Studio 2nd Stage Presents 'Breath, Boom'

This will be the Washington premiere of the work of playwright Kia Corthron, an important voice in contemporary African-American theatre whose work has never seen a full production in DC. Emerging talent Rahaleh Nassri directs a young, dynamic, and multi-ethnic cast of 12 women and 1 man, featuring powerhouse performer Roxi Trapp-Dukes as Prix. Breath, Boom runs December 13, 2007 – January 6, 2008.

Kia Corthron was born in Cumberland, Maryland, and has lived in New York City for over 18 years. Breath, Boom was originally commissioned and produced by the Royal Court Theatre in London, and it had its New York premiere at Playwrights Horizons. Corthron’s many plays, including Seeking the Genesis, Splash Hatch on the E Going Down, Force Continuum, Digging Eleven and Light Raise the Roof have been produced across the United States, in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Baltimore, Minneapolis and elsewhere.

Her work has dealt with issues from police brutality to homelessness, from sweatshops to Wal-Mart, from health insurance to human cloning. In addition to her university teaching, she has taught in venues for incarcerated women and the high school for incarcerated girls on NYC's Riker's Island. In 2004, a commission from Minneapolis’ Guthrie Theatre took Corthron to Liberia, which was just emerging from a brutal civil war. Her latest play, Tap the Leopard, chronicles the historical relationship of the US and Liberia over 200 years. Tap the Leopard will be workshopped at the New York Theatre Workshop in December 2007.

Rahaleh Nassri was born in Tehran, Iran. She speaks four languages and prior to her current life in the theatre spent four years as a press officer at the French Embassy in Washington, DC.
She is an artistic partner with Rorschach Theatre, where she will direct Thornton Wilder’s The Skin of Our Teeth in February 2008. With Rorschach, she has also directed A Bright Room Called Day and Family Stories, and she Co-directed on Dog Sees God at The Studio 2ndStage. Nassri is also an accomplished actress; her recent credits include Washington Shakespeare Company’s Caligula and A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Theater J’s The Disputation and Hannah and Martin. She holds a BA in International Affairs from GWU and an MFA in Classical Acting from the Shakespeare Theatre Company. She is currently working on a documentary about the lives of ordinary women in Tehran.

Roxy Trapp-Dukes is a native Washingtonian. After graduating from high school at the North Carolina School of the Arts, she went on to receive a BFA in Theatre from Howard University in 2004. She has appeared at both the DC and NY Hip Hop Theatre Festivals, as well as regionally in Gutta Beautiful at Woolly Mammoth and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Folger Theatre.

She is also a dance choreographer and author who was awarded the 2005 Young Artist Grant from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities to produce a series of her written works. The series, entitled A Woman’s Liberation, debuted at the Flashpoint Mead Theater in November of 2005.

Featuring: Roxi Trapp-Dukes (Prix) with Shannon Dorsey (Shondra/Pepper), Juliana Edeke (Angel), Nicki Gonzales (Denise), Tiffany Jillian Green (Malika/Socks), Tonya Upshur Hartwell (Jo), Stefanee Martin (Girl), Monique Paige (Mother), Lanett Proctor (Jupiter), Natasha Rothwell (Comet), Theodore Snead (Jerome), Ashley Ware (Cat) and Abby Wood (Fuego).

Director and Designers: Rahaleh Nassri (Director), Victoria Murray (Assistant Director), Eric Van Wyk (Setting), Harold Burgess (Lighting), Brandee Mathies (Costumes) and Erik Trester (Sound). -- www.studiotheatre.org