The Hub Theatre Sets 2016-17 Season

The Hub Theatre announced their 2016-17 season today. Featuring a brand new play by Hub's Artistic Director, and the DC Area debut of playwright Christopher Chen. Season 9 also see's the return of Philip Dawkins, who's FAILURE: A LOVE STORY wowed audiences at The Hub in 2014.

Said Hub Artistic Director, Helen Murray Pafumi "I am delighted to announce next season's line up. Philip Dawkin's newest play THE HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH was an undeniable choice once we read it. Written with his deft comic touch and a huge amount of heart, it will be a treat for our audiences next summer. I am also beyond thrilled that we are finally producing Christopher Chen's work. I have long admired the audacity and poetry of his writing and am so excited that THE LATE WEDDING, in all its wild glory, will be shared by The Hub, and with the DC Metro Area for the first time. And finally, I could not be any giddier about THE MAGI. This marks the third show at The Hub for which Eli Pafumi has written music, but the first time it will be at the forefront. It is easily one of the coolest collaborations in which I have taken part."

THE HUB opens its 2016-2017 season in December with the World Premiere of Helen Murray Pafumi's THE MAGI. A new concert play, THE MAGI, with original music and lyrics by Eli Pafumi, tells the story of Jude and Nix who have been a touring band for 8 years. They have been in love for 7 years and 11 months of that tour. It may be the holidays, but the band and the couple are on the verge of breaking up. Magi explores the sacrifices we make for those we cherish. Part concert, part love story, and part awkward to be sure. THE MAGI will be directed by Kelsey Mesa.

Prior to Magi, The Hub has produced Helen Murray Pafumi's plays WONDERFUL LIFE (Co-Adaptation with Jason Lott), MERRY, HAPPY...WHAT?, and ABOMINABLE. Pafumi has been nominated for the Helen Hayes Award and the Steinberg New Play Award and is the recipient of the Puffin Foundation Award, The Washington Canadian Partnership, and the winner of the 2016 Jewish Plays Project. Her work has also been seen at Malibu Playhouse, Arts West, Theater Alliance and the Kennedy Center's Page to Stage Festival. Eli Pafumi has previously been at The Hub composing for MERRY, HAPPY...WHAT? and ACT A LADY. His compositions have also been performed at Shippensberg University. Eli's mix of pop, folk and blues, along with his guitar skills have had him compared to John Mayer, Jack Johnson and Jason Mraz. Eli has opened for such bands as We The Kings,Grace and Tony, Native Run, and Casey Abrams and played shows from Bethesda Blues & Supper Club to Tally Ho Theater. Eli won the Bring It! 2014 Talent Competition with his original song, Scarlett McQueen. He then went on to win Loudoun Youth Fest Battle of the Bands. Eli is a two-time finalist for the Bernard/Ebb Songwriting Awards. His debut album FINDING NORTH released in February of 2016.

The spring brings the DC Metro Premiere of Bay Area playwright Christopher Chen's THE LATE WEDDING, which marks the first time his work will be produced in this region. In a meta-theatrical journey, inspired by the writings of Italo Calvino, Chen pours us into a fractured portrait of fractured marriages, as told through a series of interconnected fables. Part spy thriller, part sci-fi love story, this inventive and delightful anthropological tour of fantastical tribes and their marital customs is sure to surprise. THE LATE WEDDING will be directed by Kate Bryer.

Christopher Chen is an international award-winning playwright whose full-length works have been produced and developed across the United States and abroad, at companies such as the American Conservatory Theater, Arcola Theatre (London), Asian American Theater Company, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Beijing Fringe, Berkeley Rep/Ground Floor, Central Works, Crowded Fire, Cutting Ball Theater, Edinburgh Fringe, Fluid Motion, hotINK Festival, Impact Theatre, InterAct Theatre, Just Theatre, Lark Play Development Center, Magic Theatre, Playwrights Foundation, San Francisco Playhouse, Silk Road Rising, Sundance Theatre Lab, Theatre Mu, U.C. Berkeley/Zellerbach Playhouse and The Vineyard. Honors include: the 2015-2016 Sundance Institute/Time Warner Foundation Fellowship for theater; the Paula Vogel Playwriting Award, through which he was the 2013-2014 playwright-in-residence at The Vineyard Theatre in New York; the Barrymore Award; PHINDIE Critics Award; the Glickman Award; the Rella Lossy Playwriting Award; shortlist for the James Tait Black Award; nomination for the Steinberg Award; 2nd Place in the Belarus Free Theater International Competition of Modern Dramaturgy; MAP Fund Grantee; Ford Foundation Emerging Writer of Color Grantee; finalist for the PONY and Jerome Fellowships. Current commissions include American Conservatory Theatre, S.F. Playhouse, Crowded Fire and Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Publications include American Theatre Magazine, Theatre Bay Area and Theater Magazine (Yale). Chris is a graduate of U.C. Berkeley and holds an M.F.A. in Playwriting from S.F. State. He is based in San Francisco.

Ending Season 9 is the newest play from Philip Dawkins, THE HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH, which takes us back, in fairytale like fashion to Anaheim, California in an orange grove, where a magical kingdom was built and dedicated to America's history, dreams, and wildest hopes. Eight years later, an American prince died on live television while delivering the Albuquerque sports scores, leaving four daughters and their mother behind. Reeling from the loss of their patriarch, the family underwent a quest to reach the magical kingdom, and seek solace and recovery. Now, more than fifty years after their journey, acclaimed playwright Philip Dawkins retraces and illustrates the true story of the women in his family, exploring their history and asking if there really is a place where the dream that we wish can come true. Matt Bassett, Hub's Associate Artistic Director, will direct.

Philip Dawkins' work includes MISS MARX: OR THE INVOLUNTARY EFFECT OF LIVING (Strawdog Theatre), which won the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best New Work, as well as recent critically-acclaimed plays THE HOMOSEXUALS and FAILURE: A LOVE STORY, which both also received Joseph Jefferson Nominations for New Work after their world premieres with About Face Theatre (2011) and Victory Gardens Theater (2012) respectively. His plays for young folks are published through Playscripts, Inc. A graduate of Loyola University, Chicago, Mr. Dawkins is an Artistic Associate of About Face Theatre, an Ensemble Playwright at Victory Gardens, and a founding member of Chicago Opera Vanguard. Mr. Dawkins teaches playwriting at Northwestern University, his alma mater Loyola University Chicago, and through the Victory Gardens ACCESS Program for writers with disabilities. He also teaches Kung Fu to little Chicago kids through Rising Phoenix Kung Fu.

Three-play full-season subscriptions are on sale now. Single tickets go on sale in early September.

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