Olney Theatre Center's GROUNDED Begins Tonight

Olney Theatre Center, a Mid-Atlantic destination for extraordinary theater performance and education, continues its 77th Anniversary season with George Brant's Grounded, directed by Derek Goldman, running tonight, February 25-March 22 in the Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab.

Grounded is a co-production with Baltimore's Everyman Theatre, where it was seen last October. Grounded is the story of an ace fighter pilot who becomes pregnant and gets reassigned to operating drones from a windowless trailer on an Air Force base in the desert outside Las Vegas. Hunting terrorists by day and coming home to her family at night, the boundaries between reality and the screen - between the desert where she lives and the desert where she fights - blur until the pressure becomes impossible to bear.

Grounded won the National New Play Network's Smith Prize, which honors a new play on American politics. After a well-received Rolling World Premiere, Grounded went to the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland where it won the 2013 Fringe First Award and was later named one of the top ten plays of London in 2013 (Guardian, London Evening Standard). In April 2015, Julie Taymor (The Lion King) will direct Anne Hathaway in Grounded at the Public Theater in New York.

"George Brant's play is a riveting, take-no-prisoners exploration of one of the most challenging issues of our time," says Olney Theatre Center Artistic Director Jason Loewith. "Waging war by remote control raises controversial questions, and what I love about George's play is that the only side it takes is that of the brave Pilot who sits isolated in the desert, protecting American freedom with a touch of her finger."

Grounded stars Megan Anderson as The Pilot. Ms. Anderson returns to Olney Theatre Center where she has been seen in Rabbit Hole (Helen Hayes nomination, Outstanding Ensemble). She is part of Everyman Theatre's Acting Company where she has been seen in more than 25 productions. Audiences will also recognize her from productions at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Round House Theatre, and Theater J, among others. Ms. Anderson has also been in numerous television shows, such as The Wire and Veep. Tim Smith of the Baltimore Sun calls our co-production of Grounded, "QUITE THE GUT PUNCH! Megan Anderson soars...A brilliant tour de force...the exquisitely wistful effect lasts and lasts. A deeply evocative production superbly directed by Derek Goldman. It may just alter you."

The award-winning design team is led by Director Derek Goldman and includes Scenic Designer Luciana Stecconi, Lighting Designer Harold Burgess, Costume Designer Ivania Stack, Sound Designer Eric Shimelonis, and Projection Designer Jared Mezzochi. Grounded By George Brant Directed by Derek Goldman

A Co-Production with Everyman Theatre February 25 - March 22, 2015 Press Night: Sunday, March 1, 2015 at 1:45pm Performances are Wednesday-Saturday at 7:45pm; matinees on Sunday at 1:45pm; Saturday matinees at 1:45pm on March 7, 14, and 21. Wednesday matinees at 1:45pm on March 4 and 18. No performances on March 4 at 7:45pm or March 19 at 7:45pm. Tickets are $42-$65. Discounts available for groups, seniors, military, and students.