A Look Back at Winter Words Past

We're excited to confirm that Winter Words 2021 is a (virtual) go! To celebrate, let's take a look back at some of the readings we've enjoyed over the past six seasons.

2015

APT's inaugural season of Winter Words showed us just how game our audience is to explore new plays with us. At the time, Artistic Director Brenda DeVita said, "We’re constantly in search of stories that fit and expand our mission and our company, and it is extremely helpful to hear the more promising ones read out loud by APT actors. We’re so excited to invite our amazing audience to join us in this part of the journey.”

The readings began with Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl, directed by James Ridge and featuring Kelsey Brennan as Eurydice; Brian Mani as Eurydice’s Father and Nate Burger as Orpheus, as well as Colleen Madden, Robert R. Doyle, Nicole Tilford and Carissa Dixon. It feels like a kind of synergy that the very first Winter Words play reading was also the first to make its way to a full production in the Touchstone in 2016 (photo above, featuring Cage Sebastian Pierre and Kelsey Brennan).

Also in 2015
Red Velvet | By Lolita Chakrabarti | Directed by Brenda DeVita
Elizabeth Rex | By Timothy Findley | Directed by Tracy Michelle Arnold
Stupid Fu##ing Bird | By Aaron Posner | Directed by Hannah Greene

2016

Winter Words 2016 kicked of in January with Griselda Gabaro’s visceral Antigona Furiosa, directed by Jim DeVita. An abstract and artful retelling of the Greek myth of Antigone, set in the context of Argentina’s Dirty War of the 1970s, which saw thousands of people murdered or disappeared by the Argentine Military Government, featuring Melisa Pereyra, Danny Martinez and David Daniel.

Also in 2016
Death and the King’s Horseman | By Wole Soyinka | Directed by Nabra Nelson
Way of the World | By William Congreve | Directed by Robert Ramirez
Trifles by Susan Glaspell and Fog by Eugene O’Neill | Directed by Marie Kohler

2017

Slow Dance on the Killing Ground, William Hanley’s award-winning heartbreaker started the 2017 pre-season off with a bang, and a whimper. Directed by Ron O.J. Parson, and featuring Melisa Pereyra, Cage Sebastian Pierre and Jonathan Smoots. A rich and layered heartbreaker, that prompted the New York Times to say about the playwright “Mr. Hanley writes with richness of imagination and with penetration into the heart.”

Also in 2017
Helen | By Ellen McLoughlin | Directed by Katie Burris
The Rover | By Aphra Behn | Directed by Jim DeVita
Return of the Prodigal | By St. John Hankin | Directed by James Ridge

2018

Based on the life of George Bryan "Beau" Brummell, who took the London social scene by storm when he befriended the prince regent George IV. Clyde Fitch's Beau Brummel directed by James Ridge, explores Beau's character as a man who carries a superficial charm to all his relationships - romantic and otherwise. But his casual charisma masks something deeper; some of it vapid, some generous and some maybe not so much. A whirlwind of wit, romance and meticulous fashion that pays tribute to the man who inspired dandyism. Featuring Eric Schabla, Marcus Truschinski, Gavin Lawrence, Casey Hoekstra, John Taylor Philips, Jonathan Gillard Daly, Alejandro Cordoba, Michael Huftile, Robert R. Doyle, Sarah Day, Elizabeth Reese, Tracy Michelle Arnold, Andrea San Miguel, Jeri Marshall, Kelsey Brennan

Also in 2018
The River Bride | By Marisela Treviño Orta | Directed by Robert Ramirez
The Penelopiad I By Margaret Atwood | Directed by Ameenah Kaplan
Knives in Hens | By David Harrower | Directed by Brenda DeVita

2019

The 2019 Winter Words season started with Jen Silverman's The Moors, a play the New York Times called “…the reason we go to theater.” Directed by Keira Fromm, a young governess arrives at a remote manor after exchanging semi-romantic correspondence with Mr. Branwell. But when the door opens, the only residents of the house seem to be Branwell's two sisters, a maid (or maybe two maids?) and a lovelorn mastiff. And no man to be found, or child to be cared for. An inspired and whimsical story based on the works and lives of the Brontë sisters. Featuring: Marcus Truschinski, Tracy Michelle Arnold, Colleen Madden, Kelsey Brennan, Emjoy Gavino and Aurora Real de Asua.

Also in 2019
Emilie: La Marquise du Chatelet Defends her Life Tonight | By Lauren Gunderson Directed by Sophiyaa Nayar
The Brothers Size | By Terrell Alvin McCraney Directed by Gavin Lawrence
Mother of the Maid | By Jane Anderson Directed by Peter G. Andersen

2020

Ah, 2020. The year when all of our expectations were turned upside-down. And yet, the Winter Words season started just as usual with Helen Edmundson’s adaptation of the beloved Tolstoy novel, Anna Karenina. Directed by Laura Gordon, the audience joined the conveniently married Anna as she meets the dashing Count Vronsky, and falls into a torrid romance that threatens to burn Anna’s family life to the ground. Featuring Laura Rook as Anna, as well as Christine Weber, Colleen Madden, Todd Denning, Jeb Burris, Marcus Truschinski, Nate Burger, Melisa Pereyra and Tracy Michelle Arnold.

Also in 2020
Anna in the Tropics | By Nilo Cruz | Directed by Melisa Pereyra
London Wall | By John Van Druten | Directed by Leia Squillace

On the schedule in 2020, but not produced:
Agamemnon | By Aeschylus | Adapted by Simon Scardifield | Directed by David Daniel