Theater Alliance Produces DC Premiere of FLOOD CITY

Theater Alliance closes Season 15 with the regional premiere of Gabrielle Reisman's Flood City, an absurdly dark comedy about the aftermath of tragedy.

After the Great Flood of 1889, the few remaining citizens of Johnstown, Pennsylvania wonder how they've survived and how they'll recover. A century later when the steel mill closes, Johnstown's steelworkers wonder how they'll survive as the steel industry grinds to a halt.

A play might juxtapose these two disasters to reflect on the mounting sense of national unease or lament the increasingly dire circumstances facing small-town America.

Flood City is a wholly different kind of play.

Described by Reisman as "a clown show of nonstop shtick," Flood City grants a quirky, playful, and fresh perspective on how communities respond in times of crisis, exploring the odd companionship of tenacity and humor. The two Johnstown disasters, a century apart, are paired in an offbeat two-step.

Bridging time and space in its distinct magical realism, with direction from Jenna Duncan and movement created by Jonathan David Martin, an ensemble of DC's favorite performers find laughter amid the debris, hope within the mud, and the resilience of the human spirit in the face of uncertainty.

"I'm convinced you need humor to get audiences to open up to ideas about social injustice and environmental stewardship," said Reisman. "It's boring to watch victims just be victims. That's not cathartic-or even true to life, really."

Flood City features Scenic Design by Andrew R. Cohen, Lighting Design by Max Doolittle, Costume Design byKelsey Hunt, Sound Design by Matthew M. Nielson, Movement and Fight Choreography by Jonathan David Martin, and Properties Design by Patti Kalil.

PLAYWRIGHT AND DIRECTOR BIOS

Gabrielle Reisman (Playwright) is a playwright and director based in New York and New Orleans. She is a founding member of Underbelly, a theatre collaborative that stages immersive journey-plays in forgotten spaces, and is the director of Brooklyn Yard. Gab has been developed, produced, or commissioned by Clubbed Thumb/Playwrights Horizons, Page 73, Barnard College. Great Plains Theatre Conference, Sundance Theatre Lab, Ingram New Works Lab, ZACH Theatre, The Orchard Project, The NOLA Project, EST/Sloan Project and various other projects. She was an NNPN Playwright in Residence at Southern Rep and a MacDowell Colony alum and has taught playwriting and theatre making in places like Vanderbilt, UT Austin, and New Orleans's public schools. Her plays have received a Rosa Parks Award from The Kennedy Center, the Holland New Voices Award, and appeared on the inaugural Kilroys List. She is a Core Writer at the Playwrights Center and a New Georges affiliated artist. Gab received a BA from The University of New Orleans and MFA from The University of Texas at Austin. Her first four full lengths are published in the anthology More Pepper by Hot Lead Press. www.gabriellereisman.com

Jenna Duncan (Director): is the Associate Artistic Director/Casting Director at Olney Theatre Center. Previous DC directing credits include The Heidi Chronicles (Rep Stage), What Every Girl Should Know (Forum Theatre), The Giver(National Players), Urinetown (Monumental Theatre Company), Lucky Stiff (Imagination Stage MTC), JQA (American University), and others. She is also a freelance casting director in the DC area (currently at Theater J). Past casting has included work at Imagination Stage, Mosaic Theater Company, Forum Theatre, Studio Theatre, and the Lab for Global Performances and Politics. As an associate and assistant director she has worked on Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Ford's Theatre), A Midsummer Night's Dream and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (Folger Theatre),Stage Kiss (Round House Theatre), A Midsummer Night's Dream (National Players), How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, The Tempest, and Awake and Sing! (Olney Theatre Center). Upcoming after Flood City she'll be directing Twelfth Night for National Players.

Jonathan David Martin (Movement and Fight Director) has previously worked with Theater Alliance as "Spindler" inMnemonic (Helen Hayes Award Nomination). An Annenberg Foundation Fellow For the Arts, he recently created the movement for Love and Information at the University of Maryland and has directed and choreographed numerous works with his company, Smoke & Mirrors Collaborative. Other directing credits include works for Touchstone Theater, Studio Tisch Festival, the forthcoming Peter and the Starcatcher for Red House Theater Education, and has assistant-directed for MacArthur Award-winning director/choreographer, Martha Clarke. As a performer, he has appeared in the Tony-award winning War Horse at Lincoln Center Theater (original Broadway cast), as well as productions at the National Black Theatre, Bushwick Starr, Two Rivers Theater, Portland Center Stage, Shakespeare Santa Monica, Seattle Children's Theatre, Empty Space Theatre, NMA Physical Theatre Ensemble, and Washington Ensemble Theater where he was a founding Co-Artistic Director. Jonathan was previously the Associate Producer at Theater J and holds an MFA from NYU's Graduate Acting Program.

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