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Overview

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"This...festival of original work in repertory propels Round House Theatre into the admirable ranks of companies pumping extra resources into new drama." - Peter Marks, The Washington Post

Round House Theatre is proud to present the third National Capital New Play Festival, an annual event celebrating new work by some of the country’s leading playwrights and newer voices. In addition to a fully staged world premiere (part of Round House’s main stage season), audiences are invited to readings of plays in development, where they can sit alongside dramaturgs, directors, and other theatre professionals for an inside look into a play’s journey to the stage.

Industry Weekends
APR 20 – 21, 2024 • APR 27 – 28, 2024

We invite our professional colleagues from around the country to join us for either (or both!) Industry Weekends in celebration of these exciting new plays. Each weekend has been planned to allow guests to attend the main stage world premiere and two staged readings, while leaving plenty of time to catch up with other guests and artists. Contact literary@roundhousetheatre.org for additional information or questions.

ON THE MAIN STAGE

A Jumping-Off Point

By Inda Craig-Galván
Directed by Jade King Carroll
April 10 – May 5, 2024 | World Premiere

Leslie Wallace is a promising Black writer who has just landed her first deal with HBO. Her celebration is cut short when she gets a surprise visit from Andrew, a white man from her grad school cohort, who accuses her of plagiarizing his script. Their confrontation—and eventual uneasy alliance—forces a reckoning on representation, privilege, and who gets to tell what kinds of stories. Full of humor and complex characters, A Jumping-Off Point is a sharp and electric new play from rising star playwright and screenwriter Inda Craig-Galván.

►BUY TICKETS

A Jumping-Off Point is sponsored by Nan Beckley and Noreen Marcus & Jay Sushelsky and is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

DEVELOPMENTAL READINGS

Tickets for developmental play readings are free, but reservations are required.

Please note that all readings are currently sold out. You can join the waiting list by calling or emailing the box office and then arriving at the theatre 90 minutes before each performance to claim tickets as they become available.

Arab Spring
Written by Denmo Ibrahim
Directed by Lila Rachel Becker
Thursday, April 18 at 8:00pm and Saturday, April 20 at 2:30pm

In this dark comedy, two grown siblings must make their peace with each other and with their recently deceased, estranged father as they prepare for his funeral.

Agape; or The Church Play
Written by Agyeiwaa Asante
Directed by April Amara
Friday, April 19 at 8:00pm and Sunday, April 21 at 2:30pm

Set in Maryland, this play follows a group of young women in an international church as they navigate the overlapping pressures of friendship, faith, and adulthood.

The Prime
Written by Dani Stoller
Directed by Ryan Rilette
Thursday, April 25 at 8:00pm and Saturday, April 27 at 2:30pm

A biting and bloody story of women's rage—and redemption—as a surgeon hits the glass ceiling and must decide what to do about it.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Written by Dendy and Aaron Posner
Performed by Dendy
Magic by Dendy
Directed by Aaron Posner
Friday, April 26 at 8:00pm and Sunday, April 28 at 2:30pm

Dendy and Aaron Posner reunite after their smash collaboration with Round House's 2023 production of The Tempest for The Sorcerer's Apprentice. In this one-man show, Dendy explores his own history with magic and our collective fascination with the art—with more than a few jaw-dropping tricks along the way.

The National Capital New Play Festival Developmental Reading Series is sponsored by Clare Evans.

Additional support for the National Capital New Play Festival is provided by the Morgan Fund at Seattle Foundation.

Playwrights

Inda Craig-Galván

A JUMPING OFF POINT

Inda Craig-Galván (Playwright) is a Los Angeles-based playwright and television writer, born and raised on the South Side of Chicago. Her work explores conflicts and politics within the African-American community, grounded in reality, and with a touch of magical realism. Upcoming: Welcome to Matteson! (Orlando Shakes, Fall 2024). Other plays: The Great Jheri Curl Debate (East West Players), Black Super Hero Magic Mama (Geffen Playhouse), a hit dog will holler (Playwrights’ Arena/Skylight Theatre), I Go Somewhere Else (Playwrights’ Arena). Awards: Kesselring Prize, Jeffry Melnick New Play Award, Blue Ink Prize, Jane Chambers Award, Kennedy Center’s Rosa Parks Award for plays focused on social justice and/or civil rights. Commissions: The Old Globe, Round House Theatre, CTG Writers’ Workshop. TV: Co-Executive Producer of ABC’s Will Trent. Previous: Happy Face, How to Get Away with Murder, and The Rookie. Inda is an Adjunct Professor at University of Southern California School of Dramatic Arts, where she received her MFA in Dramatic Writing.

Denmo Ibrahim

ARAB SPRING

Denmo Ibrahim is an American playwright and actor of Egyptian descent. Her work has been produced and developed by Marin Theatre Company, New York Theatre Workshop, The Civilians R&D Series, Amphibian Stage, Alter Theatre, Shotgun Players, Golden Thread and Crowded Fire. Regional acting credits include Berkeley Repertory, The Old Globe, Seattle Repertory, American Conservatory of Theatre and CalShakes. Denmo is a two-time winner of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle and Theatre Bay Area awards and a finalist for SPACE at Ryder Farm, O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, Rainin Fellowship, and Sundance Theatre Lab. Her children’s book Zaynab’s Night of Destiny (Fons Vitae, 2021) toured 25 public schools in Kentucky and was supported by the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Arts. Denmo holds an MFA in Lecoq-based Actor Created Physical Theater (Naropa University) and a BFA in Acting (Boston University). denmoibrahim.com

Agyeiwaa Asante

AGAPE, OR THE CHURCH PLAY

Agyeiwaa Asante is a Ghanaian- American theatre artist from Maryland, currently based in San Diego. Her plays include Dainty (BOLD NYC, Mosaic Theatre, The Garden, Playwrights Realm); The Half- Sibling Play (Fire This Time Festival); and Agape; Or The Church Play (Cygnet’s Finish Line Commission). She is an O’Neill National Playwrights Conference Finalist, Playwrights’ Center Venturous Fellowship Nominee and an ATHE's Jane Chambers Excellence in Feminist Playwriting Award Finalist. She is a winner of the 46th Annual Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Festival and 2020 recipient of The Bret Adams and Paul Reisch Foundation’s Ollie Award. She holds commissions from UMD’s NextNow Festival, Single Carrot Theatre, and Round House Theatre. B.A. in Theatre from the University of Maryland, College Park. She is in her final year of her MFA in Playwriting at UC San Diego.

Dani Stoller

THE PRIME

Dani Stoller is a Brooklyn-born playwright and actor who now resides in Washington, DC. Her plays include Easy Women Smoking Loose Cigarettes, which received its world premiere at the Tony Award-winning Signature Theatre; Accepts With Pleasure (featured in the inaugural SigWorks workshop series); The Voices on Blackwell Island (commissioned by Signature Theatre for their 2022/23 Signature in the Schools program), Girlhood (commissioned by Round House Theatre for their 2022/23 TPC commission); Blunted Daggers, The Healers, The Play About the Shiva (finalist for the Theater J Patty Abramson Jewish Play Prize in 2022); and The Joy That Carries You co-written with playwright, Awa Sal Secka, which had its premiere at the Olney Theatre Center in 2021 and won the Charles MacArthur Award for Best New Play or Musical at the Helen Hayes Awards. Her play, Just Great: an adaptation of some book by F. Scott Fitzgerald was recently published through Broadway Licensing/Playscripts. As an actress, she has performed at The Folger Shakespeare Theatre, Olney Theatre Center, Signature Theatre, Studio Theatre, 1st Stage, and The Kennedy Center. Education: BFA Ithaca College, MFA Catholic University of America. Website: www.danistoller.com

Dendy

THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE

Dendy D.C. audiences might best know him as Ariel in Aaron Posner & Teller’s production of The Tempest at Round House Theatre. Some might even know him as The Mute in The Fantasticks at Arena Stage. A magician, actor, and designer; Dendy has most recently created magic for the Broadway revival/and tour of Stephen Sondheim’s Company as well as Broadway’s Once Upon A One More Time. He has also designed magic for Netflix, and for the longest running headliners in Las Vegas history, Penn & Teller. Off-Broadway credits include David Mamet’s Prairie du Chien and Derren Brown’s Secret at Atlantic Theater Company; and Doctor Faustus at Faultline Theater. Other regional credits include Angels in America at Risk Theatre Initiative; The Tempest at American Repertory Theater, South Coast Rep, and The Smith Center; The Fantasticks at Trinity Rep Company, and South Coast Rep; and various other projects at Cincinnati Playhouse, Village Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, and Folger Theatre. He also appears on Penn & Teller: Fool Us on CW Network. Dendy has received a Jeff Award nomination and two Helen Hayes Award nominations for his stage work as an actor. Follow him on Instagram @natedendy. 

Aaron Posner

THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE

Aaron Posner is a director, playwright, teacher, former Artistic Director, and a tenured full professor at American University. He has directed at major regional theaters across the country including APT, ART, Arden, Arena Stage, Chicago Shakespeare, Folger, Ford’s, Milwaukee Rep, Round House, Signature, Studio, and many more. His re-imaging of Chekhov’s The Seagull— entitled Stupid Fucking Bird— was one of the ten most produced plays in the US in 2015 and has had more than 250 productions worldwide. His other widely produced and published plays include Life Sucks, No Sisters, JQA, District Merchants, The Chosen, My Name Is Asher Lev, and many more. He has won more than 20 regional theatre awards, including Helen Hayes Awards, Barrymore Awards, a Jeff Award, an Elliot Norton Award, The Outer Circle Critics Award, and the John Gassner Prize. He lives near Washington D.C. with his wonderful wife, actress Erin Weaver, and his amazing daughter, Maisie.

ARAB SPRING

Denmo Ibrahim

Playwright

Denmo Ibrahim (playwright) is an American playwright and actor of Egyptian descent. Her work has been produced and developed by Marin Theatre Company, New York Theatre Workshop, The Civilians R&D Series, Amphibian Stage, Alter Theatre, Shotgun Players, Golden Thread and Crowded Fire. Regional acting credits include Berkeley Repertory, The Old Globe, Seattle Repertory, American Conservatory of Theatre and CalShakes. Denmo is a two-time winner of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle and Theatre Bay Area awards and a finalist for SPACE at Ryder Farm, O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, Rainin Fellowship, and Sundance Theatre Lab. Her children’s book Zaynab’s Night of Destiny (Fons Vitae, 2021) toured 25 public schools in Kentucky and was supported by the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Arts. Denmo holds an MFA in Lecoq-based Actor Created Physical Theater (Naropa University) and a BFA in Acting (Boston University). denmoibrahim.com

Lila Rachel Becker

Director

Lila Rachel Becker (Director) is a DC-born, Brooklyn-based director who was last seen at Round House Theatre in the Teen Performance Comany’s 2007 Sarah Play. DC credits include assistant directing The Nether and We Are Proud to Present… at Woolly Mammoth and District Merchants at Folger Theatre. Lila has directed and developed work with theatres across the country, including The True Chronicles of Ben-Zion Palachi, The Rabbi Pirate (The Civilians/Portmanteau); Westphalia (Luna Stage); and come apart (The Tank/Portmanteau); Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. and Three Sisters (University of Iowa); Clarabelle and 86 (Cloud City); and Golden (Actors Theatre of Louisville). Her work has toured internationally at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. She co-runs the theater collective Portmanteau. Member: SDC, Lincoln Center Directors Lab. BA Wesleyan University; MFA University of Iowa. lilarachelbecker.com

Ahmad Kamal

Yusef

Ahmad Kamal (Yusef) was last seen at Round House for Oslo, while his previous DC credits include Gloria at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company (HH nomination for Best Supporting Actor); Everybody at Shakespeare Theatre Company; Holiday at Arena Stage; and The Return at Mosaic Theater Company; among others. Regional credits include Selling Kabul at Northlight Theatre; Baba at Amphibian Stage; and Hotter Than Egypt at ACT and Marin Theatre Company. Ahmad is a graduate of the University of Virginia and Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

Dina Soltan

Dina

Dina Soltan (Dina) is thrilled to be making her Round House Theatre debut at The National Captial New Play Festival with Arab Spring. She most recently appeared in Mosaic Theater’s production of Unseen. DC credits include Ada and the Engine at Avant Bard Theatre; Keffiyeh/Made in China at Mosaic Theater Company; Dhana, and The Rosebuds with Ally theatre; Or, at Theatre Prometheus; Reyjkavik at Rorschach Theatre Company; A Woman of No Importance with Scena Theatre; The Vagrant Trilogy at Mosaic Theater Company; Soldier Poet at Theatre Prometheus; Neverwhere at Rorschach Theatre Company and The Blind at The Wheel Theatre Company.

Naysan Mojgani

Dramaturg

Naysan Mojgani (Dramaturg) is Round House Theatre’s Associate Artistic Director, in which capacity he serves as in-house dramaturg and leads Round House Theatre’s new work program. As a theatre scholar, director, and dramaturg, Naysan has worked on new and classic work with theatres around the country, including Arena Stage (where he served as Literary Manager), La Jolla Playhouse, MOXIE, Theatre de la Jeune Lune, Theatre Squared, Malashock Dance, and Signature Theatre, and has taught at UC San Diego and George Mason University. Naysan holds a PhD in Theatre & Drama from UC San Diego, and a BA from Carleton College.

Taylor Kiechlin

Stage Manager

Taylor Kiechlin (Stage Manager) DC area credits include: STUDIO: Fun Home, Espejos: Clean, Fat Ham; SIGNATURE: Passing Strange, Into the Woods, La Cage aux Folles; FORD’S: Born Yesterday, A Christmas Carol, 12 Angry Men, Into the Woods, Fences, Silent Sky, Guys and Dolls, Come From Away: Concert at the Lincoln Memorial; KENNEDY CENTER: Acoustic Rooster’s Barnyard Boogie; FOLGER: The Winter’s Tale, Where We Belong; THEATER J: Nathan the Wise, Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story. Other regional credits include: GLCFA: Godspell; BRT: 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Quartet, Times Stands Still, The Producers, Triumph of Love; WILLIAMSTOWN: Moscow x6. EDUCATION: BA, University of Mary Washington

AGAPE; OR THE CHURCH PLAY

THE PRIME

THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE

Aaron Posner

Director/Playwright

Dendy

Apprentice/Playwright

Dendy (Apprentice/Magic) D.C. audiences might best know him as Ariel in Aaron Posner & Teller’s production of The Tempest at Round House Theatre. Some might even know him as The Mute in The Fantasticks at Arena Stage. A magician, actor, and designer; Dendy has most recently created magic for the Broadway revival/and tour of Stephen Sondheim’s Company as well as Broadway’s Once Upon A One More Time. He has also designed magic for Netflix, and for the longest running headliners in Las Vegas history, Penn & Teller. Off-Broadway credits include David Mamet’s Prairie du Chien and Derren Brown’s Secret at Atlantic Theater Company; and Doctor Faustus at Faultline Theater. Other regional acting credits include Angels in America at Risk Theatre Initiative; The Tempest at American Repertory Theater, South Coast Rep, and The Smith Center; The Fantasticks at Trinity Rep Company, and South Coast Rep; and various other projects at Cincinnati Playhouse, Village Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, and Folger Theatre. He also appears on Penn & Teller: Fool Us on CW Network. Dendy has received a Jeff Award nomination and two Helen Hayes Award nominations for his stage work as an actor. Follow him on Instagram @natedendy. 

Margaret Warner

Stage Manager/Stage Directions

Margaret Warner (Stage Manager) is happy to be back at Round House Theatre. Previous RHT credits include "We declare you a terrorist...", Nine Night, and Ink. Other DC area credits include: ARENA STAGE: Cambodian Rock Band, Mindplay; THEATER J: Becoming Dr. Ruth, Two Jews Walk into a War, Gloria: A Life, See You Tomorrow; OLNEY THEATER CENTER: Beauty and the Beast; KENNEDY CENTER: Kid Prince and Pablo; ADVENTURE THEATRE: Fairytales in the Sun; BALTIMORE CENTER STAGE: The Bakkhai. EDUCATION: BA, University of Maryland.