2011 - 2012 SEASON
*Member, Actor's Equity Association
Run Time: 120 minutes with a 10 min intermission
This show is appropriate for all ages
Synopsis: In this memory play based on historical fact, former Alabama slave Jim Hercules finds himself an Imperial guard to Tsar Nicholas II and the royal family. As the Russian Revolution looms, Jim faces the demons of a tortured past and weighs his loyalty to his adopted country.
Learn More About Jim Hercules and the Family of Tsar Nicholas II.
About the Playwright: Allyson Currin is an award-winning playwright of over twenty plays. Previous world premieres of her work include: The Dancing Princesses (Imagination Stage, with composter/lyricist Christopher Youstra); Treadwell: Bright and Dark (The American Century Theatre); The Secret Lives of White House Pets (The John F. Kennedy Center’s Theatre for Young Audiences, novel based on the play published by Simon and Schuster); The Subject and Church of the Open Mind* (Charter Theatre); Fur and Other Dangers, Amstel in Tel Aviv* and Dancing with Ourselves (Source Theatre Company); Learning Curves (Washington Shakespeare Company); and Vaudeville! (Washington Jewish Theatre). She has written original librettos for several opera companies including “musica aperta” and The In-Series, and has written original work for The National Museum for Women in the Arts and The National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts. Currently she is working on a new musical commissioned by Tony Award-winning Signature Theatre (with composer/lyricist Matt Conner), and the reading series First Draft. Ally is the Vice Chair of The Kennedy Center’s American College Theatre Festival New Play Program (Region 2), and teaches in the Theatre and Dance Department at The George Washington University. She is a proud member of the Screen Actors Guild and Actors Equity Association. Visit www.allysoncurrin.com for more information.
(*Indicates nominations for The Helen Hayes Awards’ Charles D. MacArthur Award for Outstanding New Play)
About the Director: Jessica Lefkow is an independent theater director and performer currently living in the Washington DC area. Her extensive work with playwrights nationwide includes directing Theater J’s world premiere of the 2009 Helen Hayes Award-winning Honey Brown Eyes. Directorial credits include previous work with Doorway Arts Ensemble, (TETHER) as well as productions at the Hub Theater, 1st Stage, The Inkwell, Montgomery College and Spooky Action Theater Company. A proud member of AFTRA, Jessica is also a teaching artist with Young Playwrights Theater, a member of the devised-work ensemble dog&ponydc and performs with Taffety Punk’s Riot Grrrls.
Production Team: Producer: Claire Myles, Producing Artistic Director DAE; Co-Producer: Perry T. Schwartz, Artistic Director AAT; Director: Jessica Lefkow; Playwright: Allyson Currin; Dramaturg: Sonya Robbins; Set and Properties: Sean Urbantke; Costume: Chelsey Schuller; Lighting: Michelle Ashley Man; Sound: Eric Brooks; Stage Manager: Candis Jones; Set Builder: Richard Robinson, Technical Assistant Montgomery College; Publicity: Claire Myles and Marjon Wolfe ; Photographer: Colin Hovde; Graphic Designer: Carly J. Bales
HERCULES IN RUSSIA is supported in part by funding from the Montgomery County government and the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County.
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SEX AND EDUCATION
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Synopsis: Sex and syntax converge in this duel of wits comedy between a graduating high school basketball star and his retiring English teacher with a little help from his cheerleader girlfriend. This scintillating romp is a hilarious lesson for all in life, sex, sports and grammar.
The Play: Lissa Levin’s Sex & Education had its start with the Doorway Arts Ensemble in the 2009 Kennedy Center Page-to-Stage Festival. After a successful World Premiere run in the Capital Fringe Festival 2010, the play went to California for further development and its West Coast premiere at the Old Victory Theatre in Burbank, CA. Doorway Arts Ensemble is proud to have nurtured this project from the first stages of development as a one-act play. This revised script returns now for the East Coast premiere. The success of S&E can be attributed to the great talent and vivacity of the playwright and DAE’s ability to discover, develop, and launch emerging artists and contemporary new works.
About the Playwright: Lissa Levin is a playwright, librettist/lyricist, and a twenty-five year veteran of television as a writer/producer. Levin won the prestigious Kleban Award for her libretto for Twist of Fate, her musical with Ron Abel, composer, which also won L.A. Weekly’s Musical Of The Year, two L.A. Drama Critics Circle Awards, and was nominated for an Ovation Award for Best Musical. Levin’s television credits include the Emmy Award-winning Mad About You and Cheers; WKRP In Cincinnati, Family Ties, Complete Savages (Mel Gibson, Co-Executive Producer, Thunder Alley (with Ed Asner), Mr. Belevedere, A Different World, and All In The Family spin-off Gloria (with Sally Struthers), amongst many others. Levin is proud co-author of Pisser, (written with composer Adryan Russ), a musical rant about the lack of sufficient bathroom stalls in women’s restrooms in theaters. The show-stopping sensation was presented at Life’s A Stitch, a theatrical evening Levin helped develop and produce with Russ, benefiting the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation. A staunch activist in the fight against breast cancer, Levin also produces Lovejam (formerly Mammojam), the Foundation’s annual Hollywood dance club night featuring Louis Van Amstel of Dancing With The Star. Levin is currently writing the book for the musical Hazel, based on the iconic cartoon and tv character, with Ron Abel and lyricist Chuck Stephen.
Production Team: Producer/Director: Perry T. Schwartz, Co Producer: Claire Myles, Set Designer: Sean Urbantke, Costume/Properties: Ellen Mansueto, Lighting: Chris Campenello, Stage Manager: Theresa Hindersinn, Set Construction/Board Ops: Richard Robinson, Sound Designer: Jay Gilman
CRITICAL ACCLAIM FOR SEX AND EDUCATION
"Doorway Arts’ new play is a winner!" - Gazette
"★★★★★! Three Cheers for Sex & Education!" - MD Theatre Guide
"Engaging and passionate! Hilarious and evocative!" - Showbiz Radio
"English majors and other grammatical purists will feel a frisson of joy!" - Washington Post
Presented on Monday nights throughout the season are free staged reading performances of two winning original plays from Doorway Arts Ensemble’s National play writing competition. We seek plays or creative works incorporating movement, dance, and music that weave riveting and compelling stories which unfold on a “battleground”. Each selected play receives five developmental rehearsals with a director, a dramaturg and a cast of professional actors prior to a staged reading performance.
February 27, 2012
Countdown To The Happy Day
by Thomas W. Stephens
directed by Stevie Zimmerman
dramaturg Joanna Ruf
Featuring: Jude Tibeau and Kristala Pouncy
Synopsis: Local award-winning playwright, Thomas Stephens gritty, street drama depicts the chance involvement of Gertie, a troubled Army vet and self-inflicted street person, and Cervin, a seventh grade drop out. From their first encounter on a nighttime city street, the two are chary of each other and emotionally combustible. As Gertie resists being drawn into the world of Cervin, t heir relationship, nonetheless, grows ever more overlaid, complex, and inevitable. In the play’s final moments together they chant a “countdown” to a happy day they both so crave and for which they continue waiting.
November 7, 2011
Exquisite Corpse by Mia Chung
directed by Hannah Todd
dramaturg Laura Esti Miller
Featuring: Luke Cieslewicz, Azania Dungee, *Tuyet Thi Pham and Sarah Strasser
*Member of Actors Equity Association