2008: Season of readings

These are exciting times for the Washington Stage Guild! Right now, we are building our new, permanent home – a beautiful, intimate theatre in a brand new building on E at 8th Street, NW.

But as construction proceeds we’re not staying “off-stage”—and our season of readings in the Mead Theatre Lab at Flashpoint will give you a part to play, too!

How does a theatre decide what plays to produce? At the Stage Guild, some of our biggest hits were “auditioned” by a reading before an audience. Now, you can become part of the process by attending our First Stage play reading series.

And what plays they are! Adaptations of works by Oscar Wilde and Karel Capek, an outing with Lady Gregory’s hilarious Kiltartan Comedies, not one but two plays by George Bernard Shaw, and another in which GBS appears as a character!

And there’s no charge, though donations will be gleefully accepted. So mark your calendars, because seating is limited!

The Return of the Prodigal
by St. John Hankin
Friday Evening, January 11, 7:30 PM & Saturday Matinee, January 12, 2008, 2:30 PM

A “comedy for fathers,” this rediscovered masterpiece is by one of George Bernard Shaw’s own favorite comic playwrights. A tale of two brothers – one who turned his back on his upper class British family and one who remained. Now, the family is reunited, and secrets are revealed and hypocrisy exposed.

The Best of Friends
by Hugh Whitemore
Tuesday, February 5, 2008, 7:30 PM

What did an eminent museum curator, a Dominican Abbess, and George Bernard Shaw have to say to each other? Plenty! A remarkable three way correspondence among these surprising friends will feature June Hansen, celebrating her 65th Theatrical Anniversary!

Don Juan in Hell
by George Bernard Shaw
Tuesday, February 26, 2008, 7:30 PM

The most intellectually dazzling dream sequence of all time, performed by the Stage Guild with necessary edits in our 1998 production of Man & Superman, is here presented uncut by the original (Guild) cast. A conversation about men, women, life, death, sex, marriage—and just about everything else.

The Rising of the Moon & Spreading the News
by Lady Gregory
Sunday Matinee, March 2, 2:30 PM & Tuesday Evening, March 4, 2008, 7:30 PM

A pair of theatrical slices of Irish life, these hilarious marvels-in-miniature by a co-founder of The Abbey Theatre presage the work of Synge, Yeats and Beckett. In The Rising of the Moon, a loquacious tramp encounters a policeman searching for an IRA leader, while Spreading the News tells the tale of the ultimate game of “telephone,” as gossip passes from one ear to another with rollicking results.

Widowers’ Houses
by George Bernard Shaw
Tuesday, March 18, 2008, 7:30 PM

Shaw’s very first play, an indictment of those whose wealth depends on cheating others, is as full of wit and compelling argument as his later masterworks. Come and hear what GBS was up to at the very start of his career!

Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime
adapted from Oscar Wilde
by Bill Largess
Tuesday, March 25, 2008, 7:30 PM

Wilde’s story of a young man-about-town determined to get his sordid future behind him before he weds has been adapted by Stage Guild dramaturg Largess into a witty comedy of criminal intent.

Dangerous Corner
by J.B. Priestley
Tuesday, April 29, 2008, 7:30 PM

How easy it is to go one step too far, to set things in motion that can’t be taken back. Or can they? Priestley, the author of last season’s hit An Inspector Calls, once more takes a chilling look at the consequences of actions and the fate of those who are reckless with their lives and the lives of others.

The War with the Newts
adapted from Karel Capek by Emily Solomon
Tuesday, May 6, 2008, 7:30 PM

A pioneering work of science fiction mingled with social satire (or perhaps the other way around) by the great Czech author has been adapted for the stage by DC playwright Emily Solomon, with a “cast of thousands” and hilarious results.

Location
The Mead Theatre Lab at Flashpoint is located at 916 G Street, NW, between 9th and 10th Streets, right next to Carroll Hall, the Stage Guild’s original home. Flashpoint is just steps from the Gallery Place – Chinatown Metro stop (9th & G exit) – on Metro’s Red, Green, and Yellow Lines. Flashpoint is fully accessible and easy to find.

Reservations
Seating is limited (only 60 seats!) so call ahead for reservations at (240) 582-0050 or e-mail at info@stageguild.org.

For more information –
Call (240) 582-0050, or log onto www.stageguild.org.

 


240-582-0050

info@stageguild.org

 

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