Studio Theatre Welcomes Paula Vogel's Mother Play: A Play in Five Evictions

Studio Theatre is set to bring audiences a deeply personal and darkly comic journey through four decades of family dysfunction when Paula Vogel's "Mother Play: A Play in Five Evictions" opens November 21 in the Mead Theatre. Running through December 21, this marks the second production of Studio Theatre's season and features the return of a beloved DC performer in a role that recently captivated Broadway audiences.

Mother Play: A Play in Five Evictions at Studio Theatre

Written by Pulitzer Prize-winner Paula Vogel, a Washington, DC native best known for "How I Learned to Drive," "Mother Play" offers an unflinching yet surprisingly tender look at family survival. The semi-autobiographical work traces 40 years in the lives of the dysfunctional family at its center, beginning in 1962 when siblings Martha and Carl are barely teenagers experiencing their first eviction alongside their glamorous, demanding, and alcoholic mother, Phyllis.

The family's odyssey takes audiences through the DC suburbs from one roach-infested apartment to another, spanning from the Sexual Revolution through the Disco Era and into the New Age movement of the 1990s. Despite its heavy subject matter-exploring themes of addiction, sexuality, and family trauma-the play is described as "very funny" and "wry, savage, and surprisingly tender."

Leading the production is Kate Eastwood Norris, who will portray Phyllis, the play's complex matriarch. This challenging role was originated on Broadway by Jessica Lange, making Norris's interpretation highly anticipated. Norris is no stranger to the Studio Theatre stage, having charmed audiences last season in "Summer, 1976," a nostalgic two-woman comedy that showcased her ability to bring warmth and authenticity to period pieces.

In "Mother Play," Norris will once again transport audiences to a bygone era, though this time the journey spans multiple decades and explores much darker emotional territory as her character navigates motherhood, addiction, and the changing social landscape of America from the swinging sixties onward.

"Mother Play: A Play in Five Evictions" comes to Studio Theatre following its successful Broadway run, where it garnered attention for Vogel's masterful blend of humor and heartbreak. The play functions as both an exorcism of painful family memories and a ritual of forgiveness, examining how families endure despite-or perhaps because of-their deepest flaws.

For DC theatergoers, the production offers a unique opportunity to experience a work by one of the area's most celebrated playwrights in an intimate setting. Vogel's connection to the region adds an extra layer of resonance to the story's DC suburban setting.
Performance Details

"Mother Play: A Play in Five Evictions" runs November 21 through December 21 at Studio Theatre's Mead Theatre, located at 1501 14th Street NW in Washington, DC. The production promises to deliver the kind of provocative, emotionally complex theater that Studio Theatre audiences have come to expect, wrapped in Vogel's signature blend of wit and unflinching honesty about the American family experience.