{"id":369621,"date":"2025-06-25T12:43:45","date_gmt":"2025-06-25T16:43:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/?p=369621"},"modified":"2025-06-25T12:43:45","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T16:43:45","slug":"how-to-surf-indoors-in-hilarious-and-shattering-wipeout-at-studio-theatre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/2025\/06\/25\/how-to-surf-indoors-in-hilarious-and-shattering-wipeout-at-studio-theatre\/","title":{"rendered":"How to surf indoors, in hilarious and shattering ‘Wipeout’ at Studio Theatre"},"content":{"rendered":"

The playwright Aurora Real de Asua, when asked<\/a> by an interviewer to tell a bit about herself, replied, \u201cI am a surfer, performer, and writer\u201d \u2014 putting surfer<\/em> first. As evidenced by the play she wrote called Wipeout<\/em> (surferspeak for a wave-tossed tumble and plunge underwater), she knows a lot<\/em> about the sport. So dedicated to surfing is she that her script sets the scene in the Pacific Ocean,<\/em> where its four characters are afloat the entire time on foam surfboards, pretending to paddle through all their blocking and entrances and exits.<\/p>\n

Absent a movie-set wave tank, it\u2019s hard to picture how Wipeout\u2019<\/em>s aqueous locale might be persuasively represented in performance. Previous stagings have had actors skootching around on surfboards mounted on casters with seascape projections in the background. The play is one of a series of National New Play Network Rolling World Premieres, and the regional debut now at Studio Theatre is not like that at all. Here, Wipeout<\/em> is directed with striking emotional depth by Danilo Gambini, whose production concept is utterly counterintuitive: There are no surfboards. No sea can be seen. The entire play takes place inside a beach house (tastefully designed by Jimmy Stubbs in shades of taupe and tan with furniture made of rattan).<\/p>\n

\"\"
Delissa Reynolds (Wynn), Naomi Jacobson (Claudia), and Katherine Cortez (Gary) in \u2018Wipeout.\u2019 Photo by Margot Schulman.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u2019ll admit I approached the matinee I saw with some doubt about whether Aurora Real de Asua\u2019s surreally sea-set story would land on land. Much to my surprise, I left the theater having enjoyed overwhelmingly a hilarious and shattering show. Hilarious, because most of the play is laugh-out-loud funny (about which, more later). Shattering, because as the play\u2019s metaphorical title portends, a person can suffer a catastrophic stroke of bad luck and falter and collapse.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the people in de Asua\u2019s play who make Studio\u2019s production so compelling, not the improbability of its place. Three spunky women, best friends since high school and now of a certain age (late 60s to early 70s), have gathered to celebrate a birthday and take a surfing lesson \u2014 from a 19-year-old surfer dude. (Cue the cougar jokes.) The script has not been altered to reference or fit this House Beautiful<\/em> setting. The characters banter, bicker, and pretend at surfing as if afloat at sea all the while indoors (a circular table centerstage platforms the most performative moves). Within minutes, we catch this aesthetic\u2019s drift, becoming captivated by these three golden girls\u2019 athletic antics, unsisterly sniping, and wrenching revelations. Gambini\u2019s theatrical gamble pays off, creating a comedic mise-en-sc\u00e8ne through uncanny collective suspension of disbelief.<\/p>\n

What also makes this not-at-sea production concept work so remarkably well is that, as it turns out, the characters\u2019 backstories and interpersonal tensions have the emotional relatability of drawing-room dramedy. Claudia, a contentedly married mother of two grown children, has invited her two best friends to this senior surfing session: Gary, an avid proponent of lesbianism, and Wynn, who is currently divorcing her fourth husband. A lot of snark attacks ensue.<\/p>\n

Claudia is a teacher by profession, and Naomi Jacobson thoroughly embodies her welcoming and chipper officiousness and occasional timorousness. Sarcastically, the others think Claudia overstates her marital bliss:<\/p>\n

\n

CLAUDIA:<\/strong> Georgie and I love each other in a way that feels satisfying and supportive.
\nWYNN:<\/strong> You mean he still doesn\u2019t know where your clitoris is?
\nCLAUDIA:<\/strong> Georgie is very tender towards me. We consider ourselves co-creators of the intimate space.
\nGARY:<\/strong> Hey, Wynn, know who\u2019s seen more action than Claudia? The inside of my wetsuit.
\n[Wynn cracks up.]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Wynn, wearing wealth \u2014 a sophisticated caftan in contrast to Claudia\u2019s and Gary\u2019s casual beach wear (costumes are by Val\u00e9rie Th\u00e9r\u00e8se Bart) \u2014 has an air of cantankerous imperiousness that Delissa Reynolds totally delivers. Renegade Gary (birthname: Margaret), charging the stage like a wild child on uppers, is the die-hard devotee of the sport (\u201cMy whole life I wanted to be a surfer, ever since I was a little girl!,\u2019\u2019 she says more than once), and Katherine Cortez completely captures her complex character arc.<\/p>\n

\"\"
LEFT: Naomi Jacobson (Claudia) and Alec Ludacka (Blaze); TOP RIGHT: Delissa Reynolds (Wynn) and Katherine Cortez (Gary); ABOVE RIGHT: Alec Ludacka (Blaze), Naomi Jacobson (Claudia), and Katherine Cortez (Gary), in \u2018Wipeout.\u2019 Photos by Margot Schulman.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

They\u2019ve come together for the fun of it; they goof around like AARP-age adolescents. They vape, they tipple martinis, and like horny sorority sisters, they ogle and rate the butts of nearby guys and revel in references to body parts of all sorts.<\/p>\n

\n

WYNN:<\/strong> Are you still seeing that Pamela person?
\nGARY:<\/strong> Oh hell no. No, that pinto bean has left the taco\u2026 I\u2019ve upgraded to a newer model\u2026\u00a0 Her name is Anika\u2026
\nCLAUDIA:<\/strong> She\u2019s very kind.
\nGARY:<\/strong> And wait till you see the bazoombas that come with.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Count on Gary too for one-liners like \u201cThe best thing about being a lesbian is you don\u2019t have to fake orgasms anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

At one point early in the play, Gary tells a hilarious story about an encounter with a male high school classmate everyone knew. It ends with all three of them vigorously miming giving blow jobs. (At the performance I saw, the cast and audience mutually lost it.) Then, suddenly, the tide turns, and the play shifts from hilarity to harrowing as we witness a sign of Gary\u2019s decline.<\/p>\n

Wipeout<\/em> has several such comedic-dramatic whiplashes, making it one of the most engrossing new works I\u2019ve seen recently in DC. Gambini\u2019s production also inserts rollicking musical numbers and dance breaks, for instance Alec Ludacka\u2019s spotlit entrance down the Milton Theatre aisle as Blaze wearing a barely-there tank top (branded Santa Cruz Surf Skool) and crooning The Beach Boys\u2019 \u201cSurfin\u2019 U.S.A.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even among the three megawatt talents onstage \u2014 Jacobson, Cortez, and Reynolds \u2014 Ludacka lights up every scene he\u2019s in. His Blaze is a caring guy with a reassuring manner, who knowledgably, patiently, and convincingly teaches surfing 101 in this living room of imaginary water (enhanced with oceanic sounds by Bailey Trierweiler & Uptownworks and light effects by Andrew R. Cissna). Blaze, too, has a backstory: he is caretaker to his mom, an experience in elder empathy that is touchingly apparent in his sensitive instruction. When Ludacka as Blaze says supportively, \u201cAwesome!\u201d you know he truly deeply really means it. When he gives a dazzling display of choreographed this-is-how-it \u2019s-done surfing, he stops the show. And he acts the hell out of one of the play\u2019s most profoundly moving speeches:<\/p>\n

\n

BLAZE:<\/strong> You can\u2019t schedule waves! Waves are alive! The ocean is alive! You can\u2019t schedule something that\u2019s alive! A real surfer works with whatever waves they get. Even if the wave isn\u2019t perfect. It doesn\u2019t matter. It\u2019s your wave. It doesn\u2019t matter if there are better waves somewhere else. There are always better waves somewhere else, who gives a shit? This is your wave. Your wave. You don\u2019t abandon it just cause they break bigger in Hawaii. Or cause it\u2019s hard, cause it doesn\u2019t make you look good, cause it\u2019s not what you want. You show up and you figure it out. You show up. You show up. You show up. You show up.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I\u2019ll not give away the gut-punch ending except to say that throughout, Wipeout\u2019<\/em>s depiction of aging is both silly and sublime, inspired and inspiring. Ultimately, Wipeout<\/em> stands as a testament to the sheer dumb-luck survival without which aging doesn\u2019t happen; it stops short. And immersed in Aurora Real de Asua\u2019s entertainingly evocative surfing metaphor, brilliantly reimagined by Danilo Gambini, we are reminded that though we are always thisclose to going under, we can nevertheless be having the exhilarating ride of our lives.<\/p>\n

Running Time: One hour and 50 minutes with no intermission.<\/p>\n

Wipeout<\/em><\/strong><\/a> plays through July 27, 2025, in the Milton Theatre at Studio Theatre, 1501 14th Street NW, Washington, DC. For tickets ($55\u2013$102, with low-cost options available), go online,<\/b><\/a> call the box office at 202-332-3300, or visit TodayTix.<\/strong><\/a> Studio Theater offers discounts for first responders, military servicepeople, students, young people, educators, senior citizens, and others, as well as rush tickets. For discounts, contact the box office or visit here<\/a> for more information.<\/p>\n

The program for Wipeout<\/em>\u00a0is online here.<\/a><\/p>\n

COVID Safety:<\/b> All performances are mask recommended. Studio Theatre\u2019s complete Health and Safety protocols are here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Wipeout<\/strong><\/em>
\nBy Aurora Real de Asua
\nDirected by Danilo Gambini<\/p>\n

CAST
\nClaudia: Naomi Jacobson
\nGary: Katherine Cortez
\nWynn: Delissa Reynolds
\nBlaze: Alec Ludacka<\/p>\n

UNDERSTUDIES
\nClaudia: Caren Anton
\nWynn and Gary: Alison Bauer
\nBlaze: Drew Sharpe<\/p>\n

CREATIVE AND PRODUCTION
\nSet Design: Jimmy Stubbs
\nCostume Design: Val\u00e9rie Th\u00e9r\u00e8se Bart
\nLighting Design: Andrew R. Cissna
\nSound Design: Bailey Trierweiler & Uptownworks
\nProjection Design: Luis Garcia
\nFight and Intimacy Consultant: Jenny Male
\nDramaturg: Adrien-Alice Hansel
\nProduction Stage Manager: John Keith Hall
\nAssistant Stage Manager: Delaney Clare Dunster
\nDirector of Production: Jeffery Martin
\nTechnical Director: Rhiannon Sanders
\nCasting by Alaine Alldaffer & Lisa Donadio, CSA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Three spunky golden girls have gathered to take a lesson from a 19-year-old surfer dude. (Cue the cougar jokes.) 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He writes both reviews and his Magic Time! column, which he named after that magical moment between life and art just before a show begins. In it, he explores how art makes sense of life\u2014and vice versa\u2014as he reflects on meanings that matter in the theater he sees. Decades ago, in college, John began writing, producing, directing, and acting in plays. He continued through grad school\u2014earning an M.F.A. in theater arts from Columbia University School of the Arts\u2014then lucked into a job as writer-in-residence and administrative director with the influential experimental theater company The Open Theatre, whose legendary artistic director was Joseph Chaikin. Meanwhile, his own plays were produced off-off-Broadway, and he won a New York State Arts Council grant to write plays. Then John\u2019s life changed course: He turned to writing nonfiction essays, articles, and books and had a distinguished career as a magazine editor. But he kept going to the theater, the art form that for him has always been the most transcendent and transporting and best illuminates the acts and ethics that connect us. He tweets at @JohnStoltenberg. Member, American Theatre Critics\/Journalists Association.","url":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/author\/john-stoltenberg\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369621\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/369796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}