Straight White Men

11/9/16 – 12/31/16

WRITTEN BY YOUNG JEAN LEE
DIRECTED BY SHANA COOPER

Three brothers and their father gather for Christmas to drink eggnog, play video games, and wrestle. But when one brother seems to buckle under the pressures of achievement, it becomes clear that these men are wrestling with something larger than each other. From one of the most daring writers in America comes a razor-sharp comedy that confronts the complexities of identity and hypocrisies of privilege.

Michael Tisdale, Avery Clark, and Bruch Reed in Straight White Men.

Show Information

Runtime: 1 hour and 25 minutes with no intermission.

Straight White Men is generously underwritten
by Steve and Linda Skalet.

Multimedia

The Artists

Cast

Production Team

SET DESIGNER

Andrew Boyce

Andrew Boyce is making his Studio Theatre debut with Straight White Men. In New York, Mr. Boyce has designed for Lincoln Center Theater, Roundabout Theatre Company, Atlantic Theater Company, Primary Stages, Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, and Play Company, etc. Regionally, his work has been seen at A Contemporary Theatre, The Alliance, American Players Theater, Asolo Repertory Theatre, California Shakespeare Theater, Curtis Opera, Dallas Theater Center, The Geffen, The Goodman, The Kirk Douglas, Long Wharf Theater, Mark Taper Forum, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and Yale Repertory Theatre, among others. Mr. Boyce is a member of Wingspace, a graduate of the Yale School of Drama, and is currently an Assistant Professor in the Northwestern University Theater Department.

(As of October 2016)

LIGHTING DESIGNER

Jiyoun Chang

Jiyoun Chang returns to Studio Theatre after previously designing Straight White Men. Chang is the recipient of the OBIE award special citation in lighting design for The World is Round at Ripe Time. Her New York credits include Plot Points in Our Sexual Development and Brownsville Song (“b-side for tray”) at LCT3; Slave Play, Sojourner, and HerPortmanteau at NYTW; Too Heavy For Your Pocket and Ugly Lies The Bone at Roundabout Underground; Sleep and Goldberg’s Variation at BAM Next Wave; The Dance and the Railroad at Signature Theatre; Sojourners at Playwrights Realm; T. 1912 and Peter and the Wolf at Guggenheim Museum; and Light Within at Carnegie Hall. Chang’s other credits include The War of the Roses at Cal Shakes, The Parchman Hour at Guthrie Theatre, tokyo fish story at Old Globe, An Octoroon and Aubergine at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, The Unfortunates and Troilus and Cressida at Oregon Shakespeare Festival. She holds an MFA from the Yale School of Drama.

(As of December 2018)

COSTUME DESIGNER

Helen Huang

Helen Huang designs her 29th production at Studio with White Pearl. Her regional credits include Alice in Wonderland at Oregon Shakespeare Festival; The Great Leap at Guthrie Theater; Matilda the Musical at The Children’s Theatre, Minneapolis; and Miss Bennet and Christmas at Pemberley at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. DC area credits include JQA at Arena Stage; A Doll’s House, Part 2 at Roundhouse; Fences at Ford’s Theatre; Me…Jane at The Kennedy Center; and Fickle: A Fancy French Farce at Olney Theatre Center. She has received a Helen Hayes Award and an Ivey Award. Helen is a professor of MFA Costume Design at University of Maryland, College Park.

(As of October 2019)

SOUND DESIGNER

Kenny Neal

Kenny Neal returns to Studio for Straight White Men after having designed Jumpers for Goalposts and Choir Boy. Other credits include The Gulf for Signature Theatre; Floyd Collins, Old Wicked Songs (2016 Helen Hayes nomination for Sound Design), and Bat Boy for 1st Stage; Cancun for GALA Hispanic Theatre; Caesar & DADA for WSC Avant Bard; Over Her Dead Body, The Last Burlesque, and Bondage for Pinky Swear Productions; Cherry Smoke for Round House Theatre; and Happiness (and Other Reasons To Die) for The Welders. He regularly designs for Adventure Theatre MTC, The Smithsonian’s Discovery Theater, Signature in the Schools, Georgetown University, and American University.

(As of October 2016)

DRAMATURG

Adrien-Alice Hansel

Adrien-Alice Hansel is the Literary Director at Studio, where she has dramaturged the world premieres of  Queen of Basel, The Remains, No SistersI Wanna Fucking Tear You ApartAnimalLaughRed SpeedoDirtLungs, and The History of Kisses as well as productions of Cry It Out,Translations, Curve of Departure, The EffectWig Out!Straight White MenCloud 9Hedda GablerConstellationsJumpers for GoalpostsBad Jews (twice), The Apple Family PlaysInvisible ManSucker PunchThe 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 also served as production dramaturg on roughly 50 new, contemporary, and classic plays there, including premieres by Naomi Wallace, Gina Gionfriddo, Kirk Lynn and Rude Mechs, Rinne Groff, The Civilians, Anne Bogart and SITI Company, Jordan Harrison, and John Belluso. She is the co-editor of eight anthologies of plays from Actors Theatre and editor of eight editions of plays through Studio. Adrien-Alice holds an MFA from the Yale School of Drama.

(As of April 2019)

PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER

Allie Roy

Allie Roy returns to Studio after last stage managing If I Forget. Other Studio credits include Translations, Curve of Departure, Straight White Men, Murder BalladSilence! The Musical, and the world premiere of Animal for the Women’s Voices Theater Festival. Regional credits include West Side Story in concert with the NSO as well as Love, Factually at The Kennedy Center; the world premieres of Mrs. Miller Does Her Thing and Diner as well as The Scottsboro Boys, West Side Story, and Elmer Gantry at Signature Theatre; the world premiere of After the War as well as When January Feels Like Summer and Ulysses on Bottles at Mosaic Theater Company; and The Originalist at Arena Stage. Upcoming regional projects include Grand Hotel at Signature Theatre and Describe the Night at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company.

(As of January 2019)

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR

Victoria Gruenberg

Victoria Gruenberg has previously appeared at Studio assisting Michael Kahn on Cloud 9, Shana Cooper on Straight White Men, Matt Torney on The Hard Problem, and Jackson Gay on Three Sisters. Princeton main stage directing credits include Anouilh’s Antigone, Annika Bennett’s Spackle, and Johnna Adams’ Gidion’s Knot. Main stage acting credits include Cloud 9; Uncle Vanya; Kiss Me, Kate; and Sunday in the Park with George. She has worked under John Rando, John Doyle, and Tim Vasen, as well as several South African directors during her time with ASSITEJ South Africa and Cape Town Edge. Ms. Gruenberg is a recipient of the Frances LeMoyne Page Prize for Outstanding Achievement in the Creative Arts, and a recent graduate of Princton University's English and Theatre programs.

(As of April 2017)

Press

Explosively entertaining...The attitudes and anxieties on display...have arrived downtown right on time.
The Washington Post
Go see Young Jean Lee’s Straight White Men…if your identity dares.
DC Metro Theater Arts

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