John breaks up with his boyfriend of many years. A few weeks later, he’s desperate to be taken back—but can’t stop sleeping with the woman he started seeing in their weeks off. In a world with so many ways to be happy, how do you know the right thing when you have it? A sexy, conflicted look at attraction, ambivalence, and commitment. David Muse remakes his 2014 Helen Hayes-award winning production for the camera.
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Cock is intended for mature audiences. Click on the content note for a detailed explanation.
Video Production by Studiio Box DC, studiioboxdc.com.
Runtime: 1 hour and 40 minutes
In the interest of welcoming people with a wide range of needs and life experiences, Studio offers a bit of information on what you will encounter in the play. There are some spoilers in here, so be ready, and please use this information as it is helpful to you.
Studio Theatre's 2020-2021 season is made possible through the generosity of Season Sponsors Susan and Dixon Butler; Dr. Mark Epstein and Amoretta Hoeber; David and Jean Heilman Grier; Arlene and Robert Kogod; Judge Albert Lauber and Prof. Craig Hoffman; Joan and David Maxwell; Teresa and Dan Schwartz; Steven and Linda Skalet; Bobbi and Ralph Terkowitz; and Amy Weinberg and Norbert Hornstein.
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)
David Muse is in his ninth season as Artistic Director of Studio Theatre, where he has directed The Remains, The Effect, The Father, Constellations, Chimerica, Murder Ballad,, Belleville, Cock, 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. Previously, he was Associate Artistic Director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company, where he has directed nine productions, including Richard III, Romeo and Juliet, Coriolanus, and King Charles III (a co-production of ACT and Seattle Rep). Other directing projects include Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune at Arena Stage, The Bluest Eye at Theater Alliance, and Swansong for 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, Ford’s Theatre, 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 April 2019)
Randy Harrison previously appeared at Studio Theatre in The Habit of Art. He made his Broadway debut as Boq in Wicked and more recently starred as the Emcee in Roundabout Theatre Company’s national tour of Cabaret. Off Broadway credits include Harbor at Primary Stages; Craig Lucas’ The Singing Forest at The Public Theater, developed at New York Stage and Film; Antony and Cleopatra at Theatre for a New Audience; and Edward the Second at Red Bull Theater. Regional credits include Angels in America: Parts 1 and 2 at Berkeley Repertory Theatre; Sunday in the Park with George and The Glass Menagerie at the Guthrie Theater; POP! at Yale Repertory Theatre; Red at George Street Playhouse and Cleveland Play House; Twelfth Night at Shakespeare Theatre Company; and Amadeus, The Who’s Tommy, Waiting for Godot, and Ghosts at the Berkshire Theatre Festival. Randy’s film credits include Bang Bang You’re Dead, Such Good People, and Gayby. His television credits include Harry in USA Network’s Mr. Robot and Justin Taylor on five seasons of Showtime’s Queer as Folk.
(As of January 2021)
Scott Parkinson returns to Studio to reprise his Helen Hayes-nominated performance in Cock. He also appeared at Studio in An Iliad. He was in The Coast of Utopia at Lincoln Center Theater and the national tour of The 39 Steps, as well as several Off Broadway productions, including an appearance as the Stage Manager in David Cromer’s Our Town. His regional theatre work includes appearances at Shakespeare Theatre Company, Olney Theatre Center, The Old Globe, The Mark Taper Forum at Center Theatre Group, La Jolla Playhouse, Goodman Theatre, Court Theatre, Northlight, TimeLine Theatre Company, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Hartford Stage, and 16 productions with Chicago Shakespeare Theater. He has also appeared numerous times at the Writers Theatre, where his stage adaptation of E.M. Forster’s Maurice debuts later this season, directed by David Cromer. Scott has been nominated for five Jeff Awards and won for his performance in Rose Rage. On Instagram at @thelegitscottparkinson.
(As of January 2021)
Kathryn Tkel has appeared in Washington, DC area productions of The Wanderers at Theater J; An Octoroon at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company; Sense and Sensibility and Timon of Athens at Folger Theatre; Jefferson’s Garden, The Guard, and Death of a Salesman at Ford’s Theatre; A Doll’s House, Part 2, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, and Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley at Round House Theatre; Fickle: A Fancy French Farce at Olney Theatre Center; Promised Land at Mosaic Theater Company; The 39 Steps, Venus in Fur, and Hunting and Gathering at Rep Stage; and By the Way, Meet Vera Stark at Everyman Theatre. Her other regional credits include Henry IV, Part 1 at the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival; Amadeus at North Coast Repertory Theatre; Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park; Cyrano de Bergerac at Perseverance Theatre; Romeo and Juliet at Arizona Theatre Company; Secret Order and Legacy of Light at San Jose Rep; and The Story and Den of Thieves at San Francisco Playhouse. She can also be seen in the film Harriet. She received her MFA from The Academy for Classical Acting. kathryntkel.com.
(As of January 2021)
Alan Wade previously appeared at Studio in Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me, Imagine Drowning, and as Mr. Pendleton in Choir Boy, a role he reprised for San Francisco’s Marin Theatre Company. Off Broadway he appeared in Scenes from an Execution at Atlantic Theater Company. Regionally, he performed his one-man show I: From the Prose of Samuel Becket at Chicago’s Victory Gardens Theater. In the DC/Baltimore area, he was a company member at Baltimore Center Stage, and has appeared at Olney Theatre Center (where he has also directed), Arena Stage, MetroStage, Washington Stage Guild, and Potomac Theatre Project (Helen Hayes nomination). His film and television credits include The Pelican Brief, Major League II, House of Cards, Homicide, A Man Called Hawk, and Robert F. Kennedy and His Times. He is Emeritus Professor of Theatre, The George Washington University, and has lectured in the UK and China. He earned his PhD from Northwestern University. alan-wade.com.
(As of January 2021)
Wes Culwell is an award-winning producer and director. He founded Studiio Box Creative in 2012 and has been committed to creating visibility around social justice issues as well as establishing Studiio Box as a premier creative agency in the greater Washington, DC area. Wes has spent more than 20 years in production, including nine years producing for networks such as NBC, Bravo, Oxygen, VH1, TLC, and National Geographic. During this challenging year for the arts, Wes has focused his energies on assisting theatrical companies to bring their visions to the digital screen. He received a BA in Drama from the University of California, Irvine and an MFA in Cinema from San Francisco State University. studiioboxdc.com.
(As of January 2021)
Colin K. Bills (he/him/his) returns to Studio where he designed the stage productions of Cock, as well as An Iliad, Lungs, Circle Mirror Transformation, The Year of Magical Thinking, Stoop Stories, Radio Golf, Contractions, POP!, That Face, Autobahn, The Death of Meyerhold, Tommy, Four, and Bat Boy. He is a Company Member and Board Member at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, where he has designed over 50 productions, including the recent streaming production of Hi, Are You Single?, and is a member of the company’s EDI Working Group. He was a founding member of the devised theatre troupe dog & pony dc, serving as director, writer, actor, and designer for a dozen new works, including A Killing Game and Beertown. Colin is the recipient of a Princess Grace Award and three Helen Hayes Awards. He has taught design at Howard University and is a graduate of Dartmouth College.
(As of January 2021)
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)
Elizabeth Forte Alman returns to Studio after last coaching Cloud 9 and The Hard Problem. A voice, speech, text, and dialect coach in the Washington, DC area for 20 years, she has coached productions at The Kennedy Center, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Round House Theatre, Rep Stage, and Everyman Theatre. She is the founder and CEO of Spiel, a corporate training, private coaching, and executive development consulting firm. She currently teaches in the School of Theater at George Mason University and has taught at University of Maryland, Catholic University, the Academy of Classical Acting, and University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She is a Shakespeare's Globe Fellow, a Cosmos Club Scholar, and an Associate Teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework®. Elizabeth holds a PhD in Theatre and Performance Studies from the University of Maryland, an MFA from the Alabama Shakespeare Festival/University of Alabama Professional Actor Training Program, and a BA from Illinois State University. spielllc.com.
(As of January 2021)
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)
Allie Roy returns after stage managing Studio’s first audio play, Kings. Her other Studio credits include Admissions, If I Forget, Translations, Curve of Departure, Straight White Men, Murder Ballad, Silence! 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 National Symphony Orchestra and Love, Factually at The Kennedy Center; the world premieres of Mrs. Miller Does Her Thing and Diner as well as A Chorus Line, Grand Hotel, 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.
(As of January 2021)
Lücién Reubens is a queer actor, technician, activist, art maker, and creator. Studio's production of Cock is their first time serving as production assistant. They have worked on lights for Doubt and Pipeline at Studio and The Bodyguard at Toby’s Dinner Theatre, and worked in sound for A Sign of Rain at Studio, Disney’s Newsies at Arena Stage and Arbat’s Bremenskie Muzikanty at the F. Scott Fitzgerald Theatre. They began working in professional theatre at Olney Theatre Center, assisting with lighting for the regional premieres of Elf the Musical, Once, Matilda, and Tiger Style!, as well as the North American premieres of Labour of Love, Oil, and Mary Stuart. Lücién graduated with a BFA in Theater from Colgate University. On Instagram and Twitter at @livinpoetry.
(As of January 2021)
Annabel Heacock (Assistant Director) is a director, writer, performer, deviser, and recent Northwestern University graduate with degrees in Theatre and Sociology. Select Northwestern directing credits include an immersive production of The Visit, The Donkey Show, Carrie the Musical, and Crisis Resolution in the Middle East for the annual Agnes Nixon Playwriting Festival. Assistant directing credits include The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls and Twelfth Night. While at Northwestern, Annabel served as the Artistic Director of WAVE Productions, a self-supporting, not-for-profit student theatre company. She also coordinated the annual Director's Festival, helping young artists develop their craft and direct a fully produced one-act play.
(As of March 2021)
