Ray’s swum his way to the eve of the Olympic trials. If he makes the team, he’ll get a deal with Speedo. If he gets a deal with Speedo, he’ll never need a real job. So when someone’s stash of performance-enhancing drugs is found in the locker room fridge, threatening the entire team’s Olympic fate, Ray has to crush the rumors or risk losing everything. A sharp and stylish play about swimming, survival of the fittest, and the American dream of a level playing field—or of leveling the field yourself.
Studio Lab presents stripped-down productions of world premiere plays, giving playwrights in residence the ability to work in an environment of collaboration and discovery.
Red Speedo is underwritten by David and Jean Heilman Grier.
Click on artist headshot to see bio
Lucas Hnath’s plays include A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay about the Death of Walt Disney at Soho Rep, Death Tax at the 2012 Humana Festival and The Royal Court Theatre in London, Isaac’s Eye at Ensemble Studio Theatre, and the short plays NightNight at the 2013 Humana Festival and The Courtship of Anna Nicole Smith at Actors Theatre of Louisville. His other plays have been seen in readings or productions at Carolina Actors Studio Theatre, Prelude Festival, University of Miami, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Cleveland Public Theatre, Target Margin, and the Ontological Theatre.
Mr. Hnath received the 2012 Whitfield Cook Award for Isaac’s Eye, a 2013 Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award Citation for Death Tax, and is a two-time winner of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Grant for screenwriting. He is also a recipient of commissions from the EST/Sloan Project, Actors Theatre of Louisville, and New York University’s Graduate Acting Program. He has been a resident playwright at New Dramatists since 2011. He is a proud member of Ensemble Studio Theatre and has enjoyed residencies with The Royal Court Theatre and 24Seven Lab. Mr. Hnath received both his BFA and MFA from NYU's Department of Dramatic Writing and is a lecturer in New York University’s Expository Writing Program.
(As of September 2013)
Lila Neugebauer previously directed Annie Baker’s The Aliens at Studio Theatre, as well as the play’s West Coast Premiere at SF Playhouse. Her upcoming work includes the world premiere of Zoe Kazan’s Trudy and Max In Love at South Coast Repertory Theatre. Ms. Neugebauer’s recent projects include Dan LeFranc’s Troublemaker at Berkeley Repertory Theatre; Mallery Avidon’s O Guru Guru Guru at the 2013 Humana Festival; The Valley of Fear at Williamstown Theatre Festival; Eliza Clark's Edgewise at The Cherry Lane Studio and Snow Day with the Drama Leauge; Nick Jones’ Grizzly at Joe’s Pub; and The Wii Plays at Ars Nova. She was also Associate Director of Karen O’s Stop the Virgens (Dir. Adam Rapp) at St. Ann’s Warehouse and Sydney Opera House. As co-Artistic Director of The Mad Ones, Ms. Neugebauer conceives and directs ensemble-devised works, including Samuel & Alasdair: A Personal History of the Robot War (Ars Nova, New Ohio Theatre), and the upcoming Biopic Project (New Ohio Theatre). Ms. Neugebauer has been a guest director and teaching artist at NYU, The Atlantic Acting School, The Juilliard School, and with Actors Theatre of Louisville’s Apprentice Company. She is an alumna of the Drama League, Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab, and Lincoln Center Directors Lab; an Ensemble Studio Theatre member; Time Warner Fellow at The Women’s Project; a New Georges Affiliated Artist; and a recipient of the Princess Grace Award.
(As of September 2013)
Frank Boyd’s New York theater credits include Gatz at The Public Theater, The Select at New York Theatre Workshop, Architecting at The Public Theater (Under the Radar Festival), and Particularly In the Heartland at PS122. His regional credits include plays at American Repertory Theatre, McCarter Theater, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, and Intiman. His film and television credits include Babysitter (upcoming), B.U.S.T., and Guiding Light. A graduate of New York University, Mr. Boyd is a company member of Elevator Repair Service and the TEAM.
(As of September 2013)
Thomas Jay Ryan is making his Studio Theatre debut. He made his Broadway debut in Sarah Ruhl's In the Next Room, or The Vibrator Play, and won a Drama Desk Award for originating the role of activist Harry Hay in The Temperamentals. Other Off Broadway credits include The Little Foxes, Juno and the Paycock, The Misanthrope, the American premiere of Harold Pinter's Celebration/The Room, the title role in In The Matter Of J. Robert Oppenheimer, and the recent acclaimed revival of Edward Albee's The Lady from Dubuque. Mr. Ryan made his film debut as the title character in Hal Hartley's Henry Fool, a role he reprised in that film's sequel Fay Grim. Other films include Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Sabbatical, Dream Boy, The Legend of Bagger Vance, and Strange Culture. He also played Edgar Degas in the HBO film Degas and the Dancer, for which he received a Gemini Award nomination.
(As of September 2013)
Harry A. Winter was last seen at Studio Theatre in Circle Mirror Transformation. His first production at Studio was The Birthday Party in 1986, which was followed by The Slab Boys, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, and Rhinoceros. A four-time Helen Hayes Award nominee, Mr. Winter has been working in the Washington Metropolitan area since 1978 and most recently played the role of the Station Manager in Spin at Signature Theatre. Mr. Winter will next be seen in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at the Shakespeare Theatre Company.
(As of September 2013)
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)
Mimi Lien is a designer of sets and environments for theater, dance, and opera. Having arrived at set design from a background in architecture, her work often focuses on the interaction between audience/environment and object/performer. She is an artistic associate with Pig Iron Theatre Company and The Civilians. Recent work includes Natasha, Pierre, & The Great Comet of 1812; A Public Reading…About the Death of Walt Disney (Soho Rep); The Dance and the Railroad (Signature); Luck of the Irish (Lincoln Center); and Zero Cost House (Pig Iron). Regionally, her work has been presented at Berkeley Rep, A.R.T., Wilma Theater, Long Wharf Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Alliance Theatre, and Portland Center Stage, among others. Ms. Lien has been a MacDowell Colony fellow and a recipient of the NEA/TCG Career Development Program, a Barrymore Award, four Barrymore Award nominations, Hewes Design Award nomination, Bay Area Critics Circle nomination, and an OBIE Award for Sustained Excellence.
(As of September 2013)
Dan Covey returns to Studio Theatre after previously designing The York Realist. He has designed three Off Broadway shows at New York Theatre Workshop, Folksbiene Theatre, and Roundabout Theatre Company and productions at regional theaters across the country including Delaware Theatre Company, Goodman Theatre, Perseverance Theatre, McCarter Theatre, Arden Theatre Company, Hartford Stage, and Portland Center Stage, where he received the Drammy Award for Outstanding Lighting Design. In the greater Washington DC area, Mr. Covey has designed lights and projections for musicals and plays at Ford’s Theatre, Forum Theatre, Everyman Theatre, Folger Theatre, Synetic Theater, Round House Theatre, Signature Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Olney Theatre Center, Theater J, Rep Stage, Kennedy Center, Imagination Stage, Adventure Theatre MTC, Theater Alliance, Washington Savoyards, ACTCo, and Tribute Productions.
(As of September 2013)
Meghan Raham last worked at Studio Theatre designing costumes for The Aliens. Her recent credits include The Chosen (sets/costumes) at Barrington Stage, Death of a Salesman (sets) and Little Shop of Horrors (sets/costumes) at Kansas City Repertory Theatre, The Conference of the Birds (sets) at the Folger Theatre, The Wings of Ikarus Jackson (sets/costumes) at The Kennedy Center; CLAY (sets) at Lincoln Center Theater; Venice (sets/costumes, both Ovation Award nominated) at Center Theatre Group; Fedra (sets) at Lookingglass Theatre Company; and Frankenstein (costumes) with The Hypocrites at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art. Ms. Raham is a company member at The Building Stage in Chicago, where she production designed The Ring Cycle, NOIR, and Moby-Dick. She co-created and designed S/he is Nancy Joe, which premiered at the Zero Point Festival of Physical Theatre and Dance in Prague. Ms. Raham received her MFA from Northwestern University, and is a Professor of Stage Design at American University.
(As of September 2013)
Christopher Baine returns to Studio for Three Sisters / No Sisters after designing Cloud 9 and Water by the Spoonful. He recently composed the music for When She Had Wings (Helen Hayes Award) and The BFG with Imagination Stage (Helen Hayes Award nomination). Some recent designs include The Critic & The Real Inspector Hound and Heir Apparent with Shakespeare Theater Company and Guthrie Theater, Colossal with Olney Theatre Center (Helen Hayes Award), Wonderful World of Dissocia at Theatre Alliance (Helen Hayes Award), Fetch Clay, Make Man at Marin Theater Company, Detroit at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, and Romeo and Juliet (Helen Hayes Award nomination) and Taming of the Shrew (Helen Hayes Award nomination) at the Folger Theatre. He also designed The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity (Helen Hayes Award nomination), Gruesome Playground Injuries and A Bright New Boise (Helen Hayes Award) with Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, and Gift of Nothing and Jason Invisible at The Kennedy Center Theatre For Young Audiences. Other regional credits include Everyman Theatre, Forum Theatre, dog & pony dc, Adventure Theatre MTC, Children’s Theater Charlotte, Synetic Theater, and Theater Alliance. He has been a guest artist with The University of Maryland, Catholic University, UMBC and American University. Mr. Baine has been the Resident Sound Designer for Imagination Stage since 2009, and was a Kenan Fellow at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 2012.
(As of March 2017)
Robb Hunter has directed violence for more than 20 Studio productions including Vietgone, The Effect, Hand to God, Bad Jews, Belleville, The Motherfucker with the Hat, Reasons to be Pretty, Invisible Man, Superior Donuts, American Buffalo, Red Speedo (Helen Hayes nomination for choreography) and The Walworth Farce (Helen Hayes nomination). He also directs movement/violence for the Shakespeare Theatre Company, Arena Stage, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company (where he received a Helen Hayes Award for HIR and nomination for An Octoroon), Signature Theatre, and many others. He is a member of SDC, AEA, SAG/AFTRA, and is a Certified Fight Director for the Society of American Fight Directors. He is on faculty at The Shakespeare Theatre’s Academy for Classical Acting, is the Choreographer in Residence at American University and is a teaching artist for the Studio Theatre Acting Conservatory.
(As of February 2019)
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)
T. Scott Wooten returns to Studio Theatre where he stage managed Red Speedo and assistant stage managed The Apple Family Plays. He was previously the Artistic Associate of American Stage Theatre Company in St. Petersburg, FL for nine seasons and a resident Stage Manager at Maltz Jupiter Theatre. He has worked in various capacities on over 90 productions and received two 2013 Theatre Tampa Bay Award nominations for his direction and sound design of My Name is Asher Lev. His adaptation REEFER MADNESS!!! THE PLAY!!! received the Best Play Audience Choice Award at the 2010 Orlando International Fringe Festival. He recently directed The Chosen by Aaron Posner and Chaim Potok at American Stage Theatre Company.
(As of October 2014)
REGIONAL: The Tempest, Twelfth Night, Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Plimoth Players. LOCAL: Fuga Mundi (upcoming workshop), Center Stage; Supplication, Strangers on a Train, Source Festival; Ladies No Bare Feet, Tia Nina; Camp Rock, Adventure Theatre-MTC Academy. EDUCATION: University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point; Artistic Fellow, Shakespeare Theatre.
(As of July 2014)
