Kreeger Theatre
By Clifford Odets
Directed by Zelda Fichandler

"A finely tuned revival...offers a front-row seat on the insecurities of the [Great Depression]" The Washington Post

Arena Stage Founding Director Zelda Fichandler returns to her home theater to direct this compelling tale of one family’s fight for survival during the Great Depression. Under the weight of the Great Depression, when each day seems like a struggle just to survive, the Bergers must work to maintain their storied culture and keep the family together. But through it all, they hold tight to their seemingly impossible dreams, always believing that a better life is within their reach.

Play Lovers Programming

Feb. 24
Post-Show Reception: Join other members of Washington’s GLBT community for an exclusive OUT AT ARENA post-show reception and intimate discussion with members of the cast of Awake and Sing! in the Old Vat Room. Price: $10.

By William Shakespeare
Directed by Aaron Posner

"Taut, acidly funny, starkly moving...easily one of Folger's most riveting offerings in recent years" The Washington Post

“Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall...” Shakespeare’s comedy becomes a profoundly modern satire on the complexity of legislating morality in this Folger production. Can the personal values of leaders regulate the conduct of citizens? What happens when leaders fall prey to the passions they have condemned? Performed in the Folger’s authentic Elizabethan theatre.

Play Lovers Programming

Feb. 1
Post-Show Discussion: Immediately following the
7:30pm show. Price included in ticket purchase for the evening.

By Joanna McClelland Glass
Directed by Gus Kaikkonen

A "full-bodied, fluid performance, gracefully balanced..." James Whitmore is
"a one-man Mount Rushmore." The Washington Post

Historic Ford’s Theatre presents this achingly beautiful show by Joanna McClelland Glass. Veteran actor James Whitmore portrays elder statesman Judge Francis Biddle, who served as US attorney general under Franklin D. Roosevelt. In the final year of his life, Biddle, aided by his young assistant, faces his hardest challenege ever—assessing the meaning of his life.

Play Lovers Programming

Feb. 17
Post-show discussion in the theatre following the
performance will cover issues presented in the play. Guest speakers to be announced. Price included in ticket purchase
for the evening.

Photo: James Whitmore, Inherit the Wind, Ford's Theatre, 2000 Photo by Stan Barouh

By Lope de Vega
Directed by Hugo Medrano

Lope de Vega, lord of the Spanish Golden age comedy, takes us to 16th century Italy, where bored Spanish soldiers protecting the Empire’s newest conquest work on conquests of another sort. The scenario attracts a colorful cast of scoundrels led by Castrucho (“matchmaker” of the entrepreneurial variety), the ingénue he longs for and her wicked caretaker, as well as boys dressed as prostitutes, girls dressed as soldiers and the men and women who do not discriminate in matters of love. The differences between truth and lies, male and female, war and sex go up in a puff of laughter in this erotic, comedic romp. Director Hugo Medrano pulls out all the stops to stage the US premiere of this rare and seldom produced gem from one of GALA’s favorite playwrights. All performances in Spanish with English surtitles.

Play Lovers Programming

Feb. 24
Opening Night “Encore” Afterparty, hosted by Coors after 8pm performance ($50)

Dame Edna: Back with a Vengeance
Feb. 21–Mar. 5

Following the success of her previous award-winning
shows, the international housewife and Tony®
award-winning megastar, Dame Edna Everage, is “Back with a Vengeance” In her newest Broadway hit, Edna glows in a spectacular series of never-before-seen gowns as she sings, dances and gives psychic readings to astonished audience members, offers marriage counseling and more. “Dame Edna has got it and she flaunts it! Long may she wave.” (New York Daily News).

By Dana Yeaton
Adapted from the novel
(New York Times Bestseller and Oprah Book Club Selection)
by Chris Bohjalian
Directed by Mark Ramont

On an icy winter night in an isolated house in rural Vermont, a seasoned midwife named Sibyl Danforth takes desperate measures to save a baby’s life. She performs an emergency cesarian section on a mother she believes has died of a stroke. But what if the mother wasn’t really dead? As Sibyl relives that fateful day, she faces the antagonism of the law, the hostility of traditional doctors and the accusations of her own conscience. Critics have called this taut courtroom drama “nothing short of spectacular.”

By Molière
Translated, adapted and directed by Stephen Wadsworth

Performed with "manic energy," Director Stephen Wadsworth's adaptation is "sharply drawn and stylishly staged." The Washington Post

This is the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s first production of a play by Molière, an artist frequently censored for his harsh critiques of society. His Don Juan so shocked its first audience in 1665 that it was immediately and persistently censored. Director Stephen Wadsworth’s translation re-imagines that premiere, the last time Molière’s original text was ever heard. Charismatic, anarchic and wickedly funny, Don Juan trains his piercing intellect on Louis XIV’s France and carves brilliantly into sex, politics, religion and the social contract, while his servant Sganarelle argues passionately for his master’s soul. When Heaven itself comes to punish him for his sins, Don Juan remains defiant, willing to risk all for the freedom to think and act as he pleases. Stephen Wadsworth makes his Shakespeare Theatre Company debut directing his reconstruction of Molière’s masterpiece. His version of the play earned him a decoration from the French government, and his productions of Molière have been called “undeniably rich and ambitious, packed with both spectacle and ideas” (Variety). Exclusive Come Out to Play Discount: 10%

Play Lovers Programming

Feb. 1
Post-Show Discussion: Following the evening performance of Don Juan all are welcome for a post-show discussion with members of the cast. Those attending the evening’s performance are guaranteed seats. Additional seating is available on a first-come basis. Call 202-547-1122 for the approximate start time. No reservations required. Free with admission to performance.

Music by Matt Conner
Lyrics adapted from the writings of Edgar Allan Poe
Book by Grace Barns
Directed by Eric Schaeffer

"An entrancing new musical" Washington Post

This imaginative world premiere musical uses Poe’s poetry and short stories as its base and his shifting obsession with the women in his life as its catalyst. With hauntingly beautiful melodies, Nevermore breathes new life into Poe’s work and explores a twisted true-life tale that is as bizarre as his classic stories of the macabre.

Play Lovers Programming

Feb. 7
Wine Tasting Tuesday: Signature is pleased to partner with The Curious Grape to offer wine enthusiasts a wine
tasting in the Signature lobby at 6:30pm, one hour before the
7:30pm show. Price included in ticket purchase for the evening.

Feb. 8
Discussion Night: Enjoy post-show question and answer sessions with members of the cast and crew after the 7:30pm show. Price included in ticket purchase for the evening.

Jan. 27 & 29
Pride Night: A special event for the GLBT community and friends. Performances are capped off with lively one-hour post-show receptions. Price included in ticket purchase for the evening.

By Neil LaBute
Directed by Paul Mullins
Starring Kate Debelack and Tyler Pierce
with Jason Odell Williams and Anne Bowles

“Neil LaBute’s comedy-drama seems to have struck a nerve.” Actress Kate Debelack is “a perfect fit.” The Washington Post

This bitingly funny modern romance kicks off The Studio Theatre’s Neil LaBute Festival. In a culture obsessed with beauty, can love ever be blind? Tom feels a magnetic attraction for the bright and witty Helen, but his coworkers are committed to saving him from himself. A brutally comic and painfully honest new work by the creator of Studio Theatre hits The Shape of Things and bash: latterday plays. LaBute is “the most legitimately provocative and polarizing playwright at work today.” (New York Metro). %

By Neil LaBute

LaBute's appetite for sudden plot reversals keeps audiences "waiting for the twist, the drop of the shoe...the little shocks," (Washington City Paper).

Unrequited love. Kidnapping. Nymphomania. Pedophilia. The Studio Theatre presents this tantalizing new collection of seven playlets, all set in the seat of a car. With edgy humor and shocking revelations, Autobahn explores the confines of this truly American space. “Hidden in the back seat of a sedan, I quickly realized how deep the chasm or intense the claustrophobia could be inside your average family car.” (Neil LaBute)

Part of the Neil LaBute Festival at The Studio Theatre

By Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa,
directed by Rebecca Taichman
Featuring Rick Foucheux,
Jennifer Mendenhall &
Michael Russotto

Hovering in a neverland between dreaming and waking, poor Bethany hasn’t slept in 13 years in an effort to protect her son Andrew from the Sandman. When her husband whisks Andrew away in the middle of the night, her already fragile grip on
reality starts to weaken—setting into frenzied motion this
blissfully twisted journey brimming with wild comic detours and surreal hallucinations. Out playwright and DC native Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa was nominated for a 2003 GLAAD Media Award and writes The Fantastic Four for Marvel Comics. Exclusive Come Out to Play Discount: $10 off ticket price

Play Lovers Programming

Feb. 8, 12 & Feb. 16
Post-Show Discussion: Meet the artists following the
performances on Feb. 8 at 8pm; Feb. 12 at 2pm and Feb. 16 at 8pm. Free with admission to performance.