MOONLIGHT S TARELL ALVIN McCRANEY RETURNS TO STUDIO, REUNITING WITH CHOIR BOY DIRECTOR KENT GASH FOR SUMMER EXTRAVAGANZA WIG OUT!

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1 CONTACT: Amy Horan Marketing and Publicity Supervisor x106 DATE: Monday, July 3, 2017 MOONLIGHT S TARELL ALVIN McCRANEY RETURNS TO STUDIO, REUNITING WITH CHOIR BOY DIRECTOR KENT GASH FOR SUMMER EXTRAVAGANZA WIG OUT! Families come in all shapes and hairstyles. -The New York Times Wig Out! in an updated version by Tarell Alvin McCraney directed by Kent Gash begins July 12 Tarell Alvin McCraney, who recently received an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for Moonlight, returns to Studio this summer to close out the season with an updated version of Wig Out! for Studio X. Inspired by house ballroom culture and its competitive dance-offs, Studio's Stage 4 will become home to a underground pageant, complete with catwalk, created couture, and a cash bar. McCraney is joined by longtime artistic collaborator Kent Gash. Gash developed Wig Out! at the 2007 Sundance Theatre Lab and directed Studio's 2015 production of McCraney's Choir Boy. Three more Choir Boy collaborators lighting designer Dawn Chiang, set designer Jason Sherwood, and actor Jaysen Wright reunite for this summer spectacular. Wig Out! marks McCraney's fifth production at Studio, making him one of Studio's most produced playwrights. Tarell Alvin McCraney is a masterful playwright, and his work never fails to resonate with Studio audiences, said Artistic Director David Muse. Kent s facility with spectacle and truthful performance is the perfect complement to Tarell s mesmerizing manifestation of drag competition.

2 Joining Sherwood and Chiang on the creative team are costume designer Frank Labovitz (Studio s Cloud 9, Silence! The Musical), sound designer David Lamont Wilson, choreographer Dell Howlett, and dramaturg Adrien-Alice Hansel. The cast includes Studio veterans Michael Kevin Darnall (Animal) and Alex Mills (Torch Song Trilogy, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, 2-2 Tango), and the Studio debuts of local actors Edwin Brown III, Melissa Victor, and Desmond Bing, among others. About Wig Out! When Eric falls for the handsome Wilson on the subway, he doesn t know what he s in for. Because Wilson is also Nina, a rising drag star in The House of Light. When a competing house calls a ball for midnight, Eric is drawn into battle. Part turf war, part pageant, all conquest, Wig Out! is a mesmerizing trip into the heart of African-American drag ball culture by way of Ovid, Jay-Z, and Destiny s Child. From the acclaimed author of The Brother/Sister Trilogy and Choir Boy comes a dazzling spectacle about the timeless desires to be desired, find your home, and dominate anyone who throws you shade. About Tarell Alvin McCraney Tarell Alvin McCraney recently received an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for his work with director Barry Jenkins on their film Moonlight (Best Picture). His acclaimed trilogy, The Brother/Sister Plays: The Brothers Size, In the Red and Brown Water, and Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet have been performed at McCarter Theater in Princeton, The Public Theater in New York, Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, and a trio of theaters in the Bay Area: Marin Theatre Company, ACT, and Magic Theatre, as well as the Young Vic in London (Olivier Award nomination) and around the world. Other plays include Choir Boy, The Breach (Southern Rep, Seattle Rep), Wig Out! (Sundance Theatre Institute, Royal Court, and Vineyard Theatre GLAAD Award for Outstanding Play), and American Trade (Royal Shakespeare Company/Hampstead Theatre). He is an ensemble member at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, where his commissioned play Head of Passes premiered in the spring of Mr. McCraney was the Royal Shakespeare Company s International Playwright in Residence in He is the recipient of the prestigious Whiting Award and Steinberg Playwright Award, as well as London's Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright, the inaugural New York Times Outstanding Playwright Award, and the inaugural Paula Vogel Playwriting Award. On July 1, 2017, he will assume the position of Chair of the Yale School of Drama. About Kent Gash Kent Gash directed Tarell Alvin McCraney s Choir Boy (2015) at Studio Theatre. Mr. Gash is the founding director of the NYU Tisch New Studio on Broadway. Mr. Gash is co-author and director

3 of the musical Langston in Harlem, which received four Audelco Awards including Best Musical. New York credits include Broke-Ology at the Juilliard School, the Off Broadway premiere of Miss Ever s Boys for the Melting Pot Theatre Co., the world premiere musical Call the Children Home for Primary Stages, the York Theatre concert presentation of Duke Ellington s Beggar s Holiday, and Samm-Art William s Home. He has numerous regional credits across the country including the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Marin Theatre Company, Cincinnati Playhouse, Cleveland Play House, Denver Center Theatre Company, McCarter Theater, Sundance Theatre Institute, Intiman Theatre, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, The Kennedy Center, Arizona Theatre Company, San Jose Rep, Trinity Rep, Hartford Stage Company, and Maltz-Jupiter Theatre. Mr. Gash formerly served as the Artistic Director for the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, as well as the Associate Artistic Director of Alliance Theatre. Mr. Gash holds a BFA from Carnegie Mellon and an MFA from UCLA. About the Cast Desmond Bing is a DC actor whose credits include David Dennis\Bob Moses in All the Way at Arena Stage, Demetrius in A Midsummer Night s Dream at the Folger Theatre, and several shows at Theatre Alliance, including Broke-ology, Occupied Territories, and A Beautiful Thing. Frank Britton is a DC-based actor who was most recently seen in King Lear at WSC Avant Bard (Acting Company member). Select regional credits include Two Trains Running and One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest at Round House Theatre, Kafka's Metamorphosis at Synetic Theater, Orpheus Descending at Arena Stage, and The Freshest Snow Whyte at Imagination Stage. Edwin Brown III s DC credits include The Happy Journey from Trenton to Camden at Ford s Theatre and And Justice for Some: the Freedom Trail at the Corterie Theatre. Michael Kevin Darnall was last seen at Studio in Clare Lizzimore s Animal. Recent credits include Jitney at The Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and Journey to the West at Constellation Theatre. Jamyl Dobson is a New York-based actor whose credits include Sam in Washer/Dryer at Ma-Yi Theater Co. and the Executioner in The Anthem with the Culture Project. Dane Edidi is a resident artist at Princeton and a 2016 Helen Hayes Nominee for choreography for Dontrell Who Kissed the Sea. Ysabel Jasa is a student of Director Kent Gash s at NYU Tisch. Her university credits include Love s Labour s Lost, Lysistrata Jones, Quilters, and The Serpent Woman. Alex Mills returns to Studio for the third time, having played John Qunicy Adams in Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson and Alan in Torch Song Trilogy. He is a resident actor at Synetic Theatre.

4 Michael Rishawn makes his Studio debut. A New York-based theatre and film actor, he was last seen in The Brick s production of Cant as Our Boy. Melissa Victor is a DC actor whose credits include the national tour of Diary of a Worm, Spider, and a Fly with Omaha Theater Company, Sweeney Todd at Olney Theatre Center, and For All My Girls at Roy Arrias Theatre. Jaysen Wright is a veteran of Studio Theatre, having performed most recently in McCraney s Choir Boy, also directed by Kent Gash. Wright s recent credits include Smart People at Arena Stage, Looking for Roberto Clemente at Imagination Stage, and Son s of a Prophet at Theatre J. About the Creative Team Dawn Chiang (Lighting Designer) has designed at numerous regional theatres including Arena Stage, Denver Center Theatre Company, and Guthrie Theater. On Broadway, she was lighting designer for Zoot Suit, co-designer for Tango Pasion, and associate lighting designer for Show Boat and The Life. Adrien-Alice Hansel (Dramaturg) is Studio Theatre s Literary Director. At Studio, she has dramaturged the world premieres of No Sisters, I Wanna Fucking Tear You Apart, Animal, Red Speedo, Dirt, and Lungs, as well as productions of Cloud 9, Straight White Men, Constellations, Jumpers for Goalposts, Bad Jews, and Cock, among others. Dell Howlett (Choreographer) is an adjunct professor in the NYU/Tisch School of the Arts in the Department of Drama s New Studio on Broadway. Choreography highlights include A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur s Court ( dir. Ian Belknap), Ragtime (dir. Erin Ortman), Rent (dir. Kenneth Noel Mitchell), Assassins (dir. Kent Gash), The Boyfriend (dir. Brian Hill) and Tearing Down the Walls (dir. Daniel Beatty). Frank Labovitz (Costume Designer) has previously designed Cloud 9, Silence! The Musical, Torch Song Trilogy, Dirt, Astro Boy and the God of Comics, and Mojo for Studio Theatre. His designs have appeared at many theatres in the Washington area, and he received the 2012 Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Costume Design for his work on Dreamgirls at Signature Theatre. Jason Sherwood (Set Designer) returns to Studio after most recently designing Choir Boy. He is a Drama Desk Award nominee, a Lucille Lortel Award nominee, and an American Theatre Wing Henry Hewes Design Award nominee. Recent designs include The Chainsmokers on Saturday Night Live, New York Theatre Workshop, NY Fashion Week, the Old Globe, a stage adaptation of Frozen for Disney, and many others. David Lamont Wilson (Sound Designer) is a DC-based sound designer who has designed for The Kennedy Center, Studio Theatre, Signature Theatre, Lincoln Theatre, Catalyst Theatre, Horizon s Theatre, Imagination Stage, The Smithsonian Discovery Theatre, The

5 Actor s Repertory, Restoration Stage, Georgetown University, The Washington Shakespeare Theatre, and The National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts. INFORMATION Where: Studio Theatre s Stage 4, th St NW, Washington, DC Dates: July 12 August 6 Performances: Tuesday-Saturday, 8pm; Matinees: Saturday and Sunday, 2pm; Sundays, 7pm Ticket Prices: Tickets range from $45-55 Press Performance: Sunday, July 16 at 2pm STUDIO THEATRE In its seventh season under the leadership of Artistic Director David Muse, Studio Theatre is Washington s premier venue for contemporary theatre, where local audiences will find today s edgiest playwrights (Variety). Muse is joined by Managing Director Meridith Burkus. One of the most respected midsized theatres in the country, Studio Theatre produces the work of today s greatest writers, augmented by occasional productions of modern classics, performed by acclaimed actors in intimate spaces. Throughout the Theatre s 38-year history, the quality of its work has been recognized by sustained community support as well as with 363 nominations and 68 Helen Hayes Awards for excellence in professional theatre. GENERAL INFORMATION Location: th Street NW (northeast corner of 14th and P Streets). Parking: Studio has a parking partnership with Washington Plaza Hotel at 10 Thomas Circle NW, three blocks south of Studio; patrons who park at the hotel s parking garage can purchase a $13 voucher at concessions. Street parking is extremely limited; arrive early to increase your options. Metro Stops: Red Line: Dupont Circle, Orange/Blue Lines: McPherson Square, and Green/ Yellow Lines: U Street/Cardozo. Accessibility: Studio s theatres are all wheelchair accessible; seats are available by reservation. Assistive listening devices are available for all shows at concessions. Call the Box Office at for more information. Contact Information: Tickets and Subscriptions: Administration: Website: studiotheatre.org info@studiotheatre.org

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