An unflinching tour-de-force performance by Priyanka Shetty, #CHARLOTTESVILLE chronicles the tragic events of August 11th and 12th, 2017, when white supremacists gathered in Charlottesville, Virginia for the “Unite the Right” rally on the pretext of expressing outrage against the removal of the confederate monument of Robert E. Lee, leading to a violent clash with counter-protesters. Shetty’s #CHARLOTTESVILLE unpacks the complex issues surrounding race and identity in modern-day America from her own perspective as an immigrant from India, while drawing parallels to the rise of nationalism and racial division in other parts of the world. Constructed verbatim from interviews with over a hundred local residents, court transcripts from the civil trial, and news reports in the style of Anna Deavere Smith and the Tectonic Theater Project, #CHARLOTTESVILLE is an urgent and personal exploration of how a town and the nation grapple with white supremacy.
This World Premiere production of #CHARLOTTESVILLE at Keegan is presented in partnership with Voices Festival Productions (Ari Roth and A. Lorraine Robinson, Co-Artistic Producing Partners). See more in the Production Team section below.
Thursdays-Saturdays at 8:00 pm
Sundays at 3:00 pm
Select Mondays and Wednesdays at 8:00 pm
$54 Adult
$44 Seniors 62+
$44 Students/under 25
Single tickets incur $5 service fee per ticket
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70 minutes with no intermission
March 23, 2025 | Following the matinee performance
Join us for an exclusive post-show conversation with Pamela S. Nadell, one of the nation’s foremost scholars in American Jewish history, to explore how #CHARLOTTESVILLE’s urgent themes of white supremacy, racial tension, and identity fit within the longer trajectory of America’s struggles with racism, antisemitism, and nationalism. Free and open to all patrons!
March 30, 2025 | 2:30-5:00 pm
Parents can join us for the matinee performance and register their Pre-K to 5th grade children for onsite child care with Keegan PLAY-RAH-KA Teaching Artists during the show. (Limited capacity and all children must be registered in advance. Show ticket sold separately.)
March 30, 2025 | Following the matinee performance
Join us for a special audience talkback with playwright and performer Priyanka Shetty, as part of our mission to bring artists and audiences together in conversation around live theater. Free and open to all patrons!
April 11, 2025 | Happy Hour @ 7:00 pm, Show @ 8:00 pm
Patrons under 30 years old are invited to purchase discounted tickets, which include 1 drink coupon, exclusive access to our mezzanine for mingling, and a seat for the evening’s performance
April 13, 2025 | Following the matinee performance
Join us after the performance for an exclusive post-show conversation with Karen L. Dunn, one of the nation’s leading trial lawyers and the Co-Executive Director of the Paul, Weiss Center to Combat Hate, April Muñiz, a Charlottesville resident and counter protestor who was injured during the horrific events of that weekend, and Kristi Jacobson, an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker and director of the HBO documentary No Accident. Together, they will delve into the emotional and legal journey of holding perpetrators of hate accountable, the personal stories of those who stood up against violence, and the transformative power of storytelling and activism in shaping public memory. Free and open to all patrons!
DC Theater Arts Review
“What Shetty does in this innovative, avant-garde solo production is make [old news] urgent. She also makes it entertaining. Inhabiting over a dozen characters, this performance artist makes an Anna Deavere Smith star turn as an actor-writer.”
Broadway World Review
“Ms. Shetty’s original writing of this play based on transcripts and interviews is masterful and tautly immersive for the audience… a jolting and beautifully realized production.”
MD Theatre Guide Review
“Shetty’s writing matches her performance as smart, distinct, and impactful… In the intimate Keegan Theatre, this piece doesn’t just address a rally, it addresses the state of the nation.”
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. priyankashetty.com
Yury Urnov (Director) is an award-winning American theatre director and producer. In 2024, Yury received the highest US theatre award as a co-artistic director of the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia (Best Regional Theater TONY AWARD). The performance of MY MAMA AND THE FULL-SCALE INVASION he directed was named the Best Theatre Production in Washington DC of 2024 (HELEN HAYES AWARD). The Wilma of Philadelphia which Yury leads is one of the best-known experimental theatres nationwide in the United States. It is specifically famous for its splendid and diverse HotHouse acting company and the innovative shared-leadership model. Among other accomplishments, under Yury’s tenure, the Wilma Theater commissioned and produced the 2022 PULITZER PRIZE winning play FAT HAM by James Ijames. Yury also teaches at the Towson State University in Maryland and serves as an Associate Director of the Center of International Theater Development – a leading organization for international theatre exchange in the US.
Quinn D. Eli (Dramaturg) is a playwright, dramaturg, and educator, originally from the Bronx, NY. His short plays have appeared in Best American Ten-Minute Plays and been produced throughout the country. Longer works can be found on NPX, including Hot Black/Asian Action, a satire about sexual and racial stereotypes, and In Common, an interracial ghost story, produced by Purple Rose Theater. He is a cofounder of Jouska PlayWorks, a Philadelphia-based initiative for playwrights of the African Diaspora. A proud member of the Black Theatre Network, and a two-time recipient of Fellowships in Literature from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Eli heads the Theatre program at the Community College of Philadelphia.
Megan Mazarick (Choreographer) is a choreographer, teacher, performer, collaborator, and curator of Contemporary Dance. She received both her BFA (University of North Carolina at Greensboro) and MFA (Temple University) in dance. As a choreographer, she makes work that is humorous, political, theatrical, and personal, often including text, improvisation, and love of fantasy. As a performer she has worked with Susan Rethorst, Keith Thompson, Marianela Boan, Merian Soto, North Carolina’s Blackbox Dance Theatre, and Anonymous Bodies. She has taught at multiple universities and is an Assistant Professor and Chair of Dance Department at Georgian Court University.
Matthew J. Keenan (Scenic Designer) was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland. He is a graduate of the Gaiety School of Acting in Dublin and a proud company member of both The Keegan Theatre and the Classical Theater Company, in Houston TX. Matthew began working with Keegan as an actor, appearing in many productions over the years. In 2014 he created the scenic design for Keegan's production of Hair, and has since become their resident set designer, scenic painter, and lead carpenter. As well as his many roles within the company, Matthew is also the playwright of Keegan's traditional holiday production “An Irish Carol’, which has been produced every year since its inception in 2011. Some previous Keegan scenic designs include Noises Off, Shakespeare In Love, Sweat, N, Webster's Bitch, Trans AM, From Gumbo To Mumbo, Legally Blonde, Lincolnesque, Parade, The Lonesome West, American Idiot, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, Chicago, The Bridges Of Madison County, The Undeniable Sound of Right Now, and An Irish Carol. Other previous designs include Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead (The University Of Rochester), Cinderella: A Salsa Fairytale (Imagination Stage), Once (American University), The Revolutionists (Prologue Theater Company), The Marriage Of Figaro, and Peer Gynt (The Classical Theatre Company).
Dylan Uremovich (Projections & Lighting Designer) is a DC based lighting and multimedia artist. He was awarded the 2024 Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Media/Projection Design for Look Both Ways at The Kennedy Center. Recently, Dylan worked as Associate Video Designer for Broadway's All In: A Comedy About Love and the national tour of Kimberly Akimbo. His other collaborators include Arena Stage, Everyman Theatre, Mosaic Theater, Pointless Theater Company, CulturalDC, Infinity Theatre Company, Everyman Theater, Dance Place, Orange Grove Dance, and Flying V. His twin artistic obsessions are telling amazing stories and creating interactive designed environments. Check out more of his work at UremovichDesign.com
Deb Sivigny has worked in the DC area for over 20 years as a multi-disciplinary artist and educator. At Keegan, she designed costumes for Big Fish and American Idiot. As a costume and scenic designer, she specializes in new work and devised pieces, bringing a sense of play and iterative experimentation to her designs. Her love of dramaturgy, research, and cross-cultural dialogue has led her into academia where she explores the development of “design-driven” works inspired by literature, politics, personal aesthetic, and experience. She is also a textile artist and painter/print maker (@twincat.art on instagram) She received a Helen Hayes Award for scenic design for Forgotten Kingdoms (Rorschach Theatre) and several nominations for both costumes and scenery. She is now a professor of costume design at Ithaca College.
Luke Hartwood he/him (Properties / Set Dressing Designer) is a queer and disabled Asian-American multimedia designer and artist working on unceded Nacotchtank land "Washington, D.C.". He specializes in designing original props, puppets, graphics, and videos. Recent credits include Hand to God (Keegan Theatre); Finn, Through the Sunken Lands and The Dragon King's Daughter (The Kennedy Center); Is God Is (Constellation Theatre Company); Problems Between Sisters (Studio Theatre); Off the Page (Arts on the Horizon), Las Hermanas Palacios, Baño de Luna, and Kumanana! at GALA Hispanic Theater; The Mountaintop (Round House Theatre), The Chosen (1st Stage); and Angel Number Nine (Rorschach Theatre). On social media at @lukehartwood (Instagram). lukehartwood.com.
Coming soon!
Dan Martin (Co-Sound Designer) Credits for The Keegan Theatre include American Buffalo (IRE), Outside Mullingar, Noises Off, RENT, Elizabeth Rex, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (IRE/USA), Man of La Mancha, Translations, Glengarry Glen Ross (IRE/USA), Death of a Salesman (IRE/USA), A Streetcar Named Desire (IRE/USA), True West (IRE/USA).
Heather Mease composes and performs incongruities–soft noise, experimental old time, acoustic samplers, and abrasive fun. Heather and Priyanka Shetty collaborate frequently on theater projects including #Charlottesville, The Elephant in the Room, and various workshop pieces. Heather is Lecturer of Music Production and Social Justice at the University of Southampton.
Monica Blaze Leavitt is a Dialect and Voice & Diction Coach based in NYC. She is a Certified Lessac Teacher who has been coaching actors and business professionals for over thirty years. She works with clients worldwide assisting them with learning Standard American English pronunciation but her favorite part of her job is coaching actors. She can teach any accent or celebrity personality's speaking pattern. She has worked with celebrities from all over the world to create unique character voices and learn different dialects. She has also worked with executives from companies like Citi, Goldman Sachs, PepsiCo and CNN to learn American English Pronunciation and to improve the quality of their speaking voices. Monica has had such fun working with Priyanka on "#Charlottesville"! It's been an honor and a tremendous pleasure. To learn more about Monica's work, please visit www.monicablazeleavitt.com.
Jennifer Hardin (Stage Manager) has been doing theatre most of her life, stage managing professionally for almost 7 years. She moved to the D.C. area almost 2 years ago. She has worked at Riverside, NextStop, Edge of the Universe Players, Folgers, LTA and TAP. She is honored to be making her Keegan debut with such a meaningful production. As always, she wants to thank her friends and family for their love and support.
Coming soon!
Gabrielle Busch (Production Manager) graduated from High Point University with a B.A in performance theatre. While at High Point, Gabrielle was involved with stage managing, acting, and directing. Returning to her hometown of DC, she has her sights set high on getting involved in the theatre community as much as possible. While in DC, Gabrielle has ASMed for shows at Keegan, such as Airness and Good People. Gabrielle has stage managed several shows at Keegan, such as N, Yoga Play, Strangers with Benefits (Boiler Room Series), Shakespeare in Love, Elegies: A Song Cycle, The Lifespan of a Fact, Seussical (co-stage managed), Merrily We Roll Along, and Noises Off!
Camila Padilla is a theatre and dance artist currently based in Washington, DC. She's been with Keegan since May 2024 where she currently serves as their Community Engagement Coordinator. She graduated with a double B.A in theatre and dance from Goucher College in 2015. She lived in New York City for the last 10 years where she received her Master in Fine Arts in Acting at the Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University in 2018, where she had the opportunity to train under Susan Aston, Jacqueline Knapp and the late Elisabeth Kemp. Additionally, she received her certificate in Acting from the Juilliard School Extension Program in 2023. Most recently, she served as the stage manager for Keegan’s Hand To God. She’s thrilled to be a first time production manager with #CHARLOTTESVILLE and she’d like to thank her family and friends for all of their support throughout the years.
This World Premiere production of #CHARLOTTESVILLE at Keegan is presented in partnership with Voices Festival Productions (Ari Roth and A. Lorraine Robinson, Co-Artistic Producing Partners), who developed the workshop production of the play for the Capital Fringe Festival, July, 2023 in Washington, D.C. Their partnership with Keegan Theatre provided the play with a second workshop and dramaturgical support, which was instrumental in its development.
Voices Festival Productions (Presenting Partner)
Ari Roth and A. Lorraine Robinson (Co-Artistic Producing Partners)
VFP is an independent, DC-based production company developing and producing new works for the stage that stimulate debate and discourse, introspection and awareness, informed by revelation of our underlying humanity in all its color and complexity, finding resonance between those living with conflict in the Middle East and closer to home, in our Nation’s Capital, along the seams of our nation, and its very real, and perceived, divides. We celebrate diverse, inter-cultural voices and encounters through inter-connected performance of both provocative and introspective new works for the stage, in dialogue with our moment.
VFP’s projects include: Voices From a Changing Nation - producing the world premiere of Rachel Lynett’s Letters To Kamalah/Dandelion Peace, and a workshop of Lynett’s Yale Prize winning, Apologies to Lorraine Hansberry (You Too, August Wilson), a workshop production of Priyanka Shetty’s #Charlottesville at Theater J, and most recently, the world premiere of Who Cares: The Caregiver Interview Project, co-written by Ari Roth and A. Lorraine Robinson with Vanessa Gilbert. Additionally, the series presented installments of “Ukrainians Under Siege: Readings of New One Acts From The War” in partnership with Arts Club of Washington.
VPF’s acclaimed Voices From a Changing Middle East Festival (CME) has for 24 years brought the souls and struggles of those living in the Middle East – especially Israel and Palestine – to life. Beginning at Theater J and later inaugurating the Mosaic Theater Company, the festival has brought forth over three dozen productions and many more workshop presentations. In 2022, VPF presented the festival and, under the theme “Losing/Finding Home,” produced The Gate, written & performed by Robbie Gringras, the world premieres of My Calamitous Affair With The Minister Of Culture & Censorship by Ari Roth, Home? Or A Palestinian Woman’s Pursuit Of Life, Liberty & Happiness by Hend Ayoub, and an On-Demand virtual production of I, Dareen T by Einat Weizman & Dareen Tatour. This season, VFP’s CME Festival included workshops under the theme of “At War, Before & After,” including Balfour by Motti Lerner, Almond Blossom at Deir Yassin by Hanna Eady, Stay Safe by Stav Palti-Negev, How To Remain a Humanist After a Massacre in 17 Steps by Maya Arad Yassur, and Live From Jenin: Lessons From the War by Tariq Jarrar. Most recently, VFP presented the musical December 4, about the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin, at the Arts Club of Washington.
Following the World Premiere at Keegan, #CHARLOTTESVILLE 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.
Richard Jordan Productions (Producer) is a TONY, Olivier, Helen Hayes, and EMMY Award-winning production company based in London, under the artistic leadership of producer Richard Jordan. Described by The Stage newspaper as “one of the U.K.’s most prolific theatre producers”, Richard Jordan Productions has produced over 260 productions (over 30 New York City presentations) in the UK as well as 28 other countries, including 90 world premieres and 98 European, Australian or North American premieres and been the recipient of over 60 major theatre awards. The company produces and collaborates with many of the world’s leading theatres and has been at the forefront of developing and presenting works by a diverse range of established and emerging UK and international writers and artists. In 2013, Mr Jordan became the first British producer to have won every notable Broadway and off-Broadway Best New Play Award.
The Pleasance (Associate Producer) has been at the heart of Fringe theatre and comedy since 1985. With an international profile and a network of alumni that reads like a Who’s Who of contemporary comedy, drama and entertainment, the Pleasance is a place for the experimental and the new. The Pleasance is both a Festival Organisation of 27 temporary venues across three sites, and a London theatre and development centre, with two permanent performance spaces which operate year-round. The Pleasance in London and Edinburgh are entirely symbiotic. We’ve been a registered charity since 1995 in England and Wales and 2012 in Scotland, supporting opportunities for artists year round.
