March 13, 2023: The Keegan Theatre is pleased to announce the new works and writers to be featured in the 2023 Boiler Room Series. The initiative invites audiences to experience theater development in action while supporting playwrights and their works in progress, which lie somewhere on the path from “playwright’s first spark” to “mainstage production.” 2023 events include half-day workshops of the featured pieces, culminating in live public table readings with audience talkbacks immediately afterward – which all helps to fuel the featured writers’ work as they continue to develop these promising pieces for the stage.
As a way of celebrating and lifting the mission of the Boiler Room Series, this year’s events are sharing the spotlight with a pair of World Premieres which were commissioned and developed as part of the 2022 Boiler Room Series.
“For the 2023 Boiler Room Series,” shares BRS artistic director Josh Sticklin, “we’re scheduling our workshops around our World Premiere productions of PUSH THE BUTTON and THE WILTING POINT – marrying the development work the Boiler Room Series does with the final products of commissioned, fully produced new works on the mainstage.”
PUSH THE BUTTON, a new hip-hop musical by Drew Anderson & Dwayne Lawson-Brown and supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, plays on the Keegan mainstage March 25-April 7, 2023. Then THE WILTING POINT, the opening entry of the four-part ELEMENTS play cycle by Keegan’s 2022-2023 Playwright in Residence Graziella Jackson, plays April 13-30, 2023. The three other plays of the ELEMENTS cycle will kick off the Boiler Room Series events, which include:
Monday, April 10, 7:00 pm @ The Keegan Theatre
AIR (part of the ELEMENTS play cycle)
by Graziella Jackson
directed by Momo Nakamura
stage managed by Amina Dunn
featuring Beverlix Jean-Baptiste, Cheryl Campo, Wilmer Juarez, Jennifer Osborn, Josh Sticklin, and Sophia Colón Roosevelt
Monday, April 17, 7:00 pm @ The Keegan Theatre
EARTH (part of the ELEMENTS play cycle)
by Graziella Jackson
directed by Josh Sticklin
stage managed by Kristen Davis
featuring Beverlix Jean-Baptiste, Sophia Colón Roosevelt, Sally Flores, Momo Nakamura, Karina Hilleard, James Finley, and Rocheny Princien
Monday, April 24, 7:00 pm @ The Keegan Theatre
FIRE (part of the ELEMENTS play cycle)
by Graziella Jackson
directed by Paige Washington
stage managed by Philippos Sourvinos
featuring Bayron Celis, Bianca Lipford, Judy Lewis, Axandre Oge, Sam Lunay, Beverlix Jean-Baptiste, Sophia Colón Roosevelt, and Seth Rosenke
Monday, May 1, 7:00 pm @ Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum
ENTER GRETTA
by Kate Black-Spence
directed by Momo Nakamura
stage managed by Philippos Sourvinos
featuring Bianca Lipford, Nick DePinto, Maryanne Henderson, and Vishwas
Monday, May 8, 7:00 pm @ Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum
YOU SHOULD BE SO LUCKY
by Alyssa Haddad-Chin
directed by Paige Washington
stage managed by Philippos Sourvinos
featuring Mary Yee and Yihong Chen
Sunday, May 14, 3:30 pm @ Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum
WAITING FOR MANILOW
by Stephen Mills
directed by Oscar Ceville
stage managed by Jillian Riti
featuring Shannon Rodgers, Keith Burkland, Byron Escobar, Melissa Robinson, and Kellan Oelkers
Monday, May 15, 7:00 pm @ Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum
THE OREOS
by Angelle Whavers
directed by Josh Sticklin
stage managed by Kristen Davis
featuring Abel Haddish, Bowen Fox, Tatenda Rameau, Nina Brewton, Stan Shulman, and Ariana Caldwell
All events take place at either The Keegan Theatre, located at 1742 Church Street NW, Washington, DC 20036, or at the Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum, located at 1901 Fort Place SE, Washington, DC 20020. Tickets for all of the 2023 Boiler Room Series events are available Pay What You Can, but online reservations are strongly encouraged.
