A Silicon Valley Techno-Thriller
Data
October 31 - December 15, 2024
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Credits
By Matthew Libby
Directed by Margot Bordelon -
Location
Arlene and Robert Kogod Cradle
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Program
View the Data program
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Learning Guide
View the Data Learning Guide
A fast-paced techno-thriller unveiling the dark secrets lurking within Silicon Valley
Data is Matthew Libby's intriguingly suspenseful and relevant new play that takes you behind the locked doors of Silicon Valley. Its protagonist is Maneesh, a brilliant entry-level programmer at Athena Technologies, a data-mining firm. Content to work in the low-stress environment of User Experience, Maneesh has a crisis of conscience when he is offered a transfer to the more-central Data Analytics team, and learns the true nature of Athena's highly controversial and secretive work. Torn between idealism and survival, Maneesh is forced to come to terms with his unique American identity, all while learning the extent to which Athena is willing to go to hide its secrets.
This production includes the use of Herbal Cigarettes, Flashing Lights and Haze.
Support for Data is provided by Andrew R. Ammerman.
Runtime is approximately 90 minutes without intermission.
Cast
KARAN BRAR
STEPHEN CEFALU, JR.
ISABEL VAN NATTA
ROB YANG
KARAN BRAR
Karan Brar (Maneesh) is a first-generation Indian American actor. Karan has starred in major film and television productions such as Disney’s hit show Jessie and its spinoff Bunk’d, Netflix and Adam Sandler’s Hubie Halloween, Legendary Entertainment/Universal Pictures’ Pacific Rim: Uprising, Twentieth Century Fox’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid franchise, and the Sony PlayStation video game Concord. Karan has also worked behind the camera as a director. Data is Karan’s theatrical debut. When he is not acting or directing, Karan serves as an advisory board member to The Cameron Boyce Foundation. He currently resides in New York City and is represented by Paradigm. Instagram: @karanbrar
STEPHEN CEFALU, JR.
Stephen Cefalu, Jr. (Jonah) is making his Arena Stage debut! Theater: Broadway National Tour of To Kill a Mockingbird; The Cherry Orchard (Goodman Theatre); world premiere of Mary Page Marlowe (Steppenwolf Theatre Company); End Days (Windy City Playhouse); Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Redtwist Theatre, Jeff Award nomination: Best Supporting Actor); The Gradient (St. Louis Rep, Theater Circle Award nomination: Outstanding Supporting Performer); PerkUp PerKup (City Theatre); Scenes from a Court Life, Assassins (Yale Rep); In a Word, Damsels, Brotherhood (Williamstown Theatre Festival); Slave Play (original cast at Yale Drama). TV/Film: Shameless, Law & Order: SVU, Evil, This Afternoon. MFA: Yale School of Drama.
ISABEL VAN NATTA
Isabel Van Natta (Riley) is thrilled to be making her Arena Stage debut. Isabel is an actor of Cuban descent and calls Miami home. She has a BFA in Acting from Boston University. Credits: John Proctor is the Villain (The Huntington), Laure (workshopped at NYTW and The Tank), Rx Machina (Boston Playwrights’ Theatre), Medusa Reclaimed (Central Square Theater), The Nether (Area Stage Company). Awards: Elliot Award nominee for Best Featured Actor in a Play and winner for Best Production and Best Ensemble for John Proctor is the Villain. Isabel is a for mental health advocate. She sends a special thanks to Dad, Mom, Sofia, Leandro, Mya, and her managers Dave Brenner and Sarah Haber at Creative Talent Company. www.isabelvannatta.com Instagram: @isabelvannatta
ROB YANG
Rob Yang (Alex) is making his Arena Stage debut. NY/Regional: Catch as Catch Can (Playwrights Horizons), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (CSC), The Shanghai Gesture (Mirror Rep/Julia Miles), Bingo with the Indians (The Flea, world premiere), The Coast Starlight (La Jolla, world premiere), Chimerica (Studio Theatre DC, U.S. premiere). Television/Film: The Menu (Searchlight Pictures), series roles on Rabbit Hole (Paramount+), American Rust (Showtime/Amazon), Succession (HBO), The Resident (Fox), The Americans (FX), Living With Yourself (Netflix), The Capture (BBC), The Now (Quibi/Roku). Upcoming Films: Nick Rowland’s She Rides Shotgun (Fifth Season) starring opposite Taron Egerton, The Wake by Brian Brightly, and others.
Creative
MATTHEW LIBBY
MARGOT BORDELON
MARSHA GINSBERG
BETH GOLDENBERG
AMITH CHANDRASHAKER
MIKAAL SULAIMAN
DAN KLUGER
OTIS RAMSEY-ZÖE
TAYLOR WILLIAMS, CSA
ELISA GUTHERTZ
LAUREN PEKEL
MATTHEW LIBBY
Matthew Libby (Playwright) is a writer based in Brooklyn, by way of Los Angeles. Data is his second premiere of fall 2024, following an October production of his play Sisters at Vermont's Northern Stage. Matt is a 2022-2023 Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellow, Theater Masters Visionary Playwright, Kendeda Award winner, Neukom Award winner, two-time Princess Grace Award finalist, and four-time O’Neill Playwrights Conference semifinalist, and his work has been developed by theaters across the country, including Roundabout, Alliance Theatre, New York Stage and Film, Pioneer Theatre Company, The Kennedy Center, The Barrow Group, and others. Matt studied cognitive science and creative writing at Stanford University, and received his MFA in dramatic writing from NYU Tisch, where he was awarded the Chair’s Award for Distinguished Achievement.
MARGOT BORDELON
Margot Bordelon (Director)’s DMV credits include POTUS (Arena), On the Far End (Round House). New York: …what the end will be, Something Clean, Too Heavy for Your Pocket (Roundabout); Let’s Call Her Patty, Plot Points in Our Sexual Development (LCT3); peerless (Primary Stages and Cherry Lane); Wives (Playwrights Horizons); Do You Feel Anger? (Vineyard); Eddie and Dave (Atlantic); Blood of the Lamb (Occasional Drawl); The Pen (Premieres NYC); A Delicate Ship (Playwrights Realm); Wilder Gone (Clubbed Thumb); The Last Class: A Jazzercize Play (DODO). Regional: ACT Seattle, Actors Theatre Louisville, Alliance, American Theater Company, Denver Center, Geffen Playhouse, Huntington, Marin Theatre Company, Miami New Drama, Steppenwolf, the Wilma, and Yale Rep. Upcoming: The Suffragette’s Murder (Denver Center). www.margotbordelon.com
MARSHA GINSBERG
Marsha Ginsberg (Set Designer) is a visual artist and stage designer working between performance, opera, and photo/installation formats. She received her MFA from NYU Tisch, BFA from the Cooper Union School of Art, and post-grad Whitney Museum Independent Study Program. She has designed spaces and clothes for theaters and museums in NYC, regionally throughout the United States, and internationally (Germany, Switzerland, France, Greece, UAE). Recent U.S.: Lehman Trilogy (Shakespeare DC/Guthrie Theater); Primary Trust (Roundabout/La Jolla); English, I’m Revolting (Atlantic Theater); A Tender Thing (Barrington Stage); Treemonisha (Opera Theatre of Saint Louis). Upcoming: English at Roundabout/Todd Haimes; The Aves (Berkeley Rep); Don Pasquale (Opera Theatre of Saint Louis). Grants/Awards: Obie Award for the Creative Team of English; Obie Award for durational installation Habit (with David Levine); multiple residencies at MacDowell Colony and Robert Wilson's Watermill Center; Rome Prize, the American Academy in Rome. A dedicated educator, she is currently an Associate Arts Professor at NYU Abu Dhabi.
BETH GOLDENBERG
Beth Goldenberg she/her (Costume Designer) is a New York-based costume designer working in theater, opera, dance, and film. Her New York designs include Songs of Resistance: Brundibár & Der Kaiser von Atlantis (On Site Opera, at Carnegie Hall); Circus: Wandering City (BAM Next Wave); and The Mother of Us All (New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Museum of Art, & Juilliard). Her regional designs include Fiddler on the Roof (Philadelphia Orchestra & UMS); Indecent (Seattle Rep); Henry V, Queens for a Year (Hartford Stage); and Macbeth, Stabat Mater, the little match girl passion (Glimmerglass). She holds an MFA from NYU Tisch. For further credits, visit www.bethgoldenberg.com.
AMITH CHANDRASHAKER
Amith Chandrashaker (Lighting Designer) is a Tony-nominated lighting designer who works in theater, opera, and dance. Broadway: Prayer for the French Republic (Tony nomination), Merrily We Roll Along. Off-Broadway: The Public, Playwrights Horizons, NYTW, Atlantic Theater, Signature Theatre. Regional: Second Stage, Manhattan Theatre Club, Steppenwolf, Chicago Shakespeare, Geffen Playhouse, Huntington Theatre. Opera: The Glimmerglass Festival, Houston Grand Opera, Washington National Opera. Dance: Staatstheater Nürnberg, Lyon Opera Ballet, The Royal New Zealand Ballet, The Joyce, National Dance Company of Wales. He is the recipient of Drama Desk and Henry Hewes awards; Union Trustee for United Scenic Artists, Local USA 829, IATSE; MFA, NYU Tisch School of the Arts; and faculty at the University of Maryland’s School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies.
MIKAAL SULAIMAN
Mikaal Sulaiman (Sound Designer) is a Tony-nominated multi-disciplinary artist working in film, TV, and theater as a writer, director, sound designer, and composer. He recently joined the writers’ room for A24/Amazon’s #1 Happy Family USA created by Ramy Youssef. His writing residencies include Ground Floor, Mercury Store, Space on Ryder Farm, and Ucross Foundation. Notable sound design projects include Broadway productions of The Roommate, Enemy of the People, Doubt, and Fat Ham (Pulitzer Prize for Drama). Other acclaimed works include Fairview (Pulitzer Prize) and Underground Railroad Game. Sulaiman has received numerous nominations, including Herb Alpert, Tony, Drama Desk, and Lucille Lortel awards. He's received Obie Awards, a Theatre Bay Area Award, a Creative Capital Award, Henry Hewes Design Awards, an Audelco Award, and the CTG Sherwood Award. www.mikaal.com
DAN KLUGER
Dan Kluger (Composer) Broadway: Oh, Mary!; Oklahoma!; The Sound Inside; Sea Wall / A Life;revival of Marvin’s Room; world premiere of Significant Other. Off-Broadway: premieres of Spain, Coast Starlight, You Will Get Sick, Epiphany, Judgment Day, Animal, The Village Bike, Man from Nebraska, Tribes, and Women or Nothing. Film Scores: A Christmas Carol (2021), The Courtroom (2021), Doulo (2017), Health to the King (2020), Hello Again (2017, orchestrations). Audio: Vapor Trail (2022), The Miranda Obsession (2022), OFFENSE (2022), The Guilty (2021). Resident composer / music producer at Renaissance Recording. www.danielkluger.com
OTIS RAMSEY-ZÖE
Otis Ramsey-Zöe (Dramaturg) is a care worker, dramaturg, director, theater arts educator, and Literary Manager at Arena Stage. He has developed new works at such institutions as Sundance Institute, Kennedy Center, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Playwrights Center, and National New Play Network. He has held posts in Dramaturgy at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale and Carnegie Mellon University, Theatre at Northeastern University, Women’s Studies and Honors Humanities at University of Maryland, Performing Arts at American University, and Theatre Arts at Howard University. He was Associate Artistic Director at banished? productions, Future Classics Program Coordinator at the Classical Theatre of Harlem, Literary Manager at Center Stage, and an Allen Lee Hughes Senior Fellow at Arena Stage.
TAYLOR WILLIAMS, CSA
Taylor Williams, CSA (New York Casting) is an Artios Award-winning casting director. Broadway: Stereophonic (13 Tony nominations); An Enemy of the People with Jeremy Strong, Michael Imperioli, and Victoria Pedretti; The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window with Rachel Brosnahan and Oscar Isaac; POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive; Slave Play (12 Tony nominations); Is This a Room & Dana H.; What the Constitution Means to Me. She has cast various productions at theaters in NYC and around the country, including NYTW, Mercury Store, PAC NYC, Soho Rep, Rattlestick, Theatre for a New Audience, Two River Theater, Fisher Center at Bard, Shakespeare Theatre (DC), Studio Theatre (DC), Arena Stage, Berkeley Rep, Seattle Rep, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Williamstown Theatre Festival, New York Stage and Film, among others. www.taylorwilliamscasting.com
ELISA GUTHERTZ
Elisa Guthertz (Stage Manager) has been a stage manager in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 30 years. Most recently she stage managed Mother Road at Berkeley Repertory Theatre and Bulrusher at McCarter Theatre Center and Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Some of her many shows at American Conservatory Theater include Big Data, The Headlands, Fefu and Her Friends, Testmatch, Seascape, and Sweat. Other credits include English, the ripple, the wave that carried me home, Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski at Berkeley Repertory Theatre); Toni Stone at A.C.T. and Arena Stage; Sanctuary City at BRT and Arena Stage; A Thousand Splendid Suns at A.C.T., The Old Globe, and Theatre Calgary; Big Love at Long Wharf Theatre, Goodman Theatre, and Brooklyn Academy of Music; The Good Body with Eve Ensler at A.C.T. and the Booth Theatre on Broadway; and The Vagina Monologues with Eve Ensler at Alcazar Theatre in San Francisco.
LAUREN PEKEL
Lauren Pekel (Assistant Stage Manager) is excited to be part of the stage management team for the world premiere of Data. Some of her favorite DC credits include Private Jones (world premiere) and Selling Kabul with Signature Theatre; Fat Ham, Fun Home, Good Bones (world premiere), People, Places & Things, Vietgone, and No Sisters (world premiere) with Studio Theatre; and Teenage Dick and The Second City’s She the People: The Resistance Continues! with Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. Her DC theatre credits also include productions with Folger Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Theater J, Theater Alliance, and The Kennedy Center. Lauren is an alumna of the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee’s Theatre Program, with a BFA in Stage Management, and is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association.
Special Performance Notes
Southwest Nights
Friday, November 1, at 7 p.m.
Sunday, November 10, at 2 p.m.
Audio-Described Performance
Saturday, November 30, at 2 p.m.
ASL-Interpreted Performance
Saturday, December 14, at 8 p.m.
Mask-Required Performances
Saturday, November 16, at 2 p.m.
Sunday, December 1, at 7:30 p.m..
Post-Show Conversations
Thursday, November 14, at 8 p.m.
Thursday, November 21, at 12 p.m
Tuesday, November 26, at 12 p.m
Wednesday, November 27, at 12 p.m
Tuesday, December 3, at 7:30 p.m.
Industry Night
Sunday, November 3, at 7:30 p.m
Celebrate the start of the #DCTheatre season with a pre-show mixer with fellow DC-area theater staff and artists before the 7:30 p.m. performance.
Pride Night
Wednesday, November 6, at 7:30 p.m
Join us for a lively pre-show happy hour for members of the LGBTQIA+ community, family, and friends.
HBCU/Divine 9 Night
Tuesday, December 3, at 7:30 p.m
Rep your colors! Calling all of our Divine 9 members and HBCU students, staff, and alumni to come out to the show that will have everyone talking!