Henry is a celebrated playwright, his wife is an actress, and his latest play is a Coward-esque take on relationships and adultery. But as the intricate web of off-stage infidelities unfolds, relationships prove much more demanding than a droll retort. A distinguished play about the complexities of commitment, the power of great writing, and the mysterious ways of love, from one of the world’s most celebrated playwrights.
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.
This production of The Real Thing was generously underwritten by David and Joan Maxwell.
Studio Theatre dedicated the 2012-2013 Season to the memory of Jaylee M. Mead, whose generous contribution made its plays possible.
Born Tomáš Straüssler in 1937 in what would soon be Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, Tom Stoppard and his family lived in Singapore and India before settling in England in 1946. Although he would go on to write thrillingly (and notoriously) intellectual plays, the young Stoppard was bored by school and left at 17 to work as a journalist. When he was 21, Stoppard saw Peter O’Toole play Hamlet, and decided that he was interested in writing for the stage.
Over the next eight years, Stoppard completed several radio plays and even a novel (Lord Malquist and Mr. Moon) before his first success on stage: the dazzling 1966 comedy Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, in which two minor characters from Shakespeare’s Hamlet take center stage. The play debuted at the Royal National Theatre in 1968, transferred to the West End and then to Broadway, where it won Tony and New York Drama Critics awards for Best Play. Stoppard has continued to write award-winning plays over the course of his career, plays that vary in tone from highly literary and comic (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead; The Coast of Utopia), to experimental and musical (Every Good Boy Deserves Favour), to scientific (Hapgood; Arcadia), or more overtly political (Indian Ink; Rock ‘n’ Roll). Stoppard is also a successful screenwriter whose work includes Anna Karenina, the BBC mini-series Parade’s End, co-writing Terry Gilliam’s Brazil and sharing writing credit on 1998’s Academy Award-winning Shakespeare in Love.
Stoppard has received an impressive array of accolades over his career, including five Tony Awards, a Drama Desk Award, and a Laurence Olivier Award in addition to his Oscar for Shakespeare in Love. In 1997, Queen Elizabeth II knighted Stoppard. Receiving the high honor at Buckingham Palace was a touching experience for Stoppard, who fondly speaks of the event: “I have felt English almost from the day I arrived, but the knighthood puts some kind of seal on that emotion.”
(As of May 2013)
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)
Teagle F. Bougere returns to The Studio Theatre where he began the season as the title character in Invisible Man. His international work includes Macbeth (Macbeth) in Florence, Italy. His Broadway appearances include A Raisin in the Sun and The Tempest. His Off Broadway work includes A Soldier’s Play and Wings at Second Stage Theater; Henry V, Antony and Cleopatra, Timon Of Athens, Macbeth, and Space at the Public Theater/NY Shakespeare Festival; A Fair Country at Lincoln Center Theater; and A Last Dance For Sybill at New Federal Theater. Locally, Mr. Bougere has performed in Othello at The Shakespeare Theatre Company and in more than 30 productions at Arena Stage while a member of the resident acting company from 1990 to 1995. His regional work includes Clybourne Park and Of Mice and Men at Seattle Repertory Theater; Joe Turner’s Come and Gone and Blue Door at Berkeley Repertory Theatre; The Good Negro at The Goodman Theatre; Gee’s Bend at Hartford Stage; and Blue/Orange at The Old Globe. His film work includes Hill and Gully (2013 release), A Night at the Museum, The Imposters, The Pelican Brief, Two Weeks Notice, and What The Deaf Man Heard. He has been seen on television in A Gifted Man, The Big C, Cosby, Conviction, Third Watch, The Job, Murder in Black and White, and Law & Order.
(As of May 2013)
Annie Purcell appeared in The Coast of Utopia: Voyage, Shipwreck, and Salvage at Lincoln Center. Other Broadway credits include Dividing the Estate and Awake and Sing! Ms. Purcell has appeared Off Broadway in Cycling Past the Matterhorn at Theater Row's Harold Clurman Theatre, Twelfth Night at Fiasco Theater, and What May Fall at Fordham Alumni Theatre Company. Her regional credits include Ed, Downloaded at Denver Center Theatre Company; Scorched, A Christmas Carol, and Endgame/Play at American Conservatory Theatre; The Tosca Café at Theatre Calgary and Vancouver Playhouse; In the Next Room (or the vibrator play) at Repertory Theatre of St. Louis; Elektra at Getty Villa; Mary's Wedding at Portland Stage Company; The House in Hydesville at Geva Theatre; and Uncle Vanya at California Shakespeare Theater. Film and television appearances include The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, Louie, and The Black Donnellys. Ms. Purcell received her BA from Fordham University at Lincoln Center and her MFA from NYU.
(As of May 2013)
Caroline Bootle Pendergast returns to Studio Theatre for Moment, having previously appeared in Rock ‘n’ Roll and The Real Thing. Other DC credits include Love’s Labour’s Lost and Richard III with Shakespeare Theatre Company. She has performed on Broadway in Proof with Mary-Louise Parker and Neil Patrick Harris and in King Lear with Christopher Plummer. Regional work includes As You Like It with the Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis, Richard II at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, and three seasons at The Heritage Repertory Theatre of Charlottesville, VA. Among Ms. Pendergast’s television credits are All My Children and Guiding Light. She holds degrees from The University of Virginia and The Juilliard School. A DC-area resident, she has taught acting at Imagination Stage and The Aidan Montessori School.
(As of March 2016)
Dan Domingues is making his Studio Theatre debut. Mr. Domingues’s recent New York credits include The Jammer at Atlantic Theater Company and How To Break at HERE. He has also appeared Off Broadway at Joe’s Pub, Baruch PAC, Cherry Lane Theatre, SoHo Playhouse and La MaMa. He recently played Sherlock Holmes in Hound of the Baskervilles, a co-production of the Weston Playhouse and Cape Playhouse, and has worked at Kansas City Rep, Long Wharf, Florida Stage, Portland Stage, George Street, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis and Pioneer Theatre. His television credits include Royal Pains, Law and Order, Hope and Faith, and As The World Turns. Mr. Domingues holds an MFA from the ART/MXAT Institute at Harvard and is an Associate Artist with The Civilians.
(As of May 2013)
Enrico Nassi is making his first appearance at The Studio Theatre. He previously performed in Arena Stage’s Eugene O’Neill Festival as Ned in Exorcism. Mr. Nassi is an alumnus of Arena Stage’s Fellowship Program. His training includes apprenticeships with the Moscow Art Theater and SITI Company. He is a 2010 graduate of Oberlin College and recently completed his Masters at St. John’s College Graduate Institute.
(As of May 2013)
Barrett Doss is proud to make her DC debut in The Real Thing. She has been seen Off Broadway in Thomas Bradshaw's Burning with The New Group, and Off Off Broadway in Thomas Bradshaw's Strom Thurmond is Not a Racist/Cleansed at the Brick Theater, and Orestes 2.0 by Charles Mee at Here Arts Center. She has workshopped Lynn Nottage's Unchained Memories with Roundabout Theatre Company and the new musical Canary with Playwrights Horizons. Her television credits include 30 Rock. Ms. Doss holds a BA from NYU's Gallatin School of Individualized Study.
(As of May 2013)
Tim Getman returns to Studio having appeared in Kit Marlowe, The Real Thing, and Water by the Spoonful. He has worked onstage for over 15 years in the Washington/Baltimore area, recently seen in Father Comes Home from the Wars at Round House and Outside Mullingar at Everyman Theatre. He has also been seen at Arena Stage, Folger Theatre, Rep Stage, Signature Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre, Theater J, and Center Stage, among others. Mr. Getman is a Woolly Mammoth company member, seen in The Unmentionables, Gruesome Playground Injuries, Detroit, Appropriate, Zombie: The American, and The Nether. Recent television credits include The Men Who Built America and Veep.
(As of July 2016)
James Noone returns to Studio Theatre, where he previously designed sets for The Habit of Art and The Real Thing. Mr. Noone has been a scenic designer in New York since 1983 and a member of USA Local 829 since 1986. He has worked for some of New York’s most prestigious theatre companies, including Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Theatre Club, Lincoln Center Theater, and Roundabout Theatre Company. Off Broadway, he designed the original productions of Terrence McNally’s Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, Edward Albee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play Three Tall Women, and the long-running solo shows Full Gallop and Fully Committed. Other Off Broadway shows include Cowgirls and Breaking Legs, the original production and recent revival of A Bronx Tale, the first revival of The Boys in the Band, and the musical Ruthless. Broadway productions include Jekyll and Hyde, A Class Act (Tony nomination, Best Musical), and multiple productions for Tony Randall’s National Actors Theatre. He has been head of the Scenic Design Department at Boston University’s School of Theatre since 2001. Mr. Noone’s awards include the Drama Desk (multiple nominations), American Theatre Wing Award, two Helen Hayes Awards, and the LA Ovation Award.
(As of September 2013)
Brian MacDevitt directed Between Riverside and Crazy for Studio Theatre, where he designed lighting for Sucker Punch and The Real Thing, and he served as the Production Designer for Murder Ballad. His recent directing credits include Proof at Theater Three in New York and Spring Awakening at The Clarice Smith Center. Other directing credits include Joyce Soho and readings at New York Stage and Film and Naked Angels. He has designed lighting for close to 70 shows on Broadway, including Larry David’s A Fish in the Dark, A Delicate Balance with Glenn Close, and This is Our Youth by Kenneth Lonergan. Other Broadway credits include Death of a Salesman starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and directed by Mike Nichols; The Book of Mormon (Tony Award), The Coast of Utopia, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, Fences, A Behanding in Spokane, Race, The Pillowman, Urinetown, and Into the Woods. He is the recipient of five Tony Awards, an Obie Award for Sustained Excellence, a Bessie Award, Lucille Lortel Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, the Hewes Award, and a Drama Desk Award. He designed lights for dance productions with The Joffrey Ballet, American Ballet Theater, Tere O’Connor Dance, Merce Cunningham, Lar Lubovitch, Nancy Bannon, and many others. His designs for the Metropolitan Opera include The Enchanted Island, Le Compte Ory, and Doctor Atomic. He is on the faculty of University of Maryland and is a member of the Naked Angels Theater Company.
(As of April 2015)
Kaye Voyce previously designed SubUrbia, Slavs!, Love! Valor! Compassion!, and The Desk Set for the Studio Theatre. Her other work includes the Broadway production of Shining City; The Great God Pan, Detroit, and After the Revolution at Playwrights Horizons; the world premiere of Sam Shepard's Heartless at Signature Theatre; 4000 Miles at Lincoln Center Theater; and The Bacchae at The Public at the Delacorte. Her international credits include The National Broadway Company at Theatreworks, Singapore; Der Menschenfeind at Stadttheater Braunschweig; Show Boat at Stadttheater Bern; and Poor Beck at Royal Shakespeare Company. Ms. Voyce has also designed for opera, dance, and exhibitions, including Richard Maxwell's Open Rehearsal at the 2012 Whitney Biennial; Philip Glass' Kepler at Spoleto Festival USA; Trisha Brown's I'm going to toss my arms... at Theatre du Chaillot, Paris, BAM and tour; and A Quiet Place at New York City Opera. Her upcoming work includes Il Turco in Italia at Festival d'Aix.
(As of May 2013)
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)
Lauren Halvorsen is in her ninth season as Studio’s Associate Literary Director. Her dramaturgy credits here include Doubt, P.Y.G. or the Mis-Edumacation of Dorian Belle, Admissions, Kings, If I Forget, Vietgone, The Wolves, Skeleton Crew, The Father, Three Sisters, The Hard Problem, Hand to God, Moment, Between Riverside and Crazy, Chimerica, The Wolfe Twins, Belleville, Water by the Spoonful, Tribes, The Real Thing, The Motherfucker with the Hat, The Aliens, Bachelorette, The Big Meal, and Time Stands Still. Previously, Lauren spent three seasons as Literary Manager of The Alley Theatre. She was the Artistic Associate of the WordBRIDGE Playwrights Laboratory for six years and has worked in various artistic capacities for The Kennedy Center, City Theatre Company, Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, First Person Arts Festival, and The Wilma Theater. Lauren is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College.
(As of December 2019)
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)
Christopher Mirto most recently served as Assistant Director on The Motherfucker with the Hat, An Iliad, The Aliens, and Invisible Man at The Studio Theatre. His recent directing credits include Semele and L’enfant et les sortileges at Manhattan School of Music and Some Girl(s) by Neil LaBute at Stella Adler Acting Studio, and he served as associate producer on Fucking Hipsters in the New York Musical Theatre Festival. While Co-Artistic Director of Yale Cabaret’s 42nd season, he directed several new musicals, including Three Sisters, or The Dormouse’s Tale, for which he also co-wrote the book; the play received a developmental workshop through Artists’ Bloc this Spring. In New York, he directed the revival of Dionysus in 69, directed in Peculiar Works’ East/West Village Fragments (Obie Award), and performed in two Richard Foreman productions. He holds an MFA from Yale School of Drama.
(As of May 2013)
