PYGMALION, THE ELDER STATESMAN and More Set for Washington Stage Guild's 27th Season

The Washington Stage Guild celebrates its 27th Season with its distinctive repertory, an array of eloquent plays of idea and argument, passion and wit-smArt Theatre for a smart town. As always, The Washington Stage Guild's 2012-2013 season will include four productions of plays that delight and challenge audiences with wit, insight, and truth. There are always lessons to be learned in these great works, and the plays of the Stage Guild's 27th season revolve around the complex relationship between teacher and student, mentor and disciple, expert and novice, when the inevitable happens and the pupil takes flight. Three plays by a trio of the greatest writers the world has known-Dante, Shaw, T.S. Eliot-will be joined by the DC premiere of a recent Off-Broadway hit by the Englishwoman Karoline Leach.

"Since 1986, Washington audiences have flocked to the feasts of language we present, and this year we have an exceptional quartet of writers on the bill," says Artistic Director Bill Largess. "Two great poets, two Nobel Prize laureates, a long awaited GBS work and a much-requested revival of a work we premiered a decade ago, the final play to complete our Eliot series, and the DC premiere of a West End and Off-Broadway hit make up an exciting season, one in which characters learn more than they expect from where they least expect it. All of our plays this year confront us with the benefits of discipleship - and the costs as well. And there's a special added pleasure in the Stage Guild debut of Helen Hayes Award-winning director Kasi Campbell, whose work we've admired for so long."

The 2012-2013 Season of Life Lessons:

PYGMALION by George Bernard Shaw
A centennial production of Shaw's most beloved play, in its ORIGINAL version
Directed by Bill Largess
October 25 through November 18, 2012
Press Night: Saturday, October 27, 2012 at 8 pm

One of GBS' most popular comedies of manners, and one of the past century's most successful plays in any language, the story of Eliza Doolittle and her speech lessons from Professor Higgins debuted exactly 100 years ago in 1912. While known to many only in the form of its musical adaptation, My Fair Lady (playing this season at Arena Stage), the original play is sharper and more insightful, and this will be the Stage Guild's long-awaited take on this great work.

TRYST by Karoline Leach
The DC premiere of the Off-Broadway hit where profit and loss weigh heavily on the course of true love
Directed by Kasi Campbell
January 3 through January 27, 2013
Press Night: Saturday, January 5, 2013 at 8 pm

When pursuing love, is loneliness or lucre a stronger force? Tryst, a play John Simon called "fascinating... absorbing, provocative" is a battle of wits between a homely spinster and the man who hopes to parlay his good looks into financial gain. Leach's Edwardian cat-and-mouse game keeps the audience guessing until the final curtain.

INFERNO adapted from Dante by Bill Largess
A strikingly theatrical performance of a Hell of a story, last seen in DC over a decade ago
Directed by Laura Giannarelli
February 21 to March 17, 2013
Press Night: Saturday, February 23, 2013 at 8 pm

Adapted and performed by Stage Guild Artistic Director Bill Largess, this one-man journey through the underworld (with a cast of thousands) was described by The Washington Post as "very cool." Often requested since its 2001 debut, this revival will be a physical re-imagining of the original dramatization of one of the Western world's greatest texts. "Dante and Shakespeare divide the world between them; there is no third."- T.S. Eliot

THE ELDER STATESMAN by T.S. Eliot
Eliot's final play (and the only one never presented by the Stage Guild) in its first Washington production
April 25 through May 19, 2012
Press Night: Saturday, April 27, 2013 at 8 pm

The Stage Guild has produced every play by Eliot except this, his final one, the overwhelming winner in our audience poll this past Spring. An acclaimed and respected politician prepares to retire in the glow of fame, until a barely-remembered friend from his youth turns up with uncomfortable truths. Scandal and disgrace may await a man who expected honors and comfort. But does the end of a life of lies bring tragedy, or relief?

During the season, we will again present off-night readings of plays that complement the full productions. These popular pay-what-you-can performances have attracted a loyal audience since we moved to the Undercroft Theatre.

ANDROCLES AND THE LION by George Bernard Shaw
Shaw's clever fable-play about the Christians in Rome, where an act of kindness makes being "thrown to the lions" an unexpectedly good thing
Monday, November 19, 2012 at 7 pm

SPEED THE PLOUGH by Thomas Morton
No, not the Mamet play with Madonna! A late 18th century English comedy of manners in which Mrs. Grundy, the quintessential gossip, strikes fear into those who misbehave
Monday, January 14, 2013 at 7 pm

EVERYMAN by Anonymous
One of the Western world's greatest plays, whose allegorical story of one man's journey to the grave is leavened with humor and emotion as he seeks a companion - just one - to travel with him.
Monday, March 4, 2013 at 7 pm

THE ROCK by T.S. Eliot
A pageant intended for church performance, The Rock was one of Eliot's first attempts at poetic dialogue. The response to its magnificent choruses encouraged him to turn to playwriting, and led directly to Murder In The Cathedral.
Monday, May 6, 2013 at 7 pm
Performance times and prices for all productions
Thursday evenings at 7:30 p.m. $40.00
Friday and Saturday evenings at 8 p.m. $50.00
Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:30 p.m. $40.00
Discounts are available for senior citizens, students, and groups.
Season passes are available, offering incredible savings for the entire Stage Guild season.

The location for all performances is the Undercroft Theatre of Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church, 900 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC. The Undercroft Theatre is located in the heart of downtown Washington, on the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and 9th Street, NW. It's steps from the Convention Center, and blocks from the National Mall, the Smithsonian, the Verizon Center, Chinatown, and restaurants galore.

The Undercroft Theatre is within easy walking distance from the following Metro stations:
Gallery Place/Chinatown-Exit SE corner of 9th and G Sts., NW (Green, Yellow and Red lines)
Mt. Vernon Square-Exit SW corner of 7th and M Sts, NW (Green and Yellow lines)
Metro Center-Exit SE corner of 11th and G Sts., NW (Blue, Red and Orange lines).

Play selection and schedule are subject to change. For information and reservations, call 240 582-0050, email info@stageguild.org or go to www.stageguild.org.