Solas Nua presents the North American Premiere of
Lie Low
Written by Ciara Elizabeth Smyth
Directed by Rex Daugherty
WHEN: Thursday, November 6 - Sunday, November 23
Thursdays - Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. / Saturday and Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
WHERE: Atlas Performing Arts Center - Lab 2 (1333 H St NE, Washington, DC 20002)
RUNNING TIME: 75 minutes
PRICE: $45 – $60 | Pay What You Can available on select dates (November 6, 7, 13, 14, 20)
Federal Worker Discount: Federal workers can enjoy 40% off on select dates by using the code FEDERAL40 at checkout. To redeem the offer, select a ticket from the "General Admission - Federal Workers" allocation and apply the promo code during checkout, and show your government ID when picking up tickets at the box office. Limit of 20 FEDERAL40 discount tickets per show. Not applicable to the Pay What You Can performances on November 6, 7, 13, 14, and 20.
BONUS: Bring your ticket next door to Henceforth Brewery before or after the show to get BOGO on your first beer and 10% off your final tab. Sláinte!
POST SHOW DISCUSSION INFO
Nov 9 - following the 2:30 matinee, there will be a post-show discussion with writer of Lie Low, Ciara Elizabeth Smyth.
An Off-Broadway debut, two North American premieres, and a world premiere in the Dublin Theatre Festival…Can you believe that’s all happened this year for our playwright of Lie Low?! Ciara Elizabeth Smyth is one of the most exciting new Irish playwrights and she is having a wildly successful year!
And there’s only one chance to catch her for a post-show discussion. Following the matinee on November 9th, Artistic Director of Theatre Rex Daugherty will interview Smyth, discussing Lie Low, her exploding career across international stages, and letting audiences ask their own questions about this comedic and provocative work.
November 14 – after the 7:30 PM performance, there will be a post-show conversation between Sara Mindel, DC-based somatic psychotherapist, and Rex Daugherty, director of Lie Low.
In the play, Faye attempts exposure therapy as a way to navigate a past trauma that has been manifesting itself very physically in the form of nightmare swing dances. This conversation between Sara and Rex will illuminate the connections between our brains, bodies, and memories, particularly in response to trauma.
Sara Mindel, LCSW-C (she/her) is a somatic psychotherapist with over 20 years of experience specializing in trauma and healing. A lifelong supporter of the arts, she began her theater involvement in the 1990s with City at Peace and has continued to integrate her mental health expertise into the theater world. She is a current Board Member at Woolly Mammoth Theatre and holds the position of Staff/Board Liaison. Through her work with the DC Theater Consortium through Supporting Roles LLC, Sara provides vital mental health support including crisis intervention, individual care, and group workshops to actors, casts, and theater organizations across the DMV. She is dedicated to fostering safe, inclusive, and resilient spaces within the performing arts community.
Supporting Roles Mission: To help create and support a culture of mental health and equitable practice in all spaces where theater is made. We offer short term individual and crisis mental health support, psychoeducation, production mental health design, and group therapeutic experiences to promote wellness in creative processes. Our work is trauma-informed, equity centered, and embodied. We work at the level of the artist, the production, the season, and the organization
After a home invasion, Faye hasn’t slept in twenty days. She’s fine, though! She really is! Living off Rice Krispies and adrenaline, she enlists her brother Naoise in an increasingly absurd attempt at exposure therapy. But Naoise has a hidden secret that’s about to surface. Lie Low is a dark comedy about trauma, the lies we tell ourselves, and the outrageous ways our brains work. Or don’t.
Actors:
Megan Graves (Faye) | Cody Nickell (Naoise/Duckman) | Mary Myers (Faye u/s) | Jared H. Graham (Naoise u/s)
Creative Team:
Ciara Elizabeth Smyth - Playwright | Rex Daugherty - Director/Producer | Robert Bowen Smith - Choreography | Gisela Estrada - Scenic Design | Kenny Neal - Sound Design | Alberto Segarra - Lighting Design | Logan Benson - Costume Design | Lorraine Ressegger-Slone - Fights/Intimacy Coordinator | Isabel deCarvalho - Prop Design | Isabella Tapia - Stage Manager | Mekala Sridhar - Creative Producer | Jen Rabbitt Ring - Dialect and Vocal Coach | Jazzy Davis - Assistant Stage Manager | Franklin Ruiz - Technical Director | Pierce Stoneburner - Master Electrician | Tessa Hager - Scenic Painter
PRAISE FOR LIE LOW:
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ "a startling and brilliant new play’’ -Whats On Stage
★ ★ ★ ★ "a riveting play that left me speechless" -Everything Theatre
★ ★ ★ ★ "vital, astonishing theatre" -The Reviews Hub
★ ★ ★ ★ "thought-provoking" -Theatre Weekly
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ "This outstanding Irish play deserves to set Edinburgh Festival Fringe alight" -The Irish Times
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ "Breathtakingly intense" -The Arts Desk
★ ★ ★ ★ "Buckets of theatrical verve" -The Irish Independent
★ ★ ★ ★ "Darkly comic, disorientating 70 minutes" -The Telegraph
ABOUT CIARA ELIZABETH SMITH
Ciara Elizabeth Smyth is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter from Dublin whose work has won praise for its dark humour and experimental approach to form. Her plays have been presented by the Abbey Theatre Dublin, the Lyric Theatre Belfast and the Traverse Theatre Edinburgh, the Royal Court London and The Irish Repertory Theater New York. Previously with Solas Nua, Irishtown (reading) and Sauce (reading).
Her 2023 play LIE LOW (Winner Best Theatre Script at the Zebbies 2023; First Finalist BBC Writersroom Popcorn Award; Nominee Irish Times Best New Play) has been translated into Italian, Turkish and Chinese, and is currently being adapted into an opera directed by award-winning director Tom Creed.In April 2025 her most recent play, IRI$HTOWN, starring Saoirse-Monica Jackson and Kate Burton, completed a sold-out off-Broadway run at Irish Rep in New York, earning multiple nominations and awards at the Origin 1st Irish Festival.
Ciara’s debut short film, SLAY + PREPARE, premiered at the Glasgow Short Film Festival 2024 and she is currently writing her debut feature film, THE CENTRE, which is supported by Short Circuit.
Currently, Ciara is Playwright in Residence in Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown 2025 and winner of Playwrights '73 Bursary Scheme 2025-26, on attachment to Traverse Theatre. Ciara is under commission with several television production companies and theatre companies across the UK and Ireland and is represented by Curtis Brown.
