Claudia is giving herself an early birthday present: Surf lessons. Floating in the Pacific isn’t entirely her speed, but she’s grounded her drifting friendship triad for years, and a birthday celebration is a surefire way to get both of her best friends to show up. Joined by a surfbro instructor, Claudia and her friends face their Golden Years by catching some waves, settling some scores, and navigating their smallness in the vastness of the ocean and life. A funny and moving play about endings and beginnings.
Runtime: 90 minutes with no intermission.
Read the program.
Please note late seating will be determined at the discretion of House Management.
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.
Environmental Warnings: This production of Wipeout includes nontoxic vaping, loud music, and controlled water spray, some of which might hit the audience.
Wipeout is generously underwritten by Teresa and Dan Schwartz.
Aurora Real de Asua is a playwright, filmmaker, and performer. Wipeout received a rolling world premiere through the New Play Network with productions at Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, B Street Theatre, and The Gloucester Stage Company. Wipeout was also developed at the Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC), Williamstown Theatre Festival, The New Harmony Project, and The Old Globe. Her play WET was part of the Scratchpad Series at The Playwrights Realm in 2022. She is currently commissioned by MTC and South Coast Repertory. Her short film Heartsong debuted on Short of the Week and screened at various festivals. It is available to stream on Mitú.tv. Aurora originated a role in David Auburn's adaptation of The Adventures of Augie March at Court Theatre in Chicago. She holds a B.A. in Theatre from Northwestern University and an MFA in film from Columbia University.
Danilo Gambini is a director and producer originally from São Paulo, Brazil. He is currently the Associate Artistic Director at Studio Theatre. Recent directing credits include the world premiere of Ni Mi Madre at Rattlestick Theater (OBIE Award Winner, Drama Desk Nomination, NYT Critic’s Pick), as well as The Rake’s Progress and Iolanta at Yale Opera. Upcoming engagements include The Heart Sellers at Studio and A Case for the Existence of God at Mosaic Theater Company. His production of Agreste (Drylands) at Spooky Action Theater received six Helen Hayes Awards Nominations, including Outstanding Director. Other credits include the world premiere of the musical Sabina at Portland Stage; Fun Home, The Tempest, and Rock Egg Spoon at the Yale School of Drama; and Agreste (Drylands), Bakkhai, The Swallow and the Tomcat, and Truck at Yale Cabaret. Operas include Don Giovanni, Ariadne auf Naxos, and Eugene Onegin at Theatro São Pedro. Before Studio Theatre, he was the Associate Artistic Director at Rattlestick Theater, Co-Artistic Director at Yale Summer Cabaret, a member of Roundabout Directors Group, and of TPOC - Theater Producers of Color. He has developed work at The Public Theater, Joe’s Pub, The Old Globe, Ars Nova, Milwaukee Rep, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Chautauqua Opera, Gulfshore Playhouse, and Latinx Playwrights Circle, amongst others. Danilo holds an MFA in Directing from the Yale School of Drama and a BFA in Film and Television and an artist diploma as an actor from the School of Dramatic Art, both at the University of São Paulo. danilogambini.com
Naomi Jacobson appeared at Studio Theatre in Heroes of The Fourth Turning, The Children, and The Remains. She is an Affiliated Artist at Shakespeare Theatre Company and a Company Member at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. She’s performed at most of the DC Equity theatres including The Kennedy Center, Arena Stage, Signature Theatre, Round House Theatre, Theater J, Folger Theatre and Ford’s Theatre. She’s traveled to the Guthrie Theatre, the Goodman Theatre, Cleveland Play House, Milwaukee Rep, Baltimore Center Stage, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Arizona Theatre Company, Village Theatre in Seattle, Maltz Jupiter, and the Berkshire Theatre Festival. Naomi has appeared in independent films, network TV shows, and done voice over work for NPR, PBS, Discovery Channel, and the Smithsonian. She’s received three Helen Hayes Awards, numerous nominations, the Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship, the Anderson-Hopkins Award, and a DC Arts Individual Artist grant. Full resume at naomijacobson.com.
Delissa Reynolds’s theatre credits include The Last Days of Judas Iscariot at La MaMa and The Actors Studio, Our Lady of 121st Street at The Actors Studio, New Age at Milwaukee Rep, To Kill a Mockingbird at Penobscot Theatre Company, and A Lesson Before Dying at Studio Arena Theatre and Geva Theatre. Television credits include Elsbeth, The Good Fight, FBI: Most Wanted, and Madam Secretary (CBS); Diarra From Detroit (BET); Wu-Tang: An American Saga (Hulu); Orange is the New Black and Luke Cage (Netflix); Manifest, Law & Order: SVU, The Beat, and Deadline (NBC). Film credits include A Thousand and One, Muzzle, 2 Lives in Pittsburgh, Magic Hour, and The Day the Ponies Come Back. Ms. Reynolds is a recipient of the American Theatre Hall of Fame "Emerging Theatre Artist" fellowship (2022) and is a board member and lifetime member of The Actors Studio. delissareynolds.com. On social media @delissar (Instagram, Facebook).
Katherine Cortez is an actor and a playwright. New York theatre credits include appearances on and Off Broadway including May in Fool for Love, Nina in The Seagull with Richard Thomas and Judd Hirsch at The American Place, and as Holly in Foxfire, first at the Guthrie Theatre and then on Broadway at The Ethel Barrymore. Television credits include NCIS and The Equalizer (CBS), Thirtysomething (ABC), L.A. Law (NBC), and numerous television movies. Films include Luckiest Girl Alive, Sticky Fingers, Fishbowl California and a star turn in the short film Chance of Rain. Her playwrighting credits include Mama Sang the Blues, The Hunting, A Quadrimonial, and most recently, River Time, produced in Los Angeles as a project by The Actors Studio, where she has been appointed Co-Artistic Director.
Alec Ludacka is an NYC-based actor and singer making his Studio Theatre debut. A Chicago native, he graduated with a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh in 2023. His theatre credits include The Perfect Game at Theatre Row, Stupid Boring Straight People at The Players Theatre, Hard Road to Heaven (a world premiere country musical) at the Bucks County Playhouse, Kinky Boots and The Drowsy Chaperone at the Pittsburgh CLO, and Preludes and Godspell at Carnegie Mellon. Alec can be seen in Billy Porter’s directorial film debut, Anything’s Possible, on Amazon Prime and Mayor of Kingstown on Paramount+. He is also a scholarship winner for the National Society of Arts and Letters Musical Theatre Competition. On social media @classic_al_2000 (Instagram, X/Twitter, and TikTok).
Jimmy Stubbs is a NYC-based set designer from Gaithersburg, MD. Recent design credits include Henry IV at Theatre for a New Audience, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at Signature Theatre (DC), Pipe Dream at Berkshire Theatre Group, and The Band's Visit at the Huntington Theatre Company. Associate design credits include Sunset Blvd. and The Hills of California on Broadway, Turandot with the Washington National Opera, and Carmen at Glyndebourne Festival Opera. Jimmy holds a B.A. in Theatre from the University of Maryland, College Park and an MFA in Set Design from the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. He is a proud member of United Scenic Artists, Local 829. On social media @jimmystubbsdesign.
Valérie Thérèse Bart is based in New York. Her design work includes new works, world premieres, adaptations, and reclaimed classic narratives. Some of her favorite Off Broadway projects include the world premieres of Poor Yella Rednecks at Manhattan Theatre Club / South Coast Repertory, Wives at Playwrights Horizons, Something Clean at Roundabout Theatre Company, and Vanity Fair at Pearl Theatre, as well as the New York premiere of Little Women at Primary Stages. Her regional credits include Birthday Candles (set designer) at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Jane Eyre at Alley Theatre, Into the Woods at the Guthrie Theater, Vietgone at Alley Theatre / Denver Center, and the world premieres of It’s Christmas, Carol! at Oregon Shakespeare Festival; The Great Leap at Denver Center / Seattle Repertory Theatre; and Pop! (scenic designer) at Yale Repertory Theatre. Her Opera credits include the world premieres of The Big Swim at Houston Grand Opera; A Thousand Acres at Des Moines Metro Opera; Listen, Wilhelmina! At Wolf Trap; and She, After at Urban Arias; additional opera credits include Fidelio at Heartbeat Opera and Rigoletto at Minnesota Opera. valeriebart.com
Andrew R. 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 People, Places & Things; 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 Theatre Company, all of which received Helen Hayes Award nominations. Regionally, Andrew has designed Jitney at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Noises Off and Harvey at Milwaukee Rep, Seminar and Native Gardens at PlayMakers Repertory Company, God of Carnage at the Cape Playhouse, and Noises Off at Perseverance Theatre.
Bailey Trierweiler; Daniela Hart; Noel Nichols are UptownWorks, a collaborative design team specializing in theatre, film, podcasts and installations. Design highlights include The Scenarios and Problems Between Sisters at Studio Theatre; Becoming Eve with New York Theatre Workshop; Grandiloquent at the Lucille Lortel Theatre; Franklinland and Las Borinqueñas at Ensemble Studio Theatre; I’m Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter at Denver Center (DCPA); Dangerous Days at Miami New Drama; Murder on the Orient Express at Syracuse Stage; FIVE: The Parody Musical at Theatre 555; Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill and Fires in the Mirror at Baltimore Center Stage; Avaaz at South Coast Repertory, DCPA, and Olney Theatre Center; and Black Odyssey at Classic Stage Company. This design was led by Bailey Trierweiler (btsounddesign.com), Daniela Hart (uptownworksnyc.com), and Noel Nichols (noelnicholsdesign.com).
Luis Garcia (he/él) is a Peruvian-American lighting and video designer based in the DMV who previously worked at Studio on Espejos: Clean. His design credits include Anastasia at the Fulton Theatre, Professor Woland’s Black Magic Rock Show at Spooky Action Theater, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical at Maine State Music Theatre, and A Bicycle Country at the University of Maryland. He recently served as the associate video designer for the world premiere of John Wilkes Booth: One Night Only! at Baltimore Center Stage and was the Watchout programmer for Frankenstein at Shakespeare Theatre Company and Here There Are Blueberries at New York Theatre Workshop. He received his MFA in Lighting and Media Design from the University of Maryland, College Park. luisgtech.com. On social media at @luis.garcia.design (Instagram).
Anita Harrington (she/her) is an avid surfer and Marine Biologist. She has travelled up and down the East and West Coasts, through Hawaii, Central America, New Zealand, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Portugal in search of waves. Surf culture unites people of all ages and backgrounds, and Anita enjoys making connections and sharing her love of surfing and the ocean with others.
Jenny Male (she/her) is a fight director and movement/intimacy consultant in the DC/Baltimore area. Her theatre credits include Espejos: Clean; Love, Love, Love; and At the Wedding at Studio Theatre, Little Shop of Horrors; The Trip to Bountiful; Guys and Dolls; and Shout Sister Shout! at Ford’s Theatre, Newsies; Catch Me If You Can; and Celia and Fidel at Arena Stage, Once on This Island; Moon Man Walk; Desperate Measures; and The 39 Steps at Constellation Theatre Company, and E2; True West; The Fantasticks; Ghost/Writer; and Falsettos at Rep Stage. Jenny has also worked with Everyman Theatre, Washington Stage Guild, Imagination Stage, Factory 449, and Adventure Theatre MTC. She holds an MFA in Theatre Pedagogy from Virginia Commonwealth University and is Associate Professor of Theatre at Howard Community College.
Adrien-Alice Hansel (she/her) is the Literary Director at Studio, where she has dramaturged the world premieres of The Scenarios, Problems Between Sisters, Good Bones, John Proctor is the Villain, I Hate it Here, Queen of Basel, Red Speedo, and Lungs, among others, as well as productions of Paradise Blue; Summer, 1976; Exception to the Rule; The Colored Museum; Fat Ham; Fun Home; English; Curve of Departure; and Wig Out!; among many others. Prior to joining Studio, she spent eight seasons as a member of and then running the Literary Department at the Actors Theatre of Louisville and its Humana Festival of New American Plays. She is the co-editor of eight anthologies of plays from Actors Theatre and editor of 13 editions of plays through Studio. Adrien-Alice holds an MFA from the Yale School of Drama.
John Keith Hall returns for his 50th show at Studio with Wipeout. His Studio credits include Downstate; Summer, 1976; Exception to the Rule; The Colored Museum; At the Wedding; Espejos: Clean; Fun Home; Bad Jews; Choir Boy; Water by the Spoonful; Tribes; Torch Song Trilogy; 4000 Miles; In the Red and Brown Water; The History Boys; and The Road to Mecca. Other DC area credits include productions at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Olney Theatre Center, Signature Theatre, and The Kennedy Center. His regional credits include more than 40 productions as Resident Stage Manager at the Barter Theatre as well as Shadowlands Stage, Virginia Musical Theatre, and Contemporary American Theatre Festival.
Delaney Clare Dunster's (she/her) recent productions include Downstate; Exception to the Rule; Love, Love, Love; Fat Ham; Good Bones; English; and People, Places & Things (ASM for all) at Studio Theatre; Bob & Jean: A Love Story (ASM) at Arizona Theatre Company; Prayer for the French Republic (PSM replacement) and Hester Street (ASM) at Theater J; Ken Ludwig’s Moriarty (ASM) at Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre; Joseph… Dreamcoat, American Mariachi, and The Marvelous Wonderettes (ASM for all) at Alabama Shakespeare Festival; and Happy, Proof, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill, and Four Seasons (PSM) at Centre Stage. She received her BFA in Stage Management from Webster University. takefiveopportunities.org. On social media @delaneyclaredunster (Instagram).
Troy C. Johnson is a writer, director, theatre technician, and photographer who was born and raised in DC. He has the honor of being a part of Studio’s entire 2024-2025 season. A few of his other credits include all of The Keegan Theatre's 2024-2025 season (The Woman in Black, An Irish Carol, Hand to God, #Charlottesville, Falsettos, Apropos of Nothing), Cracking Zeus at Spooky Action Theater, Andy Warhol in Iran at Mosaic Theater Company, Akira Kurosawa…Yogurt at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Head Over Heels at Constellation Theatre Company, hang at 1st Stage, and The Secret in the Wings at The Theatre Lab. Troy is a proud Art Institute for Creative Advancement (AICA) alum. On social media @johnsonctroy (Instagram).
Alaine Alldaffer and Lisa Donadio are currently the Casting Directors for Playwrights Horizons, with 15 Artios nominations and four wins for casting. Credits include Stereophonic, A Strange Loop, Grey Gardens, and Clybourne Park, Playwrights Horizons projects that transferred to Broadway. Additional credits include Circle Mirror Transformation at Playwrights Horizons (Drama Desk and Obie Awards for Best Ensemble) and The Flick at Playwrights Horizons and Barrow Street Theatre. Television credits include The Knights of Prosperity (aka Let’s Rob Mick Jagger) (ABC). Associate credits include Ed (NBC) and Monk (USA Network).
