The Father

5/10/17 – 6/18/17

WRITTEN BY FLORIAN ZELLER
TRANSLATED BY CHRISTOPHER HAMPTON
DIRECTED BY DAVID MUSE

André is 80 and a man of his own mind. He’s quick with a joke, especially one with an edge, and used to dominating conversations and relationships. But things are getting strange: His trusted watch goes missing, reappears, and is lost again. His daughter’s stories don’t quite add up. His furniture is disappearing and there are strangers at his table. The incomparable Ted van Griethuysen stars in Florian Zeller’s internationally acclaimed and theatrically thrilling exploration of who we are to ourselves when our signposts disappear.

Play Name

Show Information

Runtime: This performance will run approximately 90 minutes with no intermission.
Environmental Warnings: There will be strobe light effects used in this production.

The Father is generously underwritten
by Teresa and Daniel Schwartz.

Multimedia

The Artists

Cast

Production Team

SET DESIGNER

Debra Booth

Debra Booth is Director of Design at Studio Theatre, where she has designed If I Forget, Translations, The Wolves, The Father, The Hard Problem, Moment, Constellations, The Apple Family Cycle, Jumpers for Goalposts, Belleville, Cock, Edgar & Annabel, Bachelorette, Moonlight, Blackbird, My Children! My Africa!, The Pillowman, and many others. Her international work includes premiere opera Marco Polo (Tan Dun/Martha Clarke) in Munich, Hong Kong, and New York. Regionally, Debra’s credits include Small Mouth Sounds at Round House Theatre; Richard III, The Collection, and The Lover at the Shakespeare Theatre Company; Marisol at Hartford Stage and The Public Theatre; Trying, The Illusion, and Happy Days at Portland Stage Company; the New York premiere of Angels in America at The Juilliard School; Broken Glass at Philadelphia Theatre Company (Barrymore Award nomination); and Moon for the Misbegotten at Yale Repertory Theatre. Debra is the recipient of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Artist Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts Design Grant, and a graduate of the Yale School of Drama.

(As of October 2019)

LIGHTING DESIGNER

Keith Parham

Keith Parham returns to Studio Theatre, where he previously designed Hand to God and The Father. He designed Therese Raquin on Broadway for Roundabout Theatre Company. His Off Broadway credits include Man From Nebraska at Second Stage; The Purple Lights of Joppa Illinois and Between Riverside and Crazy at Atlantic Theater Company; The Model Apartment at Primary Stages; Tribes, Mistakes Were Made, and Red Light Winter at Barrow Street Theatre; Stop the Virgens with Karen O at St. Ann's Warehouse and Sydney Opera House; Ivanov and Three Sisters at CSC; A Minister's Wife at Lincoln Center Theatre; and Adding Machine: A Musical at Minetta Lane. Recent regional credits include Father Comes Home from the Wars, The Wolves, and Uncle Vanya at the Goodman Theatre; Wild Goose Dreams at La Jolla Playhouse; Carousel at Arena Stage; and The Edge of Our Bodies, Gentle, Music Hall, and The Anyway Cabaret at TUTA Theatre.  International work includes Homebody/Kabul at National Theatre of Belgrade in Serbia. He is the recipient of an Obie Award and a Lucille Lortel Award.

(As of March 2018)

COSTUME DESIGNER

Wade Laboissonniere

Wade Laboissonniere last designed Translations at Studio Theatre. His Broadway credits include The Story of My Life. His Off Broadway credits include An Octoroon; The Outgoing Tide; Side Effects; Zanna, Don’t!; and Shakespeare’s R&J. His regional credits include productions at Ford’s Theatre (where he is an Associate Artist), Shakespeare Theatre Company, The Kennedy Center, Arena Stage, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Baltimore Center Stage, Portland Center Stage, Goodspeed Opera House, Fifth Avenue Theatre, Berkshire Theatre Group, Delaware Theatre Company, Hangar Theatre, Dallas Theater Center, Alliance Theatre, Paper Mill Playhouse, Westport Country Playhouse, and Pasadena Playhouse. His tours include Disney’s High School Musical (US, Australia, Spain, West End) and White Christmas. Additionally, Wade has published two volumes of Blueprints of Fashion. He holds a degree from the Yale School of Drama.

(As of August 2019)

SOUND DESIGNER

Ryan Rumery

Ryan Rumery is a musician, composer, and producer. His music is in the films Awake: A Dream from Standing Rock (Tribeca Film Festival 2017), How to Let Go of the World (And Love All the Things Climate Can't Change) (Sundance 2016, HBO), and City of Gold (Sundance, SXSW 2015). Recent theatrical scores include Fool For Love on Broadway, The End of Longing at MCC Theater, Emperor Jones at The Irish Repertory Theatre, and Between Riverside and Crazy at the Atlantic Theater Company and Second Stage Theater. Mr. Rumery, Christian Frederickson, and the late Jason Noble recently released their album The Painted Bird – Amidst. Mr. Rumery recently produced three albums for Jeremy Bass. Upcoming albums include Arlo Hannigan and The Walker Project. Mr. Rumery recently received the Obie Award for Sustained Excellence in Sound Design and Composition, and was a selected composer for the Sundance Institute of Music and Sound Design Labs at Skywalker Sound.  

(As of September 2017)

DRAMATURG

Lauren Halvorsen

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)

PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER

Sarah Elizabeth Ford

Sarah Elizabeth Ford returns to Studio after Constellations with The Father. Ms. Ford works primarily out of New York City, but spent 2013-2014 in Southeast Asia working with the Singapore Repertory Theatre. Recent New York credits include Ugly Lies the Bone at Roundabout Underground; As You Like It and The Tempest with The Bridge Project; Lightning At Our Feet, Persephone, and Shelter at Ridge Theatre; Paul Simon’s American Tunes & Songs from the Capeman at the Brooklyn Academy of Music; and various productions with the 24 Hour Play Company. Touring and regional credits include the Foundry Theatre’s How Much is Enough? at St. Ann’s Warehouse and ArtsEmerson in Boston, Much Ado About Nothing with Shakespeare on the Sound, Fires Are Confusing and Loving v. Virginia with New York Stage and Film, Traveling Lady  at the french institute : alliance française NYC & Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris, Fela! The Concert at the Adelaide & Auckland Arts Festivals, Venus in Fur with Singapore Repertory Theatre, and Voices of Strength with MAPP International Productions. Ms. Ford studied with the Compagnie Théâtrale F’Âme in Dakar, Senegal.

(As of April 2017)

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

Inspiring, heartbreaking, and absolutely terrific play.
Metro Weekly
A play that should not be missed
DC Metro Theater Arts
Director David Muse and his accomplished players push theater as a medium to its subjective, haunting limits
Brightest Young Things

Featured Writing