Washington Ensemble Theatre Announces Season 10

Follow a tiger that haunts the streets of present day Baghdad searching for the meaning of life. Along with a cast of disgruntled American soldiers, a grief stricken Iraqi topiary gardener and the deranged ghost of Uday Hussein, Rajiv Joseph's Pulitzer Prize Nominated play takes us on a vivid quest for friendship, redemption, and a gold-plated semiautomatic pistol.

Ed, Downloaded
{Regional Premiere}
By Michael Mitnick
Directed by Ali el-Gasseir
January 31-February 24, 2014

Set in a future where one can purchase immortality and spend an afterlife in a digital heaven of one's favorite memories, this soon-to-be true story tackles classic themes of love and death in a world where technological advancements bring infinite possibilities. Half-live action play and half-feature film, Ed, Downloaded is a sci-fi love story for high-tech dreamers.

The Icelandic Illumination Ranger
{All Ages World Premiere}
By Ali el-Gasseir and Jonah Von Spreecken
Winter 2014

The Icelandic Illumination Ranger is on a hunt to find the suddenly missing Aurora Borealis! Our hero will need the help of a mysterious stranger who recently thawed out from a block of solid ice. To bring back the famed northern lights, the Ranger and the Iceman will have to dance around magnetic poles, bend solar winds, and navigate the Reykjavik synth pop scene. This magical play will teach us all that it's okay to be sacred of the dark...and of the light!

The Edge of Our Bodies
{Regional Premiere}
By Adam Rapp
Directed by Devin Bannon
March 28-April 14, 2014

On a cold Winter night, a precocious and pregnant 16-year-old aspiring writer named Bernadette boards a train to New York City with only a notebook as a companion hoping to find a sense of meaning in an adult world she cannot escape... and to deliver some heavy news to her distant boyfriend. Rapp's poetic and honest one-woman show takes us headfirst into the brutal realities of young adulthood and the challenging pull between the need to connect to others and the desire to disappear.

The Hunchback of Seville
{World Premiere}
By Charise Castro Smith
Directed by Jen Wineman
June 6-30, 2014

Charise Castro Smith's The Hunchback of Seville spins a vividly naughty and hilariously bizarre tale set in Seville in the year 1504. Combining the madcap sense of humor of Monty Python and the poetic grandeur of Shakespeare, The Hunchback of Seville is a knee slapping, anti-colonialist romp examining how our future was sculpted long ago.