 | This article contains promotional content .(March 2017) |
 Theatre Logo | |
| Formation | 1978 |
|---|---|
| Type | Theatre group |
| Location |
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Artistic director(s) | Ryan Rilette |
| Website | www |
Round House Theatre is an American professional theater company located in Bethesda, Maryland. Founded in 1978, it operates as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. The theater produces contemporary plays and classic works, with a focus on American playwrights.
Round House began in 1970 as “Street ’70”, a program by the Montgomery County Department of Recreation that provided educational outreach in the schools and performances throughout the county. In 1977, the company moved to the Round House Theatre, located in the former Bushey Drive Elementary School in Silver Spring, MD. [1] In 2002 the theater moved to a brand new facility in downtown Bethesda, which was a significant upgrade. [2]
In 1982, the company was incorporated as a nonprofit under the name "Round House". The company remained a part of the County’s Department of Recreation until 1993, when it became a separate and independent professional theater group. [3]
Round House presents a combination of modern classics, new plays, and musicals for approximately 55,000 guests each year. [4] Round House has been nominated for 181 Helen Hayes Awards and has won 39. [5] Round House has also been honored for four consecutive years with the 50/50 Applause Award from the International Center for Women Playwrights. [6]
Round House’s educational programs serve more than 3,000 students at its Education Center in Silver Spring and other schools in Montgomery County. These programs include theatre classes for adults and youth, summer programs for grades K–12, and a teen performance company run by high school students. Round House also organizes Free Play, a program that allows teenagers and college students to attend theatre shows for free. [7]
Round House is a member of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT) and the League of Washington Theatres (LOWT). The theatre is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization, with major support from Montgomery County, the Maryland State Arts Council, and the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County.
Olney is a census-designated place and an unincorporated area in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It is located in the north central part of the county, ten miles (16 km) north of Washington, D.C.
Anthony Robert Kushner is an American author, playwright, and screenwriter. Among his stage work, he is most known for Angels in America, which earned a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award, as well as its subsequent acclaimed HBO miniseries of the same name. At the turn of the 21st century, he became known for his numerous film collaborations with Steven Spielberg. He received the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama in 2013. Kushner is among the few playwrights in history nominated for an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Award.
Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes is a 1991 American two-part play by American playwright Tony Kushner. The two parts of the play, Millennium Approaches and Perestroika, may be presented separately. The work won numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the Tony Award for Best Play, and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play. Part one of the play premiered in 1991, followed by part two in 1992. Its Broadway opening was in 1993.
Located in Olney, Maryland, the Olney Theatre Center offers a diverse array of professional productions year-round that enrich, nurture, and challenge a broad range of artists, audiences and students. One of the two official state theaters of Maryland, Olney Theatre Center is situated on 14 acres (57,000 m2) in the middle of the Washington–Baltimore–Frederick "triangle." There are three indoor venues: the Historic Theatre, the Roberts Mainstage, and the Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab. There is also an outdoor venue, the Root Family Stage at Omi’s Pavilion.
Arena Stage is a not-for-profit regional theater based in Southwest, Washington, D.C. Established in 1950, it was the first racially integrated theater in Washington, D.C., and its founders helped start the U.S. regional theater movement. Its theater complex was completed for the company in 2010; it is called The Mead Center for American Theater.
Caroline, or Change is a musical with music by Jeanine Tesori and lyrics and book by Tony Kushner. The score combines spirituals, blues, Motown, classical music, and Jewish klezmer and folk music.
David Esbjornson is a director and producer who has worked throughout the United States in regional theatres and on Broadway, and has established strong and productive relationships with some of the profession's top playwrights, actors, and companies. Esbjornson was the artistic director of Seattle Repertory Theatre in Seattle, Washington, but left that position in summer 2008.
Signature Theatre is a Tony Award-winning regional theater company based in Arlington, Virginia.
Westfield Montgomery is a shopping mall in Bethesda, Maryland. Major tenants include Macy's, Macy's Home, and Nordstrom, as well as specialty brands such as Fabletics, Madewell, Vineyard Vines, and Untuckit.
The Writer's Center, founded in 1976, is an independent literary center that is housed in a 12,200-square-foot facility in the arts and entertainment district of Bethesda, Maryland. The organization consists of approximately 2,500 writers, editors, small press publishers and other artists who support each other in the creation and marketing of literary texts. The Writer's Center offers workshops, hosts readings and literary events, and maintains a community of writers, workshop leaders, publishers and audiences for contemporary writing at its Bethesda headquarters as well as in Leesburg, Virginia, Arlington, Virginia, and at other locations around the greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.
Ari Roth is an American theatrical producer, playwright, director and educator. From 2014 to 2020 Roth served as the Artistic Director of Mosaic Theater Company of DC and was formerly the Artistic Director of Theater J at the Washington, D.C. Jewish Community Center from 1997 to 2014. Over 18 seasons at Theater J, he produced more than 129 productions and created festivals including "Locally Grown: Community Supported Art," "Voices from a Changing Middle East", and Theater J's acclaimed "Beyond The Stage" and "Artistic Director's Roundtable" series. In 2010, Roth was named as one of the Forward 50, honoring nationally prominent "men and women who are leading the American Jewish community into the 21st century, and in 2017 he was given the DC Mayor's Arts Award for Visionary Leadership. In 2021, Roth launched a new partnership with A. Lorraine Robinson, founding Voices Festival Productions, to be the new home for his long-running "Voices From a Changing Middle East Festival." Their first public event was a virtual benefit in support of "Ukrainian Playwrights Under Siege" in partnership with the Arts Club of Washington.
Young Playwrights' Theater (YPT) is a not-for-profit theater arts-based education organization in Northwest Washington, D.C. It provides interactive in-school and after-school programs presenting and discussing student-written work to promote community dialogue and respect for young artists.
Willy Conley is an American deaf photographer, playwright, actor and writer.
Lauren Gunderson is an American playwright, screenwriter, and short story author, born in Atlanta. She lives in San Francisco, where she teaches playwriting. Gunderson was recognized by American Theatre magazine as America's most produced living playwright at Theatre Communications Group member theaters in 2017, and again in 2019–20.
Jared Mezzocchi is an American theatre director and projection designer.
Karen Zacarías is an American playwright. She is known for her play Mariela in the Desert. It was the winner of the National Latino Playwriting Award and a finalist for other prizes. Mariela in the Desert was debuted at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. Zacarías is the founder of the Young Playwrights' Theater located in Washington, D.C.
Columbia Center for Theatrical Arts (CCTA) is a Greater Washington D.C. Area regional theater school based in Columbia, Maryland. CCTA is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that is funded, in part, by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Maryland State Arts Council, and the Howard County Arts Council from Howard County, Maryland.
Michael J. Bobbitt is an American playwright, director, choreographer, and performing arts leader based in Boston. He will become executive director of the Massachusetts Cultural Council on February 1, 2021. Bobbitt was the artistic director of Adventure Theatre-MTC, the longest-running children's theater in the Washington metropolitan area, for 12 years before becoming artistic director of the New Repertory Theatre in greater Boston on August 1, 2019. Bobbitt's work has been recognized frequently as both a nominee and a recipient of the annual Helen Hayes Awards for excellence in theater.
