Constanza Romero Wilson introduces August Wilson's "Seven Guitars"
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August Wilson's Seven Guitars
Coming in 2021
-
Credits
Written by August Wilson
Directed by Tazewell Thompson -
Location
Fichandler Stage
“Rich with exceptionally vivid characters”
— Variety
“Stirring performances”
— Time Out Chicago
The 1940s Pittsburgh is the backdrop for August Wilson’s fifth cycle play and the second production in the August Wilson Festival. Seven lives are interconnected when old friend and blues singer Floyd Barton vows to turn his life around after a surprise windfall leaves him hopeful for a second chance. Infused with deep and soaring blues rhythms, this “rich and exceptionally vivid” (Variety) play pits the desire for a better future against the harsh realities ultimately leading to heartbreaking and inescapable circumstances.
Seven Guitars is generously sponsored by 
, 
, Judith N. Batty, Patricia and David Fisher and Margot Kelly.
The August Wilson Festival is generously sponsored by 
.
Alert
ARENA STAGE SUSPENDS ALL PERFORMANCES FOR THE REMAINDER OF ITS 2019/20 SEASON
In light of ongoing developments resulting from the coronavirus (COVID-19) and the national move to cancel group gatherings as recommended by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and District of Columbia Health Authorities, Arena Stage has made the difficult decision to suspend all remaining performances for its 2019/20 Season, as well as select special events and community engagement programs. Productions of Celia and Fidel, August Wilson’s Seven Guitars and Toni Stone have been postponed to the 2020/21 Season. Additionally, our building will be closed through at least April 27, 2020.
SUPPORT AMERICAN THEATER — DONATE TO THE ROARING BACK FUND
The next few months will be challenging for us and other arts organizations. With your help, we believe the theater will come back stronger than ever.
“We have artists who are longing to perform and artists who have powerful stories to tell; our audiences are the best and the brightest in the country,” said Artistic Director Molly Smith. “Many of our patrons are donating tickets back and we are grateful for their generosity. We ask our community, in this difficult time, to make a donation to our newly announced campaign: the Roaring Back Fund.”
Donate online at arenastage.org/roaringback. Your support would ensure that our artists and staff can continue to produce the best of American theater.
A MESSAGE FROM ARENA STAGE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR MOLLY SMITH
INTERMISSION
Arena Stage hosts virtual programming to engage the community. Programs include Molly’s Salon, virtual dance classes and the Arena Stage Civil Dialogues.
Theater brings us together whether it’s in a theater or reaching out through our computer screens. We have also asked many of our favorite artists to offer you their gifts of art and they did. We’ve been sharing these “gifts of art” on social media. View gallery and details about programs here.
TICKETING OPTIONS
Transferring your ticket to a gift certificate or donation supports non-profit theaters like Arena Stage during these uncertain times and we appreciate your consideration. The following options are available for those who have already purchased tickets to rescheduled performances this season:
- DO NOTHING: We have already taken care of transferring your tickets to the new run dates in the 2020/21 Season. We will be in touch with more specific details about your new date(s) shortly and new tickets will be mailed out later in the spring.
- TICKET DONATION: Donate your ticket and receive a tax deduction for the total ticket value. Click here to request this option.
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SALES OFFICE HOURS
Beginning March 31, our Sales Office staff will be available Tuesday–Sunday from noon to 6 p.m. to assist you and answer any questions. You may reach the Sales Office via phone at 202-488-3300 or email at info@arenastage.org.
We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience as we all navigate these difficult circumstances. Take care of your friends and family and continue to protect your health and well-being.
Cast
DANE FIGUEROA EDIDI
Ruby
CHRIS HERBIE HOLLAND
Red Carter
JOY JONES
Vera/Fight Captain
DAVID EMERSON TONEY
Hedley
MICHAEL ZACHARY TUNSTILL
Floyd Barton
ROZ WHITE
Louise
MICHAEL ANTHONY WILLIAMS
Canewell
DANE FIGUEROA EDIDI
Ruby
DANE FIGUEROA EDIDI (Ruby) is excited to be returning to Arena Stage. The last time she was here, she choreographed Nina Simone: Four Women which garnered her a Helen Hayes Award nomination. In 2020 she won a Helen Hayes Award for her play Klytmnestra: An Epic Slam Poem, which had its world premiere at Theater Alliance, and in February 2022 her play Ghost/Writer will receive a world premiere at Rep Stage. Considered a prolific artist, she has had 13 books published and has acted in and written for the web series Untitled Documentary Project. https://www.ladydanefe.com/.
CHRIS HERBIE HOLLAND
Red Carter
CHRIS HERBIE HOLLAND (Red Carter) is thrilled to be making his Arena Stage debut in Seven Guitars. Regional credits include: White Noise (Berkeley Rep); The Box (Z Space); 12 Angry Men (Northern Stage); and Six Degrees of Separation (Theatre Workshop of Nantucket). Williamstown credits include: Tempo and Soft. NYU credits include: Zooman and the Sign, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Othello, Hamlet and Animal Farm.B.A.: Dartmouth College. M.F.A.: NYU Grad Acting.
JOY JONES
Vera/Fight Captain
JOY JONES (Vera/Fight Captain) has previously appeared in Arena Stage’s The 51st State, Jubilee, A Raisin in the Sun, and Mary T & Lizzy K. Selected DC-area credits include The Hard Problem, Cloud 9, Belleville and Invisible Man (Studio Theatre). Off-Broadway, she appeared in workshops at the Lincoln Center Festival, The Public, and Playwrights Horizons. Her notable regional credits include Invisible Man (Huntington Theatre), Disgraced (Virginia Stage), Tantalus and Ruined (Denver Center), The Champion (TheatreSquared) and Pericles (PlayMakers Repertory). Her recent TV appearances are We Own This City (HBO), Blue Bloods (CBS) and Monsterland (Hulu). Joy has an Acting MFA from UNC-Chapel Hill and a Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Ensemble for Invisible Man at Studio Theatre. Web: thejoyjones.com. Instagram: @joyjonesig
DAVID EMERSON TONEY
Hedley
DAVID EMERSON TONEY (Hedley) is happy to return to where he began his professional career. This production is his 30th and spans six decades. Other regional credits include Lucio in Measure for Measure at the Folger; Army in The Persians and Othello at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C.; Jacques in As You Like It at the Utah Shakespearean Festival; Splash Hatch On The “E” Going Down at Yale Repertory Theatre; and The Fool in King Lear and West in Two Trains Running at the Kansas City Repertory Theatre. Broadway credits include Julie Taymor’s production of Juan Darién and A Free Man of Color directed by George C. Wolfe. David is also an assistant professor in performance and playwriting at VCUarts at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia.
MICHAEL ZACHARY TUNSTILL
Floyd Barton
MICHAEL ZACHARY TUNSTILL (Floyd Barton) is thrilled and excited to be working at Arena Stage for the very first time! Mike is a recent graduate of New York University’s graduate acting program, where he acted in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Zooman and the Sign, Animal Farm and Three Days in the Country. Before attending NYU, he was a mainstay at the Will Greer Theatricum Botanicum in Los Angeles, California, where he performed in To Kill a Mockingbird and As You Like It.Mike is excited to continue his professional journey outside of school and is ecstatic to resume it at Arena Stage! Prov. 16:3
ROZ WHITE
Louise
ROZ WHITE (Louise) is an actress, vocalist and teaching artist. Roz recently appeared as Odessa in The Shakespeare Theatre Company’s The Amen Corner. She played multiple roles in Mosaic Theater Company's Fabulation or The Re-Education of Undine and the title role of Pearl in Alliance for New Music Theatre's Black Pearl Sings! Roz starred as Sister Rosetta Tharpe in Marie and Rosetta (Mosaic Theater Company of D.C.). She is a graduate of The Duke Ellington School of the Arts and Howard University. Roz studied with the late Mike Malone, Dorothy Dash and the legendary Vera Katz. Theater credits include Dreamgirls (National Tour); Bessie's Blues (Helen Hayes Award); Once on This Island; Crowns; Gee's Bend (Helen Hayes Award Nomination); Pearl Bailey by Request; Anne and Emmett; and The Gin Game (MetroStage). She is a proud member of The Actor’s Equity Association for nearly 20 years. Roz is the proud mom of two brilliant sons, Anthony and King, and “Big Mama” to a beautiful grandson, Messiah.
MICHAEL ANTHONY WILLIAMS
Canewell
MICHAEL ANTHONY WILLIAMS (Canewell) last appeared at Arena Stage as Elmore in King Hedley II. Off-Broadway credits include Persephone (Brooklyn Academy of Music). Regional theater credits include Nomathemba with Ladysmith Black Mambazo (Kennedy Center); Two Trains Running (Kennedy Center, Cincinnati Playhouse In the Park and Milwaukee Repertory); Fences (Pioneer Theater Company); Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Fences (Swine Palace Productions); and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (1st Stage), for which Michael received his fifth Helen Hayes Award nomination. Television credits include Homicide: Life on the Streets (NBC) and The Wire (HBO). Feature film credits include The Replacements (Warner Bros); Contact (Warner Bros); Unbreakable (Touchstone Pictures); and The Brave One (Warner Bros). Instagram: michaelanthony.williams. Michael dedicates these performances to the memory of Joseph Shabalala and dedicates these performances and his creative body of work to his inspiration, daughter Margarita Williams.
Creative
AUGUST WILSON
Playwright
TAZEWELL THOMPSON
Director
DONALD EASTMAN
Set Designer
HARRY NADAL
Costume Designer
ROBERT WIERZEL
Lighting Designer
FABIAN OBISPO
Sound Designer
ANNE NESMITH
Wig Designer
CHRISTI B. SPANN
Stage Manager
MARNE ANDERSON
Stage Manager
AUGUST WILSON
Playwright
AUGUST WILSON (Playwright)’s plays include Gem of the Ocean, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, The Piano Lesson (Pulitzer Prize winner), Seven Guitars, Fences (Pulitzer Prize winner, Tony Award winner), Two Trains Running, Jitney (Oliver Award winner), King Hedley II and Radio Golf. In 2003, he made his stage debut in his one-man show, How I Learned What I Learned. He received an Emmy Award nomination for his screenplay The Piano Lesson. Other works include The Janitor, Recycle, The Coldest Day of the Year, Malcolm X, The Homecoming and the musical satire Black Bart and the Sacred Hills. Other awards include eight New York Drama Critics Circle Awards, Rockefeller and Guggenheim Fellowships in Playwriting, a Whiting Writers Award, 2003 Heinz Award, 1999 National Humanities Medal and induction into the Theater Hall of Fame.
TAZEWELL THOMPSON
Director
TAZEWELL THOMPSON (Director) is an internationally acclaimed theater and opera director, award-winning playwright, librettist, teacher and actor. He has more than 150 directing credits, many world and American premieres, in major opera houses and theaters: France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Africa, Japan, Canada and the USA. His opera Blue, with composer Jeanine Tesori, won the 2020 MCANA Award for Best New Opera in North America. The New York Times and The Washington Post cited Blue as Best in Classical Music 2019. At Arena Stage he served as associate artistic director under Zelda Fichandler and has directed and/or written more than 20 productions at Arena Stage, the most recent, his a cappella musical, Jubilee. His award-winning play, Constant Star, has had 16 productions in major theaters across the country, winning nine Barrymore Awards, six Audelco Awards, five NAACP Awards and three Carbonell Awards. His play Mary T. & Lizzy K., commissioned by and produced at Arena Stage, is the recipient of The Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award. His production of Porgy and Bess, broadcast live from Lincoln Center, received Emmy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Classical Production. He holds the record of directing three productions — Appomattox/ Philip Glass, Lost in the Stars/ Kurt Weill and Cato in Utica/ Vivaldi — all in the same season in three different theaters at The Kennedy Center. Blue has upcoming productions in Toledo; Seattle; Pittsburgh; London; Amsterdam; Chicago; Washington, D.C.; and New York City.
DONALD EASTMAN
Set Designer
DONALD EASTMAN (Set Designer) is thrilled to return to Arena Stage with Seven Guitars with his constant collaborator, Tazewell Thompson. For Arena he designed the premieres of Thompson’s Constant Star, Mary T. & Lizzie K. and Jubilee, as well as M Butterfly, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Black No More, Yellowman, and The Heidi Chronicles at Arena Stage as well as Molly Smith’s productions of The Book Club Play and My Fair Lady. Recent productions include Intimate Apparel and Dinner With Friends for Baltimore’s Everyman Theatre, Possessing Harriet at Syracuse Stage, Chasing the New White Whale at La MaMa ETC and Blue a new American opera by composer Jeanine Tesori with libretto and direction by Tazewell Thompson. Donald has received numerous awards including a Village Voice OBIE for Sustained Excellence of Design and is a NEA/National Opera Institute grantee.
HARRY NADAL
Costume Designer
HARRY NADAL (Costume Designer) Originally from San Juan, PR. A Raisin in the Sun, Arena Stage. New York credits include Lincoln Center Institute, Atlantic Theater Co., Brooklyn Academy of Music, LAByrinth Theater Company, Juilliard, INTAR, HOME for Contemporary Theater and Art, Pregones/PRTT, HERE Arts Center and Theater for the New City, among many others. Regional credits include the 2020 world premiere of Freedom Ride at Chicago Opera Theater, TheaterWorks (Hartford, CT), UrbanArias (Arlington, VA), Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble, Baltimore Center Stage, Boise Contemporary Theater and People’s Light (Malvern, PA), among others. Upcoming, The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity at ZACH Theatre (Austin, TX), Baipas at George Street Playhouse (New Brunswick, NJ) and Folks at Home (Baltimore Center Stage). MFA from New York University, Tisch School of the Arts. Faculty member at Pratt Institute Film School. www.harrynadal.com.
ROBERT WIERZEL
Lighting Designer
ROBERT WIERZEL (Lighting Designer) has designed the lighting for Arena’s productions of Sovereignty, The Pajama Game, A Raisin In The Sun, Mary T. & Lizzy K., The Heidi Chronicles, On The Verge, M Butterfly, Yellowman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Black No More. Broadway productions include Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill, the musical FELA! (Tony Award nomination) and David Copperfield’s Broadway debut Dreams and Nightmares. Robert has designed productions with opera companies throughout the country and abroad, as well as numerous productions (32 seasons) with Glimmerglass Festival. Robert’s dance work includes 36 years with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company. Furthermore, Robert has worked at most regional theaters across the country, including the Shakespeare Theatre Company. Currently, Robert is a creative partner at Spark Design Collaborative and is on the faculty of NYU Tisch School of the Arts.
FABIAN OBISPO
Sound Designer
FABIAN OBISPO (Sound Designer) returns to Arena Stage where his credits are Raisin in the Sun, Mary T & Lizzy K, Caucasian Chalk Circle, M Butterfly, Agamemnon And His Daughters (Helen Hayes Nomination), Heidi’s Chronicle, Constant Star, Yerma, Yellowman, On the Verge and Black No More. Recent off-Broadway credits include Public Theater’s Sea Wall/A Life, Oedipus El Rey, Teenage Dick, The Flea’s Emma and Max and MaYi’s The Chinese Lady. DC-area credits include Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Comedy of Errors, Henry V, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Folger Theatre’s Romeo and Juliet and Everyman Theatre’s Intimate Apparel. He has composed and sound designed extensively for regional theaters including the Goodman Theatre, Guthrie Theater, OSF and ACT just to name a few. He is a recipient of the Berkshires Theatre Critics Award and the Barrymore.
ANNE NESMITH
Wig Designer
ANNE NESMITH (Wig Designer) is pleased to return to Arena Stage following last season’s Mother Road. Her designs have been seen locally at Kennedy Center, Ford’s Theatre, Signature Theatre, Wolftrap Opera, Shakespeare Theatre and Washington Ballet. Regional work includes designs with Opera Philadelphia, Opera Boston, Annapolis Opera and Kansas CIty Rep and internationally at Saito Kinen Festival and Hyogo Performing Arts Center in Japan. Anne was the resident wig/makeup designer for the Baltimore Opera and has constructed wigs for Scooby Doo! Live and 42nd Street (Asian tour). You can see her work at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, in Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery programs, Ice Cold Killers for Investigation Discovery, the Military Channel’s Great Planes, MD Public Television and the U.S. Army’s tour Spirit of America.
CHRISTI B. SPANN
Stage Manager
CHRISTI B. SPANN (Stage Manager) returns to Arena Stage for her seventh season. Recent Arena Stage productions include: A Thousand Splendid Suns, Junk and Kleptocracy. Christi spent 12 seasons on the stage management staff at the Denver Center Theatre Company and has also worked with The Great River Shakespeare Festival in Winona, MN; Virginia Repertory Theatre in Richmond, VA; and the Shakespeare Theatre Company here in D.C.
MARNE ANDERSON
Stage Manager
MARNE ANDERSON (Stage Manager) is thrilled to return to Arena Stage. Some highlights include The Heiress, Indecent, Dave, Two Trains Running, The Great Society, Nina Simone: Four Women, A Raisin in the Sun, Moby Dick, All the Way, Erma Bombeck: At Wit’s End, King Hedley II, Five Guys Named Moe, Mother Courage and Her Children, The Mountaintop, Metamorphoses, Long Day’s Journey into Night, Arabian Nights and Duke Ellington’s Sophisticated Ladies. She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association.
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Photo Flash: August Wilson's Seven Guitars Heads Into Rehearsal at Arena Stage