 Johnson with Cristina Bejan and BIB Board Member | "I was born in Southeast, Washington, DC and raised in PG county and have seen the gradual changes the city has undergone. So, I watched DISTRICTLAND first as that lone Black native from the DMV and second as a GW grad who suffered through the happy hours and networking meetings that many of the characters in the story did. " |
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On Tuesday evening the cast of DISTRICTLAND performed to their third sold-out crowd of the Fringe Festival. By Thursday, with our Saturday matinee nearly at capacity, the Fringe Festival asked the DISTRICTLAND team to add an additional performance to the Festival. We’re delighted and honored to share that DISTRICTLAND will be performed Saturday, June 26th at 8:30pm at the Mountain – Mount Vernon United Methodist Church, 900 Massachusetts Ave, NW. Tickets to recently added show are available here. DISTRICTLAND has three remaining performances scheduled in Capital Fringe’s Redrum Venue. Remember to purchase tickets before they sell out!
 The DISTRICTLAND Team  Bejan and DISTRICTLAND director John Dellaporta Excitement still abounds in DISTRICTLAND. We performed for our second sold-out house on Sunday and woke up Monday morning to a review in the Washington Post! The Post called DISTRICTLAND “hilariously and painfully true”, writing:
“In its best moments, “Districtland” hilariously taps into the kinds of D.C. experiences that only a Washingtonian will understand: Frank furiously and unsuccessfully tapping and retapping his SmarTrip card, Charity proclaiming “I curse the day they put Internet on phones,” Dave’s aggressively schmoozy girlfriend constantly asking, “So, what do you do?” These are the moments that will have audience members with tears in their eyes — either because they’re laughing so hard, or because it’s all a bit too real.” Following the incredible opening of the play and subsequent positive reviews, I asked playwright Cristina Bejan to reflect on what it all means to her: “Being reviewed by the Washington Post is a milestone for me as an artist. Up until now, my creative work has mainly been covered in Romania (interviews on Romanian national TV, radio, and the national newspaper Evenimentul Zilei). Romanian by heritage, I was born in the USA and grew up going to the Kennedy Center. And very recently I decided to make Washington DC my artistic homebase. “When I first moved to DC from Bucharest in 2009, I absolutely hated it. The "What do you do?" chorus and DC-CV building treadmill stressed me out. I missed sitting in Romanian cafes and collaborating on plays with movie stars and university students. DISTRICTLAND came out of that utter bewilderment and love. The play is an attempt to interpret a reality that at first seemed utterly bizarre. “But Ionesco thought that a foreign language (English) lesson was bizarre - so he wrote a play about it. Caragiale sat in Bucharest cafes such as Caru cu Bere and wrote down what he heard, producing some of the most entertaining local comedy in Europe. Theatre of the Absurd is a genre familiar to the Romanian playwright and I am honored to bring that tradition to the Capital Fringe Festival. “I can honestly say that our production of DISTRICTLAND has made me happy. Collaborating with such brilliant and daring theatre artists has made me fall hard in love with the District. Performing to sold-out houses and being reviewed by one of the most distinguished newspapers in the world is proof that dreams do come true. I never thought I'd say this but I am proud and honored to be a Washingtonian.” Remember to buy tickets to DISTRICTLAND before they sell out! DISTRICTLAND Opens to a Sold-Out House, Is Named "Best of Capital Fringe" by DC Metro Theater Arts7/13/2014 It's been an exciting weekend in DISTRICTLAND. We opened Friday night to a sold-out crowd and received our first review, which labelled the production one of the "Best of Capital Fringe". The cast and crew are delighted by our first audience's response to the play and we're looking forward to five more performances of DISTRICTLAND! DISTRICTLAND will be performed in Fort Fringe's Redrum venue at the following times: July 13th @ 8pm July 16th @ 6:30pm July 19th @ 2:15 pm July 23rd @ 9pm July 27th @ 6:15pm If you haven't already, be sure to buy your tickets now -- this is a show you don't want to miss! In the meantime, check out some stills of DISTRICTLAND in action!  Don't forget to compost! Charity (Ruthie Rado) is DISTRICTLAND'S very own poetry-composing, bisexual, indigenous rights advocate and former Peace Corps volunteer who rises with the sun.
Stranded in DC by a development economist she picked up in the South Pacific, she's just trying to get her high school best friend and housemate, Maria, to talk to her. And don’t you dare try to throw your food waste in the trash can in front of charity – she’s serious about composting. The actress who brings Charity to life, Ruthie Rado, is a performer from the DC area. Ruthie’s recent credits include: Tragedy Averted and Hello, You Assholes at Capitol Fringe 2013; Hedda Gabler in Hedda Gabler with Mason Players; and Afterward, a Series of Ten Minute Plays with the Source Festival 2013. Ruthie is also a freelance photographer and graphic designer. DISTRICTLAND opens on Friday, July 11th. If you haven't already, purchase tickets here.  Maria (Aaren Keith) is your Cuban-American powerhouse Rhodes scholar at the State Department who can't wait to go to Yale Law School. But, rest assured, she is not uptight nor is she on her iPhone all the time.
She's in love with a terribly handsome Indian dude at the IMF and she is no domestic goddess. The actress behind Maria, Aaren Keith, is a Savannah, GA native, who moved to DC after graduating with her BFA in 2012. She has been performing in the area since. Aaren was last seen in The Rocky Horror Show at Studio Theatre as well as Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson the summer before. She is currently studying at the Studio Theatre Acting Conservatory & is looking forward to an exciting summer with Fringe! We're going to be introducing you to DISTRICTLAND characters all week -- stay tuned! If you haven't already, purchase tickets to DISTRICTLAND here. |
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