Ally Theatre Company Debuts with MIZ WASHINGTON

When the Mother of America stands trial, will anyone emerge innocent?

Ally Theatre Company-D.C.'s newest theatre company dedicated to art that's designed to engage audiences through acknowledging and confronting systemic oppression in America-kicks off its inaugural season with the regional premiere of James Ijames' The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington.

Christmas Eve, 1800. The Mother of America, Martha Washington, lays on her deathbed at Mount Vernon, surrounded by the slaves who will be freed upon her passing. In a fever dream of terrifying theatricality, Martha and the rest of America, yesterday and today, are put on trial for their crimes.

"I am thrilled to bring James Ijames' brilliant play to DC after its 2014 world premiere in Philadelphia," says Ty Hallmark, Ally's Founding and Producing Artistic Director, who also will be directing the show. "There was never a question that Ally Theatre Company would mark its debut with Miz Washington, as it perfectly demonstrates our mission to highlight and elevate voices unheard and spaces unseen. Our first production is just the beginning of what we hope will be a long dialogue with the community, both in the Gateway Arts District and Washington, DC, at large."

A bold, clever, and damning look at slavery, its perpetrators, and its legacy, Miz Washington holds a mirror up to America's past and dares us to look away.

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