Round House Theatre announces cast and creative teams for Inda Craig-Galván’s world premiere play, A Jumping-Off Point (directed by Jade King Carroll), presented as part of the third annual National Capital New Play Festival. The festival will also include presentations of developmental readings of works by Denmo Ibrahim, Agyeiwaa Asante, Dani Stoller, and Nate Dendy & Aaron Posner.
“The first two years of NCNPF have been received so warmly by our local patrons, as well as by industry peers and press. It’s been gratifying to help audiences in the DMV discover the joy and excitement of new plays,” says Festival Producer and Associate Artistic Director Naysan Mojgani. “This year’s Festival features a great mix of familiar artists with local roots and playwrights we’re excited to introduce to Round House’s community, including our headlining playwright Inda Craig-Galván, who is also working on an Equal Play Commission for us. These plays represent the best of our current moment, as writers and audiences rediscover the unique excitement of what live performance has to offer here and now.”
FESTIVAL SCHEDULE & PLAY INFORMATION
APR 10 – MAY 5, 2024 | World Premiere on the Main Stage
A Jumping-Off Point
By Inda Craig-Galván
Directed by Jade King Carroll
Leslie Wallace is a promising Black writer who has just landed her first deal with HBO. Her celebration is cut short when she gets a surprise visit from Andrew, a white man from her grad school cohort, who accuses her of plagiarizing his script. Their confrontation—and eventual uneasy alliance—forces a reckoning on representation, privilege, and who gets to tell what kinds of stories. Full of humor and complex characters, A Jumping-Off Point is a sharp and electric new play from rising star playwright and screenwriter Inda Craig-Galván.
ARTIST INFORMATION (A Jumping-Off Point)
Inda Craig-Galván (Playwright) is a Los Angeles-based playwright and television writer, born and raised on the South Side of Chicago. Her work explores conflicts and politics within the African-American community, grounded in reality, and with a touch of magical realism. Upcoming: Welcome to Matteson! (Orlando Shakes, Fall 2024). Other plays: The Great Jheri Curl Debate (East West Players), Black Super Hero Magic Mama (Geffen Playhouse), a hit dog will holler (Playwrights’ Arena/Skylight Theatre), I Go Somewhere Else (Playwrights’ Arena). Awards: Kesselring Prize, Jeffry Melnick New Play Award, Blue Ink Prize, Jane Chambers Award, Kennedy Center’s Rosa Parks Award for plays focused on social justice and/or civil rights. Commissions: The Old Globe, Round House Theatre, CTG Writers’ Workshop. TV: Co-Executive Producer of ABC’s Will Trent. Previous: Happy Face, How to Get Away with Murder, and The Rookie. Inda is an Adjunct Professor at University of Southern California School of Dramatic Arts, where she received her MFA in Dramatic Writing.
Jade King Carroll (Director) Previous credits include Seven Deadly Sins – Wrath (Miami New Drama – Drama League Award); Proof of Love at New York Theatre Workshop/Audible at Minetta Lane; Stew at Ebony Repertory Theater; New Age at Milwaukee Rep; Red Velvet at Shakespeare Theatre Company; Detroit ’67 at McCarter Theatre (co-production with Hartford Stage); Intimate Apparel and The Piano Lesson at McCarter Theatre; The Piano Lesson at Hartford Stage; Having Our Say at Hartford Stage (co-production with Long Wharf Theatre); Autumn’s Harvest at Lincoln Center Institute; Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill at Syracuse Stage; Trouble in Mind at Two River Theater & Playmaker’s Rep; Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, The Whipping Man, Native Gardens, Skeleton Crew, Bad Dates, Perseverance, and How I Learned What I Learned at Portland Stage; The Revolutionists and Sunset Baby at City Theatre; A Raisin in the Sun at Perseverance; Pride & Prejudice and The Tempest at Chautauqua Theater Company; Seven Guitars and The Persians at People’s Light Theatre; Still Life at Ancram Opera House; King Hedley II at Portland Playhouse; Fat Ham at Playmakers Rep; A Raisin in the Sun and Cardboard Piano at Juilliard; Laughing Wild, Redeemed, and Skeleton Crew at Dorset Theatre Festival; New Golden Age at Primary Stages (Susan Smith Blackburn nominated); Mr. Chickee’s Funny Money at Atlantic Theater (NYT Family Pick). Audio Plays include Marvel’s Wastelanders: Doom (Marvel, Ambies Nomination for Best Production); Proof of Love (Audible); Redeemed (
CAST INFORMATION (ALPHABETICAL)
Danny Gavigan (Andrew) is grateful to be back at Round House Theatre, where previous credits include Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley, NSFW, How to Write a New Book for the Bible, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, Double Indemnity, and Pride and Prejudice. DC credits include Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Helen Hayes Award for Best Ensemble) and Death of a Salesman at Ford’s Theatre; One Jewish Boy and The Admission at Theatre J; Describe the Night and Detroit at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company; and Really Really at Signature Theatre. Off-Broadway appearances include Lucky Star at 59E59. Regional credits include Peer Gynt at La Jolla Playhouse and Kansas City Rep; A Streetcar Named Desire at Palm Beach Dramaworks; and The Rivals and Snow Falling on Cedars at Baltimore Center Stage. Film and television credits include FBI, Unarmed Man (TIVA DC Award for Best Actor), and Last Night (RIFE Award). Danny is a company member at Everyman Theatre in Baltimore, where he has performed in over 20 productions and produced the true crime paranormal podcast Everyman Theatre’s Resident Ghost Company.
Cristina Pitter (Miriam) is a queer multi-spirit afro-indigenous artist, abolitionist, and alchemist who wants to burn it all down and plant new seeds in the fertile soil. They also have the best laugh ever. Seriously. You may have seen their work at Round House Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Metropolitan Opera, JACK, The Bushwick Starr, Target Margin Theatre, Abrons Art Center, Mabou Mines, 59E59, Ars Nova, New Ohio Theatre, Joe’s Pub, The Tank, or Netflix’s Bonding. (They/She/Anything said with respect)
Nikkole Salter (Leslie) is thrilled to be making her Round House Theatre debut in A Jumping-Off Point. DC credits include Confederates at Mosaic Theater Company; Stick Fly at Arena Stage; Macbeth at Shakespeare Theatre Company; and In the Continuum at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. Regional credits include The Christians at Baltimore Center Stage; The Royale at Cleveland Playhouse; Mud Row at People’s Light Theatre; Our Daughters Like Pillars and Luck of the Irish at the Huntington Theatre; Gee’s Bend at Kansas City Rep and Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park; Head of Passes at Berkeley Rep; and The Old Settler at Luna Stage. Off-Broadway credits include Stew at Page 73; In the Continuum at Primary Stages/Perry Street Theatre; Gloria: A Life at DR2; and Inked Baby at Playwright’s Horizons. Broadway credits include The Great Society at the Lincoln Center. Film and television credits include Pride and Glory, The Architect, Love and Communication, Last Night, The Unit, and Godfather of Harlem.
The cast is joined by a brilliant creative team that includes Scenic Designer Megan Raham, Costume Designer Moyenda Kulemeka, Lighting Designer Amith Chandrashaker, Sound Designer Michael Keck, Properties Coordinator Andrea “Dre” Moore, Casting Director Sarah Cooney, Dramaturg Naysan Mojgani, and Production Stage Manager Che Wernsman.
Developmental Readings:
Playwrights whose work will receive developmental readings during the festival include Denmo Ibrahim (Brilliant Mind, BABA, Ecstasy / A Waterfable; forthcoming Audible series), Agyeiwaa Asante (Dainty, The Chosen One Academy [2025 TPC Commission]), Dani Stoller (Girlhood [2023 TPC Commission], Easy Women Smoking Loose Cigarettes, The Joy That Carries You), and Nate Dendy (Ariel and Magic Consultant for The Tempest) & Aaron Posner (Co-Director for The Tempest; Stupid Fucking Bird, No Sisters).
DEVELOPMENTAL PLAY READINGS
April 18 at 8 pm & April 20 at 2:30 pm | Developmental Reading
Arab Spring
By Denmo Ibrahim
Directed by Lila Rachel Becker
In this dark comedy, two grown siblings must make their peace with each other and with their recently deceased estranged father as they prepare for his funeral.
April 19 at 8 pm & April 21 at 2:30 pm | Developmental Reading
Agape, or The Church Play
By Agyeiwaa Asante
Directed by April Monu
Set in Maryland, this play follows a group of young women in an international church as they navigate the overlapping pressures of friendship, faith, and adulthood.
April 25 at 8 pm & April 27 at 2:30 pm | Developmental Reading
The Prime
By Dani Stoller
Directed by Ryan Rilette
A biting and bloody story of women’s rage—and redemption—as a surgeon hits the glass ceiling and must decide what to do about it.
April 26 at 8 pm & April 28 at 2:30 pm | Developmental Reading
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
By Nate Dendy & Aaron Posner
Performed by Nate Dendy
Magic by Nate Dendy
Directed by Aaron Posner
Nate Dendy and Aaron Posner reunite after their smash collaboration with Round House’s 2023 production of The Tempest for The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. In this one man show, Nate Dendy explores his own history with magic and our collective fascination with the art—with more than a few jaw-dropping tricks along the way.
Tickets for developmental play readings are free, but reservations are required. Please note that some readings are sold out. You can join the waiting list by calling or emailing the box office and then arriving at the theater 90 minutes before each performance to claim tickets as they become available.
The National Capital New Play Festival runs April 10-May 5, 2024 at Round House Theatre, 4545 East-West Highway, Bethesda, MD. For full festival information and tickets, visit Round House’s website here or call the box office at 240-644-1140.
ABOUT ROUND HOUSE THEATRE
Round House Theatre is one of the leading professional theaters in the Washington, DC area, producing a season of new plays, modern classics, and musicals for more than 40,000 patrons each year at its theater in Bethesda. Round House has been nominated for 213 Helen Hayes Awards and has won 42, including four Outstanding Resident Play Awards and the Charles MacArthur Award for Original New Play in 2016. Round House’s lifelong learning and education programs serve more than 5,000 students each year at its Education Center in Silver Spring, in schools throughout Montgomery County, and at its Bethesda theater. Cornerstone programs include Free Play, which provides free tickets for students ages 13-college, the Teen Performance Company, which culminates in the student-produced Sarah Metzger Memorial Play, Summer Camp for students in grades K-12, and a full slate of classes for adults and youth.
