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A few years back, Canadian playwright Carole Fréchette stood at a turning point. She had reached a place in her personal and professional life where she could choose many different paths, but the only path she wanted to pursue was forbidden. The struggle reminded her of the French folk tale “Bluebeard", written over 300 years ago by Charles Perrault, in which a young lady is warned by her husband that she can open all the doors in the castle, except one.
“As soon as I read ‘Bluebeard’ again, I knew I wanted to write a play based on this simple story, and I knew that it was going to begin with a woman standing in front of a closed door,” remembers Carole. “Yes, of course, ‘Bluebeard’ was an inspiration, but what attracted me was the beauty of this tale, its simplicity. It brings us characters that we find inside ourselves, that speak of our anguish, fears and buried desires. The play Carole Fréchette wrote inspired by her own anguish, fear and desire is The Small Room at the Top of the Stairs. Described by The Globe and Mail as a “Little Gem”, the play will be staged for the first time in Washington DC at Spooky Action Theater, directed by Helen Murray, Artistic Director of The Hub Theatre. On stage, five Washington actors, Michael Kevin Darnall, Carolyn Kashner, Tuyet Thi Pham, Casie Platt and Mindy Shaw, tell the tale of Grace, a young woman named after a princess who finds herself irresistibly drawn to a mysterious and forbidden room. She has everything—a mansion filled with lavish rooms, a maid servant, an adoring husband who makes no demands except one … she cannot go into the small room at the top of the stairs. "Certainly, we can see Grace as a woman oppressed by her domineering husband, but this is not all that interested me. What I was drawn to from the beginning is the 'forbidden', represented by the closed door, and the desire to enter it," says Carole. "The conflict I wanted to explore was not so much the conflict between Grace and her husband, but the more painful one, her own conflict. Grace is divided between her desire to live in the comfort offered by the man she loves and her need to put herself in danger to confront a mystery and the truth. Carole Fréchette has written fifteen plays, which have been translated into twenty languages and staged all over the world, from Montréal to Reykjavik, and Paris to Tokyo. Fréchette was awarded the Governor General’s Award twice and also received the Chalmers Award. She is the 2002 winner of the Siminovitch Prize, a prestigious award that celebrates each year an acknowledged leader in Canadian theatre whose work is transformative and influential. Despite her international recognition, she is seldom staged in the US, which makes Spooky Action's production a unique opportunity for Washington audiences. "My plays are often presented in Europe, Latin America, Canada, even in Asia, but rarely in the US, " says Carole. "It is a mystery why that happens, because I still feel that my writing belongs to North America, to a style of life, a reality, a view of the world which is closer to those living in Boston or Washington DC than to people in Ushuaia, in the Land of Fire (!), where one of my plays is being presented now." THE SMALL ROOM AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS by Carole Fréchette, translated by John Murrell Directed by Helen Murray, artistic director of The Hub Theatre Featuring: Michael Kevin Darnall, Carolyn Kashner, Tuyet Thi Pham, Casie Platt and Mindy Shaw DESIGN TEAM Set Design - Jonathan Dahm Robertson Lighting Design - Brittany Shemuga Costume Design - Amy MacDonald Sound Design - David Crandall Props Design - Amy Kellett May 17 - June 10, 2018
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Spooky Action Theater and the Georgetown University Theater & Performance Studies Program present The Lathe of Heaven, based on the 1971 award-winning science fiction novel by Ursula K. Le Guin, as part of Washington’s 2018 Women’s Voices Theater Festival.
Adapted and directed by Natsu Onoda Power, Associate Professor of Theater and Performance Studies and Artistic Director of the Davis Performing Arts Center at Georgetown University, the production features a blended cast of Washington professionals and GU student actors. The production previews for one weekend at Georgetown (Jan. 25-27, 2018), followed by a four week run at Spooky Action Theater (Feb. 15 –March 11, 2018). Author Ursula K Le Guin has received a host of awards for her work, including Hugo, Nebula and National Book Awards, PEN-Malamud, and the National Book Foundation Medal. Her recently published book “No Time to Spare: Thinking About What Matters” is a set of engaging personal essays that has won over a wide range of readers. The Boston Globe calls the work of “singular playwright-director” Natsu Onoda Power “bracingly original and head-spinning,” and The Washington Post applauds her style as “breathtakingly imaginative, eye-delighting.” Onoda Power’s projects as director have been seen in the Washington region at Studio Theatre, Mosaic Theater, Theatre J and Center Stage Baltimore, in addition to many productions at Georgetown University. Spooky Action Artistic Director Richard Henrich is excited by Onoda Power’s “unique style, which includes hands-on contributions in set, props and puppetry design in addition to directorial oversight. Natsu brings a thoroughly integrated artistic vision to a complex, highly imaginative story.” The Lathe of Heaven takes place in a future world racked by violence and environmental catastrophe, in which George Orr wakes up one day to discover that his dreams, over which he has no control, effectively alter reality. He seeks help from Dr. William Haber, a dream psychologist who immediately grasps the potential power George wields. Soon George must preserve reality itself, as Dr. Haber warms to the task of manipulating George’s dreams to transform the world. Director Onoda Power says, “The book is deeply resonant now when all of our nightmares are becoming reality, every day. Though written over forty years ago, the fundamental hopes and fears of the characters land right on target. Working on this project is a great opportunity for us to explore how the past imagined the ‘future’ – and how that future is our present today.” The Cast is led by veteran Washington actors Matthew Marcus, Erica Chamblee and Matthew Vaky, supported by an ensemble of Georgetown University theater students – Mark Camilli, Vanessa Chapoy, Jonathan Compo, Michaela Farrell, Kate Ginna, Maddy Rice and Adrian Iglesias. The Lathe of Heaven Production Team includes Lighting Designer Adam Bacigalupo, Sound Designer Roc Lee, Costume Designer Debra Kim Sivigny, Props Designer Caolan Overman Eder and Projection Designer Danny Carr. THE LATHE OF HEAVEN Adapted and Directed by Natsu Onoda Power based on the novel by Ursula K. Le Guin Previews Jan 25 – 27, 2018 Georgetown University Davis Performing Arts Center 37th and O Streets, NW in Washington, DC 20057. Purchase tickets online or call 202-687-ARTS (2787) Continuing Feb 15 – Mar 11, 2018 Spooky Action Theater Performing at The Universalist National Memorial Church 1810 16th St. NW. Washington, DC 20009 Purchase tickets online or call 202-248-0301 Presented with generous support from DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, The Share Fund, The Paul M Angell Foundation and the JR & VW Oishei Foundation Spooky Action opens its 2016-2017 Season with Rameau's Nephew, a play that was too hot to put into print when it was written (1761-1776), and author Denis Diderot allowed it to circulate only in manuscript. Musician, maniac, madcap, mimic… and genius all in one, the destitute nephew of the famous Rameau trades witticisms with a logical Philosopher, deconstructing his perfectly rationalized and orderly world with wildly antic energy. The Nephew transforms into an entire cast of hilarious characters as he sets each scene of his argument. Laughably witty, wise and thought-provoking, this physical comedy is a delight for the eyes and the mind.
“Why Rameau? Because it makes me laugh,” says director Henrich, “and because it’s about genius. I laugh at Rameau the mimic, who can’t describe a character without slipping into his skin and exuberantly becoming him – or her. The play tickles me beyond all reason and makes me feel the demon genius of Rameau has slipped under my own skin as well.” The production design team includes Giorgos Tsappas (set design), nominated for a Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Set Design for Jarry Inside Out (a Spooky Action Production); Erik Teague (costume design), who also received a Helen Hayes Award nomination for Last of the Whyos (another SAT production); Brittany Shemuga (lighting design); and David Crandall (sound design). *Member Actors' Equity Association In 1992, the English director Peter Brook and the French writer Marie-Hélène Estienne decided to seek inspiration in The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by the eminent neurologist Oliver Sacks to create a new performance for their troupe at The Bouffes du Nord Theatre, in Paris. One year later, after an extensive period of research, improvisation and exploration, Brook finally opened The Man Who. Already described as "the most magically effective exploration of the mind (also possibly the soul) ever attempted on the stage," The Man Who will be staged for the first time in Washington DC by Spooky Action Theater Artistic Director Richard Henrich and Associate Director Elena Day.
We all have a brain and we think we know it. But the moment we go inside, we find we are on another planet. In the words of the Persian poem The Conference of the Birds, "this is the valley of astonishment." - Peter Brook On stage, four actors (David Gaines, Tuyet Thi Pham, Carlos Saldana and Eva Wilhelm) move seamlessly between their roles as both patients and doctors. As in Sacks' book, The Man Who patients suffer from deeply peculiar, sometimes tragic, neurological conditions. The traumas responsible for their conditions are sometimes mentioned, but it is their personal stories that are arresting and compelling. One patient is convinced she is living a continuous dream and plots a desperate strategy to wake herself up. Another patient's memory stopped working 27 years ago, and he now uses humor and imagination to shape an everchanging present unlinked from the past. And of course, there is the man who mistook his wife for a hat, who replaces his loss of visual recognition with a special music to engage each task and reclaim his life. " 'What is reality?' asks a doctor in The Man Who. Oliver Sacks saw his patients as heroes endowed with great courage and tenacity, moving through realities stunningly altered by neurological quirks. If, like Sacks, we step for a moment into the patients’ shoes, we see our human mind has vast and surprising possibilities," says Henrich. "Conventional reality is simply the starting point in an astonishing universe just waiting for us to explore in The Man Who." THE MAN WHO by Peter Brook and Marie-Hélène Estienne inspired by The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks Directed by Richard Henrich and Associate Director Elena Day Featuring David Gaines, Tuyet Thi Pham, Carlos Saldana and Eva Wilhelm May 11 - June 4, 2017 Thu - Sat @ 8:00 PM Sun @ 3:00 PM - Running time: 90 min Tickets $30-40 - Special discounts for students and seniors Group rates available Purchase tickets online or at the theater one hour before performances. For more information, or to purchase by phone call 202-248-0301. Presented with generous support from DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, The Share Fund, The Paul M Angell Foundation and The JR & VW Oishei Foundation Spooky Action Theater and the Goethe-Institut Washington bring the interactive performance event Happy Hour by the emerging German theater company machina eX to Washington May 14 - June 5, 2016. Blending video games, live theater, and interactive installation, this English-language premiere of Happy Hour brings machina eX’s signature high-quality technology to Spooky Action Theater’s versatile and imaginative playing space. Designed for no more than 20 audience members at a time, this immersive experience creates an active exchange among the players (audience), and between the audience and the actors - the human avatars - in the other room.
Happy Hour, a hilarious and thought-provoking immersive theater performance, pits two small teams of audience members against one another in a race to solve a series of puzzles. Drinks in hand, the teams must help their human avatars escape the clutches of the evil mastermind holding them captive. A diabolical bartender gives each team the tools they need to communicate in this theatrical twist on the familiar Room Escape video game. As the avatars’ puzzles become increasingly complex, will either team find the keys, unlock the doors, and beat the clock to save the stranger they have been guiding on the other side of the screen? Co-Directors: Yves Regenass (machina eX) & Gillian Drake (Spooky Action Theater) US Scenic Design: Kim Sammis US Technology Direction and Lighting Design: Gordon Nimmo-Smith US Costume Design: Lynn Sharp Spears US SoundDesign: Matias Prince US Adaptation, Game and Interaction Design: Jan Philip Steimel & Lasse Marburg (machina eX) US Stage Manager: Becky Reed US Technical Director/Software Operator: Charles Cobb US Props: Becky Mezzanotte, Oliver Ann Hinson, & Elizabeth Long Software Operator: Justin Herman Audio/Visual Advisor: Natalie Kinsaul Deck Crew: Patrick Derrickson Original Production, Artistic Direction and Game Design: machina eX and Gessnerallee Zurich, at which Happy Hour premiered. ”Why did we just do that?”, a girl in my group asks after we tried different combinations of commands in a collective power frenzy and forced the performer ... to do absurd and sometimes repetitive operations just like a puppet on a string. “Because it is fun,” another girl answers. - Andreas Tobler, Tagesanzeiger Zürich “In a previously unseen way the group mixes two worlds which so far seemed incompatible. And they accomplish it with flying colors” - Jan Graber for 20 Minuten PRODUCING PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS machina eX machina eX is a company of media and theatre artists from Germany designing computer games in real life environments. Blending theater performance with the power of digital gaming principles, machina eX enchants performers and players alike and turns theatrical stages into fantastic interactive worlds. Audiences plunge into the world of the game and find themselves in the midst of a story that they must guide to its conclusion. machina eX is returning to DC following a successful production of the award-winning 15’000 Gray at the 2014 Zeitgeist Festival. http://machinaex.de Spooky Action Theater Located in a historic church along Washington, DC’s U Street corridor, Spooky Action Theater (SAT) is a dynamic, young theater company that has been recharging the audience's imaginative, intuitive, emotional core by linking artists & audience in a collaborative enterprise. www.spookyaction.org Goethe-Institut Washington The Goethe-Institut Washington, the German cultural center, organizes and supports cultural events that present German culture abroad and that further the transatlantic dialogue regarding today’s challenging questions. www.goethe.de/washington Made possible with additional support from the German Federal Foreign Office and Friends of the Goethe-Institut Washington DATES Preview Performances May 12-13 PWYC at the door Opening Night Saturday, May 14 at 7:00pm & 9:00pm Thursdays & Fridays: 7:00pm & 9:00pm Saturdays: 7:00pm & 9:00pm Sundays: 2:30pm & 4:30pm Performances run through June 5, 2016 LOCATION Spooky Action Theater, 1810 16th St. NW, Washington, DC (Metro: Dupont Circle or U Street) TICKET SALES Please visit Spooky Action Theater’s website for ticket purchases. All tickets are general admission. Our bar and gaming room seats 20 audience members per performance. The two gaming tables can each seat 10 patrons. GROUP SALES: This interactive event will team up audience members with their fellow patrons. Groups of friends who wish to play together may contact the Box Office directly at info@spookyaction.org or (202) 248-0301 for group sales information and pricing. PRESS CONTACT Norma Broadwater, Goethe-Institut Roberta Alves, Spooky Action Theater 202-847-4707 202-352-5623 nbroadwater@washington.goethe.org roalves@spookyaction.org Bulgakov and Stalin play a lethal game of cat and mouse in award winning script
Recipient of the 2012 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play, Collaborators comes to Washington DC directed by Richard Henrich "A truly tremendous double act which thrills, chills and makes you laugh out loud - even though you know you shouldn't." - Daily Telegraph "Collaborators is fresh and energetic, with a thick, throbbing vein of grotesque humour." - Evening Standard "Rare and special… An absurdly fantastic view of Stalin, and it’s seriously funny." - The Times Featuring Paul Reisman, Joe Duquette, Michael Harris, MacKenzie Lynn Beyer, Kim Curtis, Mindy Shaw, Ryan Dalusung, Steve Beall, Sha Golanski, Robert Bowen Smith, Amal Saade, Liz Dutton, Willem Krumich and Matthew Marcus Recognized as a valued contributor to the DC performing arts community for bringing new and sharp scripts to the area, like The Wedding Dress, Kwaidan and Can't Complain, Spooky Action Theater presents Collaborators, another Washington Area Premiere. Recipient of the 2012 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play, Collaborators was written by British playwright John Hodge, also known for his Academy Award nominated screenplay for the film Trainspotting, based on the novel by Irvine Welsh. Collaborators takes place in Moscow in 1938. Russian writer and playwright Mikhail Bulgakov has just finished his play Molière, or The Cabal of Hypocrites, which his friends acclaim a masterpiece. The day after the premiere, he is visited by two secret policemen from the NKVD. He learns his play is banned and will never be shown again unless he writes a new play glorifying the leader of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin, in honor of the dictator’s 60th birthday. Bulgakov must accept the commission - his hands are tied. But he is thoroughly blocked and baffled, until he gets help from an unexpected source. The deal that he cuts leads to unexpected and darkly comic consequences, both for himself and for his country. "Bulgakov was the last man standing. That's why they chose him, because it means more," explains Hodge. "We talk about artistic compromise now. But we know nothing. The worst that can happen is that we have to get another job. It's not as though your life is at stake, or that your wife will be killed." It's not the first time Spooky Action Theater has explored Bulgakov's work. In 2009, SAT presented Heart of a Dog, a hilarious satire about a great Professor who performs a surgical miracle with transplants, transforming a stray dog into a human. On reading Collaborators, Artistic Director Richard Henrich could not resist the play's irreverent, sly humour. "While the play is about Bulgakov rather than by him," says Henrich, "Hodge has brilliantly infused it with the Russian playwright’s wild imagination and sense of comic absurdity. It is a modern Faust and the Devil. What starts as a cat and mouse game between irascible dictator and wily, free thinking playwright, quickly runs in a headlong rush from comic to catastrophic. The play makes us laugh then tremble, leaving us finally with the realization we are never bystanders but always players in the great game of fate." The production design team includes artists who have collaborated on many previous SAT productions as well as projects at a number of regional theaters, like Giorgos Tsappas (set design), David Crandall (sound design) and Brian S. Allard (lighting design), as well as Alisa Mandel who is credited with the imaginative and playful costume design for Heart of a Dog. COLLABORATORS February 11-March 6, 2016 Thu - Sat @ 8:00 PM, Sun @ 3:00 PM – Running time 2 hours Tickets $25-35. Special discounts for students and seniors. Group Rates available. Purchase tickets online HERE or at the theater one hour before performances. For information, or to purchase by phone, call 202-248-0301. Spooky Action Theater performing at The Universalist National Memorial Church 1810 16th St. NW Washington, DC 20009 NEW! Free off-street parking is available for every performance at the Masonic Temple, diagonally across from the theater. Visit www.spookyaction.org to see performance schedules and purchase tickets |
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