Signature in the Schools Prepares for Its 20th Anniversary Festival

Arlington, Virginia's Signature Theatre is set to present its Signature in the Schools 20th Anniversary Festival.

The two-weekend festival will highlight four pieces that have premiered through Signature in the Schools over the last 20 years. Throughout its tenure, the program has explored complex issues including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, PTSD, the Arab Spring, immigration, Hurricane Katrina, the Holocaust, cyberbullying, and more.

Three productions will be produced and staged by high schools in the D.C. metro area including the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, Bishop Ireton High School, and Oakton High School. The festival will conclude with a fourth production, a revival of 2009’s Aftershock, featuring students from across the D.C. metro area, and codirected by award-winning Signature in the Schools playwright Joe Calarco and Signature in the Schools alum and recent Yale graduate Irene Casey.

"Signature in the Schools is one of the most unique and exciting education programs in this country," says Joe Calarco, Signature Theatre’s resident director of new works. "The fact that these students get to do a world premiere play every year is extraordinary. I feel so fortunate that I've been the resident playwright of the program for the past 10 years and that this festival will allow an even broader audience to see these plays and even more importantly to see how amazing and important the Signature in the Schools program is."

Performances will be held January 17, 18, 24, and 25 at 11am in the MAX Theatre.

For more tickets and more information, click here.