Rep Stage Presents Off-Broadway Smash Hit "Speech and Debate"

Rep Stage Presents Recent Off-Broadway Smash Hit “Speech & Debate”

April 13 to May 1

Dynamite four-person cast and director — all new to Rep Stage — bring this hilarious comedy to the stage

Rep Stage, the professional Equity theatre in residence at Howard Community College (HCC), closes its 18th season with Stephen Karam’s “Speech & Debate,” directed by Eve Muson and featuring Parker Drown, the 2010 recipient of the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Musical.

“Speech & Debate” opens April 13 and runs through May 1, 2011 in the Studio Theatre of the Horowitz Visual and Performing Arts Center (HVPA) on the HCC campus. For tickets and additional information, visit www.repstage.org or call 443-518-1500.

A post-show reception follows the Saturday, April 16 evening performance and free post-show discussions follow the April 22 and 29 performances. 

Press performance is Saturday, April 16 at 8 p.m. For media photos and reservations, contact Mike Scrivener in the HCC Office of Public Relations and Marketing at 443-518-3133 ormscrivener@howardcc.edu.

“Young and Gay in Howard County,” a panel discussion led by Colette Roberts, founder of Howard County Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, will precede the Saturday, April 30afternoon performance at 12:30 p.m. Topics to be discussed include family and community support, coming out, bullying, marriage and advocacy.

“Speech & Debate” is a distinctive comedy dealing with what happens when three students are suddenly armed with knowledge of a sex scandal involving one of their high school teachers. Michael Stebbins, Rep Stage’s producing artistic director, adds, “These three high school misfits — a frumpy girl, nerdy guy and openly gay guy — are brought together as they grapple with this taboo subject through song, dance, role-playing and cyberspace. These are characters that you laugh with, empathize with, and root for all the way.”

In its review of ”Speech & Debate,” The New York Times wrote, ”The play’s real accomplishment is its picture of the borderland between late adolescence and adulthood, where grown-up ideas and ambition coexist with childish will and bravado.”

Meet the Playwright:

Stephen Karam’s “Speech & Debate” was produced Off-Broadway by Roundabout Theatre Company as the inaugural production of Roundabout Underground. He is the co-author of “Columbinus” (2006 Helen Hayes nomination), which ran at the New York Theatre Workshop following a co-production by Round House/Perseverance Theatres. His last two plays, “Speech & Debate” and “Girl on Girl,” debuted as workshop productions at the Brown/Trinity Playwrights Repertory Theatre. He is currently working on a new play commission for Roundabout Theatre Company and a screenplay adaptation of “Speech & Debate” for Overture Films. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brown University.

Meet the Director:

Eve Muson’s directing credits include “Venus,” “Godspell,” “Big River” and “Peter Pan” at Olney Theatre Center, and many productions at Boston Playwrights Theatre, American Stage Festival, and Edinburgh Festival Fringe. She has directed dozens of university plays including “Las Meninas,” “The Cripple of Inishmaan,” “Arcadia,” “Slavs!,” “Metamorphoses,” “Two Shakespearean Actor,” and “On the Razzle.” She has been twice cited for Outstanding Direction by the Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival for her work on “Un Tango En La Noche” at Boston University and “Las Meninas” at UMBC. She is an assistant professor of theatre and head of the B.F.A. acting program at University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Meet the Cast:

Florrie Bagel’s (Diwata) regional credits include “Nobody's Perfect” with the Kennedy Center Family Theatre/National Tour; “Jerry Springer: The Opera” at Studio Theatre 2ndStage; “Into the Woods” at Signature Theatre; “Peter Pan” and “Godspell” at Olney Theatre Center;  and “The Stephen Schwartz Project” at Metrostage.

Parker Drown’s (Howie) regional credits include “Rent” (2010 Helen Hayes Award) at Keegan Theatre; “Joseph…” at Olney Theatre; “Rudolph…” at Adventure Theatre; and “All Shook Up,” “The Producers,” “High School Musical,” “Oklahoma!” and “Hairspray” at Toby’s Dinner Theatre.

Sam Ludwig’s (Solomon) regional credits include “Sweeney Todd,” “Show Boat” and “Les Miserables” at Signature Theatre; “Big River” and “1776” at Olney Theatre Center; “Snow White,” “Rose Red” and “Fred” at Kennedy Center TYA; “Glimpses of the Moon” at Metrostage; “Super Claudio Bros.” at DC Fringe; and “La Cage Aux Folles” and “Titanic” at Toby’s Dinner Theatre.

Karen Novack’s (Teacher/Reporter) credits include “Richard III” and “Edward III” at Washington Shakespeare Company; “Mauritius” at Bay Theatre; “The Winter's Tale” at Wandering Souls; “Twelfth Night” at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company; “Heart of a Dog” at Spooky Action Theatre; “Ariel Sharon Hovers...” at Theatre J; “Sight Unseen” and “Much Ado about Nothing” at Everyman Theatre; and “Everyman” at Forum Theatre.

Production Team includes:

Renée Brozic Barger (choreographer) has been performing, teaching and making dances in the Baltimore/DC Metro Area for over twelve years. She is a founding director of movement/addiction, a dance-based multi-media performance company, and is currently the coordinator of the dance program at HCC in addition to serving as director of the college’s Arts Collective Dance Company. Most recently, she has taught, choreographed and performed internationally in the US, Canada, India and the UK. 

Aaron Broderick’s (musical director) Rep Stage credits include “Tintypes,” “Fool For Love,” “T-Bone and Weasel” and “Fully Committed.” Aaron received a 2010 Helen Hayes nomination for Outstanding Musical Direction for his work on “Rent” at the Keegan Theatre.

Melanie Clark’s (costume designer) Rep Stage credits include: “An Almost Holy Picture,” “Two by J.M. Barrie: The New Word and The Old Lady Shows Her Medals,” “Travels With My Aunt,” “The Glass Menagerie,” “Stones in His Pockets,” “Mrs. Farnsworth” and “Trumbo: Red White and Blacklisted.”

Dan Covey’s (light/projections designer) Rep Stage credits include “Travels With My Aunt,” “The Goat or, Who is Sylvia?,” “On the Verge, or The Geography of Yearning,” “Hysteria,” “God’s Ear,” “In the Heart of America,” “Mrs. Warren’s Profession,” and “Bach at Leipzig.” Dan is the recipient of a Helen Hayes Award and Drammy Award.

James Fouchard’s (scenic designer) recent set designs for Rep Stage include “An Almost Holy Picture” and “Travels With My Aunt.”  His work has also been featured in gallery exhibitions at Georgetown University, the Smithsonian Institution and the Washington, D.C. Theatre Design exhibit “It’s Only a Paper Moon.” 

Lian French’s (properties designer) Rep Stage credits include “A Lie of the Mind” and “God’s Ear” as properties designer, and scenic artist on “An Almost Holy Picture” and “Two by J.M. Barrie: The New Word and The Old Lady Shows Her Medals.”

Elisheba Ittoop (Sound Designer) is making her Rep Stage debut.