Arena Stage

The 2021-2022 season was Arena Stage's 72nd year in operation. Arena Stage is the voice of american theater resident in our nation's capital. Focused on american artists, our productions are innovative and representative of stories from across the country. We nurture new plays and reimagine classics. We celebrate our democracy and diversity through a multitude of voices in our productions and community engagement programs to inspire people to action. We produce all that is passionate, exuberant, profound, entertaining, deep and dangerous in the american spirit. New challenges continue to arise as we navigate the repercussions of the covid-19 pandemic, working to bring Arena Stage back to what it was before the shutdown. In this season Arena produced six shows while continuing its community engagement programs. Arena Stage's season opened with "toni stone" (kreeger theater), a show about the first woman to play baseball in the negro leagues, and the first woman to play professionally in a men's league in the 1950s. Next in our power play commission series was "celia and fidel" (kogod cradle) which imagines a fight between cuba's most influential female revolutionary and its most notorious political leader; it explores fidel's desire to hold power and do what is good for his country. The next show was august wilson's "seven guitars" (fichandler Stage), about the lives of seven friends that are irrevocably changed when their old friend and blues singer floyd barton reappears with the chance of a lifetime. The new year brought us craig lucas' "change agent" (kogod cradle), also in the power play series, which takes place during the volatile 1960s, where one woman influenced american policy - and in turn, world events - through her friendships and proximity to power. "catch me if you can" (fichandler Stage), an adaptation of the movie and book in musical form, is the story of how young con man frank abagnale jr. Posed as an airline pilot, a lawyer, and a doctor - and then escaped police custody, all before he turned 22. Arena began a multi-year partnership with step afrika! And the first production, "drumfolk" (fichandler Stage), was inspired by the stono rebellion of 1739 and the negro act of 1740 in south carolina. We also continued supporting our next generation creators with camp Arena Stage, which allows young artists to learn and hone their craft as well as explore new areas of creation. The program held during the summer 2021 continued to be virtual due to ongoing restrictions with the covid-19 pandemic. We also provided a two-week virtual audition intensive, consisting of group and private sessions with professional artists.we also continued our long running program, voices of now (von), an internationally recognized, devised theater program where ensembles of middle-school, high-school, and adult artists work together to create autobiographical plays and films. These fast-paced, collaboratively written, physical pieces pose significant social questions relevant to the ensemble of artists and their communities. The von festival made a successful return to live performance during may 2022 in the kogod cradle. Presentations included a mix of short films and in-person, multimedia performances. There were nine von ensembles: five schools in dc and fairfax county, and four community-based ensembles including our 10+ year partnership with the wendt center for loss and healing. Videos of the performances and of the short films created by the ensembles can be seen on the Arena Stage website.