↓D←R←O←W←N←E←R [RENWORD] Comes to NextStop Theatre

NextStop Theatre has announced the world premiere of ↓D←R←O←W←N←E←R [Renword], a bold new haunted comedy by acclaimed playwright Nia Akilah Robinson. This production marks the beginning of a new chapter in the company’s commitment to producing daring new works and amplifying vital contemporary voices. The world premiere will have previews on January 29 and 30, open on Saturday, January 31 at 8 pm, and run through February 22.

In this eerie and sharp-witted new play, two Black college students take a summer job in the upstate New York home of the white, 93-year-old Professor Renword. Their primary responsibility is deceptively simple: watch her while she swims. But as the summer unfolds, it becomes increasingly clear that something is deeply wrong with the professor. As she races to complete her life memoir, the professor is haunted by her past, while the present haunts the two young women. What begins as an odd employment arrangement descends into a nightmare for the summer employees. As secrets surface and tensions rise, the young women must confront whether their situation is truly inescapable or whether they can free themselves from the inherited burdens they’re carrying.

Robinson’s cutting-edge writing is no stranger to the DMV theatre community. Most recently, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company produced her play The Great Privation (How to Flip Ten Cents into a Dollar) to wide acclaim in the fall of 2025, with The Washington Post praising Robinson as “a rising playwriting talent.” With ↓D←R←O←W←N←E←R [Renword], Robinson delivers a genre-bending work that is as unsettling as it is hilarious.

↓D←R←O←W←N←E←R [Renword] marks Heather Lanza’s NextStop directorial debut. Lanza assumed the role of Producing Artistic Director in fall 2024, bringing with her a renewed focus on developing and producing new work. It is fitting that her first production as a director at NextStop is a world premiere that exemplifies the company’s forward-looking artistic vision.

The cast features Amber Patrice Coleman, Jasmine Proctor (The Turn of the Screw), Nicole Halmos (Native Gardens; Helen Hayes Award winner for Outstanding Lead in a Play for The Cake), Mary Myers (Helen Hayes Award winner for Outstanding Supporting Actor for 45 Plays for 45 Presidents), Iris DeWitt, and Vincent Stovall. Understudies include Aja Goode, Courtney Simmons, Megan Barbie, and Christopher Holbert.

The creative team includes Shartoya R. Jn. Baptiste (Scenic Designer), Leigh K. Rawls (Properties/Puppet Designer), Hailey LaRoe (Lighting Designer), Imari Pyles (Costume Designer), Lee Martinez Cruz (Sound Designer), Miriam Weiner (Dramaturge), and Franklin Ruiz (Production Technical Director).