Above: Tricia McCauley and Steven Carpenter.

Right: Vincent Clark, Kathleen Coons, Tony Gudell, Cody Lindquist, Tricia McCauley, Conrad Feininger, Scott Bradley, Steven Carpenter.

by Ferenc Molnar--An Area Premiere • Directed by John MacDonald • Featuring Conrad Feininger

"Oh, how dreadful to be restrained by culture."

Actors and actresses behave badly when they dally with each other--and worse when the audience gets involved!

The sophisticated European theatre of the early 20th century is both the source and the subject of this evening of backstage bon-bons, portions of which have never been produced in the U.S.

Hungarian playwright Molnar has become a favorite of Stage Guild patrons in past productions such as The Guardsman, A Tale of the Wolf, The Play's the Thing and Olympia.

"Everything you love is irritating."

A famous author and a dedicated fan encounter each other in a train compartment--or do they?

A cleverly told tale of preconceptions challenged, recognition withheld and expectations exceeded, The Unexpected Man is by the acclaimed author and translator of Art, and will receive its Washington premiere in a production that reunites Carpenter, Giannarelli, and Largess, last teamed for the Guild's hit revival of Pirandello's The Rules Of The Game.

"The fickleness of the women I love is only equaled by the infernal constancy of the women who love me."

Leonard Charteris is in love for real this time; now if he can only make his previous true love understand. Welcome to The Ibsen Club, the home away from home for "unmanly men and unwomanly women."

The Washington Stage Guild, with an international reputation for its productions of the inimitable GBS, will present the U.S. premiere of the original conclusion of Shaw's comedy of romantic confusion and marital misadventure--his most autobiographical play!

Above and right: Barbara Rappaport.

Read the reviews of Rose:
Potomac Stages
Washington Post

by Martin Sherman--An Area Premiere • Directed by Bill Largess

"At my age, breathing is one of the few pleasures I have left."

What does it mean when the generation who experienced, and survived, the landmark events of the past century find themselves overlooked as their numbers dwindle?

Rose, sitting shiva for one last time, tells her unforgettable story, one that flows from shtetl to ghetto, from South Beach to the West Bank. Sherman, the author of Bent, again finds in the traumas of the past a tale of strength, determination, warmth, and humor, and makes of it a quiet tour-de-force.

Washington Post reviewer Dolores Gregory praises this Washington Stage Guild production of Rose: "It is purposefully untheatrical; there is no need to dramatize something that's this dramatic on its face."

The Potomac Stages remarks: "This one-performer monologue is fascinating from the beginning but it has a cumulative effect that builds and a warmly right surprise development at the end that wraps it all up in proper proportion without seeming manipulative or contrived. Rose is an experience you will treasure."