PRESS CONTACT: Stacy Whittle
t: (202) 664-4013 | e: ScenaMedia@gmail.com
Scena Theatre presents an authentic production of the famous Samuel Beckett play, Waiting for Godot, with an all-Irish cast—opening St. Patrick’s Day, 2025.
Washington, DC, February 1, 2025 — Scena Theatre is proud to announce its upcoming production of Samuel Beckett’s most famous and iconic play—Waiting for Godot. Scena Artistic Director Robert McNamara will direct, and rehearsals begin in February, 2025 in Dublin, Ireland featuring an exceptional cast of renowned Irish actors and one American actor, Robert McNamara who has Irish roots.
Press Night / Opening Night: is Opening Night is Saturday, March 22, 2025 at 7:30 pm at Cultural DC's The Source Theatre, Washington, DC, 1835 14th St NW, Washington, DC 20009. To reserve your Press Seat, or to request an alternate performance, please RSVP now to ScenaMedia@gmail.com
This production of Waiting for Godot will premiere at the Source Theatre in Washington, DC with performances running through April 13, 2025. The director and cast have been rehearsing Godot in Dublin, Ireland. Bringing this show to DC will fulfill Scena Theatre's ultimate creative vision: to stage a thoroughly genuine Irish production in our Nation's capital. Scena's Godot will connect audiences to Beckett's origins and existential themes in this tragicomic masterpiece." Scena Theatre has staged other authentic Irish dramas in the past such as Conor McPherson's The Night Alive and The Seafarer. This international collaboration for Godot features a stellar ensemble of Irish actors including Barry McEvoy (films: An Everlasting Piece, Moonlight; Scena dramas: Public Enemy, The Night Alive, Julius Caesar), Josephy McGucken (TV: “Darren & Joe's Free Gaff”; film: Wickedly Evil, Picture Day and Lucky Liam; plus many original online comedy sketches), Scena’s Artistic Director, Robert McNamara (Scena dramas: The Tell Tale Heart, AJAX, Julius Caesar, and Report to an Academy; TV: America's Most Wanted and Haunted House Washington), Mark Byrne (Film: The Immigrant, Vikings: Valhalla, and Walking the Wild Colonial; and Arlo McEvoy (Barry's son, making his theatrical debut).
Director McNamara noted, "This show will truly capture the humor, humanity, and the timelessness of Beckett’s work. Irish actors will bring a poignancy and realism to these roles not seen before on the Washington stage." In a stroke of serendipity, The Source is where Robert McNamara launched his DC career by directing Equus by Peter Shaffer in 1982-83, which played to full houses for 5 months. Also at The Source, Robert directed Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You by Christopher Durang, which ran for a calendar year—one of the longest running shows in DC theatre history outside The Kennedy Center. McNamara also directed the successful production of The Holy Terrorist at The Source in 1985.
Waiting for Godot is one of the greatest and most popular English language plays ever written. It has been interpreted as a summary of man's eternal search for meaning. Beckett's language introduced expressionistic minimalism that captured the existentialism of post-World War II Europe. Today, Godot remains one of the most magical and beautiful allegories of our time. The story centers on two seemingly homeless men, Vladimir and Estragon, who meet by a leafless tree in a barren and arid landscape and are waiting for someone: “Godot”. Enter Pozzo with his menial slave, Lucky, who entertains them. The result is a comical wordplay of poetry, dreams, and utter nonsense ... as the men wait. And wait. Is this play a commentary on modern philosophy or politics? Or, is it simply pure silliness by the master of absurdism, Beckett?
Ireland’s Barry McEvoy will be joined by his son, Arlo McEvoy, who will play the role of The Boy. The authenticity of this mostly-Irish cast brings new depth and vibrancy to Beckett’s poetic masterpiece. This highly anticipated production promises to deliver a unique theatrical experience that theatre lovers will not see elsewhere.
Scena Theatre has a rich history of producing Beckett’s works, beginning in its founding season in 1987 with an acclaimed production of Endgame. When Beckett died in December 1989, Scena was performing 11 pieces all in one evening at Wooly Mammoth Theatre. In April 1990, Scena produced its first-ever "Beckett Festival of plays" at Woolly Mammoth in collaboration with Rick Cluchey and the famed San Quentin Drama Workshop. In 1999, Rick Cluchey appeared in the title role in Krapp's Last Tape in Beckett's own direction of the piece. Later, we staged the 1999 Beckett Festival of Plays: 13 of his most dynamic works. In 2000, Robert McNamara was invited to stage The Lost Ones in the prestigious 2000 Berlin Beckett Festival. These productions solidified Scena’s role as a leading interpreter of Beckett.
In the new millennium, Scena Theatre has presented acclaimed productions of Beckett’s Happy Days, Beckett Shorts, and The Beckett Trio, cementing its reputation for delivering bold and thought-provoking interpretations of Beckett plays.
GODOT PREVIEWS: Saturday, March 15 – 21, 2025
VENUE: The Source Theatre, 1835 14th St NW, Washington, DC 20009 PRESS NIGHT / OPENING: Saturday, March 22, 2025 FULL RUN: Saturday, March 22, 2025 - Sunday, April 13, 2025 TICKETS: Please Visit EventBrite.com
PRICES: $10 – $55 (OR) Pay-What-You-Can SPECIAL SHOWS: "Matinee with Talkback" featuring Beckett Scholars & Literary Experts: Sunday, April 6, 2025 after the 2:30 pm matinee
Industry Night: Monday, April 7, 2025 at 7:30 pm. Theatre & Film Professionals / Students:
PRESS: ScenaMedia@gmail.com | Phone: 703-217-9007 PHOTOS: ScenaTheatre.org (Click on Press, at Left Sidebar — Available March 16) CAST MEMBERS: Barry McEvoy, Josephy McGucken, Mark Byrne, Robert McNamara and Arlo McEvoy DESIGN TEAM: Set Designer: Michael C. Stepowany; Lighting Designer: Marianne Meadows; Costume Designer: Alisa Mandel; Assistant Director: Stacy Whittle; Stage Managers: Grace Woulfe (Ireland) and Kaitlyn Dorsey (USA) SAMUEL BECKET, Playwright (1906–1989) was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, poet, and stage director who is widely deemed one of the most influential writers of the 20th Century. Born near Dublin, Ireland on Good Friday, he took a degree at Trinity College. He taught briefly at Campbell College in Belfast then accepted the position of lectuer d’anglais at Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris. He traveled to Germany and experienced the rising tide of fascism. Beckett once again returned to Ireland, only to have an unpleasant parting of ways with his mother. The artistic enclave of Paris’ Left Bank beckoned his return. There he would remain for the rest of his life, save for a few years working with the French Resistance during WWII. His writings offer a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with dark comedy. Beckett was one of the last modernists and one of the first postmodernists—and he wrote in both French and English. He is one of the key writers in the “Theatre of the Absurd” movement. In 1969, Beckett was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for his “new forms for the novel and drama”. Later in life, his writings became more minimalist. Many 20th Century writers have publicly expressed their indebtedness to Beckett and his influence including Václav Havel, John Banville, Aidan Higgins, Tom Stoppard, Harold Pinter and Jon Fosse.
Get $19 Tickets on EventBrite.com
SCENA THEATRE brings the best international theatre to Washington, DC and stimulates cultural exchange between theatre artists, locally and worldwide. Founded in 1987 under the leadership of Artistic Director Robert McNamara and Managing Director Amy Schmidt, SCENA produces an annual season of plays, seasonally staged readings, as well as a Workshop Series aimed at developing new works from around the globe. To learn more about our mission or past stage productions, please visit ScenaTheatre.org— and click on the “About” button on the left navigation menu.
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