Washington Stage Guild Presents BACK TO METHUSELAH, PART ONE, Now thru 3/16

The Washington Stage Guild continues its Season of Dreams with the start of a three-year dramatic extravaganza that will culminate in the company's 30th anniversary! BACK TO METHUSELAH, a cycle of plays by George Bernard Shaw that takes us from Adam and Eve meeting the Serpent in the Garden of Eden to a world 30,000 years in the future, is subtitled "a Metabiological Pentateuch."

Rarely produced because of its expansive proportions, the five parts of BACK TO METHUSELAH will be presented in three annual installments, with the first two, IN THE BEGINNING (BC 4004) and THE GOSPEL OF THE FAMILY BARNABAS (present day) this season. BACK TO METHUSELAH is a visionary, fantastic masterwork that examines humanity's failings, from moral to political, and posits "Creative Evolution" as the solution. The various parts-- whether fable, drawing room comedy, farce, or fantasy-- add up to what is considered one of the first theatrical works of science fiction.

"Shaw began this gargantuan masterpiece in the final days of World War I, and his disgust with the foolish waste of life and the childish rush to war drove him to a kind of frenzy of inspiration, as he produced this cycle of plays that depicts the need for us to evolve further if we are to survive. Of course, another way of looking at his story is that we need to stop behaving as if we never matured," says Artistic Director Bill Largess. "This year we start with his first two parts-- IN THE BEGINNING, a fable where Adam and Eve are inspired by The Serpent to invent birth and death, and Cain takes that a step further, and THE GOSPEL OF THE FAMILY BARNABAS, a comedy of manners in which a pair of scientists discover the solution to the world's problems and a pair of politicians scheme to use it to garner votes. Next season we'll present parts three and four, which take us 250 and 3000 years into the future, respectively, and in 2016, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of our founding, we'll complete the cycle with the final part that occurs 30,000 years from now. BACK TO METHUSELAH premiered in New York in 1923, and was produced at the Shaw festival in 1969, but this will be only the third professional production in the Western Hemisphere."

Bill Largess will be at the directing helm of this multi-year project. A founding member of the Stage Guild and its Artistic Director since 2008, he has acted in or directed most of the Stage Guild's GBS offerings and was nominated for a Helen Hayes Award for his portrayal of Jack Tanner/Don Juan in Shaw's Man & Superman.

Appearing in these first two offerings are many of the Stage Guild's Shavian "crew". Conrad Feininger will follow up his appearance in Simon Gray's Old Masters, portraying Cain and Joyce Burge. This year marks the twentieth anniversary of Conrad's association with the Guild, with past performances in Molnar's A Tale of the Wolf (Helen Hayes nomination) and The Play's the Thing (twice), Shaw's Misalliance and Getting Married (Helen Hayes nomination), Camping With Henry and Tom (Goldwater award) and Graham Greene's The Potting Shed. Later this Spring Conrad will make his Florida debut, playing Gregory Soloman in Arthur Miller's The Price at Banyan Theatre in Sarasota. Another company founder, Laura Giannarelli, takes the stage as the Serpent and Frances Barnabas. Her most recent Stage Guild role was as Mrs. Pierce in Pygmalion last season. Laura has also directed with the company, most recently The Old Masters, earlier this season. She has acted around town for years, including Olney Theatre (Angel Street); Everyman Theatre (Doubt); Studio Theatre (The Long Christmas Ride Home); The Kennedy Center (Dreams in the Golden Country); Round House Theatre (A Prayer for Owen Meany) and numerous others.

Brit Herring, who recently appeared in Inventing Van Gogh at Stage Guild, will play Adam and the Reverend Haslam. Other Stage Guild credits include Red Herring and The Apple Cart. He has appeared Off-Broadway in the critically acclaimed revival of The Devil and Billy Markham by Shel Silverstein at Soho Playhouse, and in Paradise at The Lion Theatre on Theatre Row. As Eve and the Parlormaid, will be founding company member Lynn Steinmetz who recently appeared in T.S. Eliot's The Elder Statesman. Over the past 30-something years, she has performed at several venues in the Washington-Baltimore area, including Arena Stage, Woolly Mammoth, Olney Theatre Center, Round House Theatre, Everyman Theatre, Kennedy Center, Smithsonian Institution, and others.

Vincent Clark will return to the Stage Guild as Lubin, having performed in Pygmalion, The Apple Cart, Augustus Does His Bit, Press Cuttings, Fanny's First Play, On the Rocks, Major Barbara, Too True to Be Good, Heartbreak House, Man and Superman, and John Bull's Other Island, all by G.B. Shaw. Michael Avolio plays Dr. Conrad Barnabas and previously acted at the Stage Guild in The Elder Statesman, The Apple Cart, and Red Herring. A company member of Quotidian Theatre Company, he directed The Iceman Cometh there last fall and will be seen in the U.S. premiere of Conor McPherson's The Veil this summer. And finishing off the cast as "Savvy" (short for Savage!) is Nora Palka who appeared in Pygmalion at the Stage Guild. She has also appeared at the Kennedy Center TYA, Signature Theatre, and Studio Theatre 2nd Stage.

Shirong Gu will design the Setting, Basmah Alomar Costumes, Marianne Meadows Lights and Frank DiSalvo, Jr. will do Sound. Arthur Nordlie is the Stage Manager.

BACK TO METHUSELAH: IN THE BEGINNING & THE GOSPEL OF THE FAMILY BARNABAS

by George Bernard Shaw

Directed by Bill Largess

TODAY, February 20 to March 16, 2014

Press Night: Saturday, February 22, 2014 at 8 pm

A masterwork of gargantuan proportions, a cycle of plays rarely performed since its premiere in the 20s. Shaw examines the human life-span in a series of comic episodes that take us from the Garden of Eden to "as far as thought can reach" in the distant future. One of the first works of science fiction ever put on stage, with GBS' celebrated wit and a touch of satire. The first installment this season begins an ambitious, multi-year cycle of productions of Shaw's landmark in anticipation of our 30th anniversary.

And don't forget our special Free Reading!

THE DIARY OF ADAM & EVE by Mark Twain

The great American humorist's look at the Garden of Eden!

Tuesday, March 4, 2014 at 7 pm - PWYC

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Performance times and prices for all productions:
Thursday evenings at 7:30 p.m. $40.00
Friday and Saturday evenings at 8 p.m. $50.00
Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:30 p.m. $40.00
Discounts are available for senior citizens, students, and groups.
Season passes are available, offering incredible savings for the entire Stage Guild season.

Location for all performances:
The Undercroft Theatre of Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church
900 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC
The Undercroft Theatre is located in the heart of downtown Washington, on the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and 9th Street, NW. It's steps from the Convention Center, and blocks from the National Mall, the Smithsonian, the Verizon Center, Chinatown, and restaurants galore!

The Undercroft Theatre is within easy walking distance from the following Metro stations:
Gallery Place/Chinatown-Exit SE corner of 9th and G Sts., NW (Green, Yellow and Red lines)
Mt. Vernon Square-Exit SW corner of 7th and M Sts, NW (Green and Yellow lines)
Metro Center-Exit SE corner of 11th and G Sts., NW (Blue, Red and Orange lines)

For information and reservations, call 240 582-0050, email info@stageguild.org or go to www.stageguild.org.

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