Studio Theatre

Slick productions, smart directors and substantial plays (occasional upmarket musicals, too) make the Studio Theatre a serious player on the capital city’s dramatic scene. In the Bush era, it was home to the first DC production of the docudrama Guantanamo (then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld didn’t attend). Bright young playwriting lights from Tarell Alvin McCraney to Annie Baker have been introduced to DC audiences in the three intimate 200-seat spaces here. (There’s a cozy black box, too, and an acting conservatory.) Co-founder and artistic director Joy Zinoman retired in 2010, handing off an almost absurdly healthy organisation to the gifted, cerebral young director David Muse, whose earlier work for the house had included a rapturously reviewed production of Bryony Lavery’s Frozen.