Dance Nation
By Clare Barron
Directed by Heather Ostberg Johnson
May 10–May 25, 2024
Location to be determined
Somewhere in America, an army of pre-teen competitive dancers plots to take over the world. But more is at stake than a first-place trophy: puberty, friendship, rivalry, and girls becoming women, to be exact. Fangs come out as the competition heats up, and the blood, sweat, and tears get very real. Portrayed by adult actors of all ages, these adolescent girls (and one boy) struggle with their tween confusion—and their future adult selves. A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, Dance Nation is a play about ambition, growing up, and how to find our souls in the heat of it all.
The Experience
OpenStage Theatre’s etcetera Season is raw, real, honest, and intimate cutting-edge theatre in non-traditional spaces. With the actors only a few feet away audience members are drawn deeply into the action of the play, creating a powerful and unforgettable experience. Be prepared for a moving, intimate experience that will leave you thinking and feeling long after the lights come up.
The location of Dance Nation will be determined soon.
Have you unsubscribed from our mailing list in the past? Resubscribe here to stay up to date on shows and information!
By purchasing tickets to one of our performances, you will be automatically added to our mailing list so that we are able to reach you regarding important information prior to the show and future productions.
The Creator
Clare Barron is a playwright and performer from Wenatchee, Washington. Her play Dance Nation recently received its world premiere at Playwrights Horizons in May 2018 and subsequently its UK premiere at the Almeida Theatre in London. It was a 2019 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama and is the recipient of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and The Relentless Award established in honor of Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Other plays include: You Got Older (Page 73; Steppenwolf) which received two Obie Awards for Playwriting and Performance, a Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Play, and was a Susan Smith Blackburn finalist and the #1 most-recommended play on the Kilroys' List; I’ll Never Love Again (The Bushwick Starr); and Baby Screams Miracle (Clubbed Thumb; Woolly Mammoth).
She is the recipient of a Whiting Award for Drama, the Paula Vogel Playwriting Award at The Vineyard, and the Page 73 Fellowship; and is a member of New Dramatists.
