Women's Voices Theater Festival Features 24 Works At DC Venues

WASHINGTON, D.C. – From Women's Voices Theater Festival: In a landmark effort to stage a paradigm shift in American theater, a consortium of 24 theaters across Washington, D.C. will unite to present new plays penned by women playwrights and women-led collectives for the second iteration of the Women’s Voices Theater Festival, from January 15-February 15, 2018. This citywide collaboration includes 13 World Premieres, as well as 11 American or Regional Premieres, with the playwright participating in the rehearsal and production process.

For the latest information about Festival events, visit WomensVoicesTheaterFestival.org. A full list of productions and descriptions is below, accurate at time of distribution.

The inaugural Festival in 2015 was heralded by The Washington Post as “inspired” and “unprecedented,” while The New York Times praised it as “an energizing showcase.”

Productions in the 2018 Women’s Voices Theater Festival swing from the imaginative to resonant commentary on topical issues. Playwrights translate the immigrant experience of Iraqis, Zimbabweans, and Romanians as they embrace and grapple with life in America [Noura, Familiar, Waxing West]. Characters navigate uncomfortable dualities, such as the intersection of police work, gun ownership, and the Black Lives Matter movement [Rabbit Summer]. They examine the life of an active duty Marine nearing her wedding day [The Veils], a queer Muslim wrestling to find balance between her religion and her sexuality [No Word in Guyanese for Me], and a recent college graduate striving for independence as family turmoil pulls her home [This Is All Just Temporary]. Others bridge current and historical struggles, exploring the complexities of American ideals from the perspectives of a Cherokee lawyer fighting for the autonomy of her Nation [Sovereignty], revolutionaries that call into question the principles of America’s Founding Fathers and the nature of freedom [Jefferson’s Garden], and a man imprisoned for more than a decade at the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center [4,380 Nights].

The interpersonal relationships of women, from the extraordinary to the familiar, are explored as playwrights dissect the locker room gossip of a youth soccer team [The Wolves], the complicated relationship between the Queen of England and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher [Handbagged], and Baltimore bon vivants and art collectors, Claribel and Etta Cone [All She Must Possess].

These broad offerings will build on the success of the first Festival, which saw an unparalleled rise in the representation of women in Washington, D.C. theater. The Festival’s inaugural season, 2015-2016, saw a marked increase in gender diversity, with 38.54% of plays written by women—an increase from 28.71% the previous year. The gender parity gap in American theater is well documented—American Theatre found that 26% of plays across the country were written by women (2016); 22% according to The Lilly Awards and Dramatists Guild (2015).

The first Festival was also an important forum for female playwrights whose World Premieres went on to be produced in other markets. In total, 13 productions by 17 playwrights went on to enjoy subsequent performances after the inaugural Festival.

Building on this momentum and recognizing the acute and ongoing need to continue to advocate for gender parity, the Festival’s originating theaters—Arena Stage, Ford’s Theatre, Round House Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Signature Theatre, Studio Theatre, and Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company—will once again collaborate with regional presenters to highlight the scope of new plays written by women and the range of professional theater being produced in and around the nation’s capital. The 2018 Women’s Voices Theater Festival is produced by Nan Barnett of Flanagan Theater Projects, with support from theatreWashington, led by President Amy Austin.

In conjunction with the Festival, organizers will also launch the first International Women’s Voices Day on Sunday, January 21, 2018, in partnership with National New Play Network (NNPN) and New Play Exchange® (NPX®). Expanding the impact of the Festival beyond Washington, D.C., International Women’s Voices Day invites theaters around the world to present readings of unproduced works by women playwrights. The event coincides with the anniversary of the revolutionary 2016 Women’s Marches. Using the robust and searchable NPX® database, theaters will find a previously unproduced play by a woman and, with the writer’s permission, host a reading of the work.

The Women’s Voices Theater Festival is grateful for the renewed support of lead donors Heidi and Mitch Dupler, and hope that their generosity spurs new and renewed support of individuals and foundations across the national capital region. Additional funding for the Festival comes from Share Fund, Arlene & Robert Kogod, Andrew Rodger Ammerman in tribute to Josephine Friedman Ammerman, and The Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation.

TodayTix is the official ticketing partner of the 2018 Women’s Voices Theater Festival.

Allied Integrated Marketing, 87AM, The Washington Post, and CultureCapital.com are the official media sponsors.

Women’s Voices Theater Festival 2018 Productions—Originating Theaters

Arena Stage
Sovereignty by Mary Kathryn Nagle; directed by Molly Smith
January 12—February 18, 2018
World Premiere

Some wounds refuse to heal. Mary Kathryn Nagle’s daring new work travels the intersections of personal and political truths, historic and present struggles. Sarah Ridge Polson, a young Cherokee lawyer fighting to restore her Nation’s jurisdiction, must confront the ever-present ghosts of her grandfathers. With shadows stretching from 1830s Cherokee Nation (now present-day Georgia) through Andrew Jackson’s Oval Office to the Cherokee Nation in present-day Oklahoma, Sovereignty asks how high the flames of anger can rise before they ultimately consume the truth.

Ford’s Theatre
Jefferson’s Garden by Timberlake Wertenbaker; directed by Nataki Garrett
January 19—February 8, 2018
American Premiere

In this sweeping drama, playwright Timberlake Wertenbaker explores the contradictions between our Founding Fathers’ ideals and the realities of freedom in America. Christian, a Quaker pacifist, defies his family to fight in the American Revolution. Susannah, an enslaved woman, is tempted to fight for the British when they promise liberation. The two meet and cross paths with Thomas Jefferson, George Mason, and Sally Hemings. These encounters force them to confront the compromises America makes after the promise of equality. Wertenbaker creates a dazzling world, taking us from Revolutionary battlefields to Paris to Monticello. Nataki Garrett (Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company’s An Octoroon) directs.

Round House Theatre
Handbagged by Moira Buffini; directed by Indhu Rubasingham
January 31—February 25, 2018
American Premiere

The Iron Lady. The Queen. Born six months apart, each woman had a destiny that would change the world. But when the stiff upper lip softened and the gloves came off, which one had the upper hand? The American premiere of the Olivier Award-winning comedy is helmed by Indhu Rubasingham, Artistic Director of the original Tricycle Theatre and West End productions in London, Handbagged is the wickedly funny new comedy that imagines what the world’s most powerful women talk about behind closed palace doors.

Shakespeare Theatre Company
Noura by Heather Raffo; directed by Joanna Settle
February 6—March 14, 2018
World Premiere

What does “home” mean and what will we do to protect it?

Noura challenges our notions of modern marriage and motherhood through a portrait of Iraqi immigrants living in New York. As Noura and her husband Tareq prepare to celebrate their first Christmas as American citizens, she looks forward to welcoming a special guest—Maryam, a young Iraqi refugee. But the girl’s arrival upends the family, forcing them to confront where they are, where they’ve been and who they have become.

In this world-premiere production, award-winning playwright and performer Heather Raffo (Nine Parts of Desire) draws on personal stories of Arab American women responding to A Doll’s House, Henrik Ibsen’s classic drama of one mother’s quest to balance her duty with her identity.

Signature Theatre
4,380 Nights by Annalisa Dias; directed by Kathleen Akerley
January 16—February 18, 2018
World Premiere

4,380 Nights is a complex and intriguing look at an American worldview created in the wake of 9/11. Over the course of 12 years, or 4,380 days, Malik Djamal Ahmad Essaid has been held without charge by the United States government at the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center. As he languishes in his cell, his interactions with those on the outside juxtapose with historical events in a riveting exposé into the most dangerous prison of all—fear. With a graceful poetry and a fluidity that spans time and place, D.C. playwright Annalisa Dias delivers a searing and timely critique of power, humanity and what it means to be American.

Studio Theatre
The Wolves by Sarah DeLappe; directed by Marti Lyons
January 17—March 4, 2018
Regional Premiere

Winter indoor soccer. Saturdays. Over quad stretches and squats, a team of young women prepares to defend the Wolves’ undefeated record, their banter spilling from tampons to genocide to the pressures of preparing for their adult lives. With an ear for the bravado and empathy of the teenage years, The Wolves explores the violence and teamwork of sports and adolescence, following a pack of 16-year-old girls who turn into warriors on the field. An acclaimed play from a new voice, Studio-commissioned writer Sarah DeLappe.

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
Familiar by Danai Gurira; directed by Adam Immerwahr
February 5—March 4, 2018
Regional Premiere

It’s winter in Minnesota, and a Zimbabwean immigrant family is preparing for the wedding of their eldest daughter, a first-generation American. But when the bride insists on observing roora, a traditional bride-price ceremony, it opens a deep rift in the household. Rowdy and affectionate, Familiar pitches tradition against assimilation among the members of one devoted family. Which will prove stronger: the customs they keep or the secrets they’ve kept buried? Familiar is the third Woolly production of Gurira’s work, after successful runs of Eclipsed (2016 Tony nominee for Best Play) and The Convert.

Women’s Voices Theater Festival 2018 Productions—Participating Theaters

4615 Theatre Company
Waxing West by Saviana Stanescu; directed by Jordan Friend
January 19—February 10, 2018
Regional Premiere

Winner of the New York Innovative Theatre Award, Romanian-born playwright Saviana Stanescu’s Waxing West turns an immigrant’s pursuit of the American Dream into a darkly funny modern fable. Moving and absurd, Stanescu’s play follows Romanian cosmetologist Daniela, who travels to New York to marry a lonely computer programmer she has never met. As she relives her memories both back home and in America, Daniela is haunted by the spirits of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife, who have returned from the dead as vampires with a knack for cultural commentary.

Ally Theatre Company
Rabbit Summer by Tracey Conyer Lee; directed by KenYatta Rogers
January 11—28, 2018
World Premiere

Wilson sees nothing wrong with his life, his marriage to Ruby, or his job as a police officer in the midst of the Black Lives Matter movement. He smiles through pain Ruby wishes he would share. When family friend, Claire, loses her husband to the quick trigger of a white police officer, Wilson is forced to explore his manhood, gun rights, secrets not well kept, and what it means to “live your truth” in an America built on lies.

Baltimore Center Stage
Skeleton Crew by Dominique Morisseau; directed by Nicole A. Watson
February 1—March 11, 2018
Maryland Premiere

Skeleton Crew, the third play in Dominique Morisseau’s acclaimed Detroit trilogy, tells the story of four workers at the last exporting auto plant in Detroit struggling to survive as their way of life disappears. Set around 2008, this play vividly portrays the modern struggle in a changing America and reveals the real people on the factory line. This skeleton crew—the bare minimum number of staff needed to function—is made up of people who keep the vital operations of the plant running in the face of obstacles, rumors, and, eventually, the confirmation of their worst fears. Loyalties are tested and boundaries are crossed as this vibrant team of loyal and proud workers navigate an uncertain future.

Brave Spirits Theatre
The Trojan Women Project, devised by Rachel Hynes and the ensemble
January 31—February 25, 2018
World Premiere

The Trojan Women Project looks at American women through the lens of Euripides’s The Trojan Women. This intersectional look at American women tries to discover why being women isn’t enough to unite us and whether or not we are the losers in the American Dream.

Convergence Theatre
This Is All Just Temporary by Olivia Haller; directed by Elena Velasco
January 19—February 10, 2018
World Premiere

Lauren, a recent college graduate, moves back in with her parents as she transitions into her adult world. She struggles between her desire to move away to build her own life and the urgent need to manage her family’s crisis as the behavioral aggression of Noah, Lauren’s autistic younger brother, severely increases.

dog & pony dc
Peepshow by dog & pony dc; directed by Rachel Grossman
February 7—25, 2018
World Premiere

Peepshow is a multi-media theatrical exhibition dissecting and subverting the female gender, objectification, and women in service. The audience will be complicit in constructing fanciful, heroic, absurd, and commonsensical stories. dog & pony dc will premiere their first new show in three years, created and performed entirely by a non-male-identifying ensemble and 100% accessible to Deaf and hearing audience members.

Folger Theatre
The Way of the World by Theresa Rebeck; directed by the playwright
January 9—February 11, 2018
Regional Premiere

Mae is a sweet-natured woman with just a little baggage—a $600 million inheritance. When her womanizing boyfriend Henry dallies with her aunt, the world seems too much for her. Both women become the object of ridicule and scandal—but Henry has a plan to win the heiress back. In the Hampton’s 1%, where money and status determine everything, can love conquer all? Freely adapted from William Congreve’s classic play, The Way of the World is a sparklingly witty physical comedy illuminating the foibles of the upper-class.

Mosaic Theater Company
Queens Girl in Africa by Caleen Sinnette Jennings; directed by Paige Hernandez
January 4—February 4, 2018
World Premiere

Mosaic’s first commission brings the World Premiere sequel to Caleen Sinnette Jennings’ “sweet-spirited solo show” Queens Girl in the World, which The New York Times described as one of the breakout hits of the first Women’s Voices Theater Festival. Queens Girl in Africa picks back up with Jacqueline Marie Butler as she and her family sail to Nigeria following the assassination of her father’s close friend, Malcolm X. Performed by Helen Hayes Award-winner Erika Rose, this is a touching coming-of-age story of a woman finding her place in Civil War-torn Nigeria.

Nu Sass Productions
The Veils by Hope Villanueva; directed by Angela Kay Pirko
February 15—March 4, 2018
World Premiere

Mel is happily engaged. She’s also an active Marine Corp translator. While on deployment, Mel’s father passes away, with her mother and sister left to pick up the pieces. When Mel finally returns home, she is haunted by nightmares, terrified not only by what she has seen and lost but by the prospect of going back to her family—particularly as her sister has commandeered wedding planning duties, with her first task being to find Mel’s gown. The Veils explores the experiences of a soldier coming to terms with being a part of two very different worlds and a woman who isn’t sure who she is or what she wants.

Olney Theatre Center
Aubergine by Julia Cho; directed by Vincent M. Lancisi
February 7—March 4, 2018
Regional Premiere

Ray leaves his job as a classically-trained French chef to take care of his dying father, a Korean immigrant, who never appreciated Ray’s culinary accomplishments. Food, which normally unites people, painfully divides Ray from his father, even as it serves as the key to memory and identity for all the characters in this off-Broadway hit. If the language of food lets him down, he’s even more vexed by the Korean language. Ray calls upon his estranged girlfriend Cornelia for translation services when his non-English speaking uncle arrives with a sack full of strange ingredients intended for a soup to nurse Ray’s father back to health. This life-affirming and perceptive drama from one of the country’s most important playwrights distills the flavors of rich characters and intense relationships.

Pointless Theatre Co.
Imogen, an original adaptation by Charlie Marie McGrath; directed by Charlie Marie McGrath
January 12—February 11, 2018
World Premiere

Pointless Theatre presents its interpretation of Shakespeare’s romance, Cymbeline. Adapted and directed by local artist Charlie Marie McGrath, Princess Imogen explores her expectations when the fairytale narrative doesn’t go according to plan. In Imogen, Pointless reimagines Shakespeare’s original adventure and the Bards’ most classic plot twists—mis-identity, an estranged royal family, fantastical forests, and even a wicked stepmother—intertwined with their unique use of puppetry, music, and dance.

Rainbow Theatre Project
No Word in Guyanese for Me by Wendy Graf; directed by Julia Hurley
February 8—March 4, 2018
Regional Premiere

No Word in Guyanese for Me is a poetic and lyrical exploration of religious and sexual identity. This is the journey of Hanna. From her childhood in Guyana to her adolescence in pre- and post-9/11 New York City, from a disastrous arranged marriage to her sexual awakening, Hanna struggles to come to terms with her sexual identity, her devotion to her faith, and the right to be accepted for who she is, a gay Muslim.

Rapid Lemon Productions
Love is a Blue Tick Hound by Audrey Cefaly; directed by Lee Conderacci, Donna Ibale, Lauren Erica Jackson, and Betse Lyons
January 12—21, 2018
Regional Premiere

Love Is A Blue Tick Hound is a collection of four 20-minute, one-act plays, three of which have received New York premieres and all of which have won multiple festivals throughout the U.S. and Canada. There is a state of inertia—a kind of reckless apathy—that is soul-crushing, yet we stand back and allow it. A thankless job. A bad marriage. A dysfunctional family. Although we are not truly "stuck," we convince ourselves that we are. Getting out requires math (the hard kind): Why do we settle... and what is the full cost of leaving? These are the central questions in Love is a Blue Tick Hound. Four intimate duets—Fin & Euba, Clean, The Gulf, and Stuck—that bear witness to all the many facets of love as the pairings form, flounder, and fall apart.

Rep Stage
All She Must Possess by Susan McCully; directed by Joseph W. Ritsch
February 8—25, 2018
World Premiere

The Baltimore Cone sisters, Dr. Claribel and Miss Etta, daughters of German-Jewish immigrants, could have lived tranquil, appropriate lives as respected Victorian ladies. Instead, the iconic duo voraciously collected art and curios from around the world. The unassuming Etta, often overshadowed by her sister, sat demurely among art and literary geniuses of the early 20th century while slowly amassing one of world’s greatest Modern art collections. All She Must Possess is a celebration of Etta’s extraordinary life. Works of art come alive and her one-time lover, Gertrude Stein, sings her praises on Etta’s journey to doyen of Modernity.

Spooky Action Theater
The Lathe of Heaven, adaptation by Natsu Onoda Power of Ursula K. Le Guin; directed by Natsu Onoda Power
January 25—March 11, 2018
World Premiere

Adapting from the book by Ursula LeGuin, Spooky Action Theater’s The Lathe of Heaven follows George Orr, a man blessed—or cursed—with reality-altering dreams who comes under the hand of a doctor eager to remake the world. But dreams won’t be trained, and the world itself slides into meltdown and chaos. Leaping in to save humanity, George is thrown into one more re-imagined world to restore balance.

Strand Theater Company
Count Down by Dominique Cieri; directed by Bari Hochwald
February 14—March 4, 2018
Regional Premiere

Count Down exposes the inherent dissonance between the child welfare system and the reality of children who have no choice but to spend their childhood and adolescence in its care. The play follows seven young girls abused, neglected, and lost in the welfare system. When Carmela, a teaching artist, enters in their lives, she gives the girls a chance to express themselves and reclaim their voices. Count Down was the recipient of the 2009 Mid Atlantic Individual Playwriting Fellowship and Finalist for Playwrights First Award, the National Arts Club, NYC.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Digging Up Dessa by Laura Schellhardt; directed by Rives Collins
February 3—18, 2018
World Premiere

Dessa is a 21st-century girl with no shortage of struggles, secrets, and mysteries to solve. From dinosaur bones to hidden memories, the world is filled with buried treasures just waiting to be uncovered. Luckily, thanks to the mysterious appearance of a remarkable friend—the pioneering 19th-century English paleontologist Mary Anning—young Dessa knows just how to excavate them. After a field trip to a museum reveals that Anning’s legacy has been buried, Dessa decides that she’s going to fight to earn her friend the credit she deserves. With help from her once-rival, Nilo, Dessa sets to work unearthing the secrets hidden beneath the surface of the past and present—for Mary’s history and her own future.

Photo Caption: Playwright Danai Gurira's work "Familiar" will be performed in Washington, D.C. Courtesy of Women's Voices Theater Festival