Inspired by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch’s notorious erotic novel (which first shocked readers in 1870), Venus in Fur explores the complex relationship between sex and power. Reality and fantasy, strength and weakness, and pleasure and pain all blend together in one of the smartest and funniest plays to emerge in recent years.
When an actress arrives unscheduled for an audition, the playwright-director grudgingly allows her to try out for his new play, an adaptation of Sacher-Masoch’s novel. What begins as a normal audition quickly turns into an increasingly seductive battle for power. As the action shifts between the audition and the play-within-a-play, the two engage in a cat and mouse game where the roles of cat and mouse are completely up for grabs.
Studio’s Subscription Season is the core of our programming, offering an uncommonly rich repertoire of provocative contemporary writing from around the world and inventive stagings of contemporary classics.
The inaugural 2010-2011 season of new Artistic Director David Muse was generously underwritten by Jaylee Mead, and Robert and Arlene Kogod, with additional underwriting from The Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation, Stanley and Rosemary Marcuss, and Vicki and Roger Sant.
This production of Venus in Fur was generously underwritten by David and Joan Maxwell, David and Jean Grier, and A. Fenner Milton.
David Ives is perhaps best known for his evenings of one-act comedies called All In The Timing and Time Flies. His full-length plays include New Jerusalem: The Interrogation of Baruch de Spinoza, which won the prestigious Hull-Warriner Award and appeared last season at Theatre J; Is He Dead? (adapted from Mark Twain); Irving Berlin’s White Christmas; Polish Joke; and Ancient History. He has translated Feydeau’s A Flea In Her Ear, Yazmina Reza’s drama A Spanish Play, Pierre Corneille’s The Liar (seen last spring at The Shakespeare Theatre Company, and the recipient of a Charles MacArthur/Helen Hayes Best Play award), and Moliere’s Misanthrope, seen this spring in New York at Classic Stage Company as The School For Lies. David Ives is also the author of three Young Adult novels: Monsieur Eek, Scrib, and Voss, and he has adapted 30 American musicals for New York City’s beloved Encores series. A graduate of Yale School of Drama and a former Guggenheim Fellow in playwriting, he lives in New York City.
(As of May 2011)
David Muse is in his twelfth season as Artistic Director of Studio Theatre, where he has directed Cock (the in-person and digital productions), The Children, The Remains, The Effect, The Father, Constellations, Chimerica, Murder Ballad, Belleville, Tribes, The Real Thing, An Iliad, Dirt, Bachelorette, The Habit of Art, Venus in Fur, Circle Mirror Transformation, reasons to be pretty, Blackbird, Frozen, and The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow. As Studio’s Artistic Director, he has produced 105 productions; established Studio R&D, its new work incubator; significantly increased artist compensation; created The Cabinet, an artist advisory board; and overseen Open Studio, a $20M expansion and upgrade of Studio’s four-theatre complex. Previously, he was Associate Artistic Director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company, where he has directed nine productions, including Richard III, Henry V, Coriolanus, and King Charles III (a co-production with American Conservatory Theater and Seattle Rep). Other directing projects include Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune at Arena Stage, The Bluest Eye at Theatre Alliance, and Patrick Page's Swansong at the New York Summer Play Festival. He has helped to develop new work at numerous theatres, including New York Theatre Workshop, Geva Theatre Center, Arena Stage, New Dramatists, and The Kennedy Center. David has taught acting and directing at Georgetown, Yale, and the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Academy of Classical Acting. A nine-time Helen Hayes Award nominee for Outstanding Direction, he is a recipient of the DC Mayor’s Arts Award for Outstanding Emerging Artist and the National Theatre Conference Emerging Artist Award. David is a graduate of Yale University and the Yale School of Drama.
(As of July 2021)
Christian Conn previously played Thomas in Venus in Fur at Studio Theatre. New York credits include Desire Under the Elms on Broadway, The Metromaniacs and The School for Scandal at Red Bull Theater, The Liar at Classic Stage Company, and Fulfillment at The Flea Theater. DC credits include the world premieres of The Metromaniacs and The Liar at Shakespeare Theatre Company, as well as last season’s The Comedy of Errors. Other recent regional work includes Frost/Nixon at Bay Street Theater, The Importance of Being Earnest at The Old Globe, Other Desert Cities at the Guthrie Theater, God of Carnage at Theatre Aspen, and three seasons with the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. Television, film, and gaming work includes Jack Ryan, The (718), Tough Crowd, and Tom Dickens in Red Dead Redemption II. Christian earned a BFA from Rutgers University.
(As of August 2019)
Erica Sullivan is making her Studio Theatre debut. Most recently she was seen as Puck in new theatre house’s A Midsummer Night's Dream. Her New York theatre credits include In the Next Room or the vibrator play (understudy) at Lincoln Center; Christopher Bayes’ Commedia dell'Arte show Even Maybe Tammy at The Flea Theatre; and Bully at Soho Rep. Regional credits include Sylvia at Long Wharf Theatre (Connecticut Critics Circle Award nomination for lead actress); A Woman Of No Importance and Lulu at Yale Repertory Theatre; and Amy Herzog’s Trouble Tales for Boys and Girls and Hungry at Williamstown Theatre Festival. Her film and television credits include There Will Be Blood, A Coat of Snow, For the People, Strong Medicine, 10-8, and Crossing Jordan. Ms. Sullivan is a 2009 graduate of the Yale School of Drama, where she was the recipient of the Jerome L. Greene Foundation Scholarship and the Herschel Williams Acting Award.
(As of May 2011)
Blythe R.D. Quinlan returns to Studio Theatre where she has designed Chimerica, Venus in Fur and The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow. Recent theatre work includes Coriolanus/Wallenstein at Shakespeare Theatre Company, The Wheel at Steppenwolf Theatre, Antony and Cleopatra at Hartford Stage, Cure at Troy at Seattle Repertory Theatre, Iphegenia 2.0 at Signature Theatre NYC, The Greeks at The Juilliard School, and King Lear at Yale Repertory Theatre. Recent film and television work includes Happiness, Boardwalk Empire, Gotham, A Most Violent Year, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Julie and Julia, and many others. Ms. Quinlan is a graduate of NYU Tisch School of the Arts and the Yale School of Drama.
(As of September 2015)
Michael Lincoln has designed Constellations, The Night Watcher, The Adding Machine: A Musical, Bachelorette, Venus in Fur, The History Boys, Grey Gardens, Privates on Parade, Take Me Out, and Topdog/Underdog, among many productions for Studio since 2000. He was also the lighting consultant for Studio Theatre’s building expansion and renovation in 2002. His work in New York City includes Copenhagen, Skylight, and More to Love on Broadway and Off Broadway productions of Mr. Goldwyn, The Bubbly Black Girl…, If Love Were All, Defying Gravity, and Bunny Bunny. Mr. Lincoln was the Associate Designer for Broadway’s Guys and Dolls, Six Degrees of Separation, and City of Angels. He has designed over 300 productions with other long associations at Indiana Repertory Theatre, Alley Theatre, and Cleveland Play House. He is currently serving as the Artistic Director of the Theater Division at Ohio University.
(As of February 2016)
Jennifer Moeller has designed costumes for Venus in Fur at The Studio Theatre; The Merchant of Venice, Richard II, Romeo & Juliet, Antony & Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, Tamburlaine, and Richard III at Shakespeare Theatre Company; The How and The Why at McCarter Theatre Center; Six Degrees of Separation at Williamstown Theatre Festival; Happy Now? at Primary Stages; Crooked (sets) and Aliens with Extraordinary Skills at Women's Project; Circle Mirror Transformation and The Seafarer at George Street Playhouse; The Sacrifices at Summer Play Festival; Dance of the Holy Ghost at Yale Repertory Theatre; Sweeney Todd at Barrington Stage Company; Waiting for Godot at Berkshire Theatre Festival; and The Winter's Tale at Chautauqua Theatre Company. Ms. Moeller holds an MFA from the Yale School of Drama.
(As of May 2012)
Matthew M. Nielson recently designed and composed original music for Occupied Territories at 59E59 and Where Words Once Were at Lincoln Center. Other recent designs include the world premiere of Astoria, Parts I and II with Portland Center Stage; The Magic Play at Olney Theatre Center, Portland Center Stage, and Actor’s Theatre of Louisville; The Book of Will at Round House Theatre; Nina Simone: Four Women at Arena Stage; Shakespeare In Love at Baltimore Center Stage; and Treasure Island at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. Film and television credits include The Magicians, Stranger Things, Those Who Wait, NBC Sports, UFC on FOX, The Hero Effect, Epic Drive-In, The Discovery Channel, National Geographic, and Delivery.com. Mr. Nielson has received several Helen Hayes and film festival awards.
(As of April 2018)
Gary Logan‘s work for Studio Theatre includes dialects for Moment, Jumpers for Goalposts, The Wolfe Twins, Tribes, Belleville, The Real Thing, Venus in Fur, Frozen, and Crestfall. Internationally, he was the voice and text coach for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Tantalus, and for several seasons was a voice and dialect coach for the Stratford Festival of Canada. Regionally, his work includes Lights Rise on Grace and Marie Antoinette at Woolly Mammoth; Pride in the Falls of Autrey Mill (with Christine Lahti) and Tender Napalm at Signature Theatre; Master Class (with Tyne Daly) at The Kennedy Center; Shenandoah (with Scott Bakula) at Ford’s Theatre; The Beaux’ Stratagem, Private Lives, and August: Osage County at Everyman Theatre; Love in Afghanistan at Arena Stage; Henry V and Much Ado About Nothing at Folger Theatre; and Othello, The Tempest, and Design for Living for the Shakespeare Theatre Company. Mr. Logan is a recipient of The Tyrone Guthrie Award and is the author of The Eloquent Shakespeare (University of Chicago Press).
(As of March 2016)
Sarah Wallace is The Studio Theatre’s Associate Literary Manager/Dramaturg and has served as dramaturg for Adding Machine, Rock ‘n’ Roll, and Blackbird, among others. She has also worked with American Repertory Theater, Guthrie Theater, and Seattle Repertory Theatre. She has lectured on theatre at Harvard, Brandeis, and Boston Universities. Ms. Wallace holds an M.F.A. from the American Repertory Theater/Moscow Art Theatre Institute at Harvard University and a B.A. from Oberlin College.
(As of April 2011)
John Keith Hall's DC credits include many productions at Studio Theatre including Bad Jews, Choir Boy, Water by the Spoonful, Tribes, Torch Song Trilogy, 4000 Miles, Sucker Punch, In The Red And Brown Water, The History Boys, Adding Machine: A Musical, and The Road To Mecca; Hir, The Nether, and An Octoroon at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company; Soon, SCKBSTD, and West Side Story at Signature Theatre; Sweeney Todd, Mary Poppins, and The Producers at Olney Theatre Center. Regional credits include several seasons as a Resident Stage Manager at The Barter Theatre in Virginia where he supervised over 40 productions, Shadowland Stages in New York, and Virginia Musical Theatre in Virginia Beach. A graduate of Virginia’s Longwood University, Mr. Hall is a proud member of the Actors’ Equity Association.
(As of September 2017)