Arena Stage

Arena Stage

Arena Stage in Crystal City on South Bell Street was founded in 1950 as one of the nation’s original resident regional theaters. Arena Stage has a focus on American playwrights, featuring the classics of American theater, but productions also include new American plays. Arena Stage has a distinguished record of leadership and innovation in the field, including several important firsts:

the first regional theater to transfer a production to Broadway;
the first regional theater invited by the U.S. State Department to tour behind the Iron Curtain; and ,
the first regional theater to receive a Tony Award.

Arena stage has produced everything from vast epics and charged dramas to rousing musicals and probing profiles. With the opening of the new Mead Center for American Theater in 2010, Arena Stage is recognized as a leading center for the production, development and study of the American theater. Now in its sixth decade, Arena Stage serves a diverse annual audience of more than 200,000.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater – named to honor the visionary philanthropy of Arena Stage Life Trustees Gilbert and Jaylee Mead – will be a state-of-the-art theater campus for the presentation of classic and contemporary dramas and musicals. (Rendering by Bing Thom Architects)

2009/2010 Season

THE QUALITY OF LIFE (C)
Jane Anderson
Directed by Lisa Peterson

THE FANTASTICKS (L)
Book and lyrics by Tom Jones
Music by Harvey Schmidt
Directed by Amanda Dehnert

STICK FLY (C)
by Lydia R. Diamond
Directed by Kenny Leon

THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA (C)
Book by Craig Lucas
Music and lyrics by Adam Guettel
Based on the novel by Elizabeth Spencer
Directed by Molly Smith

DUKE ELLINGTON’S SOPHISTICATED LADIES (L)
Concept by Donald McKayle
Based on the music of Duke Ellington
Dance and musical arrangements by Lloyd Mayers
Vocal arrangements by Malcolm Dodds and Lloyd Mayers
Original music direction by Mercer Ellington
Directed by Charles Randolph-Wright
Choreographed by Maurice Hines

R. BUCKMINSTER FULLER: THE HISTORY (AND MYSTERY) OF THE UNIVERSE (C)
Written and directed by D.W. Jacobs

Key:

(A) Performed in the Arena
(renamed The Fichandler Stage in 1992 (F) )
(K) Performed in the Kreeger Theater
(O) Performed in the Old Vat Room
(S) Performed in The Scene Shop
(14&T) Performed at 14th and T downtown theater space