Newly elected congresswoman Sydney Millsap arrives in DC armed with her ideals and sense of duty, and refuses to play by the rules of special interests—or her own party. Kate’s a lobbyist who backs winners. So when she crosses paths with Representative Millsap, she dismisses her as a one-term neophyte…but ends up hearing a call to conscience she thought she’d left outside of the Beltway. A lacerating comedy about money, power, and what democracy actually looks like by Alexandria native Sarah Burgess.
Runtime: This performance will run approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes with no intermission.
Sarah Burgess is from Alexandria, VA. Kings received its world premiere at the Public Theater in New York in early 2018. Other plays include Dry Powder, which was a nominee for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Comedy, a recipient of the Laurents/Hatcher Foundation Award and a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Sarah has been a writer-in-residence at SPACE on Ryder Farm in Brewster, NY and the Cape Cod Theatre Project. She is a WP Lab and Ars Nova Play Group alum.
(As of June 2018)
Marti Lyons returns to Studio, where she directed The Wolves last season. Lyons recently directed Witch by Jen Silverman, which is currently playing at Writers Theatre in Chicago. She also directed Botticelli in the Fire at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Native Gardens at Victory Gardens Theater, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? at Court Theater, Shakespeare in Love at Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Twelfth Night at Montana Shakespeare, Short Shakes! Romeo and Juliet at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, and The City of Conversation at Northlight Theatre Company. She directed Wondrous Strange for the Humana Festival at Actors Theatre of Louisville, Title and Deed at Lookingglass Theatre, and she received the 2015 Maggio directing fellowship at The Goodman Theater. Next, Lyons will direct Short Shakes! Macbeth at Chicago Shakespeare, How to Defend Yourself by Lily Padilla for The Humana Festival at Actors Theater of Louisville, and Cambodian Rock Band by Lauren Yee at Victory Gardens Theater. Lyons is a proud member of SDC.
(As of December 2018)
Laura C. Harris returns to Studio Theatre after appearances as Edward/Victoria in Cloud 9, Mandy in Time Stands Still, Gena in Bachelorette, and Lydia in Red Speedo. Other Washington, DC credits include The Flick and Tender Napalm at Signature Theatre; NSFW, Seminar, Amadeus, Young Robin Hood, and 26 Miles at Round House Theatre; Vicuña at Mosaic Theater; Awake and Sing! at Olney Theatre Center; Love and Information, Passion Play, and World Builders with Forum Theatre; Our Class at Theater J; and The Winter’s Tale and The School for Scandal at Folger Theatre. Harris is a graduate of Middlebury College.
(As of December 2018)
Kelly McCrann makes her Studio Theatre debut. Her select credits include The Convent of Pleasure with Cherry Lane Mentor Project, After the Revolution and Pride and Prejudice at Baltimore Center Stage, and Richard II at Allentown Shakespeare. Television and film credits include Elementary on CBS, The Path on Hulu, Louie on FX, The Comedian (Taylor Hackford, director), and Accommodations (Amy Miller Gross, director). She has also appeared in various commercials for Ikea, Toyota, and others. McCrann attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and received her MFA from Columbia University, where she received the Andy Griffith Scholarship and the Shubert Presidential Award.
(As of December 2018)
Nehassaiu deGannes’s Off Broadway credits include Is God Is at Soho Rep; Seagullmachine at La Mama; T.B. Sheets at ART/NY Gural Theatre; Target Margin Lab performances at JACK, Abrons, and Bushwick Starr; as well as readings at Manhattan Theatre Club, New Dramatists, and Playwrights Realm. Select regional credits include Sweat at Cleveland Play House; Intimate Apparel (2017 Wall Street Journal “Best Performance” Citation) and Or, (Berkshire Theatre Award: Outstanding Supporting Actress) at Shakespeare & Co.; The Convert at Underground Railway Theatre; and King Lear at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre. International credits include a principal season at Stratford Festival of Canada. Film work includes the upcoming Equal Standard. Nehassaiu holds an MFA from Brown University and trained at Trinity Rep.
(As of December 2018)
Elliott Bales makes his Studio Theatre debut. Other credits include The Great Society at Arena Stage, A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Folger Shakespeare Theatre, Occupied Territories and The Wonderful World of Dissocia at Theater Alliance (Helen Hayes nomination), Harvey at 1st Stage, Not Enuf Lifetimes at The Welders, Romeo and Juliet at Unexpected Stage, Last of the Whyos at Spooky Action Theater, Roar of the Greasepaint at Compass Rose, and Annie and White Christmas at Little Theatre on the Square. Bales retired from the US Army after 26 years of service.
(As of December 2018)
Luciana Stecconi’s previous designs for Studio Theatre include The Effect, Cloud 9, Hedda Gabler, Bad Jews, An Iliad, Lungs, The History of Kisses, In the Red and Brown Water, The Year of Magical Thinking, Amnesia Curiosa, Souvenir, Contractions, and Crestfall, among others. She has designed for Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Round House Theatre, Signature Theatre, The Kennedy Center Theatre for Young Audiences, Mosaic Theater, Theater J, Everyman Theatre, Olney Theatre Center, Contemporary American Theatre Festival, Georgetown University, Catholic University, American University, Imagination Stage, and many more. She’s the Assistant Professor in Scenic Design at Emerson College. Stecconi holds an MFA in design from Brandeis University and is a member of USA Local 829.
(As of December 2018)
Jiyoun Chang returns to Studio Theatre after previously designing Straight White Men. Chang is the recipient of the OBIE award special citation in lighting design for The World is Round at Ripe Time. Her New York credits include Plot Points in Our Sexual Development and Brownsville Song (“b-side for tray”) at LCT3; Slave Play, Sojourner, and HerPortmanteau at NYTW; Too Heavy For Your Pocket and Ugly Lies The Bone at Roundabout Underground; Sleep and Goldberg’s Variation at BAM Next Wave; The Dance and the Railroad at Signature Theatre; Sojourners at Playwrights Realm; T. 1912 and Peter and the Wolf at Guggenheim Museum; and Light Within at Carnegie Hall. Chang’s other credits include The War of the Roses at Cal Shakes, The Parchman Hour at Guthrie Theatre, tokyo fish story at Old Globe, An Octoroon and Aubergine at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, The Unfortunates and Troilus and Cressida at Oregon Shakespeare Festival. She holds an MFA from the Yale School of Drama.
(As of December 2018)
Sarah Cubbage designed costumes for The Wolves at Studio Theatre last season. Other recent projects include Crazy for You at Lincoln Center (Susan Stroman, dir.) and Beauty & The Beast at Disney Creative Entertainment/Disney Cruise Lines. Off Broadway credits include Soho Rep, Theatre for the New City, Aquila Theatre Company, Urban Stages, Ohio Theatre, and Atlantic Stage 2. Regional credits include Studio Theatre, Everyman Theatre, Center Stage, Rep Stage, Syracuse Stage, American Repertory Theatre, Hangar Theatre, Northern Stage, Premiere Stages, and Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey. Associate/Assistant Broadway design work includes Fish in the Dark, A Delicate Balance, It’s Only a Play, This is Our Youth, Bullets Over Broadway, and Big Fish. Film credits include A Clerk’s Tale (James Franco, dir.), So Over You (Karen Odyniec, dir.), Half the Perfect World (Cynthia Arzaga Fredette, dir.). Dance credits include Dark Lark (BAM, Kate Weare Company) and The Radio Show (Bessie Award, Kyle Abraham/Abraham.In.Motion). Cubbage holds an MFA from New York University and is a member of USA 829.
(As of December 2018)
Stowe Nelson previously designed The Aliens at Studio Theatre. Recent designs include queens and The Wolves at Lincoln Center Theater, Miles for Mary at Playwrights Horizons, Animal Wisdom at the Bushwick Starr, Peter Pan at Bard Summerscape, and Small Mouth Sounds at Ars Nova (Lucille Lortel Nomination). Nelson also mixed and designed the third season of the Serial podcast and mixes often for This American Life. He is a company member of The Mad Ones and a proud member of USA 829.
(As of December 2018)
Lauren Halvorsen is in her ninth season as Studio’s Associate Literary Director. Her dramaturgy credits here include Doubt, P.Y.G. or the Mis-Edumacation of Dorian Belle, Admissions, Kings, If I Forget, Vietgone, The Wolves, Skeleton Crew, The Father, Three Sisters, The Hard Problem, Hand to God, Moment, Between Riverside and Crazy, Chimerica, The Wolfe Twins, Belleville, Water by the Spoonful, Tribes, The Real Thing, The Motherfucker with the Hat, The Aliens, Bachelorette, The Big Meal, and Time Stands Still. Previously, Lauren spent three seasons as Literary Manager of The Alley Theatre. She was the Artistic Associate of the WordBRIDGE Playwrights Laboratory for six years and has worked in various artistic capacities for The Kennedy Center, City Theatre Company, Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, First Person Arts Festival, and The Wilma Theater. Lauren is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College.
(As of December 2019)
