Billy was born deaf into a garrulous academic family who raised him to lip read and integrate into the hearing world. When he meets Sylvia—who’s going deaf herself—Billy decides it’s time to speak on his own terms, sending shock waves through the family. Playing out in sign language, argument, music, and mesmerizing silence, this sophisticated drama examines family, belonging, and the limitations of language. A moving and surprising play from a rising star of the British theatre.
Studio’s Subscription Series is the core of our programming, offering an uncommonly rich repertoire of provocative contemporary writing from around the world and inventive stagings of contemporary classics.
Part of Studio Theatre's New British Invasion festival, showcasing the work of some of the most accomplished and innovative plays by British writers under 40.
Tribes is underwritten by Joan and David Maxwell.
WAMU 88.5 is the media partner for Tribes.
During the 2013-14 Season, Studio Theatre is partnering with national and local non-profits whose missions connect with the content of our productions. Studio’s partners forTribes are the Gallaudet University Theatre Department and Fourth Wall Gone, an outreach initiative of No Rules Theatre Company.
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Nina Raine began her career as a trainee director at the Royal Court Theatre after graduating from Oxford. She dramaturged and directed Unprotected, a play by Esther Wilson, John Fay, Tony Green, and Lizzie Nunnery, at the Liverpool Everyman (TMA Best Director Award, Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award). She directed her playwriting debut, Rabbit, which premiered at the Old Red Lion Theatre in 2006 and subsequently transferred to the West End before going to New York. Rabbit received the Charles Wintour Evening Standard and Critics Circle Awards for Most Promising Playwright. Ms. Raine also wrote and directed Tiger Country at Hampstead Theatre. She directed April de Angelis’s Jumpy at the Royal Court Theatre, which later transferred to the West End, and Alia Bano’s Shades (Critics Circle and Evening Standard Awards for Most Promising Newcomer). Her commission for the Royal Court Theatre, Tribes, directed by Roger Michell, received an Offie Award and was also nominated for both Olivier and Evening Standard Awards for Best New Play. Tribes opened at the Barrow Street Theatre in New York to rave reviews and received the 2012 Drama Desk Award for Best New Play and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Foreign Play. Ms. Raine recently directed William Boyd’s Longing at Hampstead Theatre.
David Muse is in his ninth season as Artistic Director of Studio Theatre, where he has directed The Remains, The Effect, The Father, Constellations, Chimerica, Murder Ballad, Belleville, Cock, Tribes, The Real Thing, An Iliad, Dirt, Bachelorette, The Habit of Art, Venus in Fur, Circle Mirror Transformation, reasons to be pretty, Blackbird, Frozen, and The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow. Previously, he was Associate Artistic Director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company, where he has directed nine productions, including Richard III, Romeo and Juliet, Coriolanus, and King Charles III (a co-production of ACT and Seattle Rep). Other directing projects include Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune at Arena Stage, The Bluest Eye at Theater Alliance, and Swansong for New York Summer Play Festival. He has helped to develop new work at numerous theatres, including New York Theatre Workshop, Geva Theatre Center, Arena Stage, Ford’s Theatre, and The Kennedy Center. David has taught acting and directing at Georgetown, Yale, and the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Academy of Classical Acting. A nine-time Helen Hayes Award nominee for Outstanding Direction, he is a recipient of the DC Mayor’s Arts Award for Outstanding Emerging Artist and the National Theatre Conference Emerging Artist Award. David is a graduate of Yale University and the Yale School of Drama.
(As of April 2019)
Michael Tolaydo returns to Studio Theatre where he has previously appeared in Privates on Parade, Blue Heart, and Waiting for Godot. His recent local credits include White Rabbit, Red Rabbit at Theater Alliance and Apples from the Desert, Boged: An Enemy of the People, and New Jerusalem (Helen Hayes Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor) at Theater J. Other credits include The Real Inspector Hound and Heroes (Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Ensemble) at Metro Stage, a one-person telling of St. Mark’s Gospel at Theatre Alliance, and numerous productions at the Folger and other area theaters. Mr. Tolaydo is a professor of Theater, Film, and Media Studies at St. Mary’s College of Maryland and was the first professor to be awarded the Steven Muller Distinguished Professorship in the Arts.
(As of January 2014)
Nancy Robinette has been affiliated with Studio since the late 1970s, first as a student and then performing in The Woolgatherer, Camino Real, Tribes, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, The Play About the Baby, Three Sisters (1995-96), Ivanov, The Seagull, Afterplay, Frozen, Souvenir, Slavs!, The New Electric Ballroom, and Laughing Wild. Her recent work at Studio includes Three Sisters (2016-17) and The Hard Problem. Ms. Robinette most recently performed on Broadway in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. She has also performed on most of the DC stages, and at the McCarter Theatre, Paper Mill Playhouse, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Roundabout Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, The Globe Theatre, as well as in Key West and the former Yugoslavia. Film and television credits include Louie, Serial Mom, Soldier Jack, and the upcoming Three Christs. Ms. Robinette is a Woolly Mammoth Theatre Alumna and an Associated Artist with Shakespeare Theatre Company.
(As of March 2017)
Richard Gallagher is making his Studio Theatre debut. Mr. Gallagher’s Broadway credits include Nicky Silver’s The Lyons and The Importance of Being Earnest (with Brian Bedford). He has worked at Women’s Theatre Project, 59E59 Theatres, McCarter Theatre, Center Stage, Yale Repertory Theatre, Magic Theatre, TheatreWorks (Palo Alto), and Pioneer Theatre. His film and television credits include El Camino (with Mad Men’s Elisabeth Moss), Person of Interest, Blue Bloods, Law & Order, As the World Turns, and a recurring role as Andrew Nance in the first two seasons of Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black. Mr. Gallagher holds an MFA from the Yale School of Drama.
(As of January 2014)
Annie Funke returns to Washington, DC after appearing in The Guardsman at the Kennedy Center this summer. Her Broadway and national tour credits include Hairspray and Wicked. Off Broadway, Ms. Funke has appeared in Silence! The Musical and opposite Jake Gyllenhaal in Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet, for which she received the 2013 Lucille Lortel Award for Best Featured Actress. Regional credits include productions at STAGES St. Louis, Casa Mañana, Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma, Music Theatre of Wichita, and Riverside Theatre. Ms. Funke is an alumna of University of Oklahoma and the Steppenwolf School in Chicago.
(As of January 2014)
James Caverly recently appeared in Tribes at the SpeakEasy Stage Company in Boston. He has been involved with the National Theatre of the Deaf for two years, appearing in Journey of Identity, Stories In My Pocket Too, The W-5s: Stories Behind, and A Child's Christmas in Wales. In Washington DC, he appeared in Faction of Fools’ Tales of Courage and Poultry, as well as Tales of Honor and Anchovies. At Gallaudet University, his alma mater, he performed in L'Abbe de L'Eppe, UnContented Love, Spoon River Anthology, Urinetown, and Agamemnon; his direction of Noises Off received recognition from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival at Region II in 2011.
(As of January 2014)
Helen Cespedes returns to Studio Theatre, where she was last seen as Sylvia in Tribes. She recently understudied the role of Helen McCormick in the Broadway production of The Cripple of Inishmaan, starring Daniel Radcliffe at The Cort Theatre. Off Broadway, she performed in A Picture of Autumn at The Mint Theater. Her regional credits include Cecily in The Importance of Being Earnest (directed by David Hyde Pierce and starring Tyne Daly) at the Williamstown Theatre Festival and Love’s Labour’s Lost at Chautauqua Theatre Company. Her film credits include The Way I Remember It, starring Christine Ebersole. Ms. Cespedes holds a BA in Comparative Literature from Barnard College and is a graduate of The Juilliard School, where she received the John Houseman Prize for exceptional ability in classical theater.
(As of March 2015)
Wilson Chin previously designed Tribes at the Studio. His designs of world premieres include Geoffrey Nauffts’ Next Fall on Broadway, Julia Cho’s Aubergine at Berkeley Rep, Larissa FastHorse’s The Thanksgiving Play at Playwrights Horizons, Samuel Hunter’s Lewiston at Long Wharf, Hansol Jung’s Wild Goose Dreams at La Jolla Playhouse and Public Theater, Martyna Majok’s Cost of Living at Manhattan Theatre Club, Antoinette Nwandu’s Pass Over at Steppenwolf and LCT3, and Lauren Yee’s The Great Leap at Seattle Rep. Mr. Chin’s opera designs include Lyric Opera of Chicago, Canadian Opera, and Wolf Trap Opera. Most recently, he designed Spike Lee’s latest film Pass Over.
(As of April 2018)
Matthew Richards previously designed The Aliens at Studio. His upcoming projects include The Killer at Theater for a New Audience. On Broadway, he designed Ann at Lincoln Center. His New York credits include projects with Atlantic Theater Company, Brooklyn Academy of Music, MCC, Playwrights Horizons, Primary Stages, and Second Stage. In the DC area, his work has been seen at Arena Stage, Ford’s Theatre, and The Shakespeare Theatre Company. Mr. Richards’s regional credits include work at Actors Theatre of Louisville, Alliance Theatre, Center Stage, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Cleveland Playhouse, Dallas Theater Center, Goodman Theatre, Guthrie Theatre, Hartford Stage, Huntington Theatre Company, La Jolla Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, The Old Globe, Westport Country Playhouse, and Williamstown Theatre Festival. Mr. Richards is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama.
(As of January 2014)
Kathleen Geldard returns to Studio Theatre after designing Cry It Out, Curve of Departure, Animal, Choir Boy, Jumpers for Goalposts, Tribes, and Invisible Man. Other recent regional credits include Macbeth at Shakespeare Theatre Company; Misery and Shakespeare in Love at Cincinnati Playhouse; and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime; and Humana Festivals 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 at Actors Theatre of Louisville. Other regional credits include Arena Stage, Portland Center Stage, Huntington Theatre, Baltimore Center Stage, Signature Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Florida Studio Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Berkeley Rep, The Kennedy Center, Round House Theatre, Imagination Stage, and Folger Theatre. She is an artistic associate for Signature Theatre.
(As of January 2019)
Ryan Rumery is a musician, composer, and producer. His music is in the films Awake: A Dream from Standing Rock (Tribeca Film Festival 2017), How to Let Go of the World (And Love All the Things Climate Can't Change) (Sundance 2016, HBO), and City of Gold (Sundance, SXSW 2015). Recent theatrical scores include Fool For Love on Broadway, The End of Longing at MCC Theater, Emperor Jones at The Irish Repertory Theatre, and Between Riverside and Crazy at the Atlantic Theater Company and Second Stage Theater. Mr. Rumery, Christian Frederickson, and the late Jason Noble recently released their album The Painted Bird – Amidst. Mr. Rumery recently produced three albums for Jeremy Bass. Upcoming albums include Arlo Hannigan and The Walker Project. Mr. Rumery recently received the Obie Award for Sustained Excellence in Sound Design and Composition, and was a selected composer for the Sundance Institute of Music and Sound Design Labs at Skywalker Sound.
(As of September 2017)
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 January 2014)
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)
Gary Logan's work for Studio Theatre includes dialects for Moment, Jumpers for Goalposts, The Wolfe Twins, Tribes, Belleville, The Real Thing, Venus in Fur, Frozen, and Crestfall. Internationally, he was the voice and text coach for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Tantalus, and for several seasons was a voice and dialect coach for the Stratford Festival of Canada. Regionally, his work includes Lights Rise on Grace and Marie Antoinette at Woolly Mammoth; Pride in the Falls of Autrey Mill (with Christine Lahti) and Tender Napalm at Signature Theatre; Master Class (with Tyne Daly) at The Kennedy Center; Shenandoah (with Scott Bakula) at Ford’s Theatre; The Beaux’ Stratagem, Private Lives, and August: Osage County at Everyman Theatre; Love in Afghanistan at Arena Stage; Henry V and Much Ado About Nothing at Folger Theatre; and Othello, The Tempest, and Design for Living for the Shakespeare Theatre Company. Mr. Logan is a recipient of The Tyrone Guthrie Award and is the author of The Eloquent Shakespeare (University of Chicago Press).
(As of March 2016)
Tyrone Giordano recently served as Director of Aristic Sign Language for the critically acclaimed Cyrano at the Fountain Theatre in Los Angeles. He also often serves as ASL translator for projects he performs in. As an actor, Mr. Giordano played the lead role of Huckleberry Finn in Deaf West Theatre’s Tony Award-honored Big River on Broadway, earning a 2004 Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Musical. He also played the title role in Pippin at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, and has locally appeared in productions at Arena Stage, Imagination Stage, and the Kennedy Center. Mr. Giordano has also acted on television and film, notably in The Family Stone, A Lot Like Love, The Next Three Days, and CSI.
(As of January 2014)
Katrina Clark is an ASL/English Interpreter with a specialization in theatre, specifically in capacities to directly support Deaf artists. Other theatres Ms. Clark has interpreted with include Synetic Theater, Constellation Theatre Company, Faction of Fools, Imagination Stage, Capital Fringe, Theater Alliance, and Gallaudet University. As an actor, she has appeared on stage with Synetic Theater, Rorschach Theatre, Theater Alliance, and Colonial Williamsburg’s Kimball Theatre. Ms. Clark studied theatrical translation at Gallaudet University and contemporary Stanislavsky at Saint Petersburg State Theatre Arts Academy in Russia.
(As of January 2014)
Pat McCorkle (C.S.A.) and Associate Casting Director Joe Lopick cast Chimerica, Jumpers for Goalposts and Tribes at Studio Theatre and over 55 Broadway productions including the current hits On the Town and Amazing Grace. Other casts include the Tony-nominated Broadway production End of the Rainbow as well as the highly acclaimed Off Broadway plays Tribes and Our Town both directed by David Cromer. Their Broadway casting includes High, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, The Glass Menagerie, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Ride Down Mt. Morgan, Amadeus, She Loves Me, Blood Brothers, and A Few Good Men, among others. Notable Off Broadway projects include Clever Little Lies, Falling, Freud’s Last Session, Almost Maine, Ears On A Beatle, Down The Garden Paths, Killer Joe, Mrs. Klein, and Driving Miss Daisy. Feature film casting includes Premium Rush, Junction, Ghost Town, Bereft, Secret Window, Basic, The Thomas Crown Affair, The 13th Warrior, Madeline, Die Hard with a Vengeance, School Ties, Splash, End of the Line, Brenda Star, My Man is a Loser, and Junction, among many others, as well as the upcoming feature films Child of Grace, Year By the Sea, and Buyer and Seller, which are currently in production. Their casting for television and new media includes Twisted (ABC Family pilot), Sesame Street, 27 East, Electric Company, Californication (Emmy nomination), Hack, Education of Max Bickford, 3Lbs, Barbershop, Chapelle’s Show, and Remember Wenn, among many others.
(As of September 2015)
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.
(As of May 2014)
