BST Presents THE TROJAN WOMEN PROJECT In Repertory With CORIOLANUS

BST's 2018 repertory explores war and winning from opposite perspectives. As civil unrest threatens political upheaval, the war hero Coriolanus is driven to defend and then destroy his own country. Shakespeare's last tragedy takes a piercing look at men who cannot leave war behind. Performed as part of the Women's Voices Theater Festival, The Trojan Women Project explores the timeless story of The Trojan Women to illuminate modern women's relationships to sexuality, politics, and violence. This intersectional look at American women asks why our gender isn't enough to unite us and whether we are the losers in the American Dream.

The Trojan Women Project is directed by BST Artistic Associate Rachel Hynes. The cast includes Suzy Alden, Renea S. Brown, Francesca Marie Chilcote, Diana Gonzalez-Ramirez, Lisa Hill-Corley, Karen Lange, Nancy Linden, Ruthie Rado, Nicole Ruthmarie, Claire Schoonover, Ezra Tozian, Allison Turkel, and Claudia Rosales Waters. Coriolanus is directed by BST Artistic Director Charlene V. Smith. The production stars John Stange as Coriolanus, BST Artistic Associate Jessica Lefkow as Volumnia, and BST Artistic Associate Ian Blackwell Rogers as Menenius. The cast also includes Tori Boutin, Renea S. Brown, Diane Curley, James Allen Kerr, Henry Kramer, Robert Pike, Thomas Shuman, and Anderson Wells.

Performances run from January 31st to February 25th, 2018, and take place at the Lab at Convergence at 1819 N. Quaker Lane, Alexandria, VA 22302. Tickets are $20 for one play or $30 for both and can be bought at the door or at www.bravespiritstheatre.com.

For BST, Charlene V. Smith has previously directed 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, Antony and Cleopatra, Richard III and The Two Noble Kinsmen, and co-directed The Two Gentlemen of Verona and The Bloody Banquet. Rachel Hynes has previously performed with BST in Richard III and Doctor Faustus. As an actor-devisor she has created and performed in Tale of a Tiger: a poetic fairytale, Half Life (a zombie love letter for no one), You Have Made a Story on My Skin, Call on Me, Burning Down the House, and Just Put It Behind You with the performance group Collective Eleven.

Tickets: Tickets are $20 for each play, or $30 to see both plays.

Tickets can be purchased in advance by visiting www.bravespiritstheatre.com.

The Women's Voices Theater Festival is dedicated to highlighting the scope of plays being written by women and the range of professional theater being produced in the nation's capital region. The Festival's debut in 2015 featured world premiere plays by female playwrights on stages across Washington, D.C. and was heralded as a landmark in striving for gender parity in American theater. Led by seven of Washington's largest theaters-Arena Stage, Ford's Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Studio Theatre, Signature Theatre, Round House Theatre, and Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company-the Festival leverages collaboration among regional theater producers to create a platform for the nation's most talented and innovative female and female-identifying playwrights and their newest plays.

Presenters in the 2018 Festival include 4615 Theatre Company, Alliance for New Music-Theatre, Ally Theatre Company, Arena Stage, Baltimore Center Stage, Brave Spirits Theatre, Convergence Theatre, dog & pony dc, Folger Theatre, Ford's Theatre, Mosaic Theater Company, Nu Sass Productions, Olney Theatre Center, Pointless Theatre Co., Rainbow Theatre Project, Rapid Lemon Productions, Rep Stage, Round House Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Signature Theatre, Spooky Action Theater, Strand Theatre, Studio Theatre, Taffety Punk Theatre Company, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company.

Allison Janney is the Honorary Chair of the 2018 Women's Voices Theater Festival.

To learn more, visit WomensVoicesTheaterFestival.org.