NESTing it

While we've been busy working on the new building and the upcoming musicals MY FAIR LADY and INTO THE WOODS, we’ve also been ramping up for our plays next season. We did a whole new thing with our season by deciding to focus on young British female writers. It's going to be very exciting to premiere Sarah Kane's CRAVE in The ARK Theatre, our 99-seat black box space in the new building. The script is so emotionally raw and powerful and Jeremy Skidmore’s directing. He’s the artistic director of Theatre Alliance in DC and I'm thrilled he's making his Signature debut. Our other play is the world premiere of NEST by Bathsaba Doran. Bash, as I love to call her, has a new voice for the theater and I'm excited about her tackling this project. We met in NYC while she was a playwright-in-residence at Juilliard and kicked around ideas for developing a script together. A woman by the name of Susanna Cox has always rolled around in my head as a fascinating starting point for a play. She was an Amish girl accused of infanticide in Berks County, Pennsylvania where I grew up. Bash took the idea and ran with it. Well, drove with it actually! She just completed a week long journey into the rolling hills of Pennsylvania to meet with Amish and Mennonite communities. She saw Susanna's farmhouse and the area where she committed the crime. All of this was done to aid Bash in the creation of this unique story. Danny Goldstein is directing. We've definitely put a lot of thought into the selection of the plays this coming season and I think they’ll be our best ever — they’re sure to make for plenty of great conversation.

—ES