Hope springs eternal in the post-game locker room of Barely Athletic, an amateur soccer team competing in the five-a-side pub league in Hull, a Yorkshire fishing city that’s seen better days (as have these athletes). A hilarious and heartbreaking play about romance, resilience, taking chances, and moving on by the winner of Britain’s 2012 George Devine Award for Most Promising Playwright.
Runtime: This performance will run approximately 1 hour and 50 minutes with no intermission.
Casting by: McCorkle Casting, LTD
Pat McCorkle (C.S.A.)
Jumpers for Goalposts is generously underwritten
by Joan and David Maxwell.
With additional support from Rick Kasten
and Albert and Charmaine Horvath.
Tom Wells is from Kilnsea, East Yorkshire. After graduating from Oxford University with a degree in English, Wells attended a course in dramatic writing at the West Yorkshire Playhouse. The Playhouse would later premiere his first play, Me, As a Penguin, in 2009. The offbeat comedy established Wells as an original theatrical voice. According to the playwright, it’s a play about a young man’s exploration of Hull’s gay scene that’s also “about what happens when you’re outside your comfort zone. Obviously there’s a penguin involved.” The production later toured the UK and was produced at London’s Arcola Theatre in 2010.
Wells’s breakout play, The Kitchen Sink, is a wry and poignant comedy that follows the big dreams and small changes of one family in a rundown seaside resort town over the course of a year. The Kitchen Sink premiered at the Bush Theatre in 2011 and received a five-star rating from the London Evening Standard; Wells also received the 2011 Critics Circle Most Promising Playwright Award and the 2012 George Devine Award.
Jumpers for Goalposts premiered at Paines Plough/Watford Palace Theatre in 2013 and subsequently embarked on a UK national tour, culminating in a run at London’s Bush Theatre. Wells’s spin on traditional romantic comedies earned rave reviews; The Telegraph praised Wells as “a hugely engaging writer—but what makes him so special is his gift of making the small change of everyday lives shine so brightly.”
Wells’s other plays include Cosmic (Ros Terry / Root Theatre, East Yorkshire tour, 2013), Spacewang (Hull Truck, 2011), About A Goth (Paines Plough/Oran Mor, 2009), and Notes For First Time Astronauts (Paines Plough, later at Soho Theatre, 2009). Ben & Lump, which Wells wrote as part of the Coming Up season (Touchpaper), was broadcast on Channel 4 in 2012 and his play Jonesy was broadcast on Radio 4 in 2014.
Wells is currently under commission to Hull Truck/Birmingham Rep/Watford Palace Theatre, the Drum, Plymouth, Northern Broadsides, and Paines Plough/Live Theatre. He is developing a new project for Leftbank Pictures and writing the Christmas pantomime for the Lyric Hammersmith.
(As of May 2015)
Matt Torney is entering his fifth season as Associate Artistic Director at Studio, where he has previously directed If I Forget, Translations, The Hard Problem, MotherStruck!, Hedda Gabler, Jumpers for Goalposts, The New Electric Ballroom, and The Walworth Farce. Prior to his work at Studio, Matt served as the Director of Programming for Origin Theatre in New York, an Off Broadway company that specializes in European new writing. His New York credits include Stop the Tempo and Tiny Dynamite at Origin Theatre (Drama Desk Award nominee), The Twelfth Labor at Loading Dock, The Dudleys at Theatre for the New City, The Angel of History at HERE Arts, and Three Sisters and A Bright Room Called Day at the Atlantic Theatre School. Regional credits include Brighton Beach Memoirs at Theatre J (nominated for two Helen Hayes Awards), Sherlock Holmes and the Crucifer of Blood and Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme at Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre, and Improbable Frequency at Solas Nua (Helen Hayes Award nominee for Best Choreography). International credits include Digging for Fire and Plaza Suite with Rough Magic (National Tour), Angola workshop at the Abbey Theatre, Paisley and Me at the Grand Opera House Belfast, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot at Making Strange (Irish Theatre Award nominee for Best Director), and Woyzeck at Rough Magic (Best Production nominee at the Dublin Fringe Festival). Originally from Belfast, Matt holds an MFA from Columbia University.
(As of August 2019)
Liam Forde returns to Studio Theatre for Hand To God after receiving a Helen Hayes nomination for his performance in Jumpers for Goalposts. Off Broadway credits include Much Ado About Nothing at Theatre for a New Audience and Big and Six Wives at the York Theatre Company. Regional and tour credits include Peter and the Starcatcher at Pioneer Theatre Company, Amazing Grace at Goodspeed, and the TheatreWorks USA tour of Seussical. Mr. Forde is an active member of the concert/cabaret world in NYC and beyond, with performances at Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Gaslight Theater (St. Louis), the Venetian Room (Dallas), and in Paris at L’Auguste Théâtre, Club Rayé, and Café Universel. He is a recipient of the 2014 Julie Wilson and Nightlife Awards and a 2013 Bistro Award. Mr. Forde is a member of the Noel Coward Society and a graduate of The Boston Conservatory.
(As of July 2016)
Kimberly Gilbert returns to Studio in Three Sisters / No Sisters after last appearing in Jumpers for Goalposts. Most recent credits include Charm at Mosaic Theatre and Angels In America, Parts 1 and 2, a co-production of Round House and Olney Theatres. A DC artist since the year 2000, she has been gratefully playing on the stages of The Kennedy Center, Ford’s Theatre, Folger Theatre, Forum Theatre, Theater J, Source Theatre, Round House Theatre, and most frequently Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company and Taffety Punk Theatre Company, where she is a company member. Ms. Gilbert received a Helen Hayes Award in 2015 for her portrayal of the ill-fated queen in Woolly Mammoth’s production of Marie Antoinette. She holds her MFA with the inaugural class of Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Academy For Classical Acting.
(As of March 2017)
Michael Glenn has been a Washington-based actor for the past 15 years and has worked with many theatre companies in the area. Most recently, Mr. Glenn was seen in Arena Stage’s co-production, with the McCarter Theatre, of Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery. Other favorite productions include Good People (Arena Stage), Clybourne Park (Woolly Mammoth), Cat’s Cradle and The Hothouse (Longacre Lea), Arcadia and Henry VIII (Folger Theatre), and The Lieutenant of Inishmore (Signature Theatre). Mr. Glenn has also voiced the comic book characters The Flash, Sinestro, Namor, and Baron Strucker, as well as hundreds of cowboys, mutants, outlaws, and spies in audio adaptations for GraphicAudio. Mr. Glenn will appear in Round House Theatre’s Stage Kiss next season.
(As of May 2015)
Jonathan Judge-Russo can currently be seen as Jeremy on Netflix’s Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Mr. Judge-Russo’s Off Broadway credits include the Drama Desk-nominated Falling (Minetta Lane), Beyond the Horizon (Irish Rep), Somewhere with You (Signature), Treasure Island (Irondale), Ask/Tell (LAByrinth, directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman), Snapshot (LAB), La Fanciulla del West (Lincoln Center), Wozzeck (Lincoln Center), The Christmas Revels (Symphony Space), and the first national tour of Echoes of Ireland. His regional work includes Downtown Race Riot (NYS&F), Smile (Deane), Othello (BSF), Troilus and Cressida (GBTA Award), The Comedy of Errors, A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company. In London, Mr. Judge-Russo appeared in The Philanderer and Twelfth Night. Other television and film credits include White Collar, Black Box, Elementary, Chess, Eat Me, A Slice and a Sandwich, and The Aftershock. He received his training at Circle in the Square.
(As of May 2015)
Zdenko Martin’s New York credits include The Seagull at Lake Lucille, Hudson to China at St. Ann’s Warehouse, Romeo and Juliet at Manhattan Rep, and The Dreamer Examines His Pillow at Abrons Art Center. Regional credits include The Grapes of Wrath at Trinity Rep and the world premieres of The Open Road and I Am Not Batman at Actors Theatre of Louisville’s Humana Festival. He was also a lead puppeteer in The Bird Machine, a multi-disciplinary piece with productions both in NYC and in the International Kukla Festivali, Istanbul. Mr. Martin is a proud graduate of the Brown/Trinity MFA program.
(As of May 2015)
Debra Booth is Director of Design at Studio Theatre, where she has designed If I Forget, Translations, The Wolves, The Father, The Hard Problem, Moment, 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, Debra’s credits include 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 Theatre; Trying, The Illusion, and Happy Days at Portland Stage Company; the New York premiere of Angels in America at The Juilliard School; Broken Glass at Philadelphia Theatre Company (Barrymore Award nomination); and Moon for the Misbegotten at Yale Repertory Theatre. Debra is the recipient of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Artist Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts Design Grant, and a graduate of the Yale School of Drama.
(As of October 2019)
Michael Giannitti was Resident Lighting Designer at Studio Theatre from 2006-2010; since 1991 he has designed 45 productions at Studio, including The Hard Problem, Jumpers For Goalposts, Water by the Spoonful, The New Electric Ballroom, American Buffalo, Reasons to Be Pretty, Rock ‘n’ Roll, The Pillowman, and Seven Guitars (Helen Hayes Award nomination). He designed lighting for the Broadway premiere of August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone. His Off Broadway credits include Cross That River and Sounding Beckett. He has designed extensively for Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Dorset Theatre Festival, Capital Rep, Trinity Rep, Shakespeare & Company, and the Weston Playhouse. Giannitti has also designed for Arkansas Rep, Barrington Stage, Chautauqua Theatre Company, Virginia Stage, Indiana Rep, Portland Stage, George Street, Yale Repertory Theatre, Olney Theatre Center, and the Spoleto Festival. He has been on the faculty at Bennington College in Vermont since 1992. As a Fulbright Specialist, he taught in Romania and New Zealand, and has been a guest lecturer at the Guangxi Arts Institute in China.
(As of August 2018)
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)
Kenny Neal returns to Studio for Straight White Men after having designed Jumpers for Goalposts and Choir Boy. Other credits include The Gulf for Signature Theatre; Floyd Collins, Old Wicked Songs (2016 Helen Hayes nomination for Sound Design), and Bat Boy for 1st Stage; Cancun for GALA Hispanic Theatre; Caesar & DADA for WSC Avant Bard; Over Her Dead Body, The Last Burlesque, and Bondage for Pinky Swear Productions; Cherry Smoke for Round House Theatre; and Happiness (and Other Reasons To Die) for The Welders. He regularly designs for Adventure Theatre MTC, The Smithsonian’s Discovery Theater, Signature in the Schools, Georgetown University, and American University.
(As of October 2016)
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)
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)
Anthony O. Bullock returns to Studio Theatre after previously being the Resident Stage Manager for two seasons. Prior Studio credits include The Hard Problem, Cloud 9, Hedda Gabler, Moment, Between Riverside and Crazy, Chimerica, Jumpers for Goalposts, and Laugh. Additional DC area credits include Signature Theatre, Arena Stage, Baltimore Center Stage, and Theater J, where he will be their new Resident Stage Manager for the 2019-2020 season. Other regional credits include McCarter Theatre Center, Barrington Stage Company, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Passage Theatre, and Shakespeare & Company, among others. He toured with The White Snake by Mary Zimmerman in association with the Goodman Theatre, as part of the Wuzhen Theatre Festival in Wuzhen, China. Anthony received his BFA from Oklahoma City University. He is also on the board of The Stage Managers’ Association as the Eastern Regional Director. He is a proud member of AEA.
(As of April 2019)
Nathan Norcross is Studio Theatre’s Artistic Apprentice. He serves as the Assistant Director for each Subscription Series production as well as collaborating with the literary department. As a director, Mr. Norcross’ early professional career has spanned a variety of genres and forms—from large-scale musicals to intimate chamber pieces, from developing new plays with living playwrights to developing his own adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Mr. Norcross has worked alongside a number of directors he now counts as valuable mentors, including Mark Lamos, Nicky Martin, Gary Griffin, Bob Moss, and Eric Rosen. He assisted Phylicia Rashad in directing a production of A Raisin in the Sun at the Westport Country Playhouse. Mr. Norcross is a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts where he earned a BFA in acting, as well as Florida State University where he recently completed an MFA in directing.
(As of May 2015)
