Studio presents the first two plays in Richard Nelson’s quartet of plays about the Apple siblings and their extended family. Set at successive meals over the course of four years, the tensions and compromises, affections and resentments of the Apple Family’s personal lives play out against a rapidly changing America. Presented in rotating repertory.
That Hopey Changey Thing: It’s 7 pm on the eve of Obama’s first midterm election, and Barbara’s hosting dinner for the family at her Rhinebeck, NY home. Over the course of a meal, the Apples delve into lost family history, the social meaning of manners, and the fragile state of the American body politic.
Sweet and Sad: One year later, Barbara hosts a lunch on the 10th anniversary of 9/11. Uncle Benjamin is going downhill, Marian has moved in, and Richard—who was working in the Trade Center a decade before—tries to treat the day like any other.
Studio’s Subscription Series is the core of our programming, offering an uncommonly rich repertoire of provocative contemporary writing and inventive stagings of contemporary classics.
The Apple Family Plays are underwritten by an anonymous donor in honor of Florence and Sam.
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Richard Nelson’s plays have been produced on Broadway, Off Broadway, in the West End, by numerous national theatres across Europe, and at major theatres in Japan, Israel, and Russia. Ten of his plays have been staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he is an Honorary Associate Artist.
The Public Theater commissioned a four-play cycle about the Apple family, which includes That Hopey Changey Thing, Sweet and Sad, Sorry, and the upcoming Regular Singing. Mr. Nelson’s other plays include Tynan (Studio Theatre, 2011), Principia Scriptoriae (Studio Theatre, 1989), Farewell to the Theatre, Nikolai and the Others, Frank’s Home, Goodnight Children Everywhere (Olivier Award, Best Play), The General From America, New England, Two Shakespearean Actors, and Some Americans Abroad. He has written the musicals Unfinished Piece for a Player Piano, James Joyce’s The Dead (Tony, Best Book of a Musical), and My Life with Albertine.
Mr. Nelson has translated numerous plays and co-translated a series of Russian classical plays with the eminent translators Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. His screenplays include an adaptation of Ethan Frome, starring Liam Neeson and Patricia Arquette, and Hyde Park on Hudson, starring Bill Murray and Laura Linney. His honors include two Obie Awards, a Lucille Lortel Award, a New York Drama Critics Circle Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Lila Wallace-Readers’ Digest Writers Award, an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award, and the PEN/Laura Pels Master Playwright Award.
(As of November 2013)
Serge Seiden directed Studio’s hit production of Bad Jews (which broke Studio box office records) and returned by popular demand in the 2015-2016 season. Bad Jews was nominated for 4 2015 Helen Hayes Awards including Outstanding Director. Seiden also directed all four plays in the Apple Family Cycle: That Hopey Changey Thing and Sweet and Sad (2013) and Sorry and Regular Singing (2015). Seiden is now the Managing Director/Producer of Mosaic Theater Company of DC, the area's only theater devoted to social justice. Seiden directed Everett Quinton's A Tale of Two Cities at Synetic Theater and Clifford Odets’ Awake and Sing! at Olney Theatre Center. From 1990 to 2015 Seiden held many positions at Studio Theatre including Production Stage Manager, Literary Manager, and Producing Director. In 2013 he received the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Director/Resident Musical for Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris… at MetroStage. Other Studio Theatre credits include The Motherfucker with the Hat, The Golden Dragon, Superior Donuts, In the Red and Brown Water, Grey Gardens, and My Children! My Africa! He also directed Souvenir: A Fantasia on the Life of Florence Foster Jenkins, which received three Helen Hayes Awards and five Helen Hayes Award nominations including Outstanding Director and Outstanding Resident Play; A New Brain, which received a Helen Hayes Award nomination for Outstanding Resident Musical; and Old Wicked Songs, which received seven Helen Hayes nominations, including Outstanding Director. Additional Studio credits include The Long Christmas Ride Home, Guantanamo: Honor Bound to Defend Freedom, Black Milk, The Cripple of Inishmaan, The York Realist, Two Sisters and a Piano, Blue Heart, The Last Night of Ballyhoo, and A Class Act. For Studio 2ndStage, Mr. Seiden directed Sixty Miles to Silver Lake, All That I Will Ever Be, This Is Our Youth, Ecstasy, Mad Forest, Hot Fudge, Sincerity Forever, and Durang/Durang. His theatre for young audiences productions at Adventure Theatre MTC—A Little House Christmas and Charlotte’s Web—were both nominated for Helen Hayes Awards for Outstanding Production/Theatre for Young Audiences. He has directed several readings for the annual Zeitgeist Festival at the Goethe-Institut and Moth for the National New Play Network. For 20 years Seiden has been a member of the faculty of the Studio Theatre Acting Conservatory, where he trained as an actor and director. Serge is a graduate of Swarthmore College.
(As of December 2015)
Rick Foucheux appeared at Studio Theatre in The Apple Family Cycle: Sorry, Regular Singing, That Hopey Changey Thing, and Sweet and Sad; Far East; and Take Me Out. He was featured in Signature Theatre's acclaimed revival of Cabaret, and in Freud's Last Session at Theater J and Awake and Sing at the Olney Theatre Center, both directed by Serge Seiden. Mr. Foucheux is a company member at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company and also appears regularly at Arena Stage, Shakespeare Theatre Company, and Round House Theatre, where he will appear in Spring 2016 with Sarah Marshall in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof. He is a Helen Hayes Award recipient, a Lunt-Fontanne Fellow of the Ten Chimneys Foundation, and teaches acting at George Washington University.
(As of October 2015)
Ted van Griethuysen returns to Studio for The Father after appearing in Sorry, Regular Singing, That Hopey Changey Thing and Sweet and Sad (Helen Hayes Award), The Habit of Art, The Walworth Farce, Moonlight, Rock ‘n’ Roll, The Invention of Love, A Number, The Steward of Christendom, and The Life of Galileo, a role he also played in London, both productions directed by David Salter. He was recently seen on the West End in three one-act plays by Tennessee Williams. A member of the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s permanent acting company since 1987, he has appeared in more than 50 productions, including as Philip II in Don Carlos, John of Gaunt in Richard II, the title role in King Lear, Prospero in The Tempest, Andrew Undershaft in Major Barbara, and Malvolio in Twelfth Night, also at the McCarter Theatre. He spent twenty-five years in New York, appearing on Broadway in Gore Vidal’s Romulus, The Moon Besieged, and Inadmissible Evidence (Drama Desk Award). In 1968, he and his wife Rebecca Thompson founded the Opposites Company, an acting company based on the Aesthetic Realism of Eli Siegel. He has taught acting privately in New York and at Columbia University, the University of South Carolina, and Manchester Metropolitan University. He is the recipient of seven Helen Hayes Awards, the Will Award, and the Richard Bauer Award for Outstanding Contribution to Washington Theatre.
(As of April 2017)
Sarah Marshall returns to Studio Theatre for Doubt: A Parable after appearing in Admissions last season. Sarah has the honor of having performed at Studio Theatre more than any other performer in its history. Some of her Studio credits include The Apple Family Cycle, Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Prometheus, Betty’s Summer Vacation, Three Sisters, Miss Margarida’s Way, Sylvia, The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, The Baltimore Waltz, When I Was a Girl I Used to Scream and Shout, My Sister in this House, Playing for Time, A Taste of Honey, The Visit, and Medea. She has performed at many Washington theatres including Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Ford’s Theatre, Round House Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Arena Stage, Folger Theatre, Washington Stage Guild, Signature Theatre, and The Kennedy Center. Sarah has taught acting for 30 years and currently teaches at Georgetown University.
Elizabeth Pierotti's Studio Theatre credits include The Apple Family Cycle: Sweet and Sad, That Hopey Changey Thing, Sorry, and Regular Singing; The Steward of Christendom; and Silence, Cunning, Exile. Other credits include The Women and The Time of Your Life at Arena Stage; The Grapes of Wrath and Inherit the Wind at Ford’s Theatre; The Glass Menagerie and The How and the Why at 1st Stage; Never Swim Alone at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company; The Well of Horniness, Shaker Heights, The Art of Dining, Little Criminals, and Beyond the Pale at Source Theatre; After the Orgy, The Supper, and Come and Go at Scena Theatre; The Taming of the Shrew at Washington Shakespeare Company; Marathon 33 at Horizons Theatre; Etta Jenks at Fourth Wall Productions; Under a Mantle of Stars at Contemporary Arts Theatre; and Hubris at New Playwrights Theatre. Ms. Pierotti trained at the Studio Theatre Acting Conservatory.
(As of October 2015)
Kimberly Schraf has appeared in a number of Studio Theatre productions in her 30 years as a Washington actor, including all four of the Apple Family plays (That Hopey Changey Thing, Sweet and Sad, Sorry, and Regular Singing), The Women, Skylight, The Bacchae, Frozen, and Crestfall (by Hedda Gabler adaptor Mark O’Rowe). Other area productions include The Laramie Project, Our Town, Sabrina Fair, and The Carpetbagger’s Children at Ford’s Theatre; Ah, Wilderness!, The Women, and Molly Sweeney at Arena Stage; Measure for Pleasure (Helen Hayes Award nomination), The Gigli Concert, Freedomland, and Watbanaland at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company; Show Boat (Helen Hayes Award nomination) and Angels in America, Parts I and II at Signature Theatre; The Sisters Rosensweig, After the Fall, Mikveh, and Hannah and Martin at Theater J; The Misanthrope, Better Living, and A Prayer for Owen Meany at Round House Theatre; and Proof, You Can’t Take It With You, Going to Saint Ives, and Light Up the Sky at Everyman Theatre. Her television credits include Homicide: Life on the Street. In the fall, Ms. Schraf will appear in The Diary of Anne Frank at Olney Theatre Center.
(As of April 2016)
Jeremy Webb returned to Studio Theatre for Regular Singing, having played the role of Tim in That Hopey Changey Thing and Sweet and Sad in 2013 (Helen Hayes Award nomination). His previous DC credits include The Visit at Signature Theatre (Helen Hayes Award nomination) and both the title role in Don Juan and Victor in Private Lives at Shakespeare Theatre Company. New York credits include The Visit on Broadway/Actor’s Fund, The Glorious Ones at Lincoln Center Theater (Original Cast Recording), Tabletop for The Working Theatre (Drama Desk Award), The Baltimore Waltz at Signature Theatre, Photograph 51 at Ensemble Studio Theatre, Reading Under The Influence at DR2 Theater, and BFF for Women’s Expressive Theatre. His regional credits include productions at Williamstown Theatre Festival, McCarter Theatre, Long Wharf Theatre, The Old Globe, Alley Theatre, Huntington Theatre Company, New York Stage and Film, Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, LA Theatre Works, and Hangar Theatre. His film and television credits include Law and Order (guest star, twice), Law and Order: Criminal Intent (twice), Law and Order: SVU, Guiding Light, and Love Walked In. Mr. Webb is a graduate of The Drama School, The North Carolina School of the Arts.
(As of October 2015)
Debra Booth has a long history with Studio, where she has designed White Pearl, Translations, The Wolves, The Father, The Hard Problem, Constellations, The Apple Family Cycle, Jumpers for Goalposts, Belleville, Cock, Edgar & Annabel, Bachelorette, Moonlight, Blackbird, My Children! My Africa!, The Pillowman, and many others. Her international work includes premiere opera Marco Polo (Tan Dun/Martha Clarke) in Munich, Hong Kong, and New York. Regionally, her credits include Sooner/Later and Vicuna at Mosaic Theater Company; Small Mouth Sounds at Round House Theatre; Richard III, The Collection, and The Lover at the Shakespeare Theatre Company; Marisol at Hartford Stage and The Public Theater; Trying, The Illusion, and Happy Days at Portland Stage; the New York premiere of Angels in America at The Juilliard School; Broken Glass at Philadelphia Theatre Company (Barrymore Award nomination); and A Moon for the Misbegotten at Yale Rep. Debra is the recipient of a DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Artist Fellowship and a National Endowment for the Arts design grant. She is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama.
(As of February 2020)
Daniel MacLean Wagner served as Resident Lighting Designer at Studio Theatre from 1984-1997, designing more than 50 productions. He recently designed The Apple Family Cycle (2015) in the Milton Theatre, Bad Jews in the Mead Theatre, The Apple Family Plays (2013) in the Milton Theatre, and 4000 Miles in the Mead Theatre. He has designed more than 400 productions at many other theatres, including Arden Theatre Company, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Boston Lyric Opera, New Repertory Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Portland Stage Company, Arena Stage, Shakespeare Theatre Company, The Kennedy Center, Signature Theatre, Round House Theatre, Theatre of the First Amendment, Horizons Theatre, Potomac Theatre Project, Rep Stage, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, and Olney Theatre Center. He is an eight-time recipient of the Helen Hayes Award, for which he has received 28 nominations. Recent designs include Awake and Sing! at Olney Theatre; Fool for Love, Seminar, and This at Round House Theatre; and Freud's Last Session at Theater J; upcoming productions include Freud’s Last Session at New Repertory Theatre. Mr. Wagner holds the rank of Professor Emeritus at the University of Maryland, where he served as Professor of Lighting Design from 1990-2014 and Director of the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies from 2001-2012.
(As of October 2015)
Helen Huang designs her 29th production at Studio with White Pearl. Her regional credits include Alice in Wonderland at Oregon Shakespeare Festival; The Great Leap at Guthrie Theater; Matilda the Musical at The Children’s Theatre, Minneapolis; and Miss Bennet and Christmas at Pemberley at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. DC area credits include JQA at Arena Stage; A Doll’s House, Part 2 at Roundhouse; Fences at Ford’s Theatre; Me…Jane at The Kennedy Center; and Fickle: A Fancy French Farce at Olney Theatre Center. She has received a Helen Hayes Award and an Ivey Award. Helen is a professor of MFA Costume Design at University of Maryland, College Park.
(As of October 2019)
Erik Trester previously designed projections for the Studio Theatre productions of The Night Watcher, Rock ‘n’ Roll, Grey Gardens, A Number, This Is How It Goes, and The Long Christmas Ride Home. His Studio 2ndStage credits include The Rocky Horror Show, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Passing Strange, Fucking A, Jerry Springer: The Opera, Reefer Madness: The Musical, Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead, and autobahn. Mr. Trester is a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin.
(As of November 2013)
Adrien-Alice Hansel is the Literary Director at Studio, where she has dramaturged the world premieres of Queen of Basel, The Remains, No Sisters, I Wanna Fucking Tear You Apart, Animal, Laugh, Red Speedo, Dirt, Lungs, and The History of Kisses as well as productions of Cry It Out,Translations, Curve of Departure, The Effect, Wig Out!, Straight White Men, Cloud 9, Hedda Gabler, Constellations, Jumpers for Goalposts, Bad Jews (twice), The Apple Family Plays, Invisible Man, Sucker Punch, The Golden Dragon, and The New Electric Ballroom, among others. Prior to joining Studio, she spent eight seasons at the Actors Theatre of Louisville, where she headed the literary department and coordinated project scouting, selection, and development for the Humana Festival of New American Plays. She also served as production dramaturg on roughly 50 new, contemporary, and classic plays there, including premieres by Naomi Wallace, Gina Gionfriddo, Kirk Lynn and Rude Mechs, Rinne Groff, The Civilians, Anne Bogart and SITI Company, Jordan Harrison, and John Belluso. She is the co-editor of eight anthologies of plays from Actors Theatre and editor of eight editions of plays through Studio. Adrien-Alice holds an MFA from the Yale School of Drama.
(As of April 2019)
John Keith Hall's DC credits include many productions at Studio Theatre including Bad Jews, Choir Boy, Water by the Spoonful, Tribes, Torch Song Trilogy, 4000 Miles, Sucker Punch, In The Red And Brown Water, The History Boys, Adding Machine: A Musical, and The Road To Mecca; Hir, The Nether, and An Octoroon at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company; Soon, SCKBSTD, and West Side Story at Signature Theatre; Sweeney Todd, Mary Poppins, and The Producers at Olney Theatre Center. Regional credits include several seasons as a Resident Stage Manager at The Barter Theatre in Virginia where he supervised over 40 productions, Shadowland Stages in New York, and Virginia Musical Theatre in Virginia Beach. A graduate of Virginia’s Longwood University, Mr. Hall is a proud member of the Actors’ Equity Association.
(As of September 2017)
Elizabeth Dinkova is the Artistic Apprentice at Studio Theatre, where she has assistant directed Water by the Spoonful, Tribes, The Apple Family Plays, and Torch Song Trilogy. She graduated from Reed College with a BA in theatre and psychology in 2013. While at Reed, she directed many productions, including King Lear, The Suede Jacket, and The Balance. She also directed Female Kingdom at the Bulgarian Theatre in Seattle and the new play Intertwined at Sfumato Theatre’s Small Season Festival in Sofia, Bulgaria. Other assistant directing credits include The Bacchae for Kim Wield and Hamlet for Javor Gardev at the Ivan Vazov Bulgarian National Theatre. Ms. Dinkova will begin pursuing her MFA in directing at the Yale School of Drama this fall.