Four cousins are back at the family homestead to pack up their grandmother's house in Tidewater, Virginia. Over a weekend of board games and in-jokes, the cousins crack each other up, spill secrets, and face some difficult truths about the choices their parents made for them. A moving new comedy from James Ijames (Fat Ham, Good Bones) that looks at the layers of legacy within a family and asks whether preservation means holding on or learning to let in something new.
Runtime: 2 hours and 10 minutes with a 15 minutes intermission
Please note late seating will be determined at the discretion of House Management.
Wilderness Generation is generously underwritten by Craig Pascal.
James Ijames is a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, director, and educator. James’ plays have been produced on Broadway, off Broadway, and across the country by theatres including Orbiter 3, The National Black Theatre, The Public Theater, and Steppenwolf Theatre Company. His awards and honors include the 2011 F. Otto Haas Award for an Emerging Artist, the 2015 Pew Fellowship for Playwriting, the 2015 Terrence McNally New Play Award, the 2017 Whiting Award, the 2019 Kesselring Prize, the 2020 Steinberg Prize, and the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Drama for the Tony-nominated Fat Ham. James is an associate professor at Columbia University, where he serves as head of the playwriting concentration.
Taibi Magar is the Co-Artistic Director of Philadelphia Theatre Company. Select New York credits include productions with New York Theatre Workshop, LCT3, Signature Theatre Company, The Shed, Atlantic Theater Company, Soho Rep, and Ars Nova. Select Regional credits include productions with American Repertory Theatre, Center Theatre Group, Yale Repertory Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre, Alley Theatre, Guthrie Theater. International credits include Hamburg Theater Festival, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Malthouse Theatre (Melbourne), and Soho Theatre (London). Awards and Nominations include an Obie Award, Drama Desk Award and Lucille Lortel Award. She holds an MFA from Brown University.
Nikkole Salter is an actor, playwright, and director. She was previously seen at Studio in Jitney. Her other credits include The Great Society (Lincoln Center Theater); In the Continuum (Primary Stages and Perry Street Theatricals); Stick Fly (Arena Stage and Huntington Theatre Company); Head of Passes (Berkeley Repertory Theatre); Macbeth (Shakespeare Theatre Company); and Our Daughters, Like Pillars (Huntington Theatre Company). On television, she can be seen in New Amsterdam (NBC) and Godfather of Harlem (MGM+) and in the films Pride and Glory and Last Night. Nikkole co-wrote and co-performed In the Continuum, receiving an OBIE Award and the Outer Critics Circle’s John Gassner Award, as well as Helen Hayes and IRNE Award nominations for acting. She holds a BFA in Theatre Arts from Howard University and an MFA from NYU’s Graduate Acting Program. She is a professor and coordinator of the BFA Acting program at Howard University. www.nikkolesalter.com
JaBen Early is a theatre practitioner who has previous appeared at Studio in Fucking A. Other credits include The Great Society (Lincoln Center Theatre); Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner and We Are Proud to Present… (Guthrie Theater); Toni Stone, Junk, The Great Society, All the Way, and Ruined (Arena Stage); Death of a Salesman (Ford’s Theatre); Measure for Measure and Julius Caesar (Folger Theatre); Macbeth (Shakespeare Theatre Company); Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2, & 3) (Round House Theatre); Unexplored Interior (Mosaic Theater Company); The Convert (Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company); Mondo Andronicus (Molotov Theatre Group); Native Son (American Century Theater); The Convert (Marin Theatre); and The Death of Bessie Smith (Liberty Free Theatre). He holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and a BFA from Morehouse College. He also studied at the British American Drama Academy at Magdalen College, University of Oxford. On social media @jabenearly.
Nadia Brown is a New York-based actress. Her theatre credits include Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Broadway and first national tour), The Devil's Disciple (Gingold Theatrical Group), and Godspeed (Denver Center for the Performing Arts). Nadia can also be seen on television episodes of NCIS: New York (CBS), Chicago Med (NBC), Law & Order (NBC), Succession (HBO), and New Amsterdam (NBC). She received her BFA from Marymount Manhattan College and studied abroad at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, U.K. On social media @naughtya_or_nice.
Justin Weaks was most recently seen in the premiere of his solo show A Fine Madness, touring with Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in the summer of 2026. His Studio Theatre credits include Pipeline, Curve of Departure, and Flow. Off Broadway, his credits include i need space (The New Group). His regional credits include Primary Trust (Barrington Stage Company, TheaterWorks Hartford); Angels in America (Arena Stage); There’s Always the Hudson, Gloria, and BLKS (Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, where he is also a company member); Gem of the Ocean (Round House Theatre); one in two (Mosaic Theater Company); Word Becomes Flesh (Theater Alliance); and A Christmas Carol (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park). A theater maker and artist educator, he has worked with organizations such as SAY (Stuttering Association for the Young), YPT (Young Playwrights Theater), and Shakespeare Theater Company. Justin holds three Helen Hayes Awards for his work on Washington, DC stages. He holds a degree from Greensboro College. @keithweaks.
Khiry Walker is an actor and movement teacher from Brooklyn, New York. His theatre credits include Sally & Tom and Much Ado About Nothing (The Public Theater), King James (Pioneer Theatre Company), Godspeed (Denver Center for the Performing Arts), and Blues for an Alabama Sky (Keen Company). Khiry can also be seen on television in episodes of 9-1-1 Nashville (ABC/Hulu), Beyond the Gates (CBS), The Chair Company (HBO/MAX), and Law & Order: Organized Crime (NBC). On social media @khirywalker.
Matt Saunders is a Philadelphia-based designer and the Associate Artistic Director of the OBIE Award-Winning experimental theatre company New Paradise Laboratories. Saunders has designed over 150 works of theater, opera, dance, and film. He has worked internationally in London, Barcelona, Rotterdam, Bruges, Malmo, and Bochum Germany. In the U.S., Matt has designed for such theaters as Lincoln Center, The Public Theater, Signature Theatre Company in NYC, Playwrights Horizons, American Repertory Theater, Mark Taper Forum, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Guthrie Theater, The Glimmerglass Festival, The Wilma Theater, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Alliance Theatre, the Kennedy Center, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, and the Apollo Theater. Saunders holds an MFA in Design from the Yale School of Drama and is an Associate Professor of Design in the Department of Theater at Swarthmore College. www.mattsaunders.net.
Kara Harmon’s Off Broadway credits include The Other Americans and Cullud Wattah (The Public Theater), The Great Privation (How to flip ten cents into a dollar) (Soho Rep), Watch Night (Perelman Performing Arts Center), The Niceties (Manhattan Theatre Club), and Dot (Vineyard Theatre). Her DC-area credits include We Are Gathered (Arena Stage), I & You: The Musical (Olney Theatre Center and McCarter Theatre Center), and The Wiz (Ford’s Theatre; Helen Hayes Award). Her regional credits include Of Mice and Men (Houston Grand Opera); The Penelopiad (Goodman Theatre); The Three Musketeers (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); 42nd Street (Goodspeed Musicals; CT Critics Circle Outstanding Costume Design Award); Choir Boy (Steppenwolf Theatre Company); Diary of a Wimpy Kid the Musical (Children’s Theatre Company); Hometown to the World (Santa Fe Opera); Shutter Sisters (The Old Globe); Guys and Dolls (Guthrie Theater); The Purists (Huntington Theatre Company); and Barbecue (Geffen Playhouse; NAACP Award). KaraHarmonDesign.com.
Thom Weaver is making his Studio debut. His Off Broadway credits include Penelope (Classic Stage Company); Sandra (Vineyard Theatre); The Total Bent (The Public Theater); Kingdom Come (Roundabout Theatre Company); Exit Strategy (Primary Stages); King Hedley II, How I Learned What I Learned, and The Liquid Plain (Signature Theatre Company); and Teller’s Play Dead (The Players Theater). Regional credits include productions with Folger Theatre, Round House Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Olney Theatre Center, Alliance Theatre, Huntington Theatre Company, Alley Theatre, The Arden Theatre Company, The Wilma Theater, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Milwaukee Rep, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Children’s Theatre Company, Geva Theatre, Cleveland Play House, Portland Center Stage, Asolo Repertory Theatre, Hangar Theatre, CenterStage, California Shakespeare Theater, Syracuse Stage, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Spoleto Festival USA, Lincoln Center Festival, City Theatre (Pittsburgh), Pittsburgh Public Theater, and Yale Repertory Theatre, as well as numerous designs with Pilobolus. He is the recipient of a Helen Hayes Award, two Jeff Awards, six Barrymore Awards, and two AUDELCO Awards. He holds degrees from Carnegie Mellon and Yale. @thomweaverdesign.
Kelly Colburn is a multidisciplinary artist working in the DC Area (Piscataway/Nacotchtank lands). Her Studio Theatre credits include The Colored Museum, Pipeline, and P.Y.G. Or The Mis-Edumacation of Dorian Belle. Her Off Broadway credits include american (tele)visions (New York Theatre Workshop). Her recent regional credits include The World to Come (Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company/Theater J), Eureka Day (Theater J), Please Underestimate Me and Some Like It Hot (Olney Theatre Center), and My Favorite Sociopath and ¡VOS! (Contemporary American Theater Festival). She is a Media/Projections faculty member at The University of Maryland College and a two-time Helen Hayes recipient. She has been nominated for the Helen Hayes Awards, Philadelphia’s Barrymore Awards, Lucille Lortel Awards, and Henry Hewes Awards. She holds a BFA from NYU Tisch and an MFA from the University of Maryland. kellycolburn.com. On social media @kellycolburndesign.
Christopher Darbassie's Off Broadway credits include the ripple, the wave that carried me home; The Antiquities; and Amusements (Playwrights Horizons); The Counter (Roundabout Theatre Company); Caroline and Table 17 (MCC Theater; winner, NAACP Theatre Award), Six Characters (LCT3); Grangeville, A Bright New Boise, and A Case for the Existence of God (Signature Theatre Company [NYC]); The Apiary, Camp Siegfried, and Patience (Second Stage); I’m Almost There (Brooklyn Academy of Music and Audible Theater); This Beautiful Future (Cherry Lane Theatre); Heaux Church and P.S. (Ars Nova); Tru (House of the Redeemer); Marina (Little Island); I’m Not Even Half and Black Exhibition (The Bushwick Starr); Uncle Vanya and Color Theories (Performance Space New York; winner, Henry Hewes Design Award); and work at Petzel Gallery, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Alliance Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Playmakers Repertory Company, The Brooklyn Museum, The Studio Museum, and more.
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 75 plays, including world premieres of Good Bones, John Proctor is the Villain, I Hate it Here, Red Speedo, and Lungs, and productions of Purlie Victorious, Jonah, The Heart Sellers, The Colored Museum, Fun Home, English, Curve of Departure, Wig Out!, and The New Electric Ballroom. 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.
Gerrad Alex Taylor is an award-winning director and actor based out of the DMV. He is the current Co-Artistic Director of Perisphere Theater in Bethesda and serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Theatre at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). He has directed and choreographed fights and intimacy at theatres and educational institutions across the country including Studio Theatre, Perisphere Theater, Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, Olney Theatre Center, Arena Stage, Everyman Theatre, Constellation Theatre Company, Imagination Stage, A Common Thread Theatre Company, North Carolina A&T, UMBC Department of Theatre, Morgan State University, and Johns Hopkins University Department of Theatre. He is a member of the Actors’ Equity Association and an advanced actor combatant with the Society of American Fight Directors. He holds a BA in Neuroscience from Johns Hopkins University and an MFA in Performance from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
JuanCarlos Contreras is a recent transplant to the DMV after splitting time between the Hudson Valley and Oregon. Local credits include Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and The Inheritance, Parts One andTwo (Round House Theatre); Akira Kurosawa Explains His Movies and Yogurt (with Live & Active Cultures!) (Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company); Kunene and the King (Shakespeare Theatre Company); and And Then There Were None (Everyman Theatre). Other regional credits include Furlough's Paradise (Geva Theatre); Lizard Boy, Romeo and Juliet, and unseen (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); Jacob Marley's A Christmas Carol (Fulton Theatre); Spring Awakening (Northern Stage); and An Iliad, Little Shop of Horrors, and Peter and the Starcatcher (Creede Repertory Theatre).
Katja Zarolinski, CSA is serving at the Studio Theatre NYC Casting Director for the 2026/2027 season. 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, Cape Playhouse, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, City Theatre Company, Contemporary American Theater Festival, Crossroads Theatre Company, Everyman Theatre, George Street Playhouse, Goodspeed Musicals, Guthrie Theater, Irish Repertory Theatre, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, 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, and many more.
