Steven Carpenter News

Sam and Dede is an honest show about a fictionalized truth. It explores the friendship between two famed artists, and their charming shared history.

The Washington Stage Guild at last brings to the stage the Washington premiere of Sam and Dede, or My Dinner with André the Giant by Gino DiIorio. Originally scheduled for our 2019-20 season, the production was halted and postponed indefinitely by the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. We are delighted to be able to produce this fascinating play at last. 

A strong cast and steady pace make this rare performance of Shaw's first hit work a worthwhile free tune-in.

The Washington Stage follows up on its greatly popular presentation of Don Juan In Hell last November with a very different “devilish” play by Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw.

Winners have been announced for the 2020 BroadwayWorld Washington DC Awards - which were back bigger than ever, celebrating the best in local theatre of the past decade! 

Wit, wisdom, and sometimes overpowering verbosity fill George Bernard Shaws’ Don Juan In Hell, the dream sequence contained within the third act of the Irish playwright’s Man and Superman and sometime performed independently.

Washington Stage Guild will present a 'heavenly' online performance of George Bernard Shaw's DON JUAN IN HELL, the famous dream sequence from his play MAN AND SUPERMAN. Until it's safe to gather in theatres again, they are inviting their audience to savor Shaw's witty, wise play from their own homes. 

Washington Stage Guild will present a 'heavenly' online performance of George Bernard Shaw's DON JUAN IN HELL, the famous dream sequence from his play MAN AND SUPERMAN. Until it's safe to gather in theatres again, we invite our audience to savor Shaw's witty, wise play from their own homes.

Read Washington Stage Guild's response to Covid-19:

The Washington Stage Guild brings its season of great writers to a close with the Washington premiere of Sam and Dede, or My Dinner with André the Giant by Gino DiIorio.

If there's a D.C. theater company that would approach presenting James Joyce, it'd be the literary-minded Washington Theatre Guild, which has made its mark by presenting everything written by George Bernard Shaw, among other ambitious projects.

The Washington Stage Guild continues its season of great writers with the Washington premiere of Bloomsday by Steven Dietz. This delicate, time-bending romance is set in James Joyce's Dublin on June 16th, the date on which Joyce's Ulysses is set. Robert returns to that city 35 years after meeting Caithleen on a walking tour of Joyce's Dublin. He and Cait meet again and revisit their youthful relationship, amid the echoes of Joyce's masterwork, and the missed connections of that earlier time in their lives. Helen Hayes Award winning Kasi Campbell will direct. A post-show discussion will follow the Sunday matinee on February 2nd, James Joyce's birthday.

If Charles Dickens were working today, he'd likely be enlisted to write for one of the serialized television dramas on which millions feed on and binge. In his day, the equivalent was writing serialized dramas for publication to boost readership.

The Washington Stage Guild continues its season of great writers with a vividly theatrical adaptation of one of Charles Dickens's novels, Hard Times. Dickens's tale of love, loss, and circus folk is set against the backdrop of Industrial Revolution England. This clever version, in which four actors play dozens of characters, has not been seen in Washington for over two decades!

Washington Stage Guild announces its 34th season, dedicated to plays by and about some of the past two centuries' greatest writers. The season will feature one of GB Shaw's most beloved plays, an adaptation of a classic novel by Charles Dickens, a play set in Dublin on Bloomsday when James Joyce's Ulysses takes place, and a play in which a 20th century intellectual giant encounters a physical one.  The Washington Stage Guild's 2019-2020 season will be a feast of language and thought that honors these storytellers in thrillingly theatrical ways.

Playwright Jon Klein will join the director and members of the cast of the current hit comedy Resolving Hedda for a post-show talkback on Saturday, March 30. The talkback, free to ticket holders, will begin at 5:00 pm, immediately following the Saturday matinee performance. 

Playwright Jon Klein will join the director and members of the cast of the current hit comedy Resolving Hedda for a post-show talkback on Saturday, March 30.  A resounding hit with critics and audiences, Resolving Hedda invites audiences to play along with a Hedda Gabler who breaks out of Ibsen's well-made play and wreaks comic havoc while her fellow characters struggle to adapt to their heroine's newfound rebellion. The talkback, free to ticket holders, will begin at 5:00 pm, immediately following the Saturday matinee performance.

Steven Carpenter is the director of Washington Stage Guild's latest production, 'Resolving Hedda,' a twist in the Isben classic, 'Hedda Gabler.' 'Resolving Hedda' is playing at the Washington Stage Guild through April 14th.

Life in the theatre is hard enough without having a diva in your show. As the title character in a well known play by a certain Norwegian playwright you would think that she would play along with what she was given. In this case the playwright is that king of mirth himself Henrik Ibsen and the diva in question is Hedda Gabler. Gabler, after many productions over the span of many years, decides she doesn't want to die by gunshot at the end of every performance. You might be asking how did she get this kind of power. For the answer you need to check out Washington Stage Guild's (WSG) hilarious and (per usual) well presented production of Jon Klein's Resolving Hedda. The show is a DC area premiere.

It's not easy being one of the most influential characters in modern drama, especially knowing you have to die at the end of every performance. What would happen if you simply refused to play along? And what would the other characters do? The Washington Stage Guild invites audiences to play along with a Hedda Gabler who breaks out of Ibsen's well-made play and wreaks comic havoc. Resolving Hedda, by Jon Klein promises laughter to all. Even those new to the story of Hedda, along with the most devoted lovers of the classic play, will delight to postmodern antics. Resolving Hedda opens Thursday, March 21 and runs through Sunday, April 14. Press opening performance will be on Sunday, March 24 at 2:30 pm.