WASHINGTON, D.C.: Studio Theatre has announced its 2018-19 season, its 40th, featuring seven projects, all new to D.C.
“When we were planning our 40th anniversary season, we considered going the nostalgia route, remounting one of our most memorable past productions, or producing our most-produced playwrights,” says Studio artistic director David Muse in a statement. “But we decided the best way to honor our past is to keep doing what we do best. So this is a season that is especially now: stories about 14th Street real estate and the mechanics of American politics, the latest audacious comedy from the writer of Bad Jews, and a boundary-breaking summer performance series. They’re plays with the characteristic thoughtfulness and style of Studio work—with a little more oomph for a year of celebration.”
The season’ main series begins with the D.C. premiere of Bethesda native Steven Levenson’s If I Forget, which follows a family that’s fraying over the fault lines of contemporary Jewish identity.
Next is Cry It Out by Molly Smith Metzler, about two new mothers from different socioeconomic backgrounds who forge a friendship over the absurdities of parenting infants, and discover that hard choices can look very different from one family to the next.
Then Studio welcomes back Joshua Harmon, the playwright of its 2014 hit production Bad Jews, for his latest comedy, Admissions, in which the playwright takes aim at white liberalism and hypocrisy at a New England prep school.
Next is the premiere Queen of Basel, Hilary Bettis’s adaption of Miss Julie, August
Strindberg’s iconic play about class and sex, in which she adds race and immigration status to the mix by setting the action in the storage kitchen of a Miami hotel during Art Basel. Queen of Basel is supported by Studio
R&D, Studio’s incubator for new plays.
The Studio X series begins with The Fall, a music-filled piece written by University of Cape Town student activists who helped topple a statue of imperialist Cecil Rhodes during the 2015 #RhodesMustFall movement, only to face questions of how to build a movement after a symbolic victory.
In Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm’s comical, in-your-face world premiere P.Y.G. or
The Mis-Edumacation of Dorian Belle, a white Canadian pop star seeks the guidance of two black Chicago hip-hop artists to give him some street cred. This world premiere is supported by Studio R&D.
The Studio X season will also feature Alexandria native Sarah Burgess’s deep dive into weeds of D.C. politics with Kings, a comedy about lobbyists, lawmakers, and the destructive web of money, power, and influence in government.
Over the summer of 2019, Studio will also present SHOWROOM, a new curated performance series, which will serve a range of entertainments from the U.S. and beyond, alongside specialty drinks and snacks. Programming information is yet to be announced.
The Studio Theatre, now in its eighth season under the leadership of artistic director David Muse, is one of Washington’s premier venues for contemporary theatre, producing the work of today’s greatest writers, augmented by occasional productions of modern classics, performed by acclaimed actors in intimate spaces.
