Straight Faced Lies: Award-winning play about a dysfunctional family Thanksgiving comes to Capital Fringe.
New York Playwright Mark Jason Williams (Recovery, The Other Day) returns to Capital Fringe this year with his play, Straight Faced Lies. The production will be directed by Ryan S. Taylor, Artistic Director of The Washington Rogues.
Straight Faced Lies is a dark comedy that takes place on the scariest holiday of the year—Thanksgiving. Cathy’s dream of a Hallmark holiday goes awry when her daughter shows up bitter and unintentionally pregnant, her son’s “friend” threatens to out him, her sister arrives homeless and drunk, and her husband returns from prison in a way no one could have expected. As Cathy fights to maintain order, deep family secrets are revealed and relationships are put to the test in this gripping, fiercely funny drama.
Straight Faced Lies was first produced in New York City’s Planet Connections Festivity, where it received the award for Outstanding Playwriting, and was named “One of the year’s best new plays” by NewYorkTheatre.com.
The talented ensemble includes John Brougher, Jenny Donovan, Rachel Manteuffel, Sean McComas, Christian Sullivan, and Kim Tuvin. The production will be stage managed by Kristyn Wright, with costumes designed by Jesse Shipley and lights, set and graphics by Christopher Annas-Lee.
“I’m honored to be invited back to Capital Fringe for my third year,” says Mark. “The Washington D.C. theatre community has been especially kind to me, and I’m excited to once again work with local artists to bring Straight Faced Lies to Fringe. I think audiences will really connect with the play because of the way we explore
themes such as LGBT and women’s issues, loneliness, and complicated family relationships through biting humor and relatable, full-bodied characters.”
PERFORMANCES AT:
Upstairs – Logan Fringe Arts Space
1358 Florida Ave NE.
Friday, July 10 at 8:15 p.m.
Sunday, July 12 at 12:00 p.m
Tuesday, July 14 at 6:30 p.m.
Sunday, July 19 at 5:00 p.m,
Thursday, July 23 at 6:30 p.m.
Sunday, July 26 at 12:15 p.m.
PURCHASE TICKETS BY CALLING OR ONLINE.
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Mark Jason Williams is a playwright and essayist whose work has been produced in New York, Chicago, Minneapolis and Washington D.C., and published by Salon, Out, Jezebel, The Daily Dot and Honeysuckle Magazine. He is a three-time recipient of the Planet Connections Award for Outstanding Playwriting for his plays Straight Faced Lies, A Man’s Man, and The Other Day. Mark has a BFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. For more about his work, please visit his markjasonwilliams.com
Ryan S. Taylor is the Artistic Director of The Washington Rogues, for which he has directed In The Forest, She Grew Fangs, Eight, The Teacher’s Lounge (or One Child Left Behind), Busted Jesus Comix. Ryan has also directed plays or readings for Arena Stage, Young Playwrights Theatre, The Source Festival, Journeymen Theater Ensemble, Rorschach Theater, and Solas Nua. Ryan’s next production is the world premiere of Jenny Lane’s Agents of Azeroth with the Rogues, coming January 2016.
