The Festival runs April 1 through 20, 2008. This is a limited engagement. Don't miss your chance to be part of this new comic movement.

"Easily the most funny and original show this year."—The New York Times

The Studio Theatre is proud to bring the internationally acclaimed rainpan 43 to Washington for the first time. Their all wear bowlers was a hit at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and has wowed critics and audiences in England, Italy, Germany, Australia, South Korea and across the United States. The New York Times called it "a singularly inventive and surreal vaudeville act…featuring a constant parade of classic slapstick, elegant pratfalls and rigorous sleight of hand." The clever, comic show follows two silent film clowns who fall out of the movie screen into a haunted theatre. Hilarious and surprising, all wear bowlers was inspired by the work of Samuel Beckett, René Magritte, and Laurel and Hardy. With the purchase of a Festival Pass, audiences will also have the opportunity to see Amnesia Curiosa, an absurd séance set in a nineteenth century operating room, and machines machines machines machines machines machines machines, an exuberant celebration of Rube Goldberg contraptions.

The arrival of rainpan 43 kicks off The Studio Theatre's new Special Events initiative Opening Our Doors. As part of the 30th Anniversary Season, Founding Artistic Director Joy Zinoman is spearheading an exciting initiative: a new direction for The Studio Theatre's popular Special Events Series. Rather than bringing in finished work from the outside, The Studio Theatre is forming artistic partnerships with acclaimed young companies to develop and produce new work of national significance right here in Washington. In June, Opening Our Doors will continue with The Civilians who will be in residence at The Studio Theatre for seven weeks to rehearse and present the World Premiere of their latest work, This Beautiful City.

Trey Lyford is a New York-based theatre artist and Co-Artistic Director of rainpan 43. Along with creating his own work, Lyford is an associate artist with the OBIE Award-winning company, The Civilians. Further credits include HBO Aspen Comedy Fest, Actors Theatre of Louisville, La Jolla Playhouse, Folger Theatre, and London's Gate Theatre. He has created original pieces with Philadelphia's Pig Iron Theatre Company and San Francisco's Joe Goode Performance Group. Lyford has a BA from Vassar College and an MFA from University of California, San Diego.

Geoff Sobelle is a Philadelphia-based theatre artist and Co-Artistic Director of rainpan 43. He is a company member of Pig Iron Theatre Company, with whom he has created and performed both at home and abroad. He received a 2006 Pew Fellowship in the Arts as a performance artist. Sobelle has been nominated for two Barrymore Awards and was named 2004's Best Theatre Artist by Philadelphia Magazine. Sobelle is an accomplished magician, a graduate of Stanford University, and attended L'Ecole Jacque Lecoq in Paris. -- www.studiotheatre.org