Wig Out!

7/12/17 – 8/20/17

WRITTEN BY TARELL ALVIN MCCRANEY
DIRECTED BY KENT GASH

When Eric falls for the handsome Wilson on the subway, he doesn’t know what he’s in for. Because Wilson is also Nina, a rising drag star in The House of Light, and when a competing house calls a ball for midnight, Eric is drawn into battle. Part turf war, part pageant, all conquest, Wig Out! is a mesmerizing trip into the heart of African-American drag ball culture by way of Ovid, Jay-Z, and Destiny’s Child. From the acclaimed author of The Brother/Sister Trilogy and Choir Boy comes a dazzling spectacle about the timeless desires to be desired, find your home, and dominate anyone who throws you shade.

Play Name

Show Information

Runtime: 2 hours with one 15 minute intermission.
Environmental Warnings: This production will feature fog, haze, and strobe effects. Double check your curtain time—there is no late seating for Wig Out!

Wig Out! is generously underwritten
by Susan and Dixon Butler.

Multimedia

The Artists

Cast

Production Team

CHOREOGRAPHER

Dell Howlett

Dell Howlett is full-time professor at the NYU Tisch School of the Arts in the Department of Drama’s New Studio on Broadway. He is the recent recipient of the Suzi Bass Award for his choreography for The CA Lyons Project at the Alliance Theater. Directing/Choreography highlights include The Legend of Georgia McBride (Marin Theater), Dream (Off Broadway workshop, composer Michael McElroy), A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (The Acting Company Touring Company), Is Anybody Listening? (Off Broadway, Sheen Center), and YoungArts 2017 (Barishnykov Arts Center), Broke-Ology (Juilliard School), The Wiz (Ford’s Theatre, 2018 upcoming). Performance highlights include: Aida (Broadway), Bombay Dreams (original Broadway cast), Pippin (first national tour), West Side Story (intl. tour/La Scala Opera House), and Koresh Dance Company. He is the Artistic Director for Young Performers of America.

(As of July 2017)

SET DESIGNER

Jason Sherwood

Jason Sherwood returns to Studio Theatre for Wig Out! after previously designing Choir Boy. Mr. Sherwood recently designed the stage adaptation of Frozen for Disney Creative Entertainment. His Off Broadway design for the new musical The View UpStairs was honored with Drama Desk Award and Lucille Lortel Award nominations. Other recent credits include designs for Saturday Night Live, New York Theatre Workshop, the Old Globe, Signature Theatre, Denver Center, 5th Avenue Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre, Goodspeed Musicals, the Alliance, Studio Theatre, Ford’s Theater, and Kansas City Rep. He is an NYU graduate, a repeat guest artist at Yale, a Henry Hewes Design Award nominee, and was named a “Designer to Watch” by LiveDesign Magazine.

(As of July 2017)

LIGHTING DESIGNER

Dawn Chiang

Dawn Chiang was previously the lighting designer for Wig Out! and Choir Boy at Studio Theatre. On Broadway, Dawn designed Zoot Suit and was co-designer for Tango Pasion. Off Broadway, she has designed for Roundabout Theatre Company, Manhattan Theatre Club, and the Encores! concert musicals. Dawn was Resident Lighting Designer for New York City Opera. She has designed for Arena Stage, Denver Center Theatre Company, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Mark Taper Forum, and the Guthrie Theater. Awards include two Lighting Designer of the Year Awards (Syracuse) and two Drama-Logue Awards (Los Angeles).

(As of August 2019)

COSTUME DESIGNER

Frank Labovitz

Frank Labovitz returns to Studio Theatre where he has previously designed Wig Out!, having previously designed Cloud 9, Silence! the Musical, Laugh, Torch Song Trilogy, and Dirt. His other design credits include The Threepenny Opera and Dreamgirls for Signature Theatre, NSFW and Ordinary Days for Round House Theatre, Guards at the Taj and The Totalitarians for Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, and The Tale of The Allergist's Wife and The Religion Thing for Theater J. Mr. Labovitz is a company member of Pointless Theatre, where his designs include Gimme a Band, Gimme a Banana and Doctor Caligari. Mr. Labovitz received his MFA in costume design from The University of Maryland.

(As of April 2018)

SOUND DESIGNER

David Lamont Wilson

David Lamont Wilson is thrilled to be working on his first sound design project for Studio Theatre with Wig Out!. Mr. Wilson’s design was last heard for Mosaic Theater Company’s critically acclaimed production of Blood Knot directed by Studio Theatre founder Joy Zinoman. Mr. Wilson’s next design will be for the Geva Theatre production of The Agitators. Recent sound designs include Theater J’s Queens Girl In The World, Alliance Theatre’s The C.A. Lyons Project (Suzi Bass Award nominated), The Welder’s Not Enuf Lifetime, the critically acclaimed Charter Theatre production of Am I Black Enough Yet?, Dead Man Walking at American University, Inns & Outs at Source Theatre, and Titus for the Washington Shakespeare Theatre. He has also designed at the Kennedy Center, Signature Theatre, Arena Stage, Imagination Stage, the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts, and Georgetown University.

(As of July 2017)

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

Shayna O'Neill

Shayna O'Neill makes her debut at Studio Theatre with Wig Out!. Her NYC credits include work at the American Realness (three years), Fault Line Theatre, Theatre for a New Audience, National Yiddish Theatre, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Page 73, Classical Theatre of Harlem, Target Margin Theater, The Acting Company, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (operations team), and Human Fruit Bowl (tour). Regionally, she has worked at Yale Baroque Opera Project (four years), International Festival of Arts & Ideas (five years), Trinity Repertory Company, Playwrights Rep, Opera Providence, National Hispanic Cultural Center, Rep Stage, Bay Theatre, and in numerous Chicago venues, including the Goodman Theatre. Ms. O’Neill is an alumna of The Theatre School at DePaul University.

(As of July 2017)

ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER

Marne Anderson

Marne Anderson makes her Studio Theatre debut. Select DC credits include A Raisin in the Sun, Roe, Moby Dick, All the Way, Erma Bombeck: At Wit’s End, King Hedley II, Five Guys Named Moe, and The Mountaintop at Arena Stage; A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead at Folger Theatre; Angels in America: Parts 1 and 2 at Round House Theatre; and You for Me for You and Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play at Woolly Mammoth. She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association.

(As of July 2017)

Press

Gash’s tough, often touching actors smartly pull the core truth out of McCraney’s heightened, earnest script: Sometimes the armor is a wig.
The Washington Post
the production never stops serving glamour, fashion, sexiness, humor, and insight.
Metro Weekly
The cast is so jam-packed with talent that it’s difficult to choose even a few stand-outs.
DCist
Playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney's ball culture fairy tale soars at Studio Theatre.
Washington City Paper

Featured Writing