2014 Theater J Brochure

THEATER J The

2014 - 2015 season

The Tale of the

Allergist’s Wife

G-D’S Call Honest Truth

epic

expressions

Life

Sucks (OR THE present

ridiculous]

YENTL

BUILD YOUR PERFECT PACKAGE DAY & TIME

PRICE

4 PLAYS 5 PLAYS* 6 PLAYS* WEDNESDAY EVENING $165 $200 $225 THURSDAY EVENING $165 $200 $225 SATURDAY MATINEE $185 $220 $245 SATURDAY EVENING $210 $250 $275

DAY & TIME

PRICE

4 PLAYS 5 PLAYS* 6 PLAYS* SUNDAY MATINEE $185 $220 $245 SUNDAY EVENING $135 $165 $190 WEEKDAY MATINEE** $80 $100 $120 OPENING NIGHT $270 $295 *Best Deal—Includes a FREE guest ticket **limited dates

OR

SUBSCRIBE WITH A FLEX PASS

BEYOND the

STAGE @THEATERJ

/THEATERJDC

Pick your shows and dates later.

Use however, whenever.

TICKETS

PRICE

SIX TICKETS

$240

EIGHT TICKETS

$320

TEN TICKETS*

$400

*Best Deal—Includes a FREE guest ticket

Theater J is dedicated to taking its dialogues beyond the stage, offering an array of innovative public discussion forums, readings and programs which explore the theatrical, cultural and social elements of our art throughout the year. Includes Friday afternoon TEA@2 readings, LOCALLY GROWN Festival readings, panels, cast talk backs and other post-show discussions.

THEATERJBLOGS.WORDPRESS.COM

A NOTE FROM THE

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

DEAR FRIENDS,

After a season offering some of the most ambitious, thought-provoking, critically acclaimed work in the country, Theater J’s brand new 2014-2015 season of Epic Expressions promises a line-up of socially relevant drama. Six big plays with big ideas will intertwine the political, the personal, the poignant and the provocative. We’ll take on feminist aspirations within a religious community, interracial adoption within a gentrifying community and the ethics of assisted suicide in the face of political despair, alongside timeless questions of love, envy and spiritual longing.

Artists in Residence

We open with the klezmer-inflected indie-folk-rock musical Yentl. Under the direction of Associate Artistic Director Shirley Serotsky, this new wave Yentl offers a passionate, rebellious, full-throated way to ring in the Jewish New Year.

Our grand season theme is set emphatically by Tony Kushner’s brilliant opus, The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to The Scriptures. Epic in its range of subject matter, the play may be Kushner’s finest and will leave you energized by the possibilities of what the theater still can do.

NAOMI JACOBSON

JOHN LESCAULT

Come the winter, we’re offering back-to-back world premieres by local star playwrights, Aaron Posner and Renee Calarco. The productions will feature three of our four Associate Artists-in-Residence for the season: John Lescault, Naomi Jacobson and Sasha Olinick, all beloved Theater J veterans. In Posner’s latest Chekhovian riff, Life Sucks (Or The Present Ridiculous), the emotions are about aging, lust, loss and jealousy, and the work is funny, irreverent and deeply touching. For Calarco, the big themes in this local tale of exotic deception include the need to connect to something mightier than material comfort and the desire to own the ineffable.

The premieres are followed by an important statement we’re making in embracing Tanya Barfield’s The Call at The Atlas in Northeast DC. Our production doubles down on our commitment to continue the conversation on race and the changing face of the American family. You’ll love the stimulating environment at The Atlas and find it the perfect setting to contemplate the issues raised by our production.

SASHA OLINICK

% #(#& 5 "-

SUSAN ROME

Finally we come back to celebrate 30 years of the outrageous camp artist, Charles Busch, whose Broadway hit The Tale of The Allergist’s Wife is brought riotously up-to-date in this hilarious cry for relevance from an aging Upper West Side matron (featuring our fourth Associate Artist-in-Residence, Susan Rome).

We’ll continue workshopping great new work of local and international relevance in our new play development program and offer more of our unparalleled post-show programming. We’re thrilled to be back for another season and hope you’ll be with us for every step of this epic adventure!

AUGUST 28 TO OCTOBER 5, 2014

BY LEAH NAPOLIN & ISAAC BASHEVIS SINGER, BASED ON YENTL THE YESHIVA BOY BY ISAAC BASHEVIS SINGER, WITH NEW MUSIC

BY JILL SOBULE, DIRECTED BY THEATER J ASSOCIATE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR SHIRLEY SEROTSKY As a girl in 19th Century Eastern Europe, Yentl is forbidden to pursue her dream of studying Talmud. Unwilling to accept her fate, she disguises herself as a man. But when she falls in love, Yentl must decide how far she’s willing to go to protect her identity. Invigorated with a bracing klezmer/pop/rock score from Jill Sobule (the original “I Kissed a Girl”), Yentl asks up-to-the-minute questions about gender and sexuality.

FEATURING Aaron Bliden, Joe Brack, Michael Kevin Darnall, Brandon McCoy, Amy McWilliams, Sasha Olinick, Jesse Terrill, Shayna Blass, Judith Ingber, Shane O’Loughlin, Shanta Parasuraman, Sara Dabney Tisdale, Lindsay Elizabeth Williams The Annual Arthur Tracy “The Street Singer” Endowment Production: Honoring the memory and musical legacy of Arthur Tracy – the renowned radio, stage and screen singer and entertainer whose talents delighted millions around the world – the arts programs supported by this fund continue Tracy’s ability to entertain for years to come.

“Sweetness and laughter with a modern twist” - Sarasota Herald Tribune

NOVEMBER 13 TO DECEMBER 21, 2014

BY TONY KUSHNER, DIRECTED BY JOHN VREEKE* When retired longshoreman and lifelong Communist Gus summons his three adult children to their Brooklyn home to explain why he’s selling the family brownstone and ending his life, things don’t go exactly as planned. The children bring their own dramas; Pill and his husband are stumbling as an old flame resurfaces, Empty and her wife are squabbling as they await the birth of their child, and Vic is confronting long-buried truths. A deeply emotional battle over what makes life worth living from Tony, Obie, Emmy and Pulitzer Prize winner Tony Kushner in a newly updated epic making its DC premiere.

FEATURING Tim Getman, Susan Rome, Sue Jin Song, James Whalen, Tom Wiggin, Michael Anthony Williams, Josh Adams, Rena Cherry Brown, Jenifer Deal, Lisa Hodsoll *Fisher Family Foundation Visiting Artist

“...densely textured… exciting… so much passion and eloquence” – The New York Times

JANUARY 14 TO FEBRUARY 15, 2015

A WORLD PREMIERE (OR THE PRESENT RIDICULOUS) WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY AARON POSNER, LOOSELY BASED ON UNCLE VANYA BY ANTON CHEKHOV It’s tough being the gorgeous woman desired by all but understood by none. Or the homely girl with a heart of gold. Or the middle-aged man insightful enough to see the depth of his own failings. In fact, Life Sucks for everyone in Aaron Posner’s new play, a variation on Chekhov’s classic work Uncle Vanya. The torpor of life on Sonia’s and Uncle Vanya’s country estate erupts when the Professor and his much younger wife Ella pay a visit in this poignant, hilarious play about love and longing.

FEATURING Kimberly Gilbert, Eric Hissom, Naomi Jacobson, John Lescault, Sasha Olinick, Monica West, Judith Ingber

From the Helen Hayes Award-winning playwright of Stupid Fucking Bird and the Adapter/Director of Chaim Potok’s The Chosen

MARCH 18 TO APRIL 19, 2015

A WORLD PREMIERE

G-D’S Honest Truth

BY RENEE CALARCO, DIRECTED BY JENNY MCCONNELL FREDERICK Roberta and Larry always try to do the right thing – for their son, for their marriage and especially for their synagogue. When they have the opportunity to help rescue a Holocaust Torah, they know they have to bring it to Temple Beth David. Partially inspired by the true story of Rabbi Menachem Youlus, the selfdubbed “Jewish Indiana Jones,” G-d’s Honest Truth asks how far we would go to believe a story that’s too good to be true. Told with humor and pathos by the Helen Hayes Award-winning playwright, and recent recipient of the 2014 Jewish Plays Project Award.

FEATURING Naomi Jacobson, Michael Kramer, John Lescault, Eric M. Messner, Sasha Olinick, Audrey Bertaux, Rena Cherry Brown

From the Helen Hayes Award-winning author of The Religion Thing

AT

MAY 6 TO MAY 31, 2015

ATLAS PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

BY TANYA BARFIELD, DIRECTED BY JENNIFER L. NELSON When Annie and Peter decide to adopt, they set their sights on a child from Africa. But as reality sinks in and reactions from African-American friends take hold, it sparks an uncertainty that speaks to their very identity as White Americans. Acutely funny and tack-sharp, The Call is a startling portrait of cultural divide, casting global issues into the heart of an American home.

FEATURING Brandy Burre, Deidra LaWan Starnes, JaBen Early, Kelly Renee Armstrong, Jonathan Feuer

“A thoughtful and engrossing new play.” – The New York Times

ATLAS

PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

1333 H Street NE

BY CHARLES BUSCH, DIRECTED BY ELEANOR HOLDRIDGE

Marjorie Taub, Upper West Sider and devoted lady who lunches, is deep in the throes of mid-life existential ennui when an enigmatic childhood friend with a taste for mischief unexpectedly arrives at her door. Can Marjorie, her longsuffering mother and her loving husband Dr. Ira Taub, Board Certified Allergist, survive the shake-up? A Tony-nominated, uproarious, satirical comedy, newly updated for topical hilarity, from the masterful Charles Busch. With additional readings during the month celebrating “Thirty Years of Charles Busch” including the comic romps Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, Red Scare on Sunset and Olive and the Bitter Herbs.

FEATURING Lise Bruneau, Paul Morella, Barbara Rappaport, Susan Rome, Maboud Ebrahimzadeh

“Wall-to-wall laughs.” – The New York Times

Subscriber O BENEFITS

Washington DCJCC Morris Cafritz Center for the Arts Irwin P. Edlavitch Building 1529 Sixteenth Street NW Washington, DC 20036

SAVE UP TO 20% OFF SINGLE TICKETS THE BEST SEATS DISCOUNTS ON TICKETS FOR FRIENDS & FAMILY UNLIMITED TICKET EXCHANGES BRING-A-FRIEND TICKETS TICKET REMINDERS THE WEEK OF YOUR PERFORMANCE

For individual tickets:

800.494.8497 For group tickets:

202.777.3214

theaterj.org Washington DCJCC Leadership

ROSE H. COHEN, PRESIDENT CAROLE R. ZAWATSKY, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Theater J Leadership

ARI ROTH, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR REBECCA ENDE, MANAGING DIRECTOR

ILLUSTRATIONS BY GREGORY FERRAND, GFERRAND.COM

@TheaterJ

/theaterjdc

theaterjblogs.wordpress.com