelley Fellowship. John received the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Director and the Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Director for ERS' production of Gatz. Other notable ERS projects include The Sound and the Fury, Arguendo, The Select (The Sun Also Rises), Fondly, Collette Richland (a new play by Sibyl Kempson) and the company's current production of Measure for Measure. John is a graduate of Yale University where he received a BA in English and Theater Studies. An accomplished Sound Designer as well as director, John designed sound for The Wooster Group from 1993 to 2005. His writing about theater and sound design can be found in the books Theatre Noise: The Sound of Performance (Cambridge Scholars, 2011) and Encountering Ensemble (Methuen Drama, 2013).

Founded in 1991 by Artistic Director John Collins, Elevator Repair Service creates original works with an ongoing ensemble. ERS's theater pieces are built around a broad range of subject matter and literary forms; they combine elements of slapstick comedy, hi-tech and lo-tech design, both literary and found text, and the group's own highly developed style of choreography. ERS creates its performances through extended periods of collaboration. A typical development cycle includes four to six intensive work periods within a two year period, which conclude with work-in-progress showings. Time off between development is filled with touring and presentations of finished works. Following completion, the piece is presented in New York City for an extended run and is toured throughout the United States and abroad.

Recipient of the 2012 Regional Theatre Tony Award, the Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) is the nation's leading premier classical theatre company. Today, STC is synonymous with artistic excellence and making classical theatre more accessible to audiences in and around the nation's capital.

Under the leadership of Artistic Director Michael Kahn and Executive Director Chris Jennings, STC's innovative productions inspire dialogue that connects classic works to the modern human experience. The Company focuses on works with profound themes, complex characters and poetic language written by Shakespeare, his contemporaries and the playwrights he influenced in order to preserve and promote classic theatre-ambitious, enduring plays with universal themes-for all audiences.

A leader in arts education, STC has a stable of initiatives that teach and excite learners of all ages, from school programs and adult acting classes to accessible community programming like play-relevant discussion series and the Free for All. For the past 25 years the Free For All program has offered an annual remount of a popular production completely free of charge to all audience members.

Located in downtown Washington, D.C., STC performs in two theatres, the 451-seat Lansburgh Theatre and the 774-seat Sidney Harman Hall. In addition to STC productions appearing year-round, these spaces also accommodate presentations from outstanding local performing arts groups and nationally renowned organizations. The Company has been a fixture in the vibrant Penn Quarter neighborhood since 1992.

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