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ROUND HOUSE THEATRE PRESENTS WASHINGTON, DC-AREA PREMIERE OF 2017 THEATRE AWARD SEASON JUGGERNAUT

OSLO

APRIL 24 - MAY 19 AT THE LANSBURGH THEATRE

Silver Spring, Md. (March 20, 2019) – Round House Theatre continues its 2018-2019 Season in the District of Columbia with the regional premiere of J.T. Rogers’ , directed by Round House Theatre Artistic Director Ryan Rilette. Oslo runs from April 24 – May 19, 2019 at the Lansburgh Theatre while renovations continue at the company’s Bethesda, MD theatre. Press night is April 29, 2019. Please see below for complete program details and ticket information.

A sweeping political thriller, Oslo is a dramatized, and oftentimes humorous, accounting of the tense backchannel negotiations—sponsored and led in secret by a team of Norwegians— between Israelis and Palestinians that resulted in the historic 1993 Oslo Peace Accords. The play swept the 2016-2017 awards season, laying claim to the Lucille Lortel Award for Best Play, the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Broadway Play, the for Outstanding Production of a Play, the for Best New American Play, the for Outstanding Play, and the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Play, before securing the award for Best Play at the 71st .

Artistic Director Ryan Rilette helms the powerhouse play—his eighth at Round House—and acknowledges that “this remarkable ensemble piece still manages to be a thrilling nail-biter, despite the fact that we know the outcome—both the immediate result at the time, as well as the sad fact that tensions remain unresolved to this day.”

1 Rilette adds: “At the heart of this play—and the Oslo Peace Accord negotiations—is the idea that peace can only come when we see each other as people, when we learn to empathize with each other, and compromise based on compassion, understanding, and common- ground. I chose this play because it’s a phenomenal ensemble piece, which is what we do best; because it’s a political thriller, which DC audiences love; and because it’s a Tony winner, which solidifies its cachet. But ultimately I chose it because I believe strongly that theatre is about building empathy, and this play shows better than any I’ve ever seen that empathy can truly change the world.”

As the husband-and-wife team of Norwegian bureaucrats who brokered the deal, the Round House production features Erin Weaver (winner of last year’s Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Play for her role in Or,) as Mona Juul, an official in the Norwegian Foreign Ministry, alongside Cody Nickell (Born Yesterday at Ford’s Theatre), who is taking over the role (from the previously announced Gregory Linington) of her husband Terje Rød-Larsen, the Director of the Fafo Institute for Applied Social Sciences.

Kimberly Gilbert and Todd Scofield (both last seen at Round House in The Book of Will) portray another husband-and-wife duo with political ties: Johan Jørgen Holst, the Norwegian Foreign Minister, who is married to one of Terje’s think-tank staff, Marianne Heiberg. Gregory Wooddell (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) plays Jan Egeland, the Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister, with Michael Sweeney Hammond (Julius Caesar at Shakespeare Theatre) and John Austin (Kleptocracy at Arena Stage) rounding out the Norwegian contingent as members of the Police Intelligence Service.

Round House Theatre Resident Artist Maboud Ebrahimzadeh (Small Mouth Sounds) and Ahmad Kamal (Richard III at Shakespeare Theatre Company) take the stage as the sole members of the Palestinian cohort—Ahmed Qurie, the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Finance Minister, and Hassan Asfour, an Official PLO liaison.

Alexander Strain (Glengarry Glen Ross) portrays , the Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister who is first approached with the idea by Juul and Rød-Larsen; with Gregory Wooddell also playing Ron Pundak, alongside Sasha Olinick () as Yair Hirschfield— two professors of economics at the University of Haifa who made up the original Israeli negotiating team. The two are later joined by Juri Henley-Cohn (fresh off a supporting role in 2019 Sundance Film Festival-favorite, Brittany Runs a Marathon) and John Taylor Phillips (Talley’s Folly at Theater J) as two Foreign Ministry diplomats brought in to “seal the deal.”

2 Conrad Feininger (Nixon’s Nixon) completes the delegation as Israeli Foreign Minister . Former Round House Theatre Artistic Apprentice Susannah Morgan Eig making her onstage debut with the company filling out multiple supporting roles.

The creative team includes Scenic Designer Misha Kachman (The Legend of Georgia McBride), Costume Designer and Round House Theatre Resident Artist Ivania Stack (), Lighting Designer Jesse Belsky (Handbagged), Sound Designer Matthew M. Nielson (The Legend of Georgia McBride), and Projection Designer Jared Mezzocchi (How I Learned to Drive). For full cast and creative team information, including headshots and bios, click here.

In addition to the fully-staged production, and its regularly-scheduled pre- and post-show conversations with cast and creative team members, Round House will also present three in- depth panel discussions following Sunday matinee performances further engage audience in the themes found in the play. These events are free and open to the public, with seating preference given to audience members from the matinee. The schedule is as follows:

Sunday, May 5, 2019 at 5:30pm – The Oslo Babies An entire segment of young people has grown up entirely in the shadow of the . They are the post-Oslo generation, and their understanding of the topic has been dominated by the fall-out from the Accords, as the optimism and opportunity of 1993 quickly receded into discord and violence. Round House Theatre assembles a panel of millennials who have dedicated their professional lives to this topic; they will discuss J.T. Rogers’ Oslo, the Oslo Accords themselves, and why they have chosen to engage with one of the most intractable conflicts in the modern world.

Sunday, May 12, 2019 at 5:30pm – What’s Next? Led by Joel Rubin, a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, founding Political Director of J Street, and President of Washington Strategy Group, a panel of visionary thinkers will come together to discuss the current American and Israeli political climates on Middle East peacemaking. Topics will include the April Israeli parliamentary elections, the forthcoming peace plan promised by the Trump Administration, and the legacy of the Oslo Accords. In light of J.T. Rogers’ Oslo, these experts will discuss the lessons we can take from this masterful work and how we can use its precepts to move forward.

3 Sunday, May 19, 2019 at 5:30pm – I Was There When… A panel including Middle East policy veteran Ambassador Dennis Ross, former PLO negotiator Ghaith al-Omari, former U.S. peace process team member David Makovsky, all of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and Oslo Accords architect Joel Singer will lead a retrospective on the time directly before and after the signing of the Oslo Accords. They will provide behind-the-scenes insight into the negotiations, comment on the specific events depicted in the play Oslo, and analyze the mixed legacy of the Accords.

For up-to-date information on panelists, program details, and online reservations, those interested can visit RoundHouseTheatre.org/Performances/Oslo.

PRODUCTION INFORMATION

Oslo By J.T. Rogers Directed by Ryan Rilette

CAST LIST: John Austin* as Trond Gundersen / German Husband Maboud Ebrahimzadeh as Ahmed Qurie (also known as “Abu Ala”) Susannah Morgan Eig* as Swedish Hostess / German Wife Conrad Feininger as Shimon Peres Kimberly Gilbert as Marianne Heiberg / Toril Grandal Michael Sweeney Hammond* as Thor Bjornevog / American Diplomat Juri Henley-Cohn* as Uri Savir Ahmad Kamal* as Hassan Asfour Cody Nickell* as Terje Rød-Larsen Sasha Olinick as Todd Scofield as Johan Jørgen Holst / Finn Grandal Alexander Strain as Yossi Beilin John Philip Taylor* as Joel Singer Erin Weaver as Mona Juul Gregory Wooddell as Jan Egeland / Ron Pundak * - Round House Theatre debut

4 ABOUT THE PLAY: In 1993, unbeknownst to the rest of the world, an audacious husband-and-wife team of Norwegian bureaucrats assembled a motley band of would-be diplomats from the Middle East to attempt the unimaginable: negotiate peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Operating only through backchannels—in secrecy, and without any official bargaining power—the group struggles to find middle ground as political tensions reach a fever pitch. But at the heart of diplomacy lies empathy, and these peacemakers must rely on the strength of the surprising personal bonds they have forged if they want to succeed. Artistic Director Ryan Rilette helms this thrilling nailbiter, based on the true events surrounding the Oslo Peace Accords, that swept the 2016-2017 awards season.

WHERE: The Lansburgh Theatre, located at 450 7th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20004. The theatre is located within blocks of both the Archives-Navy Memorial-Penn Quarter (Green and Yellow Lines) and the Gallery Place-Chinatown (, Green, and Yellow Lines) stations. For directions, parking, and public transportation info, visit RoundHouseTheatre.org/RHTinDC.

DATES AND TIMES: Oslo runs from April 24 to May 19, 2019. 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 ordering online at RoundHouseTheatre.org, calling 240.644.1100, or visiting the Lansburgh Theatre Box Office in person beginning April 15, 2019. Available ticket discounts include: • Free Play – FREE tickets for all high cchool and college students throughout the DC- Metro area: Round House Theatre’s FREE PLAY initiative ties into our greater strategy to develop theatre audiences of tomorrow by providing rich, meaningful arts experiences today. This program promotes accessibility of theatre and deepens ties between artists and members of the community. The recent expansion of this program helps to remove the financial barrier to theatre attendance for a wider range of students. All High School and College students throughout the DC-Metro area can reserve a free ticket to the performance of their choice during the 2019-2020 Season. For details and information, visit RoundHouseTheatre.org/Free-Play or call 240.644.1100.

5 • Pay-What-You-Can performances: Wednesday, April 24 at 7:30 pm and Saturday, April 27 at 2:00 pm. A limited number of PWYC tickets may be purchased in advance using a credit card through TodayTix, 24 hours prior to curtain. Remaining seats 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, May 7 and May 14 performances, all seats are buy one, get one free. Tickets can be purchased 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 up to 50% 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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