ROUND HOUSE THEATRE CONTINUES ITS SEASON WITH AUGUST WILSON S SPELLBINDING STORY GEM OF THE OCEAN

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1 PRESS CONTACTS: Anna Mills Russell, Sarah Pressler Randall, ROUND HOUSE THEATRE CONTINUES ITS SEASON WITH AUGUST WILSON S SPELLBINDING STORY GEM OF THE OCEAN Performances run November 28 to December 23, 2018 A grandly ambitious, devastatingly moving play. Los Angeles Times Bethesda, Md. (October 23, 2018) Round House Theatre continues its Season with August Wilson s Gem of the Ocean, directed by Timothy Douglas. Gem of the Ocean runs from November 28 to December 23, Press night is December 3, Please see below for complete program details and ticket information. Set in 1904, August Wilson s Gem of the Ocean unfolds in the Hill District home of Aunt Ester, a 285-year old woman known for the ability to cleanse souls. Citizen Barlow, a recent transplant from the deep South, arrives in Pittsburgh searching for a new life. Aunt Ester guides Citizen on a spiritual journey toward redemption and self-examination while the surrounding members of the community discover the importance of history and freedom. Gem of the Ocean is chronologically the first work of August Wilson s decade-by-decade cycle dramatizing the African American experience during the 20th century. The cast includes Stori Ayers (Father Comes Home From the Wars Parts 1, 2 & 3), Stephanie Berry (Skelton Crew at Baltimore Center Stage), KenYatta Rogers (Father Comes Home From the Wars Parts 1, 2 & 3), Jefferson A. Russell (Ironbound), Justin Weaks (Long Way Down at the Kennedy Center), and Alfred Wilson (Radio Golf at the Court Theatre). Gem of the Ocean questions the real meaning of freedom in a world of systemic racism and oppression, says Artistic Director Ryan Rilette. Even though it s set 1

2 114 years ago, it s one of August Wilson s most enduringly relevant works. In light of the increasing racism that s on display in our country today, I felt like it was time to offer this play up for discussion with our audience. Director Timothy Douglas returns to Round House after directing Two Trains Running in 2014, a stirring production of August Wilson s seventh Pittsburgh play [that] gets everything just right (Washingtonian). In regard to Gem of the Ocean, Douglas states, it will be an intense, cathartic, and challenging black-specific ride that will distinguish itself within the midst of the rest of the season. I want to consciously acknowledge Round House s commitment to this urgent issue, among the many others the institution is bravely committed to wrestling with. The artistic team includes Scenic Designer Tony Cisek, Costume Designer Kara Harmon, Lighting Designer Andrew Cissna, and Sound Designer Justin Ellington. Tickets may be purchased by calling , ordering online at RoundHouseTheatre.org, or in person at the box office. Round House Theatre is located at 4545 East-West Highway, one block from Wisconsin Avenue and the Bethesda station on Metro s Red Line. CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM AUGUST WILSON (Playwright) Born Frederick August Kittel, Jr in Pittsburgh in 1945, as the fourth of seven children, August Wilson grew up in the impoverished Bedford Avenue area of the city. The family moved from there when his mother remarried and Wilson attended school; he dropped out at 16 and focussed on working in menial jobs while fostering his burgeoning love of the written word with trips to the Carnegie Library. Reading the works of Langston Hughes and Ralph Ellison embedded a desire within the teenage Wilson to become a writer, though his mother wanted him to pursue a career in law. Disagreements over this decision led to Wilson leaving the family home and he intended to spend three years in the army, but he left after a year and returned to Pittsburgh to work in various jobs. After his father s death in 1965, Frederick Kittel Jr became August Wilson, a decision made to honour his mother. The late sixties saw Wilson become heavily influenced by Malcolm X and the Blues and he converted to Islam to ensure the survival of his marriage to Brenda Burton (1969). A year earlier Wilson set up the Black Horizon Theater with Rob Penny where his first plays, Recycling and Jitney, were performed. Wilson s first marriage was divorced in 1972 and in 1976 Sizwe Banzi is Dead his first professional play was performed at the Pittsburgh Public Theater. Two years later the budding playwright moved to St Paul, Minnesota where 2

3 worked writing educational scripts for Science Museum of Minnesota. The Playwrights Center in Minnesota awarded him a fellowship in 1980 and he left his job a year later; he continued writing plays while working as a chef for the Little Brothers of the Poor. In Minnesota Wilson built a strong relationship with the Penumbra Theatre Company which produced many of his plays in the eighties and in 1987 the city named May 25th August Wilson day after his Pulitzer Prize award in the same year. Wilson left St Paul for Seattle in 1990, following the divorce of his second marriage to Judy Oliver, and while there the Seattle Repertory Theatre performed a number of his plays. In 1995 Wilson received one his many honorary degrees from the University of Pittsburgh where he became a Doctor of Humanities and was a member of the Board of Trustees. He married again in 1994 to Constanza Romero and eleven years on in 2005 was diagnosed with liver cancer. In October, he passed away. TIMOTHY DOUGLAS (Director) NYC based theatre director, actor, and educator, currently serves as an Associate Artist for Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park where he has staged the world premiere of Keith Josef Adkins Safe House, Jitney, Buzzer, Clybourne Park, The North Pool, The Last Firefly, a mixed-race Mother & Sons, and his African-American take on Horton Foote s The Trip to Bountiful. Most recently he directed the China tour of Ayad Akhtar s Disgraced for Ping Pong Productions, and also served as director of Ione Lloyd s Eve s Song for the Sundance Theatre Institute/Lab in Morocco, as well as productions of Seven Guitars for Yale Repertory Theater, Nina Simone, Disgraced and King Hedley II for Arena Stage, Father Comes Home from the Wars Parts 1, 2 & 3 for Round House Theatre, Richard II for Shakespeare & Company, and off-broadway with Brontëfor the Alloy Theatre Company. Timothy has directed nationally and internationally and counts among his many credits the world premieres of August Wilson s Radio Golf for Yale Rep and Rajiv Joseph s The Lake Effect for Chicago s Silk Road Rising (2013 Jeff Award for Best New Work), the NPN rolling world premiere of Dontrell Who Kissed the Sea (6 Helen Hayes Award nominations) for Theater Alliance, as well as his critically acclaimed Caribbean-inspired Much Ado About Nothing for the Folger Shakespeare Theatre, the premiere of a new translation/adaptation of Ibsen s Rosmersholm off- Broadway for Oslo Elsewhere, and Mourning Becomes Electra and Marivaux s Changes of Heart for Remy Bumppo Theatre Company where he served for a time as Artistic Director. He was the Associate Artistic Director at Actors Theatre of Louisville from 2001 through 2004 where he directed numerous projects including three Humana Festival premieres, the 25th anniversary production of Crimes of the Heart, and introduced audiences there to August Wilson with his productions of The Piano Lesson, Jitney, and Fences. From he served as a director-in-residence in new play development at the Mark Taper 3

4 Forum/Center Theatre Group under a Mellon Foundation fellowship. During his time as an NEA/TCG directing fellow he served as Resident Director at New Dramatists and Assistant Stage Director on Handel s Rodelinda for Virginia Opera. NIRVANIA QUESADA (Assistant Director) is an emerging Puerto Rican theatre director and producer. Her previous works include Night Mother, Art, El Pollito Valiente, Platform (a compilation of scene work), Antigona and Analog Dreams. From she had the opportunity to be part of the SDCF Observership class, where she first assisted Mr. Douglas in his production of Proof at The Olney Theatre. She is currently in the preproduction phase of Las Mirandas hoy se mueren and Las Suplicantes. She earned her BA in Drama at the University of Puerto Rico and her MFA in Theatre Directing at East 15 Acting School in the United Kingdom. She lives in San Juan, Puerto Rico with her cat Lily. DARIUS SMITH (Music Director) is thrilled to join Timothy Douglas again for their fourth production, and his Round House debut. DC credits include The Wiz at Ford s Theater, Nina Simone: Four Women (Helen Hayes Nomination) at Arena Stage, Jelly s Last Jam (Helen Hayes Nomination) at Signature Theater and many more. OFF-BROADWAY credits include This Ain t No Disco with the Atlantic Theater Company, The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin at NY City Center, and Futurity with ArsNova & Soho Rep. REGIONAL credits include The Color Purple and His Eye is On the Sparrow at Portland Center Stage,Choir Boy (Bay Area Critics Award) at Marin Theater Company, and Raisin (AUDELCO Award) with Astoria Performing Arts Center. Darius ORIGINAL WORKS include U.G.L.Y., with book by Michael R. Jackson, Marcus Nate is Alive and Great and Living in Detroit, The Snowy Day, with book by David Toney (Helen Hayes nomination). His UPCOMING 2019 productions include a Bermuda remount of Nina Simone, The Watsons Go To Birmingham at The Kennedy Center, A Strange Loop at Playwrights Horizons, Spunk at Signature Theater and Guys and Dolls at the Guthrie. GABRIELLE HOYT (Dramaturg) is thrilled to spend a fourth season at Round House! She has worked on every Round House production for the past three years, including the world premieres of Ironbound by Martyna Majok, and Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley by Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon. She also works on Round House s Equal Play commissioning program, seeking to amplify underrepresented voices in the American theatre. In addition to her work at Round House, she is a freelance director who focuses on new works and non-traditional rehearsal processes. She recently directed Ali Viterbi s 10-woman play Period Sisters at HEREArts in New York, as well as readings of Ali s play In Every 4

5 Generation at the Barrow Group and the San Diego Jewish Arts Festival. Past productions have gone up at Rorschach Theater s Klecksography Festival, 24-Hour Plays: Nationals, the Cape Cod Theatre Project, and Yale University. CHE WERNSMAN (Resident Stage Manager) is elated to be a part of the Round House family! Over the last three seasons here, she s managed How I Learned to Drive, Small Mouth Sounds, The Legend of Georgia McBride, Master Harold and the Boys, Handbagged, The Book of Will, I ll Get You Back Again, How I Learned What I Learned, Or, Caroline, or Change, Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley and was on the SM team for Angels in America: Parts I and II. Also at Round House, she has managed Father Comes Home from the Wars: Parts 1, 2 & 3, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, I Love to Eat, The Little Prince, A Prayer for Owen Meany, and Once on This Island. Che works extensively throughout the DC/Baltimore area, managing shows at Imagination Stage, The National, The Kennedy Center, Folger Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Theatre J, Mosaic, Studio Theatre, Everyman Theatre, Rep Stage, Center Stage, Olney, and Virginia Shakespeare Festival, and has a Bachelor of Science from Virginia Tech and is a proud member of Actors Equity Association. TONY CISEK (Scenic Designer) has previously designed Father Comes Home From the Wars, Two Trains Running, Permanent Collection, The Trip to Bountiful and A Lesson Before Dying at Round House with Mr. Douglas. Additional Round House credits include Stage Kiss, NSFW, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, and the premieres of Alice and columbinus. Other collaborations with Mr. Douglas include the premiere of Long Way Down at The Kennedy Center; The Color Purple at Portland Center Stage; Hospice/Pointing at the Moon at Alliance Theatre; A Raisin In the Sun for Indiana Rep and Syracuse Stage; Disgraced at Arena Stage and Great Theatre of China (Shanghai); Jitney and the premiere of Safe House at Cincinnati Playhouse; and Dontrell, Who Kisses the Sea at Theatre Alliance; as well as productions for Milwaukee Rep, South Coast Rep, Pioneer Theatre Company, Cleveland Play House, Folger Theatre, Virginia Stage, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Shakespeare & Company, Arden Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Woolly Mammoth, and the Guthrie. Off Broadway & Regional credits include Roundabout, Goodman, Ford s, Intiman, Alabama Shakespeare Festival and New York Theatre Workshop. tonycisek.com ANDREW R. CISSNA (Lighting Designer) has designed Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Father Comes Home from the Wars, Stage Kiss, Ironbound, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, and Rapture Blister Burn at Round House Theatre. DC credits include 1984 for Catalyst Theatre Company; Sex with Strangers, The Flick, John, The Gulf, and Heisenberg at Signature Theatre; One Destiny at Ford s Theatre; Murder 5

6 Ballad and Silence! at Studio Theatre; After the Revolution, Copenhagen, and Yentl with Theater J; Passion Play with Forum Theatre. Regional credits include Jitney at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park; Noises Off and Harvey at Milwaukee Repertory Theatre; Seminar at Playmakers Repertory Theatre. Andrew holds a BFA from the North Carolina School of the Arts and an MFA from the University of Maryland. KARA HARMON (Costume Design) is making her Round House Theatre debut. DC credits include The Wiz! At Ford s Theatre; Nina Simone: Four Women and Native Gardens at Arena Stage. Off Broadway includes The Niceties at Manhattan Theatre Club and Dot at Vineyard Theatre. Regional Credits include The Color Purple at Portland Center Stage; Ragtime and The Mountaintop at Trinity Rep; Seven Guitars and We, the invisibles at Actors Theatre of Louisville; A Raisin in the Sun at Indiana Rep and Syracuse Stage; A Guide for the Homesick at Huntington Theatre Company; In the Heights at Geva; Barbecue at Geffen Playhouse (NAACP Best Costume Design Award); and Much Ado and The Comedy of Errors at Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Assistant Costume Design for Television: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Daredevil and Boardwalk Empire. Training: NYU Tisch. J. JARED JANAS (Wig Design) is making his Round House Theatre debut. DC credits includethe Wiz at Ford s Theatre and Mrs. Miller Does Her Thing at the Signature Theatre. On Broadway, he designed wigs, hair, and makeup for Getting the Band Back Together, Sunset Boulevard, Bandstand, Indecent, The Visit, The Real Thing, Lady Day at Emerson s Bar & Grill, Motown, Peter and the Starcatcher, The Gershwins Porgy and Bess, All About Me, and Next to Normal. Recent Off- Broadway and regional credits include Jagged Little Pill at A.R.T., Collective Rage for MCC, Miss You Like Hell at the Public Theater, and Yours Unfaithfully for the Mint Theatre (Drama Desk nomination). Film and TV credits include Angelica, Six by Sondheim, "Scream Queens," "Gotham," "Mozart in the Jungle," and "Inside Amy Schumer." JUSTIN ELLINGTON (Sound Designer) is pleased to make his Round House Theatre debut with Gem of The Ocean. Broadway credits include Other Desert Cities. Off-Broadway credits include The House That Will Not Stand and Fetch Clay Make Man at New York Theatre Workshop; Pipeline, Pass Over and Other Desert Cities at Lincoln Center; He Brought Her Heart Back in a Box, and The Winter s Tale for TFANA;The Break of Noon and The Pride at MCC. Regional/International credits include work at the Guthrie Theatre, Goodman Theatre, People s Light, The Wilma Theater, PlayPenn, Alliance Theater, Royal Shakespeare Company, and the 6

7 National Theatre in London. He is the recipient of the Obie Award for Sound Design. STORI AYERS (Black Mary) is elated to be back at Round House after having appeared in Father Comes Home From the Wars Parts 1, 2 & 3. She also appeared in Yellowman at Anacostia Playhouse. New York City credits include Travisville at Ensemble Studio Theatre and Blood at the Root at the National Black Theatre, winner of the Graham F. Smith Peace Foundation Prize. Other acting credits include A Raisin in the Sun at Indiana Repertory Theatre and Syracuse Stage; Jitney at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park; Detroit '67 at Chautauqua Theater Company; Foster Mom at Premiere Stages; An Adult Evening of Shel Silverstein at Horizon Theatre; and Barbecue, Doubt, Love's Labours Lost, and In the Red and Brown Water at Pennsylvania Centre Stage. Training: B.A. from Mary Baldwin College and an MFA in Acting from Penn State University. She works as the Executive Assistant to writer Dominique Morisseau and Katori Hall and will next be seen in her selfproduced web series, The Next Right Thing. STEPHANIE BERRY (Aunt Ester) recently appeared in Sugar in Our Wounds at Manhattan Theatre Club. Recent theater credits include Skeleton Crew at Baltimore Center Stage; The Bluest Eye at The Gutherie Theatre; Seven Guitars at Yale Repertory Theater; and Mothers and Sons at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. Recent TV credits include The Last OG, Bull, Luke Cage, Blacklist, Blue Bloods, Louie CK, and all of the Law and Order shows. Movie credits include OG, Delivery Man, No Reservations, Invasions, Finding Forrester, Christmas on Honeysuckle Lane, and Stupid Happy. Stephanie is a recipient of an OBIE Award for her one-person production, The Shaneequa Chronicles: The Making of a Black Woman and she is a TCG fellowship as a Distinguished Artist. She is a co- founder of Blackberry Productions, a community-based documentary theater company. She is a member of a storytelling group called Mississippi, Sassafras and Myrrh, performing traditional and original folktales and folk narratives. KENYATTA ROGERS (Caesar) is thrilled to return to Round House after performing in Father Comes Home From the Wars, Parts 1, 2 & 3, Two Trains Running, Glengarry Glen Ross, Amadeus, A Wrinkle in Time, Eurydice, and A Lesson Before Dying. DC credits include King Hedley II and Ma Rainey s Black Bottom at Arena Stage; Holly Down in Heaven at Forum Theatre; Topdog/Underdog and A Raisin in the Sun at Everyman Theatre; Fever/Dream at Woolly Mammoth; Death of a Salesman and Jitney at Ford s Theatre; Colossal at Olney Theatre Center; Comedy of Errors at Folger Theatre; The Piano Lesson at Trustus Theatre; Coriolanus at Shakespeare & Company; and As You Like It, Spunk, and Joe Turner s Come and 7

8 Gone at African Continuum Theatre. TV credits including the PBS series Standard Deviants Television. Training: MFA in Acting, University of Pittsburgh. KenYatta is currently Theatre Coordinator for Montgomery College s Performing Arts Department. JEFFERSON A. RUSSELL (Eli) Round House credits include Ironbound, Fetch Clay, Make Man (co-production with Marin Theatre Company), Two Trains Running, Fahrenheit 451, Amadeus and One Flew Over the Cuckoo s Nest. Regional credits include The Convert and Fetch Clay Make Man at Marin Theatre Company; Sunset Baby at Rep Stage; Clybourne Park at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company; The Trinity River Plays co-production at Dallas Theatre Center and the Goodman Theatre; The Piano Lesson at Hangar Theatre; Race at Gulfshore Playhouse; Hecuba, Blood Knot, A Raisin in the Sun and A Lesson Before Dying at African Continuum Theatre Company; Gem of the Ocean, Blues for an Alabama Sky, Hedda Gabler and The Soul Collector at Everyman Theatre; The Tempest at Folger Theatre; Cyrano and Edward II at the Shakespeare Theatre Company; Measure For Measure at Academy for Classical Acting at George Washington University. TV credits include HBO s The Wire and NBC s Homicide: Life on the Streets. Jefferson has a BA in Sociology/Criminal Justice from Hampton University, an MFA in Classical Acting from the Academy for Classical Acting at George Washington University, is a former Baltimore police officer and a founding member of GALVANIZE, a network for artists of color. Upcoming: Two Trains Running at Cincinnatti Playhouse and Milwaukee Rep. JUSTIN WEAKS (Citizen Barlow) makes his Round House Theatre debut with Gem of the Ocean. DC credits include Long Way Down, Bud, Not Buddy and Darius & Twig at The Kennedy Center; Gloria at Woolly Mammoth; Curve of Departure at Studio Theatre; Still Life with Rocket, Word Becomes Flesh (Helen Hayes Award for Supporting Actor in a Play, Ensemble) and Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea at Theater Alliance; The Christians (Helen Hayes nomination) at Theater J; Charm at Mosaic Theater Co.; and Lobby Hero at 1st Stage. New York and regional theater credits include appearances at The New York Theatre Workshop, Hamlet Isn't Dead, Working Theater, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Shakespeare & Company and Barter Theater. Training: Greensboro College (B.A. in Theater). Mr. Weaks can next be seen in BLKS at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. ALFRED H. WILSON (Solly Two Kings) is making his Round House Theatre debut. Previous performances include Radio Golf, Agamemnon, Gem of the Ocean, Waiting for Godot, Jitney, and The Piano Lesson at the Court Theatre; Father Comes Home from the Wars, and Pullman Porter Blues at the Goodman Theatre; Fences at 8

9 Kansas City Rep and Nevada Conservatory; East Texas Hot Links at Writers Theatre; The Whipping Man at Cardinal Stage, Jitney at West Coast Black Theatre, Ma Rainey s Black Bottom at University of Wisconsin, Madison; The Exonerated at The Next Act Theatre, Ma Rainey Black Bottom at Actor s Theatre of Louisville and Milwaukee Repertory Theatre; The Etiquette of Vengeance at Steppenwolf Theatre; Two Trains Running at Geva Theatre Center; Master Harold And the Boys at Timeline Theatre; Gem of the Ocean at Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati; Radio Golf at the Pittsburg Public Theatre; Radio Golf at the Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati. Chicago Credits include Bourbon at the Border at Eclipse Theatre; Jitney and Two Trains Running (Jeff Citation for Best Actor) at Pegasus Players; Panther Burn at MMPAACT. He has also worked at the Goodman Theatre and Victory Gardens Theatre. CALENDAR INFORMATION Gem of the Ocean By August Wilson Directed by Timothy Douglas Featuring Stori Ayers, Stephanie Berry, KenYatta Rogers, Jefferson A. Russell, Justin Weaks, and Alfred H. Wilson. The artistic team includes Scenic Designer Tony Cisek, Lighting Designer Andrew Cissna, Costume Designer Kara Harmon, and Sound Designer Justin Ellington. WHERE: Round House Theatre, 4545 East-West Highway in Bethesda (one block from Wisconsin Ave. and Metro s Bethesda station) For directions, parking, and public transportation info, visit RoundHouseTheatre.org/visit-us/ ABOUT THE PLAY: As turmoil swirls in Pittsburgh s Hill District over a tragedy at the local mill, the American Century dawns in Aunt Ester s kitchen when Citizen Barlow arrives to have his soul cleansed by the venerable, 285-year-old soothsayer. Neighborhood personalities mesh and collide as the household prepares for his mystical quest. But with the scars left by the Civil War still fresh, one man s redemption could mean the end of the uneasy calm holding this African-American community together. This first chapter of August Wilson s monumental play cycle, directed by Timothy Douglas (Two Trains Running at Round House Theatre), challenges us to examine our notions of freedom in a country where the end of slavery opened the door to more insidious systems of oppression. 9

10 DATES AND TIMES: How I Learned to Drive runs from November 28 to December 23, Performances are Tuesday through Thursday at 7:30 pm, Friday and Saturdays at 8:00 pm, and Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:00 pm. TICKETS: Tickets can be purchased by calling , ordering online at RoundHouseTheatre.org, or visiting the box office. Available ticket discounts include: Free Play free tickets for all High School students throughout the DC- Metro area: Round House wants to make attending our shows an integral part of a Montgomery County education. To that end, we have a unique program: Play It Forward. With Free Play, all High School students throughout the DC-Metro area can reserve a free ticket to the performance of their choice during the Season. For details and information, visit RoundHouseTheatre.org/Free-Play or call Pay-What-You-Can performances: Wednesday, November 28 at 7:30 pm and Saturday, December 1 at 2:00 pm. PWYC tickets go on sale in person at the box office one hour prior to curtain. Cash and exact change only. Limit of 2 tickets per order. PWYC tickets are subject to availability. Age 30 & Under, Senior Citizens, Military, and Veterans: Patrons under 30, seniors over the age of 65, and active duty military personnel and veterans qualify for a $10 discount off the single ticket price. Single Ticket fees apply. Discounts can be redeemed in person at the box office, or by calling For-1 Tuesday: For our Tuesday, December 11 and December 18 performances, all seats are buy one, get one free. Tickets can be purchased in person at the box office, online, or by calling , while supplies last. Group Sales: Groups of 10 or more can save 10% off the single ticket price and are exempt from single ticket fees. These tickets must be reserved and purchased in advance by calling or ing groupsales@roundhousetheatre.org. ABOUT ROUND HOUSE THEATRE Round House Theatre is one of the leading professional theatres in the Washington, D.C. area, producing a season of new plays, modern classics, and musicals for more than 40,000 patrons each year at our theatre in Bethesda. Round House has 10

11 been nominated for more than 181 Helen Hayes Awards and has won over 32, including four Outstanding Resident Play Awards and the Charles MacArthur Award for Original New Play in Round House s lifelong learning and education programs serve over 4,000 students each year at its Education Center in Silver Spring and in schools throughout Montgomery County. Cornerstone programs include Play It Forward, which provides free tickets for teens and college school students, the year-round Teen Performance Company, which culminates in the student-produced Sarah Metzger Memorial Play, Summer Camp for students in grades K-12, and a full slate of classes for Adults & Youth. ### 11