Signature Theatre Presents REALLY REALLY

Signature Theatre will present the world premiere of Really Really by Paul Downs Colaizzo. Directed by Signature’s Associate Artistic Director Matthew Gardiner, this contemporary drama pushes The Edges and embraces the harsh realities of the “Me” generation. When the party of the year ends in the regret of a lifetime, one person will stop at nothing to salvage a future that is suddenly slipping away – and it is now every man for himself.

“I am so proud of Signature's Theatre's current season – a season that has dared to present five world premieres, primarily written by emerging playwrights and composers. Paul Downs Colaizzo's new play marks the fourth this season,” said Gardiner. “Paul is a remarkable new voice, with a startling story to share about a generation of confident and driven young adults struggling to live up to what they have been told is their potential, no matter the cost. I am thrilled to give this play its first production at Signature."

Colaizzo’s thought-provoking comic tragedy features a young cast that includes Paul James (TV’s Greek), Kim Rosen (Ideal at 59E59 Off-Broadway), Bethany Anne Lind (Carapace and 26 Miles at ALLIANCE THEATRE), Danny Gavigan (Pride and Prejudice at Round House Theatre), Lauren Culpepper (Crime and Punishment at Centerstage), Evan Casey (Signature’s The Hollow and The Boy Detective Fails), and Jake Odmark (Signature’s Sunset Boulevard). The award-winning design team includes Misha Kachman (set design), Colin K. Bills (lighting design), Kathleen Geldard (costume design), and Matt Rowe (sound design).

Eric Schaeffer, Signature Theatre’s Artistic Director, stated, “When Matt Gardiner introduced me to the script two years ago, I knew that we had to put this play on the Signature stage. It is a fearless work, as well as truthful and intelligent that deals with the real issues of today’s youth. Paul Downs Colaizzo is a voice that I know we’ll be hearing a lot more of in the future and it is fitting that Signature is giving him his debut. The cast that we have assembled is first-rate. Audiences will surely be talking about this play long after the lights go down.”

Really Really contains strong language and explicit situations. For mature audiences only.

PERFORMANCE DATES & TICKET INFORMATION

Performances of Really Really run from January 31, 2012 to March 25, 2012. Showtimes are Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 7:30 pm, Thursdays and Fridays at 8:00 pm, Saturdays at 2:00 pm and 8:00 pm, and Sundays at 2:00 pm and 7:00 pm. A Funders’ performance will take place on Tuesday, February 7th. There will only be an 8pm performance on Saturday, February 4.
Signature Theatre will be hosting two ‘Pride Night’ performances that will take place on Friday, February 17h and Friday, March 2nd (both at 8:00pm) with a one-hour post-show cocktail and hors d’oeuvres reception.

Tickets range from $56 - $80 and are available by calling Ticketmaster at 703-573-SEAT (7328) or visiting www.signature-theatre.org. Group discounts are available for parties of ten or more by contacting Amanda McClish at mcclisha@signature-theatre.org or by calling (571) 527-1831. Student discount tickets are $30 and must be purchased the week of the performance. Signature is also offering “$22 for Tuesdays,” making available $22 tickets to the first two public Tuesday performances. For more information please visit www.signature-theatre.org.

REALLY REALLY

by Paul Downs Colaizzo

Directed by Matthew Gardiner

January 31, 2012 – March 25, 2012

The ARK

CAST BIOS
Evan Casey (Cooper) SIGNATURE: The Hollow, The Boy Detective Fails, Holiday Mayhem Cabaret, Tamar and the River (21/24 workshop), Urinetown, Ten Unknowns, Allegro. NEW YORK: NYMF: River's End. DC AREA: Kennedy Center: Snow White, Rose Red (and Fred), Tales of Custard the Dragon; Ford’s Theatre: Little Shop of Horrors, Meet John Doe, Shenandoah; Olney Theatre: Camelot, Fiddler on the Roof, Lend Me a Tenor; Studio Theatre 2ndstage: TempOdyssey, Dog Sees God; Shakespeare Theatre, Round House Theatre, Rep Stage, Theater of the First Amendment, Imagination Stage, Bay Theatre Company. REGIONAL: North Carolina Theatre, Everyman Theatre, New London Barn Playhouse. FILM: Bare Knuckle, Treasure Hunt, Flanking The Sentinel, Jargon. TV: Missing Person’s Unit, Stage Fright. OTHER: Capitol Steps. EDUCATION: Catholic University, London Dramatic Academy.

Lauren Culpepper (Grace) SIGNATURE: I Capture the Castle (21/24 workshop). NEW YORK: Lincoln Center Institute: The Dinner Party; Sonnet Repertory Theatre: A Midsummer Night's Dream. DC AREA: CENTERSTAGE: Crime and Punishment; Folger Theatre/Two River Theatre: Orestes: A Tragic Romp (Helen Hayes nomination Outstanding Ensemble); Theatre J: A New Jerusalem. REGIONAL: Two River Theatre: Seven Homeless Mammoths Wander New England, Westport Country Playhouse: The Diary of Anne Frank; Other credits includeTrojan Women, Two Gentlemen of Verona, As You Like It. FILM: Upcoming role in Paramount feature film. No Rules Theatre Company member. EDUCATION: University of North Carolina School of the Arts.

Danny Gavigan (Jimmy) DC AREA: Round House Theatre: Pride and Prejudice; Studio Theatre: Mojo, All That I Will Ever Be, Red Light Winter (u/s); Longacre Lea: Cat’s Cradle; Constellation: The Ramayana; Bay Theatre Company: Mauritius; Keegan Theatre: Of Mice and Men (Ireland National Tour); Rorschach Theatre: Dead City, References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot, Rough Magic; Theater Alliance: Five Flights; Forum: Marat/Sade; Solas Nua: Made in China. The Hub Theatre company member. REGIONAL: La Jolla Playhouse/Kansas City Rep: Peer Gynt; Center Stage: The Rivals, Snow Falling on Cedars; MD Shakespeare Festival: Two Gentlemen of Verona.
Paul James (Johnson) FILM: Cry Wolf, The Architect, Spinning Into Butter, Hideaway. TELEVISION: Greek; Torchwood: Miracle Day, Lie To Me, CSI: Miami, Cold Case, NCIS: LA, Bones, Without a Trace. EDUCATION: Syracuse University, BFA Drama.

Bethany Anne Lind (Leigh) REGIONAL: ALLIANCE THEATRE: August: Osage County, Carapace, 26 Miles; Kenny Leon's True Colors Theatre: Our Town; Florida Stage: The Storytelling Ability of a Boy; Georgia Shakespeare: Metamorphoses, The Glass Menagerie; Horizon Theatre: Night Blooms; Aurora Theatre: The Storytelling Ability of a Boy, Buy My House Please; North Carolina Shakespeare: Twelfth Night, A Christmas Carol; Georgia Ensemble Theatre: Steel Magnolias; Jewish Theatre of the South: The Last Schwartz (Suzi Bass Award). FILM/TV: Mean Girls 2, "Drop Dead Diva" and releasing soon: Flight, Crackerjack, and "Army Wives."

Jake Odmark (Davis) SIGNATURE: Sunset Boulevard, Tamar and The River (21/24 workshop). NEW YORK: Public Theatre: Fun Home; Engeman: Camelot; The Actor's Studio: Tokio Confidential. TOURS: Grease (Macau, China), The Pajama Game, Fame! (China Tour), Grease (Istanbul). DC AREA: Olney Theatre: Triumph of Love; Toby’s Dinner Theatre: Grease, West Side Story, Oklahoma!; MetroStage: CabarYAY. EDUCATION: James Madison University, BM, Voice/Music Theatre.

Kim Rosen (Haley) OFF-BROADWAY: 59E59: Ideal. NEW YORK: Taylor Mac's The Lily's Revenge! (Obie Award), appearances at The Public Theater, Atlantic Theater Company, Ensemble Studio Theater, Richard Forman's Ontological-Hysteric, The Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, The People's Improv Theater. SKETCH COMEDY: The People's Sketch Association (official selection, LA Comedy Festival; official selection, Boston Improv Festival; 2010 INNY Award Winner, Best NYC Sketch Group) FILM: Civil Unions: A Love Story (writer/director Elisa Zuritsky) EDUCATION: Upright Citizens Brigade Theater; BFA, Playwrights Horizons Theater School, NYU.

CREATVE BIOS
Paul Downs Colaizzo (Playwright) READINGS/WORKSHOPS: Pride in the Falls of Autrey Mill (directed by David Schwimmer, starring Julie White and Jonathan Groff), A Dog’s Tale (or The Thing About Getting) (Kennedy Center, starring Patrick Heusinger, Wesley Taylor, and Phoebe Strole), Little Gives (American University, Kennedy Center), Suicycle: An Attempted Theatrical Rock Experiment (New York University/Tisch School of the Arts: Experimental Theatre Wing), Williamstown Theatre Festival, BMI Workshop. SCRIPT ASSOCIATE: Sister Act on Broadway. INTERNET: Cubby Bernstein, Tony Campaign Manager (Associate Producer, Creative Consultant). EDUCATION: BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts (Playwrights Horizons, Experimental Theatre Wing, International Theatre Workshop in Amsterdam, selected to study under the guidance of Kathleen Turner).

Matthew Gardiner (Director) SIGNATURE: Director: The Hollow, Side by Side by Sondheim, Art, [title of show], See What I Wanna See; Choreographer: Sweeney Todd, Dirty Blonde; Assistant Director and Choreographer: over 20 productions at Signature Theatre, alongside Eric Schaeffer, Frank Galati, John Rando, Karma Camp, Christopher d'Amboise and Jeremy Skidmore. Associate Artistic Director (2011-present), Resident Director (2010-2011), Resident Assistant Director (2006-2010); SIGNATURE CABARET: Director: Broadway Duets, Lost Songs of Broadway 1950s, Signature Sings (featuring Natascia Diaz & Euan Morton), December Divas II, Singing Shakespeare. NEW YORK: Director: NYMF: The Greenwood Tree; Assistant Director: Circle in the Square: Glory Days. DC AREA: Director/Choreographer: Kennedy Center: Snow White, Rose Red (and Fred!); Everyman Theatre: Let Me Sing And I’m Happy; MetroStage: tick, tick...BOOM!; Catholic University of America: La Boheme, Candide; Co-Director/Choreographer: Studio Theatre: Jerry Springer: The Opera, Reefer Madness (2008 Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Musical and Direction of a Musical), Choreographer: Studio Theatre: Grey Gardens, Adding Machine. Assistant Director: Kennedy Center: Cat on A Hot Tin Roof. EDUCATION: Carnegie Mellon University.

SIGNATURE’S 2011-12 SEASON TICKET INFORMATION

The remaining line-up for Signature Theatre’s 22nd season features the Tony Award®-winning shows Hairspray (now playing through February 5) and God of Carnage and the Washington DC premiere of the cult classic musical Xanadu. Signature is also home to the world premiere of the rock musical Brother Russia. Discount subscription packages (starting at 3 shows) are available by calling the Signature Box Office at (703) 820-9771 or visiting www.signature-theatre.org.

ABOUT SIGNATURE

Recipient of the 2009 Regional Theatre Tony Award®, Signature Theatre is a non-profit professional theater company in Arlington, Virginia dedicated to producing contemporary musicals and plays, reinventing classic musicals, and developing new work. Under the leadership of co-founder and Artistic Director Eric Schaeffer and Managing Director Maggie Boland, Signature has presented 36 world premiere productions and is renowned for combining Broadway-quality productions with intimate playing spaces.

In addition to hosting the finest talent from the DC metropolitan area and New York, Signature has been home to such theatre luminaries as Chita Rivera, George Hearn, Hunter Foster, Emily Skinner, Marc Kudisch, Judy Kuhn, John Kander and Fred Ebb, Cameron Mackintosh, Terrence McNally, and the company’s signature composer, Stephen Sondheim. Since its founding in 1989, Signature has won 72 Helen Hayes Awards for excellence in the Washington, DC region’s professional theater and has been honored with 293 nominations.

Signature is partially supported by a grant from the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts and by a gift from Arlington County through the Arlington Commission for the Arts and the Cultural Affairs Division of the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Resources.

DIRECTIONS / PROXIMITY TO WASHINGTON, DC

Located in Arlington, Virginia and complete with free parking, Signature Theatre is just 5 miles from the Washington Monument, an estimated 10-15 minute drive according to googlemaps.com. Using public transportation, Signature can be reached by the 7, 25 and 25A buses from Pentagon Metro Station or via a $12 taxi ride from the Pentagon City Metro stop (on both the Blue & Yellow lines) with a taxi stand located in front of the Ritz Carlton Hotel.

Signature Theatre is located at 4200 Campbell Avenue (22206) off I-395 at the Shirlington exit (#6). After the exit, blue Signature signs mark the way to the theatre. Please note that Campbell Avenue is a new street and some GPS online mapping systems do not yet recognize Signature Theatre’s address. For directions visit http://signature-theatre.org/map.htm.