Emma’s manager is concerned that she is in breach of contract. In a series of cordial but increasingly tense conversations, the two dissect the differences between “sexual” and “romantic,” negotiate the length of Emma’s interoffice relationship, and face the consequences of shrinking privacy and binding contracts. An ink-black satire from one of Britain’s most acclaimed and provocative writers.
2ndStage is Studio’s playground for emerging artists, offering innovative and thrillingly eclectic programming with shorter rehearsal periods and smaller budgets than our other productions, with a spirit of exuberance and experiment.
Studio Theatre dedicated the 2012-2013 Season to the memory of Jaylee M. Mead, whose generous contribution made its plays possible.
The 2012-2013 season of Studio 2ndStage was generously underwritten by A. Fenner Milton.
Mike Bartlett's television credits include Life (Drama Republic/BBC), Press (Lookout Point/BBC), Trauma (ITV), King Charles III (Drama Republic/BBC), Doctor Foster (Drama Republic/BBC), and The Town (Big Talk Productions). His plays for the theatre include Vassa, Albion, and Game at the Almeida Theatre; Wild at Hampstead Theatre and Chariots of Fire at Hampstead Theatre and the West End; Snowflake at Arts at the Old Fire Station; King Charles III, which started at the Almeida before heading to the West End and Broadway; An Intervention with Paines Plough and on the West End; Bull, which played at Sheffield Theatres, Off Broadway, and at the Young Vic; Medea, co-produced by Headlong Theatre, Glasgow Citizens, Watford Palace Theatre, and Warwick Arts Centre; 13 at the National Theatre as well as Earthquakes in London (co-produced with Headlong Theatre); Love, Love, Love co-produced by Paines Plough, Theatre Royal Plymouth, and the Royal Court Theatre before running on Broadway with Roundabout Theatre Company; Cock, Contractions, and My Child also at the Royal Court Theatre; Decade with Headlong Theatre (co-writer); and Artefacts co-produced by The Bush Theatre and Nabokov. Directing credits include Medea, co-produced by Headlong Theatre, Glasgow Citizens, Watford Palace Theatre, and Warwick Arts Centre; and Honest at Theatre Royal Northampton. Awards include Best New Drama at the 2016 National Television Awards, Best Drama Series at the 2016 Broadcast Awards, and Outstanding Newcomer for British Television Writing at the British Screenwriting Awards for Doctor Foster; Olivier Awards for Best New Play for King Charles III, and Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre for Bull and Cock; and Best New Play at the Theatre Awards UK for Love, Love, Love. Mike has been nominated for three BAFTAS: Best Single Drama for King Charles III in 2017, Best Mini-Series for Doctor Foster in 2015, and Breakthrough Talent for The Town in 2012.
(As of October 2020)
Duncan Macmillan is a playwright, director, screenwriter, and Studio Cabinet member. His play Lungs received its world premiere at Studio in 2011, and he directed the US premiere of Mike Bartlett’s play Contractions at the Theatre in 2013. Studio also presented Olney Theatre Center’s production of his play Every Brilliant Thing in 2019. His production of 1984, which he co-adapted and co-directed with Robert Icke, played at the Hudson Theatre on Broadway in 2017, after three runs on the West End and multiple national and international tours, including to the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, DC. People, Places & Things premiered at the National Theatre in 2015, before touring the UK and transferring to the West End the following year. It was subsequently revived at St. Ann’s Warehouse in New York. Both that play and 1984 were nominated as Best New Play at the Laurence Olivier Awards, and Duncan’s adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s Rosmersholm, which played in the West End in 2019, was nominated for Best Revival. His work has been performed throughout the world, including at the Old Vic, Royal Court Theatre, Almeida Theatre, Barbican Centre, Barrow Street Theatre, Melbourne Theatre Company, Berliner Ensemble, Deutsche Schauspielhaus (Hamburg, Germany), Schauspiel Köln (Cologne, Germany), Burgtheater (Vienna, Austria), Vesturport (Reykjavik, Iceland), Kansallisteatteri (Helsinki, Finland), Nationaltheatret (Oslo, Norway), and in the repertory of the Schaubühne (Berlin), as well as the Edinburgh Festival, Manchester International Festival, Salzburg Festival, Festival d’Avignon, and Theatertreffen. He has collaborated with orchestras and DJs and co-authored a book on climate science with Professor Chris Rapley. His screen work has appeared on BBC, HBO, Netflix, and at the London and Berlin Film Festivals.
(As of July 2021)
Holly Twyford recently directed Cloud 9, Mary Kate Olsen is in Love and Edgar and Annabel for Studio 2ndStage, and was seen on stage at Studio Theatre in the Lab production of Dirt. Other favorite roles at Studio include Evelyn in The Shape of Things, Elsa in Road to Mecca, and Bunny in Desk Set. She has appeared in over 50 productions with many of the area’s theaters including Ford’s Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Folger Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre, and Arena Stage. She has performed regionally in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Santa Cruz, Red Bank, NJ and Milwaukee. Ms. Twyford has been nominated twenty times for a Helen Hayes Award and is a four-time recipient. She received the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Emery Battis Award for Acting Excellence for her portrayal of Anna in Old Times and she is a Lunt-Fontanne Fellow. She is proud to be a charter member of the Studio Cabinet, Studio Theatre’s new affiliated artist program. She has appeared in several independent films, including John Waters’ Pecker. Television credits include Homicide: Life on the Street and House of Cards. Her credits also include numerous commercials, voiceovers, and educational and training films.
(As of August 2016)
OFF BROADWAY: Agamemnon, La Mama ETC. NEW YORK: Thomas and Friends Live Onstage!, Vagina Monologues. REGIONAL: Twelfth Night, Measure for Measure, King Lear, Richard II, Richard III, Henry IV Part 1, Henry VI Part I, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Much Ado About Nothing, Cymbeline, Macbeth, She Stoops to Conquer, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Revengers Tragedy, American Shakespeare Center. LOCAL: Crimes of the Heart, Signature Theatre (2013); The History of Invulnerability, Theater J; Stop Kiss, No Rules Theater Company; Company Member, Only Make Believe. INTERNATIONAL: Thomas and Friends Live Onstage! (Australia, New Zealand) AWARD: Walter L. Wright III Award from The Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Academy. TRAINING: The Shakespeare Theater Company’s Academy for Classical Acting, MFA.
(As of January 2013)
STUDIO 2NDSTAGE: The Rocky Horror Show, Contractions, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (Stage Manager). STUDIO THEATRE: Dirt (Assistant Stage Manager), Bust (Stage Manager). DC AREA: Three years as Resident Assistant Stage Manager at the Folger Theatre (Taming of the Shrew, The Gaming Table, Othello, Cyrano, Comedy of Errors, Henry VIII, Hamlet, Orestes: A Tragic Romp, Much Ado About Nothing), Birds of a Feather (The Hub, Stage Manager), Stop Kiss (No Rules Theatre, Stage Manager), We’re Proud to Present… (Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, 2nd Assist. Stage Manager, February 2014). EDUCATION: BFA Stage Management, Virginia Commonwealth University.
(As of December 2013)
Luciana Stecconi’s previous designs for Studio Theatre include The Effect, Cloud 9, Hedda Gabler, Bad Jews, An Iliad, Lungs, The History of Kisses, In the Red and Brown Water, The Year of Magical Thinking, Amnesia Curiosa, Souvenir, Contractions, and Crestfall, among others. She has designed for Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Round House Theatre, Signature Theatre, The Kennedy Center Theatre for Young Audiences, Mosaic Theater, Theater J, Everyman Theatre, Olney Theatre Center, Contemporary American Theatre Festival, Georgetown University, Catholic University, American University, Imagination Stage, and many more. She’s the Assistant Professor in Scenic Design at Emerson College. Stecconi holds an MFA in design from Brandeis University and is a member of USA Local 829.
(As of December 2018)
James Bigbee Garver's previous designs for Studio include the 2014 production of Cock, as well asThe Hard Problem, Mary-Kate Olsen is in Love, Moth, Skin Tight, 2-2 Tango, Contractions, Lungs, and assistant design for the Enda Walsh Festival (2011). In Washington, DC, his work has been heard at Signature Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Folger Theatre, Round House Theatre, Theater J, Chamber Dance Project, and Georgetown University, among others. His Off Broadway credits include work at Theatre Row, Ballet Hispanico at The Apollo Theater, Brooklyn Academy of Music, PS-122, Harkness Dance Center at the 92nd Street Y, Joyce SoHo, Japan Society, and Robert Wilson's The Watermill Center. His installation and sound artwork have been on view at three Smithsonian museums (the Hirshhorn, National Museum of American History, and National Museum of Natural History), Lincoln Center’s Dance on Camera Festival, and the Bowdoin College Museum of Art. www.bigbee.org.
(As of January 2021)
Colin K. Bills has designed the lighting for An Iliad, Lungs, Circle Mirror Transformation, The Year of Magical Thinking, Stoop Stories, and Radio Golf at Studio as well as Moth, Contractions, POP!, That Face, autobahn, The Death of Meyerhold, Tommy, Four, and Bat Boy for Studio 2ndStage. He is a Company Member at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, where his dozens of designs have included Stupid Fucking Bird, Clybourne Park, The Clean House, Detroit, The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity, and Patience. As a Conspirator with the devised theater company dog & pony dc he directed, conceived, and co-wrote A Killing Game; co-wrote and designed Beertown; and designed Courage. His work has also been seen locally at Everyman Theatre, Forum Theatre, Imagination Stage, The Kennedy Center, Metro Stage, Olney Theatre, Round House Theatre, Signature Theatre, Synetic Theatre, Theater J, and The Washington Revels where he is an Artistic Associate. Nationally, his work has been seen at the Berkshire Theatre Festival, Center Stage, Contemporary American Theatre Festival, Dallas Theatre Center, Portland Center Stage, Intiman Theatre, and the Williamstown Theatre Festival. He designs regularly with Opera Lafayette, presenting his work at The Kennedy Center, Rose Theater at Lincoln Center, and Opéra Royal Versailles. Mr. Bills is the 2009 recipient of a Princess Grace Award and a three-time Helen Hayes Award winner. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College.
(As of May 2014)
Brandee Mathies has been Studio’s Costume Shop Manager since 1994. He has designed MotherStruck, This Is Our Youth, The Year of Magical Thinking, Stoop Stories, Rimers of Eldritch, A Number, The Syringa Tree, and Comic Briefs for Studio Theatre, as well as Moth, Contractions, A Beautiful View, Crestfall, and Polaroid Stories for Studio 2ndStage. DC area credits include Satchmo at the Waldorf at Mosaic Theater Co (Costume Designer); Anything Goes and Spunk (Assistant Designer) at Howard University; The Wiz at Duke Ellington School of the Arts (Costume Designer); Blues for an Alabama Sky and Sunday in the Park with George (First Hand) at Arena Stage; and Black Nativity (Assistant Designer) at The Kennedy Center.
(As of September 2016)
Adrien-Alice Hansel (Dramaturg) is the Literary Director at Studio, where she has dramaturged the world premieres of I Hate it Here, Queen of Basel, The Remains, No Sisters, I Wanna Fucking Tear You Apart, Animal, Red Speedo, Dirt, Lungs, and The History of Kisses as well as productions of Cry It Out, Translations, Curve of Departure, The Effect, Wig Out!, Straight White Men, Cloud 9, Hedda Gabler, Constellations, Jumpers for Goalposts, Bad Jews (twice), The Apple Family Plays, Invisible Man, Sucker Punch, The Golden Dragon, and The New Electric Ballroom, among others. Prior to joining Studio, she spent eight seasons at the Actors Theatre of Louisville, where she headed the literary department and coordinated project scouting, selection, and development for the Humana Festival of New American Plays. She is the co-editor of eight anthologies of plays from Actors Theatre and editor of 10 editions of plays through Studio. Adrien-Alice holds an MFA from the Yale School of Drama.
(As of January 2021)
