Washington premieres by the company in the coming season include Suzan-Lori Parks' Topdog/Underdog (directed by founding artistic director Joy Zinoman and featuring Thomas W. Jones II), David Hare's new adaptation of Brecht's The Life of Galileo (featuring lauded local actor Ted van Griethuysen), Peter Gill's Olivier Award-nominated The York Realist (making its U.S. premiere, directed by Serge Seiden) , Caryl Churchill's Far Away (directed by Joy Zinoman) and Martin McDonagh's The Cripple of Inishmaan (directed by Serge Seiden).

Two special-event works, Pamela Gien's The Syringa Tree (directed by J.R. Sullivan), and Lypsinka! drag actor John Epperson's cabaret piece, Show Trash, about the man behind the makeup, also punctuate the season.

The Secondstage projects by The Studio Theatre include Christopher Shinn's Four, seen Off-Broadway in 2002, The Who's Tommy (directed by Keith Alan Baker, in summer 2004) and a readers' theatre work, The Galileo Project, in conjunction with the mainstage production of The Life of Galileo.

The 2003-04 season begins Sept. 3 with the first performance of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Topdog/Underdog.

The Studio Theatre was founded in 1978 as an oasis of non-maintream fare. The company at 14th and P Streets recently purchased two adjoining buildings and will begin construction in June for lobby and performance space renovations and additions. The grand opening of the revised space is fall 2004. For information about The Studio Theatre season, visit www.studiotheatre.org.