April 15, 2016: Keegan Theatre continues its spring season with the opening of Wendy Wasserstein’s An American Daughter on May 7, 2016. Set in Washington, D.C., An American Daughter focuses on Dr. Lyssa Dent Hughes, a health care expert and forty-something daughter of a long-time Senator. When the President nominates Lyssa to a Cabinet post, an indiscretion from her past is discovered. The media turns it into a scandal that imperils her confirmation and divides her family and friends. Lyssa is forced to make a decision: continue to pursue the post and face an ugly Senate hearing; or decline the nomination, becoming a sacrificial lamb for the President. Partisan politics in our nation’s capital, however, are nothing compared to the personal politics in Lyssa’s living room, where complicated relationships unravel with her father, husband and her best girlfriend—not to mention the awkward encounters she has with an exuberant neo-feminist author and a relentless TV journalist.
“Wasserstein is beautiful when she’s angry … A daring play — beautiful, brilliant, angry and funny.” – New York Newsday
“A brave and ambitious play that portrays with withering accuracy the damage wrought by the tart-tongued TV culture of Washington.” – USA Today
AN AMERICAN DAUGHTER features Mark A. Rhea and Susan Marie Rhea, with Josh Sticklin, Lolita Marie, Brianna Letourneau, Slice Hicks, Michael Innocenti, Timothy H. Lynch, Sheri S. Herren, Zack Norris and Kathleen Manson. Brandon McCoy directs.
AN AMERICAN DAUGHTER was a late addition to Keegan’s 19th season, replacing the originally slated ANNAPURNA for this spring slot. As with the originally planned show, Mark A. Rhea and Susan Marie Rhea co-star in AN AMERICAN DAUGHTER. “We were originally going to be playing divorced spouses [in ANNAPURNA],” explains Susan Marie Rhea, Keegan’s Associate Artistic Director. “While in AMERICAN DAUGHTER we are playing still-married spouses, we’re nonetheless exploring a marriage that definitely has its issues.” The Rheas last appeared on stage together in Keegan’s acclaimed production of RABBIT HOLE in 2013. “We pick projects very carefully that feel like a good fit for the two of us,” Susan continues. “It’s not something we take lightly – appearing on stage together – so we want to make sure that when we do it, it makes the right kind of sense. We felt that was the case with this show — and we’re delighted to still have the chance to act together in this reopening season.”
AMERICAN DAUGHTER was chosen because Keegan’s artistic leadership felt that the timing was right for its themes: feminism in politics and the media. “AMERICAN DAUGHTER feels like the right show to produce at this moment in our nation’s history,” says Mark A. Rhea, the company’s founder and Artistic Director. “The show kept calling to us, and the fact that 2016 marks the 10th anniversary of Wendy Wasserstein’s death also resonated heavily. We’re thrilled to produce a play about women, politics and the media, in our Nation’s capital, during an election season. AMERICAN DAUGHTER, while set in the 90s and about a Surgeon General nominee, couldn’t feel more relevant to us than it does right now.”
An American Daughter runs May 7 through May 28, 2016, at The Andrew Keegan Theatre in Washington, D.C. The press opening is Tuesday, May 10, 2016 at 8pm.This is Keegan Theatre’s 19th season in Washington, DC and their inaugural season in their newly renovated theater located in Dupont Circle.
