2013-14 SEASON ANNOUNCEMENT

In it’s tenth season, Spooky Action Theater presents three tales of illusion, dream and imagination         

Illusion, dream and imagination. These are the elements that comprise Spooky Action Theater Company’s 2013-2014 Season. Led by Artistic Director Richard Henrich, Spooky Action presentsThe Two-Character Play by Tennessee Williams, The Wedding Dress by Nelson Rodrigues andKwaidan by Lafcadio Hearn.

Henrich describes the coming season as being inspired by a “world that is rich and complex, but full of holes and inconsistencies. These plays reach beyond what we think we know. They reach beyond conventions… to the bigger reality that lies within the embrace of our imagination.”

Season Ten Features
The Two-Character Play by Tennessee Williams, October 3-27, 2013. A Washington premiere, this is a rarely seen later work by Williams, who described it as his “most beautiful play since Streetcar.” Evocative and haunting, The Two-Character Play is an illusion within an illusion and experienced on different levels by Felice and Clare, two actors on tour who are also brother and sister. Spooky Action’s Richard Henrich directs the production.

The Wedding Dress by Nelson Rodrigues, translated by Joffre Rodrigues, February 13 – March 9, 2014. Another Washington DC premiere, The Wedding Dress is the best known play by Brazil’s most famous playwright. The Brazilian Embassy will provide support for the production, which will be part of a mini festival featuring Rodrigues’ work. The retrospective festival will include readings of other plays and opportunities to hear specialists in Brazilian theater speak about the playwright and his place in Brazilian culture. Guest director Rebecca Holderness (Kafka on the Shore,Einstein’s Dreams) returns to Spooky Action to lead the production.

Kwaidan by Lafcadio Hearn, May 29 – June 22, 2014. Guest Director Izumi Ashizawa will create a visual feast to encompass these Japanese “ghost stories” collected by Hearn at the turn of the 20th century. Ashizawa’s Dreams in the Arms of the Binding Lady was a great success last year at the Kennedy Center, and she is quickly building an international reputation for her unique story-telling style, which combines traditional Japanese theater techniques with the lush resources of contemporary stagecraft. This will be the world premiere of Ashizawa’s new adaptation of these traditional Japanese tales.