2023 One-Act Festival

The One Act Festival is Back !!!! The Festival will be smaller than in the past with 5 shows running two weekends, September 22 – October 1.

Get Tickets HERE

Be sure to check out the One Festival Award winners HERE!

Banana Brains by Em German
Directed by Yvonne Paretzky

This 15-minute dark comedy sheds light on what motivates someone to be a crime scene cleaner. The play takes place in the office of Greensboro Aftermath Services, where May Belle Halford is interviewing for a job as a cleaner.

May – Imaan Khan (9/21,9/23, 9/29,10/1), Helen Cheng Mao (9/22, 9/24, 9/30)
Interviewer – Brett Murray

Funeral for the Cat by B.G. Craig
Directed by Vanessa Markowitz

Judy, a widow in her golden years, has invited her daughter and granddaughter to a funeral for her beloved and recently-departed cat. Family conflict ensues as Judy’s vision for the funeral unfolds. This dark comedy features four women and explores themes of grief, family, spirituality, and peeing in your enemy’s shoes.

Judy – Marla Harper
Pamela – Cecily Norman
Madison – Charlotte Richesson
Elizabeth – Emily Ray

A Snowball’s Chance by Jeff Dunne
Directed by Karen Fleming

Amanda and Dave are cleaning out the attic of their childhood house now that their mother has passed, reflecting on fond childhood memories. Amanda discovers, though, that some of her memories are not as accurate as she had believed. This romantic comedy explores nostalgia, family, and the one that got away. Original music composed by Patrick Hughes.

Amanda – Maura Suilebhan
Dave – Matthew Dantas-McCutcheon
Scott – Andrew Greenleaf

i didn’t think you’d be so unhappy by Shara Feit
Directed by Sophia Menconi

Being a woman is hard, and growing up is even harder. Jules and Rebecca’s gig as Bat Mitzvah party motivators takes an unexpected turn when they encounter a Bat Mitzvah girl in crisis while on their break. i didn’t think you’d be so happy explores the anxieties, heartaches, and joys of womanhood, whether you’re 13 or well into your 20s.

Jules – Layla Nabavi
Rebecca – Jenny Oberholtzer
Bat Mitzvah Girl – Zophia Shamapande

Five Grains of Rice by Arindam Ghosh
Directed by Arindam Ghosh

Jayant and Ela are young professionals settled in an Indian metropolis. Jayant is a reputed scientist and Ela works at an NGO. Although professionally poles apart, they share an equal partnership in life and are happily married. Out of the blue Damini, Jayant’s girlfriend from college days, shows up one evening for a friendly chat. As the evening progresses and the three engage in reminiscence with good food and wine, the equilibrium starts to tilt. An offer is made that questions the status quo of each relationship. A decision hangs over the heads of the happy couple, a choice that could alter their lives forever. Will their marriage and its future survive this bizarre intrusion from the past?

Jayant Trivedi – Arindam Ghosh
Ela Trivedi – Shampa Basu
Damini Malhotra – Aditi Bhattacharya

Production Team
Producer – Seth Ghitelman
Stage Manager – Arooba Nadeem
Lighting Designer – Don Slater
Sound Engineer – Rich Frangiamore
Artistic Liaison – Rob Gorman
Judges – Bill Hurlbut, Michael Kharfen, Emma Wesslund
Cover and Poster Art – Leslie Kekuewa

Blue Stockings
by Jessica Swale

Directed by Eleanore Tapscott

October 27 – November 12, 2023

Get Tickets HERE

The year is 1896. Few universities accept women at all; those that do consider them to be intellectually inferior to their male counterparts. The women pursuing academics are disdainfully labeled “Blue Stockings.” Cambridge University’s doors have opened to a cohort of excited and ambitious young women, but how will the institution adapt? Over the course of an academic year, we follow the journey of four female students as they fight for their right to graduate alongside their male counterparts.

Produced by Amber Champ

What is a Blue Stocking? Find out HERE.

CAST
Tess – Katherine Leiden
Celia – Julia Rae
Carolyn – Alex Greenberg
Maeve – Lily Tender
Lloyd – Owen Roughton
Edwards – John Lynch
Will – Thomas Friend
Ralph – Christian Wilson
Holmes – Sam Spencer
Minnie/Wife in Tea Parlor – Charlie Tell
Mr. Banks – Ron Ward
Ms. Welsh – Rebecca Grutz
Ms. Blake – Mariel Penberthy
Bott/Lindley – Cathy Beals
Prof Collins/Husband in Tea Parlor – Ben Conway
Maudsley/Anderson – Ian De Waal
Librarian/Billy/Waiter/Ensemble – Nickolas Cummings
Professor Radleigh/Mr. Peck – Peter Orvetti

PRODUCTION TEAM
Asst. Producer – Valeria Rodriguez
Stage Manager – Denise Gilmore
Assistant Stage Manager – Patricia Caraballo
Assistant Stage Manager – Valerie Rodriguez
Set Designer/Master Carpenter – Douglas Becker
Set Painter – Douglas Becker
Lighting Designer – Don Slater
Sound Designer – Joshua Romney
Properties Designer – Waleed White
Properties Designer – Alex Greenberg
Choreographer – Aja Goode
Fight Choreographer – Stefan Sittig
Costume Designer – Juliana DiFrancesco
Costume Designer – Carol Pappas
Vocal Coach – Sheron LaSha’
Dialect Coach – Gary Sullivan
Hair + Makeup, Dramaturg – Maureen Roult
Artistic Liaison – Matt Bannister

Abdication!
by Naya James Sonnad

Directed by Yvonne Paretzky

January 26 – February 11, 2024

Get Tickets HERE

A playful dystopian romp! Come one, come all, to this off-kilter Masterpiece Theater, where your charming Narrator guides you through “Mumm’s Classical Anthology of Abdication: Tales Both Cautionary and Otherwise.”

Behold life in the distant, or perhaps quite near future…where your autonomy is enthusiastically bartered for convenience and “security.” Virtual realities, love lobotomies, and societal reconfigurations await you!

Produced by Seth Ghitelman

Dance Nation
by Clare Barron

Directed by Lee Blaser

March 8 – 24, 2024

Get Tickets HERE

Somewhere in America, an army of pre-teen competitive dancers plots to take over the world. And if their new routine is good enough, they’ll claw their way to the top at the Boogie Down Grand Prix in Tampa Bay. In Clare Barron’s raucous pageant of ambition and ferocity, these young dancers have more than choreography on their minds.

In the interest of welcoming people with a wide range of needs and life experiences, please see the content advisory to give you a sense of what you will encounter in the play. Use this information as it is helpful to you.

This show contains sexual themes, frequent coarse language, depictions of masturbation, abuse, and injury, and themes related to racism and stereotyping/tokenization in dance performance, suicide, and self-harm.

For more detailed information, please call the Silver Spring Stage Box Office at 301-593-6036.

CAST
Amina – Carlotta Capuano
Zuzu –  Sia Li Wright
Ashlee – Boneza Valdez Hanchock
Connie – Leena Dev
Sofia – Tristin Evans
Maeve – Allison Turkel
Luke – Brandon Rothenberg
Dance Teacher Pat – Anderson Wells
The Moms/Vanessa – Jordan Coscia
The Moms/Vanessa – Rachel Manteuffel

Understudies/Swings
Trenor Gould (Dance Teacher Pat, Luke)
Nadine Pineda (Zuzu, Ashlee, Sofia)

A Midsummer Night’s Dream
by William Shakespeare

Adapted and directed by Emma Hooks

April 12 – 28, 2024

Get Tickets HERE

In this beloved and fantastical comedy, four Athenians run away to the forest only to have Puck the fairy make both boys fall in love with the same girl. The four run through the forest, pursuing each other while Puck helps his master play a trick on the fairy queen. Meanwhile, a troupe of “rude mechanicals” put on a play of their own.

CAST
Theseus/Male Fairy – Elgin Martin
Philostrate/Flute – Alan Gonzalez Bisnes
Hippolyta/Moth – Stephanie Ichniowski
Egeus/Snout – Paul Brewster
Hermia – Sofia Sandoval
Helena – Anabel Milton
Lysander – Hart Wood
Demetrius – Daniel Riker
Quince/Mustardseed – Katie Rey Bogden
Snug/Cobweb – Celia Richardson
Bottom – Mark Frantz
Puck – Hope Weltman
Oberon – Michael Howerton
Titania – Margaret Anne Murphy
Male Swing –  Ben Conway
Female Swing – Annie McCrone

Assassins
by Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman

Directed by Fred Zirm

June 7 – 23, 2024

Get Tickets HERE

Sondheim’s darkly comedic musical presents a revue of historical figures who attempted (successfully or not) to assassinate different presidents of the United States. The musical explores what the assassins’ presence in American history says about the ideals of their country. The score reflects both popular music of the various depicted eras and a broader tradition of “patriotic” American music.

CAST

• Proprietor: Ian Swank
• Balladeer: Maureen Freshour
• John Wilkes Booth: Hunter Curry
• Charles Guiteau: Charlie Retzlaff
• Leon Czolgosz: Michael McGovern
• Giuseppe Zangara: Michael McCarthy
• Samuel Byck: Bill Bodie
• Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme: Mel Gumina
• Sara Jane Moore: Lee Rosenthal
• John Hinckley: Alden Michels
• Male ensemble/Lee Harvey Oswald/President Ford: Preston Meche
• Female ensemble/Emma Goldman: Marissa Michaels
• Male ensemble/David Herold: Aram Matagi
• Male ensemble/President Garfield: Doug Richesson
• Female ensemble/Secret Service: Caroline Adams
• Boy: Janaki Katz

Circle Mirror Transformation
by Annie Baker

Directed by Rob Gorman

September 16 – October 8, 2022 

Get Tickets HERE
(Tickets are currently only available for subscriptions currently. To purchase a subscription, click here. Tickets to individual shows are available starting August 22.)

An eclectic group of people come together for an Adult Creative Drama class at a local community center in small-town Vermont. Through the artificial intimacy of their theater exercises, they form increasingly intense connections in ways that are both heartbreaking and humorous. We watch as they try to figure out their lives together in unvarnished ways that lead to small and sometimes disarming moments of discovery. At the end of the play, audiences are left with the desire to compare notes about what happened and what the future has in store for them all.

Content Advisory: “Circle Mirror Transformation” includes occasional use of moderate coarse language, mentions of violence or abuse and mentions of sex or sexual references, several kissing scenes, and brief discussion of an ethnic stereotype.

Co-produced by Bill Hurlbut and Tristan Poje

Cast:
Marty – Mara Rosenberg
James – David Samuels
Schultz – David Dieudonne
Theresa – Diana Valle
Lauren – Davis Leonard
Lauren (US) – Ray Sparks

Production Team:
Stage Manager – Christine Hurst
Intimacy Director – Helen Aberger
Artistic Liaison – Matt Bannister
Set Designer – Joy Wyne
Master Carpenter – Douglas Becker
Lighting Designer – Steve Deming
Sound Designer – Adam Parker
Properties Designer, Set Dressing – Mary Ghitelman
Costume Designer – Jennifer Morrissey

An Empty Plate in the Café du Grand Boeuf
by Michael Hollinger

Directed by Karen Fleming

November 4 – 20, 2022

Get Tickets HERE

What to do when the owner and sole patron of the greatest restaurant in Paris returns from the bullfights in Madrid having decided to die of starvation while sitting at one of his own tables? This “comic tragedy in seven courses” is the story of the frantic staff and their attempts to keep “Monsieur” – and the restaurant on which their livelihoods depend – alive. With a pinch of the absurd and a dash of the existential, audiences will delight in this story that celebrates the joys of cooking, the search for life’s meaning, and the collected works of Ernest Hemingway.

Content Advisory: “An Empty Plate in the Café Du Grand Boeuf” includes mentions of sexual encounters, anatomy, death, suicide, and animal abuse.

Due to unforeseen but necessary repairs to the Woodmore Shopping Center and our facility, Silver Spring Stage is being forced to make a schedule change. “An Empty Plate at the Cafe du Grand Boeuf” will open on Friday, November 4–one week later than originally scheduled.

If you have tickets for the first weekend, you should have received an email from our box office regarding this change. The show will run three weeks rather than four and will include an additional Sunday matinee on November 20 at 2pm.

The construction will also affect the use of the lobby bathroom. And moreover, as long as the outside front sidewalk is closed, patrons will need to enter through our rear entrance and there will be no elevator access.

Please read ticket confirmation emails and pre-show emails carefully for any updates to the situation.

Produced by Jackie Williams

Cast:
Victor – Brian Lyons-Burke
Claude – Alejandro Diaz-Ferguson
Mimi – Stephanie Yee
Gaston – Brendan Murray
Antoine – Fletcher Lowe
Miss Berger – Jenny Gleason

Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus
by Jamie Gorski

Directed by Seth Ghitelman

December 9 – 18, 2022

“A wonderful production” – DC Theater Arts

Get Tickets HERE

This play is a thoughtful retelling of the story of a young girl who wrote a letter to The New York Sun more than 100 years ago asking if Santa Claus exists and the newspaper’s response to her. Virginia’s desire to get answers to her question is what moves this story along as it joyfully reminds the grown-ups in the audience that we might learn a thing or two if we listen to the young voices questioning the world around us more. Keeping the sprit of giving connected to this holiday at its center, this play will touch us all through its focus on our shared humanity.

Cast:
Virginia O’Hanlon – Maya Emily Hassenplug
Mother O’Hanlon – Julie Zito
Father O’Hanlon – Andy Greenleaf
Samantha O’Hanlon -Talia Brin
Francis Church – Zachary Singer
Wallie Gibson – Mikéla Cuffy
Mary Lou Parker -Harper Ruszkowski
Wendy Parker – Mackenzie Ruszkowski
Hannah Parker – Rachel Brightbill
Martha/Old Christmas Prologue A -Tracye Brewer
Mail Person/Old Christmas Prologue B – Helen Cheng Mao
Old Christmas Prologue C – Lark Jeffers
Old Christmas Prologue D – Emilyn Greenleaf

Men on Boats
by Jaclyn Backhaus

Directed by Erin Bone Steele

February 3 – 26, 2023

Due to illness among our cast members, performances of “Men on Boats” for February 17, 18, and 19 have been postponed to February 24, 25, and 26. Those who already have tickets will receive an email explaining their options.

“Buoyant” – DC Theater Arts

“A Wonderful Adventure” – MD Theatre Guide

Get Tickets HERE

This account of a geological expedition down the Green and Colorado Rivers in 1869 is based on the journals of John Wesley Powell and his crew of pioneers. These historical figures were all cisgender white males; the cast portraying them will be made up entirely of people who are not. In this bold and refreshing approach, the play bridges the gap between then and now in ways that highlight the ludicrous arrogance of the Western colonizers while recognizing their bravery and fearlessness. The theatrical dissonance between the performer and the role allows for comedy, commentary, and satire, offering the audience a chance to reconsider a moment in history without being beholden to the men whose voices have traditionally dominated our understanding of it.