Lauren Weedman’s one-woman show is a mostly autobiographical play based on her experiences working as a volunteer advocate in a Southern California prison for women. Weedman’s job is to listen, but talking is what she does best, with occasionally disastrous and frequently hilarious results. She plays dozens of characters, switching from prostitute to parole officer, addict to editor, with nuance and empathy. With one foot in Hollywood and the other in jail, the former Daily Show correspondent careens wildly between the two worlds, taking us on a poignant, entertaining, and completely unforgettable ride.
Studio Special Events bring unique performances and one-of-a-kind events from around the world to DC.
The 2011-2012 Special Events Season was generously underwritten by Susan L. and Dixon M. Butler.
This production of Bust was underwritten by Jaylee M. Mead.
Lauren Weedman is a comedic actress, playwright, and author. Her other works include Rash, which premiered at The Empty Space Theatre in Seattle and was awarded Best New Play and Best Solo Performance by The Seattle Times’ Footlight Awards; Wreckage, which was selected for The NOW Theatre Festival at the REDCAT Theatre at The Disney Music Hall; and Homecoming, which began as a 15-minute performance art piece and grew into a full-length show that ultimately toured with the Seattle Repertory Theatre and was featured at HBO’s US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado and later New York City. Her television credits include The Daily Show, True Blood, The United States of Tara, Reno 911, VH1’s Best Week Ever, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Talk Show with Spike Ferestein, and as Horny Patty on HBO’s Hung. She has also performed with Eddie Griffin in Pryor Offenses, a half-hour pilot for Showtime based on Richard Pryor’s life, and a pilot for Oxygen based on her web episodes Our Bodies, Myself.
Her film credits include Imagine That, Date Night, and she is currently shooting Judd Apatow’s Five Year Engagement starring Jason Segel. Weedman’s first book, A Woman Trapped in a Woman’s Body: (Tales from a Life of Cringe), is a collection of comedic essays and was developed by Weedman into a pilot for The Fox Network. Bust was voted Best of the Arts by The Seattle Times, Seattle Magazine, and Boise Weekly. She received the Alpert Award in the Arts for Playwriting for Bust. She continues to develop her show, Family Values (aka NO…YOU SHUTUP), which was originially commissioned by Boise Contemporary Theater and featured as a part of Los Angeles’s REDCAT Theater New Works festival. Weedman currently lives in Santa Monica by the Baja Fresh.
(As of December 2011)
Allison Narver has directed, for Seattle’s Empty Space Theater, world premieres of Lauren Weedman’s Bust; Judy Gold and Kate Moira Ryan’s 25 Questions for a Jewish Mother; Louis Broome’s Texarkana Waltz; 1984, adapted from George Orwell’s novel; and Valley of The Dolls, adapted for the stage by Narver, Jason Cannon, and Burton Curtis. Select regional credits include Seven Brides for Seven Brothers at 5th Avenue Theater (Seattle); A Christmas Carol, Eurydice, and The Clean House at ACT (Seattle); The 100 Dresses and Robin Hood at Seattle Children’s Theatre; Three Tall Women at Seattle Repertory Theatre; Bust at City Theatre (Pittsburgh), Boise Contemporary Theatre, and REDCAT Theater (Los Angeles); and Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s upcoming production of Animal Crackers. Narver has also directed the world premieres of The Fatty Arbuckle Spookhouse Revue, Radio Pirates (book, music and lyrics by Chris Jeffries), and Glen Berger’s Bessemer’s Spectacles. Her New York credits include Second Hand Dance at The New Victory Theater, Texarkana Waltz at The Kirk Theatre, and as Resident Director on Julie Taymor’s production of The Lion King. Ms. Narver has served as Artistic Director for The Empty Space Theatre, The Yale Cabaret, and Annex Theater (Seattle), and earned her MFA from the Yale School of Drama.
(As of December 2011)
Allen Hahn has designed Three Tall Women for Seattle Repertory Theatre, The Lady with All the Answers for Pittsburgh Public Theatre, The Front Page for Playmakers Rep, Ghosts for Geva Theatre, and numerous productions in New York City. His work in opera has been seen at New York City Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Glimmerglass, and the Spoleto USA Festival, and internationally for opera companies and festivals in France, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, and the UK. He has also designed world premiere operas at Juilliard and the Royal Danish Opera. Mr. Hahn has worked with the performance company The Builders Association since its inception in 1994. He has also worked with artist Tony Oursler on installations at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and ARoS Kunstmuseum in Denmark. His design work was selected for exhibition in the 2007 Prague Quadrennial and he served as Lighting Design Curator for the American exhibit at the 2011 Quadrennial.
(As of December 2011)
Mark Nichols currently works as a freelance Director of Photography in Los Angeles. He is the composer of the operas How to Survive the Apocalypse: A Burning Opera, Little Boy Goes to Hell, and Joe Bean. He designed the world premiere of Bust at Empty Space Theatre in Seattle. His score for Caucasian Chalk Circle is performed up to a dozen times per year around the world.
(As of December 2011)
STUDIO 2NDSTAGE: The Rocky Horror Show, Contractions, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (Stage Manager). STUDIO THEATRE: Dirt (Assistant Stage Manager), Bust (Stage Manager). DC AREA: Three years as Resident Assistant Stage Manager at the Folger Theatre (Taming of the Shrew, The Gaming Table, Othello, Cyrano, Comedy of Errors, Henry VIII, Hamlet, Orestes: A Tragic Romp, Much Ado About Nothing), Birds of a Feather (The Hub, Stage Manager), Stop Kiss (No Rules Theatre, Stage Manager), We’re Proud to Present… (Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, 2nd Assist. Stage Manager, February 2014). EDUCATION: BFA Stage Management, Virginia Commonwealth University.
(As of December 2013)
