People, Places & Things

11/10/22 - 12/11/22

BY DUNCAN MACMILLAN
LOCATION VICTOR SHARGAI THEATRE
DIRECTED BY DAVID MUSE

Emma is an actress. She is also living with an addiction, and it’s trying to kill her. In rehab, but not ready for recovery, Emma just wants to escape—through drugs, through performing, through anything that lets her make her own reality. David Muse directs his first production in the new Victor Shargai Theatre, a theatrical tour-de-force that evokes the vivid and disorienting world of intoxication and lies as Emma decides whether to fight for her recovery and the people, places, and things she’ll face there.

Show Information

Runtime: 2 hours and 15 minutes with a 15-minute intermission

Read the program.

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.
Use this information as it is helpful to you.

Environment Warnings: This production of People, Places & Things contains the use of herbal tobacco, flashing lights, stage blood, medical equipment (including facsimile needles), a small amount of vomit, loud noises, and gunshot sound effects.

People, Places & Things is generously underwritten by Joan and David Maxwell.

Calendar

March 2024
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Multimedia

The Artists

Cast

U/S PAUL/OTHERS

David Bryan Jackson

David Bryan Jackson’s previous Studio Theatre credits include Guantanamo: ‘Honor Bound to Defend Freedom’, Privates on Parade, and The Invention of Love. Other credits include Birds of North America at Mosaic Theater Company; Hamlet, The Merchant of Venice, Timon of Athens, Henry IV, and Henry V at Shakespeare Theatre Company; All’s Well That Ends Well, Henry IV, Part 1, and Much Ado About Nothing at Folger Theatre; Candida, The Old Masters, Magic, The Best of Friends, and Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime at Washington Stage Guild; The Two-Character Play at Spooky Action Theater; House and Garden at Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre; and Martha, Josie, and the Chinese Elvis at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. He has performed David Hare’s one-man play Via Dolorosa on several occasions both locally (Theater J) and across the country. He has directed at various theatres and designed sound/composed music for productions in the DC and Boston areas.

(As of October 2022)

U/S FOSTER, SHAUN, & T

Keith Rubin

Keith Rubin (he/him) is an actor, writer, and producer. He has appeared Off Broadway in Puffs, or Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic (New World Stages) and has collaborated on new shows at Primary Stages, Ars Nova, and Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. He can also be seen on television in The Equalizer, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, At Home with Amy Sedaris, The Iliza Shlesinger Sketch Show, Alternatino, and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. His short film For Hire, which he produced and starred in, recently premiered at the SOHO International Film Festival. www.keithmrubin.com. 

(As of October 2022)

U/S ENSEMBLE

Jordan Crow

Jordan Crow (she/her) is an actor and musician. Her theatre credits include Cymbeline and King Lear at Houston Shakespeare Festival; Unto These Hills at Mountainside Theatre; An Ideal Husband, Romeo and Juliet, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the University of Houston Professional Actor Training Program; and Three Sisters and The Last Days of Judas Iscariot at West Virginia University. Jordanecrow.com. On social media at @jordanecrow (Instagram). 

(As of October 2022)

Production Team

SET DESIGNER

Debra Booth

Debra Booth has a long history with Studio, where she has set designed Pass Over, Translations, The Wolves, The Father, The Hard Problem, Constellations, The Apple Family Cycle, Jumpers for Goalposts, Belleville, Cock, Bachelorette, and many others. Regional credits include Sooner/Later and Vicuña & The American Epilogue at Mosaic Theater Company; 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 Theater; Trying, The Illusion, and Happy Days at Portland Center Stage; the New York premiere of Angels in America at The Juilliard School; Broken Glass at Philadelphia Theatre Company (Barrymore Award nomination); and A Moon for the Misbegotten at Yale Rep. Debra is the recipient of a DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Artist Fellowship and a National Endowment for the Arts design grant. She is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama.   

(As of October 2022)

COSTUME DESIGNER

Helen Q Huang

Helen Q Huang has consistently designed at Studio Theatre over the last 29 seasons. Regional credits include Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Alley Theatre, Denver Center, Guthrie Theater, Arena Stage, Ford’s Theatre, Round House Theatre, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Children’s Theatre Company, Classic Stage Company, Disney Entertainment, and The Washington Ballet. International credits include set and costume design for the China National Opera House and China Central Television. She is a Helen Hayes Award and Ivey Award winner, a Professor of Costume Design at the University of Maryland, and the author of Character Sketch: A Drawing Course for Costume Designers.

(As of October 2022)

LIGHTING DESIGNER

Andrew Cissna

Andrew Cissna is based in Washington, DC where he teaches lighting and multimedia design and technology at the University of Maryland. At Studio Theatre he has designed Queen of Basel, Murder Ballad, Silence! The Musical, and I Wanna Fucking Tear You Apart. Other DC credits include John and Sex with Strangers at Signature Theatre, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at Round House Theatre, and 1984 at Catalyst Theater Company, all of which received Helen Hayes Award nominations. Other DC credits include Fences at Ford’s Theatre and Me Jane at The Kennedy Center. Regionally, Andrew has designed Jitney at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Noises Off and Harvey at Milwaukee Rep, God of Carnage at the Cape Playhouse, and Noises Off (again) at Perseverance Theatre Company. Andrew holds a BFA from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and an MFA from the University of Maryland.   

(As of October 2022)

ORIGINAL MUSIC AND SOUND DESIGN

Lindsay Jones

Lindsay Jones’ work on Broadway includes Slave Play (Tony nominations - Best Score and Best Sound Design of a Play), The Nap, Bronx Bombers, and A Time to Kill. Off Broadway work includes Privacy (The Public Theater), Bootycandy (Playwrights Horizons), Feeding the Dragon (Primary Stages), and many others. His work has been heard in numerous regional theatres including Guthrie Theater, Baltimore Center Stage, Hartford Stage, Alliance Theatre, Goodman Theatre, and Steppenwolf Theatre. Internationally, his work has been heard at the Stratford Festival in Canada, Royal Shakespeare Company in England, and in many other countries around the world. His work in podcasts includes shows for Marvel, Audible, and the award-winning The Imagine Neighborhood, produced by the Committee for Children. He has scored over 35 films including HBO’s A Note of Triumph, which received the 2006 Academy Award for Best Documentary. Lindsay is the co-chair of Theatrical Sound Designers and Composers Association (TSDCA). lindsayjones.com. 

(As of September 2022) 

PROJECTIONS/MEDIA

Alex Basco Koch

Alex Basco Koch (Projections/Media) is a Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel-nominated projection & media designer for plays, musicals, films, and immersive art events. He created four hours of original video and animation to play alongside the Magnetic Fields' international tour 50 Song Memoir and released a dozen music videos, using that footage, through Nonesuch Records. Alex's projection design work was featured in two films that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival: Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You directed by Academy Award nominated filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, and Miles Ahead directed by and starring Don Cheadle. Alex is a founding member and current producer of Staging Film, an experimental film and theater project that has featured original work from Leigh Silverman, Heidi Rodewald, and Chisa Hutchinson, among many others. He has led the creative direction of video for brands such as Tyra Banks’ Modelland, Benjamin Moore, and Target. alexbascokoch.com. 

(As of October 2022)

PROPS CONSULTANT

Holden Gunster

Holden Gunster is a designer and fabricator working in theatre, film, and event production. People, Places & Things is his Studio Theatre debut. He has worked as a carpenter on several Off Broadway productions at The Public Theater and on the Broadway production of Mrs. Doubtfire. DC-area credits include The Till Trilogy, In His Hands, Mary Seacole, and Private at Mosaic Theater Company; Ada and the Engine, and How I Learned What I Learned at Avant Bard Theatre; and work with various other groups and companies as a carpenter and fabricator. holdengunster.com 

(As of October 2022)

VOICE, TEXT, AND DIALECT COACH

Elizabeth Forte Alman

Elizabeth Forte Alman returns to Studio Theatre after last coaching Cock, Cloud 9, and The Hard Problem. A voice, speech, text and dialect coach in the DC area for over 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 is the Head of Theatre Studies in the School of Theatre at George Mason University. She has taught at the University of Maryland, Catholic University, and the Academy of Classical Acting. 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. 

(As of October 2022)

MOVEMENT/CHOREOGRAPHER

Tony Thomas

INTIMACY DIRECTOR

Chelsea Pace

DRAMATURG

Adrien-Alice Hansel

Adrien-Alice Hansel (she/her) is the Literary Director at Studio, where she has dramaturged the world premieres of  John Proctor is the Villain, I Hate it Here, Queen of Basel, No Sisters, I Wanna Fucking Tear You Apart, Red Speedo, Dirt, Lungs, and The History of Kisses, among others, as well as productions of Heroes of the Fourth Turning, The Hot Wing King, White Noise, Tender Age, Flow, Until the Flood, 2.5 Minute Ride, Cry It Out, Translations, Curve of Departure, Wig Out!, Straight White Men, Hedda Gabler, Jumpers for Goalposts, Bad Jews (twice), The Apple Family Cycle, 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 11 editions of plays through Studio. Adrien-Alice holds an MFA from the Yale School of Drama.   

(As of October 2022) 

PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER

Lauren Pekel

Lauren Pekel (she/her) returns to Studio Theatre after previously stage-managing Doubt. Additional Studio credits include Cry It Out, Vietgone, P.Y.G. or the Misedumacation of Dorian Belle, Skeleton Crew, The Father, and No Sisters. Her DC theatre credits include productions with Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Theater J, Mosaic Theater Company, Theater Alliance, and The Kennedy Center. Regionally, she has worked with the San Francisco Opera’s Merola Opera Program, the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, and Skylight Music Theatre in Milwaukee, among others. Lauren is an alumna of the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee’s Theatre Program, with a BFA in Stage Management, and is a proud member of Actors' Equity Association. 

(As of September 2022) 

AEA ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER

Stephen Bubniak

Stephen Bubniak (he/him) has previously worked at Studio on John Proctor is the Villain, Queen of Basel, Kings, and The Effect. Other regional credits include Leonard Bernstein’s MASS, Because, and A Wind in the Door at The Kennedy Center as well as  events including the REACH opening parade and “We Are All Connected”; American Prophet, Change Agent, Celia and Fidel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, Newsies, and Jitney at Arena Stage; Rock and Roll Man: The Alan Freed Story and Shrek The Musical at Berkshire Theatre Group; White Snake and The Caucasian Chalk Circle at Constellation Theatre Company; Love and Information, Building the Wall, Dry Land, and What Every Girl Should Know at Forum Theatre. He graduated with a double major in Computer Science and Theatre (Design/Production) from American University. 

(As of October 2022)

CASTING

Kate Murray, CSA

Kate Murray is a Casting Director at The Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival in New York City. Studio credits include Pipeline, Kings, and The Hard Problem. Selected New York and regional credits include work with Arena Stage, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, Baltimore Center Stage, Bedlam, Center Theatre Group, Cherry Lane Theatre, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, LAByrinth, New Georges, TheaterWorks Hartford, and Two River Theater. As a Casting Associate, Kate’s Broadway credits include The Crucible, A View From The Bridge, A Delicate Balance, and A Raisin in the Sun. 

(As of September 2022) 

Press

Featured Writing