PRESS CONTACTS:

Anna Mills Russell, 240.644.1386 [email protected]

Sarah Pressler Randall, 240.644.1387 [email protected]

ROUND HOUSE THEATRE LAUNCHES 2018-2019 SEASON WITH HEARTFELT OFF-BROADWAY HIT

SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS

Performances run August 29 to September 23, 2018

“A play that leaves you moved, refreshed, and yes, maybe even a little enlightened.” – The New York Times

Bethesda, Md. (July 31, 2018) – Round House Theatre begins its 2018-2019 Season with Bess Wohl’s Small Mouth Sounds, directed by Artistic Director Ryan Rilette. Small Mouth Sounds runs from August 29 to September 23, 2018. Press night is Tuesday, September 4, 2018. Please see below for complete program details and ticket information.

Seeking enlightment in the quiet of the woods, six strangers embark on a silent retreat as a respite from personal struggles both large and small. Over the course of the nearly silent play, relationships are rocked, new bonds are formed, and the impacts of their vows of silence are revealed. While all six restless souls start the retreat with different goals in mind, they all depart with a new appreciation for human connection.

The ensemble cast includes Katie deBuys (Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley), Resident Artist Maboud Ebrahimzadeh (The Book of Will), Michael Glenn (Stage Kiss), Beth Hylton (Handbagged), Andrea Harris Smith (Our Town at Olney Theatre Center), and James Whalen (NSFW) as six city dwellers embarking on the week- long silent retreat. Timothy Douglas (director of Father Comes Home from the Wars, Parts 1, 2 & 3) rounds out the cast as the unseen guru who challenges them to seek peace.

1 Artistic Director Ryan Rilette returns to direct his first production of the 2018-2019 Season. “Rarely has a play changed the way I see and hear the world, but this one did,” Rilette says. “I felt truly awake for the first time in years after seeing it. That’s the journey of the characters and it’s the journey of the audience.”

The artistic team includes Scenic Designer Debra Booth, Costume Designer Debra Kim Sivigny, Lighting Designer York Kennedy, Sound Designer Roc Lee, and Projections Designer Alexandra Kelly Colburn.

Tickets may be purchased by calling 240.644.1100, ordering online at RoundHouseTheatre.org, or in person at the box office. Round House Theatre is located at 4545 East-West Highway, one block from Wisconsin Avenue and the Bethesda station on Metro’s Red Line.

Bess Wohl (Playwright)’s plays include Small Mouth Sounds (Top ten of 2015 in The New York Times, The Guardian, New York Post, and others), American Hero, Barcelona, Touched, In, Cats Talk Back and the original musical Pretty Filthy, in collaboration with Michael Friedman and The Civilians (Lucille Lortel and Drama Desk nominations for Outstanding Musical). Her work has been produced or developed at Second Stage, Ars Nova, The Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Geffen Playhouse, People’s Light and Theatre Company, The Contemporary American Theater Festival, Vineyard Arts Project, The Pioneer Theatre, The Pittsburgh Public Theater, The Northlight Theater, TheaterWorks New Works Fesitval, Ojai Playwright’s Conference, the Cape Cod Theatre Project, PlayPenn and the New York International Fringe Festival (Award for Best Overall Production). In 2015, Bess won the Sam Norkin special Drama Desk Award for “establishing herself as an important voice in New York theater, and having a breakthrough year.” Other awards and honors include the Athena Award for her screenplay, Virginia, a MacDowell Fellowship, and inclusion on Hollywood’s Black List of Best Screenplays. She is an associate artist with The Civilians, an alumna of Ars Nova’s Play Group, and the recipient of new play commissions from Manhattan Theatre Club, Hartford Stage and Lincoln Center. Bess also writes for film and television, and has developed projects for HBO, ABC, USA, Disney, Paramount and others. In her previous life as an actress, she appeared onstage in New York and regionally, and in numerous films and TV shows where she has given birth, solved crimes, committed crimes, been wrongly accused, and come back from the dead. She is a graduate of Harvard and the Yale School of Drama.

Ryan Rilette (Director) joined Round House Theatre in August 2012. During his tenure at Round House, the International Centre for Women Playwrights awarded

2 Round House its prestigious 50/50 Applause Award for achieving gender parity, and the Helen Hayes Awards have nominated Round House Theatre productions for 50 awards and awarded them 13, including Outstanding New Play or Musical in 2016 and Outstanding Resident Musical in 2018. Prior to joining Round House, Mr. Rilette served five years as the Producing Director of Marin Theatre Company (MTC), a LORT D theater in the San Francisco Bay Area that has a $3.2M budget and produces a combination of classic and new plays. From 2002 to 2007, Mr. Rilette served as Producing Artistic Director of Southern Rep Theatre, the leading professional theater in New Orleans. He is also the cofounder and former Executive Artistic Director of Rude Mechanicals Theatre Company in New York City, which he ran from 1998 to 2001. Mr. Rilette is also the past President of the National New Play Network, the country’s leading alliance of theaters that champions the development, production, and continued life of new plays for the American theatre, and a former professor at Tulane University and at Loyola University of New Orleans. He holds an MFA in Acting from American Conservatory Theatre.

Katie deBuys (Alicia) makes a joyful return to Round House after playing Jane in Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberly, Aimee in The Night Alive, May in Fool for Love, and Kate in Seminar (Helen Hayes nomination). Other local credits include The Winter’s Tale, Henry V, The Conference of the Birds and The Gaming Table at The Folger Shakespeare Theatre; The How and the Why at Theater J; Stupid F***ing Bird and In the Next Room or the vibrator play at Woolly Mammoth; Measure for Measure at Shakespeare Theatre Company; A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Tchaikovsky: Mad But for Music with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; and Aladdin’s Luck at Imagination Stage. Regionally, she has performed at Portland Center Stage, Syracuse Stage, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Capital T Theater in Austin, Texas, and at the Texas Shakespeare Festival. Katie holds a B.S. in Theatre from Northwestern University and an M.F.A. in Acting from The University of Texas at Austin.

Timothy Douglas (Teacher) is indeed tickled to make his Round House acting debut where he has directed five productions and currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees. Acting credits include stints at Yale Rep, Milwaukee Rep, Actors Theatre of Louisville, South Coast Rep, Victory Gardens and off-Broadway, and most recently in productions of Tempest (opposite Olympia Dukakis), King Lear and Alls Well That Ends Well for Shakespeare & Company where he has been a member since 1986. Timothy is also a Linklater-designated voice instructor and has served on the faculties of ACT, USC, DePaul, Denver Center, Birmingham School of Acting (UK), and New Zealand Drama School. He holds his MFA in acting from Yale School

3 of Drama, and will return to the director's seat at Round House for the upcoming August Wilson's Gem Of The Ocean.

Maboud Ebrahimzadeh (Rodney) is thrilled to begin his residency at Round House with Small Mouth Sounds. Previous Round House credits include: The Book of Will and Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo. REGIONAL: Murder on the Orient Express at Hartford Stage; Disgraced and Murder on the Orient Express at McCarter Theatre; Disgraced at Milwaukee Rep; The Invisible Hand [Barrymore Award for Outstanding Lead Actor] at Theatre Exile; The Liar at Gulfshore Playhouse; and The Container at Center Stage. DC:The Price at Arena Stage; The Invisible Hand at Olney Theatre Center; Mockingbird at Kennedy Center; Timon of Athens and Julius Caesar at Folger Theatre; Water by the Spoonful and Edgar & Annabel at Studio Theatre; and The Pillowman, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Bobrauschenbergamerica, and Scorched at Forum Theatre. FILM/TV: Jessica Jones, Imperium, and Sally Pacholok.

Michael Glenn (Ned) is excited to be returning to Round House, having previously appeared in Stage Kiss and This. A Washington-based actor for the last two decades, Michael has appeared on nearly every area stage. Some favorite past credits include: The School for Lies at Shakespeare Theatre; Baskerville and Good People at Arena Stage; Brighton Beach Memoirs at Theatre J; Sense & Sensibility (Helen Hayes award for Outstanding Ensemble) and Arcadia at the Folger Shakespeare Theatre; Marjorie Prime at Olney Theatre; Clybourne Park at Woolly Mammoth; The Lieutenant of Inishmore at Signature Theatre; Cat's Cradle and The Hothouse with Longacre Lea; A Skull in Connemara and Major Barbara (Helen Hayes nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor) at the Washington Stage Guild.

Beth Hylton (Joan) is very happy to return to Round House after appearing as Liz in Handbagged and Gwen in Rapture, Blister, Burn. Beth is a company member of Baltimore’s Everyman Theatre: some favorite recent performances include Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire, Rosemary in Outside Mullingar, and Marie Antoinette in The Revolutionists. DC-area credits include Appropriate and Collective Rage at Woolly Mammoth, The Heidi Chronicles at Rep Stage, as well as productions at Ford’s and Olney. Favorite regional performances include Amanda in Private Lives at PICT, Nora in A Doll’s House at Gulfshore Playhouse, Elvira in Blithe Spirit at Delaware Theatre Company and The Woman in The 39 Steps at The Maltz-Jupiter. Also: PlayMakers Rep, Kennedy Theatre NC, Weston Playhouse, Public Theatre of Maine. In NYC, Beth was a founding ensemble member of The Ground Floor Theatre Lab. Training: MFA UNC-Chapel Hill PATP.

4 Andrea Harris Smith (Judy) ) is delighted to make her Round House Theatre debut. Credits include Our Town at Olney Theatre Center; A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Pericles, Les Blancs, and Chicago at Oregon Shakespeare Festival; Mules at Magic Theatre, San Francisco; Blues for an Alabama Sky (Critics Circle Award) at TheatreWorks, Bay Area. International credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet, and Love’s Labour’s Lost at Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford- upon-Avon and West End; To Kill a Mockingbird at Birmingham Rep/West Yorkshire Playhouse; Film: Last Chance Harvey . TV: “Doctor Who” (BBC). Andrea trained at ACT. (American Conservatory Theater) in San Francisco and The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in the UK.

James Whalen (Jan) is delighted to be back at Round House for Small Mouth Sounds. He was last seen as Aidan in NSFW. Other area credits include The Little Foxes at Arena Stage; The Argument and Race at Theatre J; Colossal and Da at Olney Theatre Center; True West and Boeing Boeing at Rep Stage; Ghosts, Tribes, The Dresser, The Beaux’ Stratagem, Time Stands Still, and Betrayal at Everyman Theatre; Hamlet for We Happy Few; Shear Madness at the Kennedy Center; STAY and Two Bit Taj-Mahal for Theatre for the First Amendment; and Dracula at Actors Theatre of Louisville. He has also worked with The Shakespeare Theatre Company, Open Circle Theatre, and St. Mark’s and the Chernukin Theatres in New York. Film and TV credits include “House of Cards,” “VEEP,” “I Love You But I Lied,” Raltat, Money Matters, and A Beautiful Mind. He earned his MFA at The Catholic University of America and is a proud member of Actors Equity.

CALENDAR INFORMATION

Small Mouth Sounds By Bess Wohl Directed by Ryan Rilette Featuring Katie deBuys, Timothy Douglas, Maboud Ebrahimzadeh, Michael Glenn, Beth Hylton, Andrea Harris Smith, and James Whalen. The artistic team includes Scenic Designer Deb Sivigny, Lighting Designer York Kennedy, Costume Designer Debra Kim Sivigny, Sound Designer Roc Lee, and Projections Designer Alexandra Kelly Colburn.

WHERE: Round House Theatre, 4545 East-West Highway in Bethesda (one block from Wisconsin Ave. and Metro’s Bethesda station) For directions, parking, and public transportation info, visit RoundHouseTheatre.org/visit-us/

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ABOUT THE PLAY: Artistic Director Ryan Rilette opens Round House’s 41st season with a remarkable theatrical experience. A weeklong silent retreat in the woods proves to be anything but tranquil for six restless souls in search of enlightenment. Guided by the disembodied voice of an increasingly unhinged guru, the group struggles to find relevance in their own intentions. As the week progresses, they discover inner peace isn’t all that peaceful, especially when you’re spending most of your time trying to relate to the people around you … or avoiding the threat of bears. Played with equal parts humor and tenderness, Small Mouth Sounds examines all the aching, awkward, and awesome ways humans break barriers in order to connect with each other. Content Advisory: This production contains full-frontal male nudity.

DATES AND TIMES: Small Mouth Sounds runs from August 29 to September 23, 2018. Performances are Tuesday through Thursday at 7:30 pm, Friday and Saturdays at 8:00 pm, and Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:00 pm.

TICKETS: Tickets can be purchased by calling 240.644.1100, ordering online at RoundHouseTheatre.org, or visiting the box office. Available ticket discounts include: • Free Play – free tickets for all High School students throughout the DC- Metro area: Round House wants to make attending our shows an integral part of a Montgomery County education. To that end, we have a unique program: Play It Forward. With Free Play, all High School students throughout the DC-Metro area can reserve a free ticket to the performance of their choice during the 2018-2019 Season. For details and information, visit RoundHouseTheatre.org/Free-Play or call 240.644.1100. • Pay-What-You-Can performances: Wednesday, August 29 at 7:30 pm and Saturday, September 1 at 2:00 pm. PWYC tickets go on sale in person at the box office one hour prior to curtain. Cash and exact change only. Limit of 2 tickets per order. PWYC tickets are subject to availability. • Age 30 & Under, Senior Citizens, Military, and Veterans: Patrons under 30, seniors over the age of 65, and active duty military personnel and veterans qualify for a $10 discount off the single ticket price. Single Ticket fees apply. Discounts can be redeemed in person at the box office, or by calling 240.644.1100. • 2-For-1 Tuesday: For our Tuesday, September 11 and September 18 performances, all seats are buy one, get one free. Tickets can be purchased 6 in person at the box office, online, or by calling 240.644.1100, while supplies last. • Group Sales: Groups of 10 or more can save 10% off the single ticket price and are exempt from single ticket fees. These tickets must be reserved and purchased in advance by calling 240.644.1100 or emailing [email protected].

ABOUT ROUND HOUSE THEATRE

Round House Theatre is one of the leading professional theatres in the Washington, D.C. area, producing a season of new plays, modern classics, and musicals for more than 40,000 patrons each year at our theatre in Bethesda. Round House has been nominated for more than 181 Helen Hayes Awards and has won over 32, including four Outstanding Resident Play Awards and the Charles MacArthur Award for Original New Play in 2016. Round House’s lifelong learning and education programs serve over 4,000 students each year at its Education Center in Silver Spring and in schools throughout Montgomery County. Cornerstone programs include Play It Forward, which provides free tickets for teens and college school students, the year-round Teen Performance Company, which culminates in the student-produced Sarah Metzger Memorial Play, Summer Camp for students in grades K-12, and a full slate of classes for Adults & Youth.

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