It’s July 2000—the Oslo Accords are falling apart, and in Tenleytown, a modern Jewish family is fracturing over what to do with their 14th Street real estate. Their mother has died, their father will need full-time care, and as their adult children debate what do to next, no topic is off limits: American Jews and their relationship to Israel, who’s already given enough to this family, a sibling’s parenting choices. A political and deeply personal play about history, responsibility, and what we’re willing to sacrifice for a new beginning, told with vicious humor and unflinching honesty by Bethesda native Steven Levenson.
Runtime: This performance will run approximately 2 hours and 45 minutes with one 15 minute intermission.
If I Forget is generously underwritten
by Dr. Mark Epstein and Amoretta Hoeber.
Steven Levenson is the Tony Award winning book writer of Dear Evan Hansen. His plays include If I Forget, The Unavoidable Disappearance of Tom Durnin, Core Values, The Language of Trees, and Seven Minutes in Heaven. Honors include the Obie Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, Drama League Award, Drama Desk Nomination, Hull-Warriner Nomination, Lucille Lortel Nomination, and the Helen Hayes Award. A former Artist in Residence at Ars Nova and a member of the Roundabout Leadership Council, he worked for three seasons as a writer and producer on Showtime’s Masters of Sex and is a founding member of Colt Coeur and an alumnus of MCC’s Playwrights Coalition and Ars Nova’s Play Group. His plays are published by Dramatists Play Service and Playscripts. A graduate of Brown University, he is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America, Inc. and the WGA.
(As of June 2018)
Matt Torney is entering his fifth season as Associate Artistic Director at Studio, where he has previously directed If I Forget, Translations, The Hard Problem, MotherStruck!, Hedda Gabler, Jumpers for Goalposts, The New Electric Ballroom, and The Walworth Farce. Prior to his work at Studio, Matt served as the Director of Programming for Origin Theatre in New York, an Off Broadway company that specializes in European new writing. His New York credits include Stop the Tempo and Tiny Dynamite at Origin Theatre (Drama Desk Award nominee), The Twelfth Labor at Loading Dock, The Dudleys at Theatre for the New City, The Angel of History at HERE Arts, and Three Sisters and A Bright Room Called Day at the Atlantic Theatre School. Regional credits include Brighton Beach Memoirs at Theatre J (nominated for two Helen Hayes Awards), Sherlock Holmes and the Crucifer of Blood and Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme at Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre, and Improbable Frequency at Solas Nua (Helen Hayes Award nominee for Best Choreography). International credits include Digging for Fire and Plaza Suite with Rough Magic (National Tour), Angola workshop at the Abbey Theatre, Paisley and Me at the Grand Opera House Belfast, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot at Making Strange (Irish Theatre Award nominee for Best Director), and Woyzeck at Rough Magic (Best Production nominee at the Dublin Fringe Festival). Originally from Belfast, Matt holds an MFA from Columbia University.
(As of August 2019)
Richard Fancy makes his Studio Theatre debut in If I Forget. Other theatre credits include Awake and Sing! (LA Drama Critics Circle Award) and All My Sons at The Odyssey Theatre; Death of a Salesman (LA Drama Critics Circle and Ovation nominations), The Visit, The Master Builder, Ardele, Betrayal, Galileo, Rocket to the Moon, and Julia (also Off Broadway) at Pacific Resident Theatre; and Penelope and Razorback at Rogue Machine, where he is a founding member. He played the role of Roscoe Dexter in Singin’ in the Rain on Broadway, and was in the Off Broadway productions of Kind Lady and Rites of Passage. His extensive TV work includes recurring roles in Seinfeld, General Hospital, The District, and Carnivale. He has also appeared in NCIS, Disney’s The Middle, Mad Men, The Mentalist, The League, Men of a Certain Age, Party Down, Boston Legal, NYPD Blue, Gilmore Girls, The West Wing, and CBS’ Diagnosis: Murder. He studied with Uta Hagen, George Morrison, and Kristin Linklater in New York, at LAMDA in London, and with John Lehne in Los Angeles.
(As of August 2018)
Susan Rome recently appeared in Studio’s production of Hand To God. Other theatre credits include Roz and Ray, The Last Night of Ballyhoo, Brighton Beach Memoirs (Helen Hayes Award), The Sisters Rosensweig, The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife, The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide..., The Argument, After the Revolution (Helen Hayes nomination), The Ride Down Mt. Morgan, and The Last Seder; The Great Society and All the Way at Arena Stage; The Diary of Anne Frank at Olney Theatre Center; After the Revolution, Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike, The Enemy of the People, and the world premiere of Mud Blue Sky at Baltimore Center Stage; The Whale, Las Meninas, and A Shayna Maidel at Rep Stage; Richard III, Macbeth, and All’s Well That Ends Well at Baltimore Shakespeare Festival; The Substance of Fire at the Mark Taper Forum; and The Legacy at Seattle Center Stage. Television and film credits include John Waters’ A Dirty Shame, My One and Only, House of Cards, NYPD Blue, and four seasons as on The Wire.
(As of August 2018)
Jonathan Goldstein makes his Studio Theatre debut in If I Forget. Other theatre credits include Twilight of Schlomo at Elephant Theatre Company; Master of the House, Glass Menagerie, and Picasso at the Lapin Agile at Laguna Playhouse; True West at Deaf West; Sylvia at South Bay Civic Light Opera; Zoo District's productions of The Master & Margarita at Hudson Theatre and The Hostage at Art Share LA; I Hate Hamlet at Fulton Opera House; Very, Very Serious Plays at Goodman Studio Theatre; Fallen Angel at Circle in the Square Downtown; Ghosts and The Co-Op at La Mamma Annex; and Dangerous Corner, A Pound of Flesh, Fatty Arbuckle Spookhouse Review for Sacred Fools Theatre Company. Jonathan's television work includes roles in Drake & Josh (series regular),The Riches (recurring), The Starter Wife (recurring), Lucifer, Fear the Walking Dead, The Middle, SWAT, The Young & the Restless, Workaholics, Perception, The Defenders, CSI: New York, Criminal Minds, Parks & Recreation, Private Practice, Heroes, House of Lies, Party Down, Californication, The West Wing, Without a Trace, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Misfits, Once and Again, and Wasteland.
(As of August 2018)
Robin Abramson makes her Studio Theatre debut in If I Forget. Abramson most recently starred as Joy Davidman in Shadowlands in a critically acclaimed Off Broadway run on Theatre Row in New York City. Other theatre credits include Heisenberg and Othello at the Pittsburgh Public Theater; The Last Match, Maple and Vine, Blackbird, Time Stands Still, Mary’s Wedding, Elemeno Pea, and Hope and Gravity at Pittsburgh City Theatre; You Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up! at Denver Center; Tribes at Philadelphia Theatre Company; The Electric Baby, Twelfth Night, and When the Rain Stops Falling at Quantum Theatre; Tammy Ryan’s FBI GIRL; and As You Like It at Jerusalem Theatre.
(As of August 2018)
Julie-Ann Elliott previously appeared in Chimerica and Superior Donuts at Studio Theatre. Select credits include Marjorie Prime, The Tempest, Angel Street, Dinner with Friends, The Constant Wife, The Millionairess, Hedda Gabler, The Mousetrap, Blithe Spirit, Tartuffe, and Trip to Bountiful at Olney Theatre, where she is an Artistic Associate. Elsewhere in the DC/Baltimore area, she has performed with Center Stage, Everyman Theatre, Folger Theatre, The Kennedy Center, Metro Stage, Potomac Theatre Project, Rep Stage, Round House Theatre, The Shakespeare Theatre Company, Theater J, and Washington Stage Guild. Her television/film credits include Veep, Jamesy Boy and Really Love. Ms. Elliott is a Senior Adjunct of Acting at Howard Community College and narrates books for Potomac Talking Book Services, Inc. She holds an M.F.A. in Acting from The Catholic University of America.
(As of August 2018)
Paul Morella has appeared at Studio Theatre in Chimerica, Two Sisters and a Piano, Conversations With My Father, Imagine Drowning, North Shore Fish, and Romeo and Juliet. Other theatre credits include Orpheus Descending and All My Sons at Arena Stage; Richard III and Macbeth at the Folger Theatre; Angels in America (Helen Hayes Award nomination) and God of Carnage at Signature Theatre; The Crucible, Rabbit Hole (Helen Hayes Award nomination), The Diary of Anne Frank, and Awake and Sing at Olney Theatre, as well as extensive work with Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Theater J, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Round House, Everyman Theatre, and the Kennedy Center. He appeared as George Deever in the L.A. Theatre Works production of All My Sons (with Julie Harris and James Farentino), as well as Joe Cantwell in The Best Man (with Fred Thompson and Marsha Mason). In November, his acclaimed one-person adaptation of A Christmas Carol returns to Olney Theatre for its 10th season.
(As of August 2018)
Joshua Otten makes his Studio Theatre debut with If I Forget. Other theatre credits include Carousel at Arena Stage; The Secret Garden at Center Stage; A Christmas Carol at Ford’s Theatre; and Gypsy, Les Misérables, The Sound of Music, Phantom, Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, and Hello, Dolly! at Riverside Center. Otten was selected by Maestro Loren Maazel to perform as the boy soprano soloist for the 2014 Castleton Festival. Television appearances include Evil Twins on Investigation Discovery, TURN on AMC, and The Men Who Built America on The History Channel. Otten is a high school senior and honor student.
(As of August 2018)
Helen Huang designs her 29th production at Studio with White Pearl. Her regional credits include Alice in Wonderland at Oregon Shakespeare Festival; The Great Leap at Guthrie Theater; Matilda the Musical at The Children’s Theatre, Minneapolis; and Miss Bennet and Christmas at Pemberley at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. DC area credits include JQA at Arena Stage; A Doll’s House, Part 2 at Roundhouse; Fences at Ford’s Theatre; Me…Jane at The Kennedy Center; and Fickle: A Fancy French Farce at Olney Theatre Center. She has received a Helen Hayes Award and an Ivey Award. Helen is a professor of MFA Costume Design at University of Maryland, College Park.
(As of October 2019)
Michael Giannitti was Resident Lighting Designer at Studio Theatre from 2006-2010; since 1991 he has designed 45 productions at Studio, including The Hard Problem, Jumpers For Goalposts, Water by the Spoonful, The New Electric Ballroom, American Buffalo, Reasons to Be Pretty, Rock ‘n’ Roll, The Pillowman, and Seven Guitars (Helen Hayes Award nomination). He designed lighting for the Broadway premiere of August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone. His Off Broadway credits include Cross That River and Sounding Beckett. He has designed extensively for Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Dorset Theatre Festival, Capital Rep, Trinity Rep, Shakespeare & Company, and the Weston Playhouse. Giannitti has also designed for Arkansas Rep, Barrington Stage, Chautauqua Theatre Company, Virginia Stage, Indiana Rep, Portland Stage, George Street, Yale Repertory Theatre, Olney Theatre Center, and the Spoleto Festival. He has been on the faculty at Bennington College in Vermont since 1992. As a Fulbright Specialist, he taught in Romania and New Zealand, and has been a guest lecturer at the Guangxi Arts Institute in China.
(As of August 2018)
Allie Roy returns to Studio after last stage managing If I Forget. Other Studio credits include Translations, Curve of Departure, Straight White Men, Murder Ballad, Silence! The Musical, and the world premiere of Animal for the Women’s Voices Theater Festival. Regional credits include West Side Story in concert with the NSO as well as Love, Factually at The Kennedy Center; the world premieres of Mrs. Miller Does Her Thing and Diner as well as The Scottsboro Boys, West Side Story, and Elmer Gantry at Signature Theatre; the world premiere of After the War as well as When January Feels Like Summer and Ulysses on Bottles at Mosaic Theater Company; and The Originalist at Arena Stage. Upcoming regional projects include Grand Hotel at Signature Theatre and Describe the Night at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company.
(As of January 2019)
Lauren Halvorsen is in her ninth season as Studio’s Associate Literary Director. Her dramaturgy credits here include Doubt, P.Y.G. or the Mis-Edumacation of Dorian Belle, Admissions, Kings, If I Forget, Vietgone, The Wolves, Skeleton Crew, The Father, Three Sisters, The Hard Problem, Hand to God, Moment, Between Riverside and Crazy, Chimerica, The Wolfe Twins, Belleville, Water by the Spoonful, Tribes, The Real Thing, The Motherfucker with the Hat, The Aliens, Bachelorette, The Big Meal, and Time Stands Still. Previously, Lauren spent three seasons as Literary Manager of The Alley Theatre. She was the Artistic Associate of the WordBRIDGE Playwrights Laboratory for six years and has worked in various artistic capacities for The Kennedy Center, City Theatre Company, Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, First Person Arts Festival, and The Wilma Theater. Lauren is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College.
(As of December 2019)
Nick Kourtides designs for musical theatre and creates sound environments for devised ensemble works. He returns to Studio after previously designing The Object Lesson. His Off Broadway designs include The Lucky Ones at Ars Nova, The Object Lesson at New York Theatre Workshop and BAM, Carson McCullers Talks About Love at Rattlestick, Elephant Room at St. Ann’s Warehouse, and Jomama Jones: Radiate at Soho Repertory Theatre. Kourtides’s work with Pig Iron Theatre Company includes A Period of Animate Existence, Cankerblossom, Isabella, Chekhov Lizardbrain, and Mission to Mercury. Recently, he designed The Waves at New York Stage and Film, Lady Day… at Actors Theatre, and several projects at McCarter, the Wilma, and Center Theatre Group. Kourtides’s site-specific designs include This is Reading with Lynn Nottage and Kate Whoriskey, Lost in the Meadow with PearlDamour, and several installations for the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts.
(As of August 2018)
Debra Booth is Director of Design at Studio Theatre, where she has designed If I Forget, Translations, The Wolves, The Father, The Hard Problem, Moment, Constellations, The Apple Family Cycle, Jumpers for Goalposts, Belleville, Cock, Edgar & Annabel, Bachelorette, Moonlight, Blackbird, My Children! My Africa!, The Pillowman, and many others. Her international work includes premiere opera Marco Polo (Tan Dun/Martha Clarke) in Munich, Hong Kong, and New York. Regionally, Debra’s credits include Small Mouth Sounds at Round House Theatre; Richard III, The Collection, and The Lover at the Shakespeare Theatre Company; Marisol at Hartford Stage and The Public Theatre; Trying, The Illusion, and Happy Days at Portland Stage Company; the New York premiere of Angels in America at The Juilliard School; Broken Glass at Philadelphia Theatre Company (Barrymore Award nomination); and Moon for the Misbegotten at Yale Repertory Theatre. Debra is the recipient of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Artist Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts Design Grant, and a graduate of the Yale School of Drama.
(As of October 2019)
