Washington Stage Guild Presents Area Premiere of THE VICTORIAN LADIES' DETECTIVE COLLECTIVE

The Washington Stage Guild enters the Winter of their 2023-2024 season with the DC-area premiere of Patricia Milton's The Victorian Ladies' Detective Collective. Directed by frequent company collaborator Morgan Duncan (The Good Doctor, Murder in the Cathedral), he reunites with Stage Guild founding member Laura Giannarelli, who directed him in last season's The Good Doctor. Performances run February 1 to 25, 2024, with four Pay-What-You-Can previews February 1 to 3 at the Washington Stage Guild's home, The Undercroft Theatre in the Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church, 900 Massachusetts Avenue, NW. Opening/Press performance is Sunday, February 4 at 2:30pm.

ABOUT THE PLAY

Sherlock Holmes meets “Arsenic & Old Lace.” In 1893, a brazen serial killer is terrorizing London. So, two strong-willed sisters who run a boarding house for single ladies take matters into their own hands – especially when Scotland Yard proves no help at all. Teaming up with a cheeky American actress, they set off to solve the crime in this entertaining murder mystery with a modern women-take-charge sensibility. Area Premiere.

"It's all about perspective, isn't it? So much literature and history are written from a male point of view," states director Morgan Duncan, "but there were so many other, fascinating stories out there. Playwright Patricia Milton, expanding our view into Victorian London, is giving us a glimpse of how women might have reacted to the shocking murders of the time and the rise of the consulting detective. Additionally, I'm incredibly familiar with most of the cast and have been directed by both Steven Carpenter and Laura Giannarelli in the past couple years. So now the tables are turned; it will be interesting and great fun to work with them as their director this time."

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT

Patricia Milton is Resident Playwright at Central Works Theater in Berkeley, Ca, and her plays have been produced around the world. Her productions at Central Works include Bamboozled (Outstanding Production, East Bay, and Outstanding Ensemble, Theatre Bay Area), Hearts of Palm, Reduction in Force, The Victorian Ladies' Detective Collective (BroadwayWorld Critics Choice "Best of Maine" 2022, at The Public Theater), and Escape from the Asylum (Outstanding Production, 2022, SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle). Enemies: Foreign and Domestic (Central Works) was awarded Outstanding World Premiere Play by Theatre Bay Area. Her audio plays are Bystanders (Central Works) and The Law of Attraction (New Conservatory Theater Center, San Francisco). Without Mercy was commissioned and produced by Off-Broadway West.

Her comedy Believers was produced in San Francisco (Wily West Productions) and in Istanbul, Turkey.

ABOUT THE TEAM

The cast of The Victorian Ladies' Detective Collective includes Laura Giannarelli, a founding company member of WSG who has performed in more than 40 Guild productions including last season's Major Barbara, as well as The Nibroc Trilogy, Pygmalion, An Ideal Husband, Humble Boy, and The Unexpected Man, Studio Theatre's The Long Christmas Ride Home, Everyman Theatre's Doubt, Theater J's Pangs of the Messiah, and directed this season's opener Dorothy's Dictionary for the company; and WSG Associate Artistic Director Steven Carpenter, who performed in last season's Ben Butler, as well as WSG's Memoirs of a Forgotten Man, Bloomsday and Hard Times, and directed last season's Major Barbara, as well as Sam & Dede, Resolving Hedda, Red Herring, Opus, and The Underpants, among others, as well as numerous regional productions including Thief River at Theater Alliance for which he received a Helen Hayes Award nomination. The cast also includes Debora Crabbe, recently part of the cast of Ford's Theatre's A Christmas Carol, as well as We Happy Few's Iphigenia, Theater J's Gloria:

A Life, The Kennedy Center's Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, The Keegan Theatre's As You Like It (Helen Hayes Award, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Musical), and Round House Theatre's School Girls: Or, the African Mean Girls Play; and Jen Furlong, seen in Greenbriar Valley Theatre's An Enemy of the People, performances with Round House Theatre, Woolly Mammoth, Studio Theatre, Rep Stage, Everyman Theatre, Theatre IV, Arena Stage, Kennedy Center, Ford's Theatre and American Century Theatre, where she shared the stage with Steven Carpenter in The Children's Hour.

The Victorian Ladies' Detective Collective is directed by Morgan Duncan. He has done 18 shows with the Washington Stage Guild since The Marriage of Figaro in 1988 through The Good Doctor in 2022. The Victorian Ladies' Detective Collective marks his third time directing for Stage Guild. He holds a BFA from Howard University and has performed regionally at theaters like the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon. Locally, he has performed at Arena Stage, Folger Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Round House Theater, Everyman Theatre, and others. He was a long-time member of the Capitol Steps.

The production team includes Megan Holden (Scenic Design), Marianne Meadows (Lighting Design), Stephanie Parks (Costume Design), Alli Pearson (Sound Designer), Bess Kaye (Fight Choreographer), and Arthur Nordlie (Production Stage Manager).

 

DATES & TICKETS

The Victorian Ladies' Detective Collective by Patricia Milton runs February 1 to 25 2024, with performances Thursday at 7:30pm, Friday at 8pm, Saturday at 2:30pm & 8pm, and Sunday at 2:30pm. The run begins with four Pay-What-You-Can performances Thursday, February 1 at 7:30pm, Friday, February 2 at 8pm, and Saturday, February 3 at 2:30pm & 8pm (Pay What You Can tickets can be purchased for any cash price at the door beginning one hour prior to curtain). Opening/Press performance is Sunday, February 4 at 2:30pm.

 

All tickets are General Admission and are $50 Thursday & Saturday/Sunday matinees, $60 Friday & Saturday evenings. Student Admission is half-price with a valid Student ID. Senior Citizens 65 years and up get $10 OFF General Admission Prices. Groups of 10 or more get half-price tickets. Purchase at the button below!

 

ABOUT THE THEATRE

Founded in 1986 by a professional company of theatre artists dedicated to producing literate, challenging works in a collegial and supportive atmosphere, The Washington Stage Guild quickly established itself as an indispensable component of the D.C. area theatre scene; recognized as early as the end of the first season (1987) by The Washington Post. The ensemble theatre company's acclaimed repertoire of neglected classics, unfamiliar works

by familiar playwrights, and stimulating new plays from around the world is presented in a style that is the Guild's own—direct and clear, with a strong commitment to adhering to the author's intent.

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