“I can tell the difference between who I am and a side effect.”
Connie and Tristan can’t hide how they feel around each other: Hearts thumping, sleepless nights, a slightly ill excitement. They’ve fallen, and fallen hard. Unless their infatuation is a side-effect of the new antidepressant they’re in a clinical trial for. As the trial’s supervising doctors untangle the ethical implications of this illicit relationship—and Big Pharma’s investment in medicating sanity—Connie and Tristan engage body and mind with the mysteries and chemistry of love.
Runtime: This performance will run approximately 2 hours, with a 15 minute intermission.
Environmental Warning: This production will feature strobe effects and the smoking of herbal cigarettes.
The Effect is generously underwritten
by Teresa and Daniel Schwartz.
Lucy Prebble’s debut play, The Sugar Syndrome, premiered at the Royal Court and received the 2004 George Devine Award and the 2004 TMA Award for Best New Play. Enron, a theatrical epic about the about the infamous corporate fraud, transferred to the West End and Broadway in 2010 after sell-out runs at both the Royal Court and Chichester Festival Theatre. Enron received the TMA Award for Best New Play and was short-listed for The Evening Standard Award for Best New Play in 2009. Her most recent play, The Effect, premiered at the National Theatre in 2012 and received the Critics’ Circle Award for Best New Play. It was subsequently produced Off Broadway at the Barrow Street Theatre in March 2016. For television, Ms. Prebble created the series Secret Diary of a Call Girl, which aired on ITV and Showtime. For comedy, Ms. Prebble has written for and appeared as a guest on the BBC’s Frankie Boyle’s New World Order. Recent projects include a HBO pilot starring Sarah Silverman and serving as co-executive producer and writer on HBO’s Succession.
(As of September 2017)
David Muse (Director) 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)
Gina Daniels was a member of the Broadway company of All The Way, originating the role of Coretta at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival where she is a ten season company member. Ms. Daniels’ New York, international, and regional credits include The White Snake at the Wuzhen Theatre Festival, Roe at Arena Stage and Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Our Town at Portland Center Stage, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike at Paper Mill Playhouse, Broke-ology at TheaterWorks, Doubt at Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Private Lives and Hamlet at Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Taming of the Shrew and Macbeth at Delaware Theatre Company, An Ideal Husband at Baltimore Center Stage, and Medea at Pittsburgh Public Theater. Her television credits include Orange is the New Black and High Maintenance.
(As of September 2017)
Eric Hissom’s Broadway credits include the national tour of The Thirty-Nine Steps. Regional credits include Arcadia at the Folger Theatre (Helen Hayes Award for Supporting Actor), Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo at Round House Theatre, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike at Arena Stage, Twelfth Night at Actors Theatre of Louisville, The Game’s Afoot at Cleveland Playhouse, Glengarry Glen Ross at Asolo Rep, and many others. Film credits include Out of Time. Television credits include One Tree Hill and Mortal Kombat. Mr. Hissom is also a director and a playwright and has an MFA from the FSU/Asolo Conservatory.
(As of September 2017)
Katie Kleiger returns to Studio Theatre after performing in The Effect earlier this season. Off Broadway credits include Ring Twice for Miranda at New York City Center, and The Fall at Soho Playhouse. Other DC credits include The Book of Will and Miss Bennet at Round House Theatre; the premiere of the new play Home, Again at the Kennedy Center; and A Christmas Carol at Ford’s Theatre. She has also worked regionally with the Guthrie Theater on such projects as Juno and the Paycock, Christmas Carol, and Blue Stockings. Ms. Kleiger holds a BFA from the University of Minnesota/Guthrie BFA Actor Training Program.
(As of January 2018)
Rafi Silver makes his Studio Theatre debut in The Effect. He has been seen Off Broadway in Masked at the Dr2, Manipulation at the Cherry Lane, Carrie at PS122, and regionally in The Cry of the Reed at the Huntington Theatre Company. His television credits include NCIS, NCIS: LA, Shameless, Elementary, Happy Endings, Ben and Kate, Fringe, Scandal, American Dad, and We Bare Bears. Mr. Silver holds an MFA from NYU's Graduate Acting Program, a BFA from Syracuse University, and is currently on faculty at Columbia University's MFA Graduate Acting Program.
Luciana Stecconi’s previous designs for Studio Theatre include The Effect, Cloud 9, Hedda Gabler, Bad Jews, An Iliad, Lungs, The History of Kisses, In the Red and Brown Water, The Year of Magical Thinking, Amnesia Curiosa, Souvenir, Contractions, and Crestfall, among others. She has designed for Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Round House Theatre, Signature Theatre, The Kennedy Center Theatre for Young Audiences, Mosaic Theater, Theater J, Everyman Theatre, Olney Theatre Center, Contemporary American Theatre Festival, Georgetown University, Catholic University, American University, Imagination Stage, and many more. She’s the Assistant Professor in Scenic Design at Emerson College. Stecconi holds an MFA in design from Brandeis University and is a member of USA Local 829.
(As of December 2018)
Heather C. Jackson previously worked at Studio Theatre as Assistant Designer on The Apple Family Plays. Most recently she designed Whipping, or The Football Hamlet with Longacre Lea. Other recent designs include The Tempest and Richard III at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, Orfeo ed Euridice/Orphee aux Enfers at Maryland Opera Studio, The Wild Party at the University of Maryland, and Gospel of Lovingkindness at Mosaic Theater Company, among others. Upcoming projects include Spring Awakening at Loyola University Maryland, The Winter’s Tale at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, and Assistant Designer on Samson & Delilah at Virginia Opera Company. Ms. Jackson holds an MFA from the University of Maryland.
(As of September 2017)
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.
Alex Basco Koch previously designed Invisible Man at Studio Theatre (also at the Court Theatre and Huntington Theatre Company). Recently he did the concert design for The Magnetic Fields’s 50 Song Memoir. Broadway credits include Irena's Vow. Off Broadway credits include Buyer & Cellar at Barrow Street Theatre and Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Body of an American at Primary Stages, The Liquid Plain at Signature Theatre, and Lenin's Embalmers at Ensemble Studio Theatre. Regional credits include Marley at Baltimore Center Stage, and ReEntry at Baltimore Center Stage, Round House Theatre, and Actors Theatre of Louisville.
(As of September 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 (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)
Becky Reed has previously stage managed No Sisters and The Effect at Studio Theatre. Other DC-area credits include The Cerulean Time Capsule and Elephant and Piggie’s We Are In A Play! (National Tour) with the Kennedy Center Theater for Young Audiences; Macbeth and King John with Folger Theater; Marjorie Prime and I And You at Olney Theatre Center; Ain’t Misbehavin’ at Signature Theatre, Happy Hour with Spooky Action Theater and machina eX; and Copenhagen, Everything Is Illuminated, and Becoming Dr. Ruth at Theater J. Becky has worked as an assistant stage manager at many DC-area theaters, including Opera Lafayette, Olney Theatre Center, Rep Stage, Signature Theater, Theater J, and Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. Becky has a BFA in Theater Production and Management from Auburn University.
(As of March 2019)
Corinne Williams recently was the stage manager for The Effect. Her international credits include the Australian tour of The Beast with the Ambassador Theatre Group as well as Straight White Men and Last Man Standing with the Melbourne Theatre Company. Regional credits include Schoolhouse Rock Live!, Driving Miss Daisy, and Annie at Hope Summer Repertory Theatre; Shear Madness, Next to Normal, and Annie Get Your Gun with the Heritage Theatre Festival; and Frankenstein at the Village Playhouse. While studying in Cardiff, she completed a placement on Bakkhai at the Almedia Theatre. Other educational credits include The Endless Ocean at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and Dancing at Lughnasa, The Who's Tommy, and Spring Awakening at the College of Charleston. Ms. Williams holds an MA in Stage and Event Management at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
(As of November 2017)
Linda Lombardi recently served as assistant director and dramaturg on Building the Wall at Forum Theatre (NNPN Rolling World Premiere) and dramaturg on Lela & Co. at Factory 449. Other directing credits include Henry IV, Part I and II and Henry V for GreenStage; the world premiere of Perfect Arrangement at the Source Festival; Domestic Animals in the Capital Fringe Festival; Ajax at Open Circle Theatre; The White Devil at Theatre Schmeater; assistant director for Whipping, or the Football Hamlet at Longacre Lea; and Henry VI, Part II for Taffety Punk. Upcoming projects include directing the workshop production of Kenilworth and assistant to the director for Theresa Rebeck on The Way of the World at Folger Theatre. Ms. Lombardi is a member of the 2017-18 Stage Directors and Choreographers Observership Class.
(As of September 2017)
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)
