A BRIGHT ROOM CALLED DAY

The Small Batch Audience Series is the brainchild of Aubri O’Connor and Angela Pirko. Inspired by the Tiny House Plays (Pinky Swear Productions) and Dream Within A Dream (Through the 4th Wall), the Nu Sass Producers wanted to create intimate spaces for audienceto be completely immersed in the world of the play from the second they enter the building. Certainly this is not a new idea to the theatre world, but one feature that Nu Sass is very interested in pursuing is limiting the number of audience members in each performance. This not only allows the show to happen in smaller, more authentic spaces, but also develops a sense of immediacy and intimacy for both the artists and the audience. As such, the SBAS spotlights “living room plays”, or plays that will take place in a single room the entire show. Nu Sass is excited for the chance to create what they envision to be “a living room with just too many chairs”, where the audience is there with the characters, witnessing the highs and lows from the same perspective.
Nu Sass is very excited to begin the SBAS with Tony Kushner’s powerful play A Bright Room Called Day, a show that intentionally drew parallels between a 1930′s Berlin living room and a 1980′s American living room. We encourage the lucky 20 people in each audience to take that parallel further. The characters, ideas, and motivations seen in the living room of Bright Room  can just as readily be compared to a 2015 living room, and we happily invite you in to see how.

Written by Tony Kushner
Directed by Angela Pirko

March 12th – April 5th
Thursday -Saturday, 8pm
Sunday, 7pm
Tickets $20
Caos on F St NW
Buy Tickets Now

Set in Germany in the 1930s, A Bright Room Called Day is Kushner’s insightful drama depicting the lives of a group of friends during the fall of the Weimar Republic and the rise of the Nazi Party. Agnes, a good-hearted German actress with communist leanings, and her artistic and highly liberal friends find their lives transformed over the course of two years as they see their politics and beliefs fail them in the wake of the rising tide of fascism.
In contrast to Agnes, a young Jewish-American woman named Zillah looks back on Hitler’s rise from the late 1980s in the midst of the Reagan era, and acts as a warning to us all of the cyclical nature of history.
Showing us humanity in all its flaws, strengths, failings, and indomitable hopes, A Bright Room Called Day is a play that challenges us to question whether no action is an action; whether not making a choice is still choosing; whether any hope can be found in times of strife and in the face of wickedness.

This play is the first in Nu Sass’s new Small Batch Audience Series. The entire play takes place in one room, and the audience will be in the room with the actors. The goal is to create a more intimate and authentic experience for actors and audience alike. Seating will be VERY limited – 20 seats per performance – so be sure to get your tickets early.

STARRING
Karen Lange
Keegan Cassady
Amber Gibson
Erik Harrison
Aubri O’Connor
Amal Saade
Charlene V. Smith
Hannah Sweet
Marta Kotzian
and John Stange

ARTISTIC DESIGNS
Stephanie Kara Jewell Jordan – Stage Manager
Colin Dieck – Lights
Betsy Haibel – Set
Aaron Fensterheim – Sound
Vashti Joseph – Costumes
Becky Mezzanotte – Props/Specialty Makeup/Production Assistant
Karin Rosnizeck – Dramaturgy

THIS SHOW WOULD NOT BE POSSIBLE WITHOUT THE SUPPORT OF SEVERAL AMAZING PEOPLE
Montgomery College – especially Emilie Long and her amazing costumes and Dennis Mulligan for everything else!
Catholic University of America – especially Dean Leong who helped us shine a light on it all.
WSC Avant Bard – especially Tom Prewitt for our sun and our moon.
Pinky Swear Productions – for helping us build Agnes’s house, and inspiration.
Molotov Theatre Company – for atmosphere and the perfect place to sit.
The Goethe Institute, Washington, DC
The German Historical Institute (GHI)
Brian McDermott – a statistically significant force behind this show, who helped us nail it all together.
Karl and Fritz Hubig – your generous donation filled our world with much needed sound and fury
Lisa Carr – always and forever our best friend and fairy godmother.
Our generous donors: Laurie Davidson Donohue, Donald O’Connor, Richard Byrne, Shaban Rahm, Jake Gaba, Danny Cohen, Andrew Zilm, Inga Fritzen Buan, Sheila Walter, Frank Britton, James Zipadelli, Michael Nasser, David Kessler, H. Kotzian, Kayode Kendall, Melody O’Connor, Jennafir Enck, Monica Tedman, Julia Meltzer, Lena Salins, Robert Gonyo, Andrea Arango, James Guy, Allyson Harkey, and JT Pirko.