0 3 min 8 mths

The world premiere of Problems Between Sisters, the incendiary new play by New York Times best-selling author Julia May Jonas, will debut in May at Studio Theatre with a cast of four extraordinary actresses: Annie Fox, Stephanie Janssen, Maya Jackson, and Nancy Robinette.

Studio-commissioned director Sivan Battat will helm this hilarious and brutal new comedy from the author of the widely lauded best-selling novel Vladimir.  

Sisters Jess (a visual artist) and Rory (a con artist) have exactly one thing in common: they’re both eight months pregnant. Then Rory turns up at the remote cabin where Jess has holed up to finish her long-awaited solo show, igniting the sisters’ long-held resentments into a conflagration that will change them both.

This exciting premiere is a part of Jonas’s five-play ALTAS cycle (“All Long True American Stories”), in which she reimagines canonical 20th-century American male-experience plays as they’d be experienced by other people, mostly women. Problems Between Sisters offers a response to True West, Sam Shepard’s surreal psychodrama about brothers with problems, with a funny and ruthless take on domestication, creativity, and the elusive demands of the Primal Female.

“Julia May Jonas is the real deal,” says Artistic Director David Muse. “She’s fearless and imaginative, scavenging Sam Shepard’s iconic Cain and Abel story with swagger and insight. I’m thrilled to premiere the first of her ALTAS cycle, and I’m so pleased to welcome director Sivan Battat (Heroes of the Fourth Turning) back to Studio, where they began their career as a Directing Apprentice. Sivan’s assembled a design team who will deliver the surreal pleasures of this play with ingenuity and rigor.”

General Info 

Date: Performances start May 8

Location: Studio Theatre, 1501 14th St. NW, Washington, DC

Cost: $40-$95 (discounts available)

Appropriate audience age: 13+ (strong language and adult themes)

Parking: Studio Theatre does not have its own parking garage; however we do have parking partnerships with both Spot Hero and the Washington Plaza Hotel. More info on the Studio website (https://www.studiotheatre.org/visit/directions-and-parking).

Buy tickets link: https://www.studiotheatre.org/buy/tickets/problems-between-sisters

About The Author