Michael Hollinger’s TINY ISLAND, opening this week at Washington Stage Guild, takes place in the projection room of an old movie palace, and much of the action centers on the operation of the enormous carbon-arc projectors in use until recent years. That means that current movie theatres either never had them, or got rid of them! So how does a production manage to find them? (And yes, you need a pair!) As we began the design process, Laura Giannarelli suggested that I turn to social media, so I posted on Facebook that we were seeking the behemoths. Immediately one of… read more →
A fading, family-run movie house is the setting for Michael Hollinger’s Tiny Island, the first production in the Washington Stage Guild’s 2015-16 season. The bittersweet comedy takes place in the early 1980s in the projection room of the Brynwyd Classic Cinema, a space where past and present, celluloid fantasies and uneasy realities mix. Take a look as designer Kirk Kristlibas offers a preview of his set, which features vintage projection equipment and posters from Hollywood classics. He’s also created the poster for the most romantic aviation saga you’ve never seen, the fictional Wings Over Water, which plays a key role… read more →
Washington Stage Guild kicks off the 2015-2016 season with the area premiere of Tiny Island by Michael Hollinger. It’s 1983, and two estranged sisters tussle over the fate of their family’s decaying movie palace. The video store across the street is expanding, and cable television is on the rise as Hazel and Muriel try to deal with the theatre’s uncertain future and their own troubled past. Hollinger, the author of previous Stage Guild hits Incorruptible, Opus, Red Herring, and An Empty Plate At The Cafe du Grand Boeuf, puts his gift for rhythm and counterpoint into the sisters’ dialogue as… read more →
The Washington Stage Guild announces the 30th Season of our distinctive repertory, an array of eloquent plays of idea and argument, passion and wit: smart theatre for a smart town! The 2015-2016 season includes the final part of George Bernard Shaw’s Back to Methuselah, and as the visionary cycle leaps far into the future and the Stage Guild approaches its 30th anniversary, the other three plays will also look both back and ahead – A SEASON OF PAST & FUTURE. But we’re not neglecting the present – all four plays during this landmark year for the company are Washington premieres! “When we founded what was then DC’s… read more →