March 7, 2024: The Keegan Theatre is pleased to announce the world premiere run of Priyanka Shetty’s solo play #CHARLOTTESVILLE, directed by Yury Urnov and presented in partnership with Voices Festival Productions. An urgent and personal exploration of how a town and the nation grapple with white supremacy, #CHARLOTTESVILLE is constructed verbatim from interviews with over a hundred local residents, court transcripts, and news reports – and now makes its world premiere at the Keegan Theatre, March 22-April 13, 2025.
“We are honored to support and premiere Priyanka Shetty’s #CHARLOTTESVILLE,” explains Josh Sticklin, Keegan Associate Producer and Artistic Director of Keegan’s Boiler Room Series new works initiative, which has collaborated closely with Priyanka since 2020, “because now, more than ever, we need bold, unflinching storytelling. In an era where extremists are emboldened, where revisionist history and censorship are being used as tools to distort truth and silence artists, this new work stands as an urgent act of resistance.”
“Charlottesville marked a pivotal moment in our country’s political and social landscape,” explains playwright and performer Priyanka Shetty, “with consequences that continue to resonate today. The events of 2017 laid bare the depth of division and hate that still threaten to tear apart our communities, and #Charlottesville remains as urgent now as it was when I first began working on it in 2019. This is a story that speaks to the core of who we are as a nation and the work we must still do to confront hate, intolerance, and violence. Under Yury Urnov’s visionary direction, #CHARLOTTESVILLE honors the voices of the local residents who were interviewed for this project, while exposing the hateful ideology that fuels the Alt Right.”
“As an immigrant, much like Priyanka,” adds director Yury Urnov, “I bring a perspective to this production that is part-outsider, part-insider. Both of us, like so many others, arrived in this country with a magical image of the ‘city upon a hill,’ and over time, we’ve seen how those images evolve, often revealing deep cracks. My own perception of Charlottesville’s events has changed dramatically since 2017. Back then, I was still able to believe the torch-bearing rally was just the actions of isolated individuals. But now, in 2025, the political reality shows us that those forces have broken out of their basements and are threatening the very foundations of the country. The necessity of this play for me lies in not just exploring how it all began but also asking a pressing question: What are our fates — both in this country and in the world — as we confront the forces that have broken free from the shadows and now threaten our shared future? I hope our exploration offers something valuable to the ongoing conversation.”
About the playwright & performer: Priyanka Shetty is an award-winning actor, playwright, and director based in Philadelphia. Her critically acclaimed one-woman show THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM has been performed at numerous venues across the US and internationally, including The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC and the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe at the Assembly Festival, which led to a tour in Scotland. She also made her Off-Broadway debut with this play at 59E59 Theaters in NYC. Priyanka is thrilled to premiere her second solo show #CHARLOTTESVILLE at the Keegan Theatre and is excited for its subsequent month-long run at the 2025 Edinburgh Fringe produced by the Olivier, Tony, Emmy, and Helen Hayes award-winning Richard Jordan Productions. She has been awarded a generous grant by the National Endowment for the Arts for the development of The Wall, which will follow THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM and #CHARLOTTESVILLE as the third and final play in her Triptych of Solos. Priyanka’s Triptych of Solos will have a coordinated nationwide premiere across multiple cities in 2025/26. Priyanka is an alumna of the prestigious Kennedy Center Playwriting Intensive. She has served on the jury of Open Screenplay’s MFilm Lab in Canada and as a mentor for emerging screenwriters of South Asian descent, and most recently on the jury for the 2024 Atlanta Indian Film Festival. Priyanka earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Acting from the University of Virginia and has served on the faculty of the University of Virginia’s Department of Drama. www.priyankashetty.com
“Since our founding, Keegan has recognized the vital importance of new voices in the theater,” comments Keegan Artistic Director Susan Marie Rhea, “and we have strived to fill the gap that often exists between development and full production. Through our Boiler Room Series, we have introduced the greater DC community to emerging writers and performers whose work demands to be seen, and whose work will make a tangible impact not only on the theater landscape, but also society at large. Priyanka is a shining example of the kind of extraordinary artist we are honored to support, and we are thrilled to have her back at Keegan. Her unique and insightful perspective, compelling theatricality, and raw storytelling is a galvanizing force – and one that will be more potent and urgent than ever with #CHARLOTTESVILLE.”
In addition to production director Yury Urnov, the production team for #CHARLOTTESVILLE includes Quinn D. Eli (Dramaturg), Megan Mazarick (Choreographer), Matthew J. Keenan (Scenic Designer), Dylan Uremovitch (Projections & Lighting Designer), Matt Nielson (Sound Designer), Luke Hartwood (Properties & Set Dressing Designer), Deb Sivigny (Costume Consultant), Heather Mease (Composer), Monica Blaze Leavitt (Dialect Coach), Jennifer Hardin (Stage Manager), and Gabrielle Busch & Camila Padilla (Production Managers). Following the world premiere run at Keegan, the play will have a month-long run at the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe produced by Richard Jordan Productions and with The Pleasance joining as Associate Producers.
#CHARLOTTESVILLE runs March 22-April 13, 2025 at The Keegan Theatre, 1742 Church St NW, Washington DC, with performances Thursdays-Saturdays at 8:00 pm, Sundays at 3:00 pm, and select Mondays and Wednesdays at 8:00 pm.
Special events scheduled throughout the run include:
- Sunday, March 23: Post-Show Discussion featuring Pamela S. Nadell, scholar in American Jewish History, about #CHARLOTTESVILLE’s urgent themes of white supremacy, racial tension, and identity. Free and open to all patrons!
- Sunday, March 30: Matinee Child Care is available during the matinee performance, provided by Keegan PLAY-RAH-KA Teaching Artists. (Limited capacity, advance registration required.)
- Sunday, March 30: “Meet the Artists” Talkback featuring playwright and performer Priyanka Shetty, immediately following the matinee performance. Free and open to all patrons!
- Friday, April 11: Young Professionals Happy Hour, which includes discounted tickets to the show and 1 complimentary drink coupon for patrons under 30 years old.
- Sunday, April 13: Post-Show Panel Discussion featuring Karen L. Dunn, one of America’s leading trial lawyers and Co-Executive Director of the Paul, Weiss Center to Combat Hate, Charlottesville resident and counter-protestor April Muñiz, and Emmy-winning filmmaker and director of the HBO documentary No Accident, Kristi Jacobson. Free and open to all patrons!
