Purlie is home on a mission—to buy back his father’s church and liberate the sharecroppers he grew up with from the brutal segregationist who still runs their plantation. Purlie Victorious features a madcap plot, survival techniques forged in the Jim Crow South, and satiric targets that feel as urgent as they did when the play premiered in 1961—its 2023 Broadway revival was nominated for six Tony awards. Psalmayene 24 (The Colored Museum) will direct this timely and lacerating comedy.
Runtime: 100 minutes with no intermission.
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 Purlie Victorious contains flashing lights and sudden loud noises.
Purlie Victorious is generously underwritten by Susan and Dixon Butler, Sheryl and Rick Donaldson, and Amy Weinberg and Norbert Hornstein.
Ossie Davis (1917-2005) was a writer, actor, director, and activist. Born in Cogdell, Georgia, Davis was educated at Howard University before moving to New York to join the Rose McClendon Players. His playwriting credits include Purlie Victorious (1961) on Broadway (in which he co-starred with his wife, Ruby Dee) and its musical adaptation, Purlie (1970). His additional stage credits include A Last Dance with Sybil at New Federal Theatre; Bingo! at Amas Repertory Theatre; Paul Robeson, All American at Crossroads Repertory Theatre; and Escape to Freedom by the Performing Arts Repertory Theatre. As a screenwriter, Davis’ credits include Cotton Comes to Harlem; Countdown at Kusini; and For Us, The Living: The Medgar Evers Story. As an actor, Davis made his Broadway debut in 1946 in Jeb. His subsequent Broadway credits include The Wisteria Trees, Jamaica (for which he received a Tony award nomination), Purlie Victorious, The Zulu and the Zayda, and I’m Not Rappaport. Davis’s notable screen credits include Miss Evers’ Boys, The Client, Jungle Fever, Do the Right Thing, The Cardinal and The Scalphunters, as well as the television series Evening Shade, King, and With Ossie and Ruby. Davis was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame in 1994. With Ruby Dee, Davis was a Kennedy Center honoree and the recipient of SAG’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
Psalmayene 24 is an award-winning director, playwright, and actor. Directing credits include The Colored Museum, Good Bones, Flow, and Pass Over at Studio Theatre; Metamorphoses at Folger Theatre; Tempestuous Elements at Arena Stage; Necessary Sacrifices: A Radio Play at Ford’s Theatre; Native Son at Mosaic Theater Company; and Word Becomes Flesh at Theater Alliance. Playwriting credits include Young John Lewis (book & lyrics) at Theatrical Outfit; Monumental Travesties, Dear Mapel, and Les Deux Noirs at Mosaic Theater Company; Out of the Vineyard at Joe’s Movement Emporium; An Eloquent Fugitive Slave Flees to Ireland (part of The Frederick Douglass Project) at Solas Nua; and Zomo the Rabbit: A Hip-Hop Creation Myth at Imagination Stage. His solo play Free Jujube Brown! is published in the anthology Plays from the Boom Box Galaxy: Theater from the Hip-Hop Generation. Psalm’s acting credits include Ruined at Arena Stage, Free Jujube Brown! at The African Continuum Theatre Company, and HBO’s The Wire. He is the writer/director of the short film The Freewheelin’ Insurgents. Psalm is the recipient of two Helen Hayes Awards for Outstanding Direction of a Play and has received the Imagination Award from Imagination Stage. His work has received grants from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Walt Disney Corporation. Psalm is currently the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Playwright in Residence at Mosaic Theater Company. He is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, Dramatists Guild, and Actors’ Equity Association. On social media at @psalmayene24 (Instagram).
Warner Miller is a Brooklyn-born, New Jersey-raised actor and writer making his Studio Theatre debut. His Broadway credits include The Piano Lesson and the Tony Award–winning revival of A Soldier’s Play. Off Broadway credits include By the Way, Meet Vera Stark at Signature Theatre Company (NYC) and Hamlet at The Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park. Regional credits include SOUL: The Stax Musical at Baltimore Center Stage; Pullman Porter Blues at Arena Stage; The Convert at McCarter Theatre Center, Goodman Theatre and Center Theatre Group; and Fences at Huntington Theatre Company. Film and television credits include American Gangster, Manifest, Luke Cage (Netflix), Harlem (Amazon Prime), Boardwalk Empire (HBO), Law & Order, Chicago P.D. (NBC), and CSI: NY (CBS).
Danaya Esperanza is making her Studio Theatre debut. Select Off Broadway credits include O.K.! at Intar Theatre; The Merchant of Venice with Theatre for a New Audience, Shakespeare Theatre Company, and the Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh; The Comedy of Errors, for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf, The Tempest, and Twelfth Night at The Public Theater; Buena Vista Social Club at Atlantic Theater Company; Breitwisch Farm with Esperance Theater Company; Mary Jane with New York Theatre Workshop; and Men on Boats with Playwrights Horizons and Clubbed Thumb. Select regional credits include Romeo and Juliet at Shakespeare Theatre Company, A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Folger Theatre, and Another Word for Beauty at Goodman Theatre. Her television credits include The Blacklist (NBC) and Elementary (CBS). She was trained at The Juilliard School.
Kelli Blackwell is an actor, teaching artist, and self-published children’s author. Her theatre credits include Downstate, The Colored Museum, and Fat Ham at Studio Theatre; Merry Wives at Shakespeare Theatre Company; Shout Sister Shout! at Ford’s Theatre; Beauty and the Beast and A.D. 16 at Olney Theatre Center; Crowns and Thunder Knocking on the Door at Creative Cauldron; A Streetcar Named Desire and By the Way, Meet Vera Stark at Everyman Theatre; The Wiz, Smokey Joe’s Cafe, and Next to Normal at ArtsCentric; Ain’t Misbehavin’, Dreamgirls, and Grease at Toby’s Dinner Theatre; Hairspray at Sharon Playhouse; Once on This Island at Cortland Repertory Theatre; and the national tours of Chicago and Amazing Grace. Kelli serves on the senior leadership team and as the Director of Arts Education with Baltimore-based theatre company, ArtsCentric. kellimblackwell.com.
Jason Bowen has previously appeared at Studio in Skeleton Crew. He appeared on Broadway in The Play That Goes Wrong. Other credits include Goddess at The Public Theater, The Half-God of Rainfall at the New York Theatre Workshop/American Repertory Theater, Crumbs from the Table of Joy at Keen Company, Long Day’s Journey into Night at Audible Theater, Native Son at The Acting Company, and If Pretty Hurts Ugly Must Be a Muhfucka at Playwrights Horizons. His television andfilm credits include Law & Order: SVU (NBC), Chicago P.D. (NBC), Blue Bloods, Madam Secretary, Elementary, The Good Fight (CBS), Mother/Android (Hulu), The Upside, and What’s Your Number?
John Sygar is a Helen Hayes-nominated actor who recently appeared on Broadway in Swept Away. Some DC credits include As You Like It at the Folger Theatre; Swept Away at Arena Stage; Guys and Dolls at Shakespeare Theatre Company; Light Years at Signature Theatre; Beauty and the Beast, A.D. 16, and Once at Olney Theatre Center; Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks at Theatre Alliance and The Kennedy Center; Spring Awakening at Round House Theatre; Peter and the Starcatcher at Constellation Theatre Company; Floyd Collins at 1st Stage; and Head Over Heels at Monumental Theatre Company. Regional credits include Once at the Capital Repertory Theatre. John is a member of the Only Make Believe acting company and makes music with the band baseball hat. On social media @jsyg (Instagram).
Lizan Mitchell is making her Studio Theatre debut. She has appeared on Broadway in Ohio State Murders, Electra, Having Our Say, and So Long on Lonely Street. Her Off Broadway credits include Cold War Choir Practice at MCC Theater/Clubbed Thumb/Page 73, The Refuge Plays at New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW)/Roundabout Theatre Company, The Half-God of Rainfall at NYTW/American Repertory Theater, shadow/land and cullud wattah at The Public Theater, On Sugarland at NYTW, Passage at SoHo Rep, Brownsville Song at LCT3, Trojan Women at Harlem Stage and The Classical Theatre of Harlem, and Ain’t Supposed to Die a Natural Death at The Classical Theatre of Harlem. Her regional credits include Our Daughters, Like Pillars at Huntington Theatre Company, Skeleton Crew at Trinity Rep, A Raisin in the Sun at Arena Stage, Richard lll at Shakespeare Theatre Company, The Tempest at The Old Globe, and Gem of the Ocean at the Pittsburgh Public Theater. Her film and television credits include Detroit, The Preacher’s Wife, and The Human Stain, Dying for Sex (Hulu), Evil (Paramount+), Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix), The Good Wife (CBS), The Wire (HBO), and Law & Order (NBC).
Stephen Patrick Martin is making his Studio Theatre debut. His previous theatre credits include An Enemy of the People and Prayer for the French Republic at Theater J; The Winter’s Tale, Henry VIII, and Hamlet at Folger Theatre; Ben Butler and Major Barbara at Washington Stage Guild; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Glengarry Glen Ross at Round House Theatre; Two Gentlemen of Verona and Lady Windermere’s Fan at Shakespeare Theatre Company; The Grapes of Wrath and A Christmas Carol at Ford’s Theatre; The Beaux’ Stratagem, A Raisin in the Sun, and Gem of the Ocean at Everyman Theatre; The Oresteia, Dracula, and The Diary of Anne Frank at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company; and Christmas Eve at ExPats Theatre. Stephen is a graduate of the inaugural class of The Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Academy at George Washington University. He is also a Washington, DC tour guide.
Elliott Bales returns to Studio Theatre where he previously appeared as Senator McDowell in Kings. Other DC theater credits include productions at Round House Theatre, Arena Stage, Folger Theatre, Theater Alliance, 1st Stage, The Welders, and Spooky Action Theater. Elliott has also worked extensively with Riverside Theatre in Iowa. His film credits include the feature films Remote, Harmony, and The Sultan and the Saint, and the award-winning short films A Civil Civil Servant, Macabre, and Wireless. He recently released his first book, The Best Day of My Life: An Answer to Life’s Most Frequent Question. Elliott previously served as a US Army Officer, retiring after 26 years of service.
Jacob Thompson is a DC-based actor and musician making his Studio Theatre debut. His recent theatre credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Hamlet at Synetic Theater, A Jumping Off Point at Round House Theatre (u/s), and Drunk Romeo and Juliet with Drunk Shakespeare. He graduated from George Mason University with a BFA in acting and studied at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting. On social media @Jacobteathompson (Instagram).
Gerrad Alex Taylor is making his Studio Theatre debut as an actor. He has previously worked with Studio as the Fight Choreographer for Fat Ham. Recent local acting credits include the world premieres of his solo show I Know How To Curse: a re-blackening of Shakespeare at Perisphere Theater, and the rolling opening across Baltimore of his new adaptation of Langston Hughes' Shakespeare in Harlem, A Raisin in the Sun and Macbeth at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, Metamorphoses at The Folger, Monsters of the American Cinema at Prologue Theatre, Incognito at Constellation Theatre Company, and Great Expectations at Everyman Theatre. Other regional credits include The Tempest at Delaware Shakespeare and Twelfth Night at PCPA-Pacific Conservatory Theatre. He holds a BA in Neuroscience from Johns Hopkins University as well as an MFA in Performance from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. On social media @uncle_gerardo.
Destiny Jennings is making her Studio Theatre debut. Recent theatre credits include Seven Guitars at Spotlighters Theatre, Cracking Zeus at Spooky Action Theater, and Hamlet at Oxford University in the UK, as well as appearances in The House That Will Not Stand at Howard University and with the Palefsky Collision Project at Alliance Theatre in Atlanta. Destiny received her BFA in Acting from Howard University’s Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts and trained at the British American Drama Academy in Oxford. She performed her senior BFA showcase at Studio Theatre, Atlas Performing Arts Center, and the Apollo Theater. On social media at @iamdestinyjennings.
Aja Goode is an actor making her Studio Theatre debut. Her credits include Petite Rouge: A Cajun Red Riding Hood at Imagination Stage; Murder on the Orient Express at Workhouse Arts Center; ↓D←R←O←W←N←E←R [Renword] at NextStop Theatre Company; So Late Into the Night at Rorschach Theatre; School Girls; Or the African Mean Girls Play at NextStop Theatre Company; and The Moors at Faction of Fools. On social media at @aja_symone.
Jacob Thompson is a DC-based actor and musician making his Studio Theatre debut. His recent theatre credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Hamlet at Synetic Theater, A Jumping Off Point at Round House Theatre (u/s), and Drunk Romeo and Juliet with Drunk Shakespeare. He graduated from George Mason University with a BFA in acting and studied at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting. On social media @Jacobteathompson (Instagram).
Eleanore Tapscott is a Virginia-based actor and director making her Studio Theatre debut. Her regional credits include POTUS at NextStop Theatre, Intimate Apparel at Maryland Ensemble Theatre, and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner at the Little Theatre of Alexandria. She holds a BA from the University of California—Berkeley and is a graduate of the National Shakespeare Conservatory training program.
Elliott Bales returns to Studio Theatre where he previously appeared as Senator McDowell in Kings. Other DC theater credits include productions at Round House Theatre, Arena Stage, Folger Theatre, Theater Alliance, 1st Stage, The Welders, and Spooky Action Theater. Elliott has also worked extensively with Riverside Theatre in Iowa. His film credits include the feature films Remote, Harmony, and The Sultan and the Saint, and the award-winning short films A Civil Civil Servant, Macabre, and Wireless. He recently released his first book, The Best Day of My Life: An Answer to Life’s Most Frequent Question. Elliott previously served as a US Army Officer, retiring after 26 years of service.
Sam Rodd is an actor and singer. His theatre credits include Octet at Studio Theatre, Babbit at Shakespeare Theatre Company and King John and Taming of the Shrew at STC Academy. He has appeared on television and film in The Amazing Spiderman 2, Girls (HBO), Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix), Mozart in the Jungle (Amazon Prime), and Billions (Showtime). He is a candidate at the Academy for Classical Acting at Shakespeare Theatre Company’s MFA program, and he holds a BFA in Musical Theater from Western Carolina University. On social media at @SamR0dd (Instagram). samrodd.com.
Alexander Woodward is a New York-based designer, organizer, and artist focused on scenic and costume design whose work includes Downstate; White Noise; and Love, Love, Love at Studio; The Sound Inside on Broadway; and the ballet Their Eyes Were Watching God at Collage Dance Collective. Alexander is the Area Head of the BFA and MFA Design and Technical Theatre at the University of Connecticut and serves on the faculty of the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University. Alexander is an avid proponent for advancing arts advocacy, exploring all aspects of our medium as a form for social change and a tool to shape the environment around us. Alexander is a member of Colt Coeur and has served on the executive board for Wingspace. Alexander holds an MFA from Yale. USA 829. alexanderwoodward.com. @alexanderwoodwarddesign (Instagram).
Cidney Forkpah selected credits include Paradise Blue at Studio Theatre; Guards at the Taj at NextStop Theatre Company; The Sea Beyond the Ocean at The Kennedy Center Theatre for Young Audiences; Much Ado About Nothing and How the Sausage Gets Made at Faction of Fools; Fences at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company; Tomás and the Library Lady at Imagination Stage; Furlough’s Paradise, American Fast, and The Trans-Atlantic Time Traveling Company at Theatre Alliance; Fair Play, hang, and Quilters at 1st Stage; Kiss of the Spider Woman, Fuenteovejuna, Bathing in Moonlight, La Revoltosa, and KUMANANA! An Afro-Peruvian Musical Revue at GALA Hispanic Theatre; Cracking Zeus at Spooky Action Theater; The Tempest at Devil’s Isle Shakespeare Co.; and Diagnosed at Creative Cauldron. cidneyforkpah.com On social media @cidneyforkpah (Instagram).
Colin K. Bills returns to Studio where he previously designed Problems Between Sisters, Clyde’s, Cock, An Iliad, Lungs, Circle Mirror Transformation, The Year of Magical Thinking, Stoop Stories, Radio Golf, Contractions, POP!, That Face, Autobahn, The Death of Meyerhold, The Who’s Tommy, Four, and Bat Boy. He is a Company Member and Board Member at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company where he has designed over 55 productions. He was a founding member of the devised theater 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.
Kathy Ruvuna is a New York-based sound designer and composer who designed Exception to the Rule and John Proctor is the Villain at Studio. Other recent credits include Mary Gets Hers at The Playwrights Realm; Bernarda’s Daughters at The New Group; Amani at National Black Theatre; Dark Disabled Stories and Self Portraits (Deluxe) at The Bushwick Starr; Trouble in Mind and The Hot Wing King at Hartford Stage; What-A-Christmas! and Sweat at Alley Theatre; The Lion in Winter, Pipeline, and Radio Golf at Everyman Theatre; The Great Leap, I and You, and Read to Me at Portland Stage; Circle Jerk at Fake Friends; and In the Southern Breeze and Ni Mi Madre at Rattlestick Theater. She holds a BFA from The Conservatory of Theatre Arts at Webster University and an MFA from the Yale School of Drama.
Guy Davis has been active for many years as a musical performer, composer, writer, director, actor, and creative artist. Two of his recordings have received Grammy nominations. In 2023, his music was heard on Broadway in between the scenes of the revival of Purlie Victorious. In 2009, he appeared live on the Broadway stage playing a harmonica in the revival production of the musical Finnian’s Rainbow. Guy continues writing and recording; his latest work is an EP soon to be released, entitled “Slamdooky.”
Adrien-Alice Hansel is the Literary Director at Studio, where she oversees new work development, supports season planning, and has served as the dramaturg on roughly 70 plays, including world premieres of Good Bones, John Proctor is the Villain, I Hate it Here, Red Speedo, and Lungs, among others, and productions of The Heart Sellers; Paradise Blue; Summer, 1976; The Colored Museum; Fat Ham; Fun Home; English; Curve of Departure; and Wig Out! Her recent freelance work includes projects for Solas Nua, Musical Theatre Factory, and Young Artists of America. 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. Adrien-Alice holds an MFA from the Yale School of Drama.
Robb Hunter has choreographed 30 Studio productions including Paradise Blue, Downstate, Passover (directed by Psalmayene 24), White Noise, Vietgone, Invisible Man, Red Speedo (Helen Hayes [HH] nomination), and The Walworth Farce (HH nomination). He also choreographs for Arena Stage, Folger Theatre, Woolly Mammoth (HH award for Hir, nomination for An Octoroon), Signature Theatre, Ford’s Theatre and STC, including the current Othello, as well as King Lear (HH nomination), Richard III (HH nomination), Guys and Dolls and others. He is a member of SDC (director/choreographer), AEA, SAG/AFTRA, and is a Fight Master for the Society of American Fight Directors. He is combat instructor for the STC Academy, Fight Choreographer in Residence at American University, and teaching artist for The Studio Theatre Acting Conservatory. robbhunter.org and on social media @DCFightDirector (Instagram).
John Keith Hall's previous Studio credits include Wipeout; 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 Theater J, 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.
Zora Allison is a multi-hyphenate theatre artist from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Her production credits include Octet; Paradise Blue; Summer, 1976; and The Colored Museum at Studio Theatre and Guys and Dolls at Shakespeare Theater Company. She is a proud graduate of the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts at Howard University with her BFA in Acting with a minor in Spanish. She recently served as the 2024/2025 Theatre Education Apprentice at Imagination Stage, where she also is an early childhood educator.
Katja Zarolinski, CSA is thrilled to be casting for another production for Studio Theatre. Katja is a New York-based casting director handling productions for theater, film and television. Previous casting work includes Broadway, off Broadway and regional productions at Alley Theatre, Arena Stage, Asolo Repertory Theatre, Baltimore Center Stage, Barrington Stage Company, Berkshire Playwrights Lab, Cape Playhouse, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, City Theatre Company, Connecticut Repertory Theatre, Contemporary American Theater Festival, Crossroads Theatre Company, Everyman Theatre, Florida Studio Theatre, George Street Playhouse, Goodspeed Musicals, Guthrie Theater, Irish Repertory Theatre, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, Mosaic Theatre, Olney Theatre Center, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Pittsburgh CLO, PlayMakers Repertory Company, Pittsburgh Public Theater, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Seattle Rep, Shakespeare & Company, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Signature Theatre (DC), South Coast Repertory, TheaterWorks Hartford, Virginia Stage Company, Virginia Theatre Festival, Weston Theater Company and many more.
A Note from the Director, Psalmayene 24
History of Sharecropping: Sharecropping and Its Present Reverberations
Joy, Love, and Resilience: The Epic Stories of Ossie Davis
Ossie Davis on Writing Purlie Victorious
Preaching Freedom: The Black Church and Social Change
Preparing for Purlie– An Interview with Psalmayene 24
A Note from Our Dramaturg, Adrien-Alice Hansel