"Makes a trip up to Saranac Lake well worth it!"- Colin Fleming-Stumpf, BroadwayWorld Critic
"This is Government, while plenty funny, is also a caustic commentary on the growing divide between the leaders and the people of what used to be our democracy, and the cynical wedge being driven between neighbors who, if politics are factored out of the equation, are more similar than we might think."
- Tim Rowland, Adirondack Arts and Entertainment
The Full Company of This is Government. Production Photos by Burdette Parks.
THE team
Playwright: Nina Kissinger (she/her)
Director: Sarah Norris (she/her)
Movement Director: Yasmyn Sumiyoshi (she/her)
Casting Director: Gama Valle (él/him)
Scenic Designer: Daniel Allen (he/him)
Costume Designer: Krista Grevas (she/her)
Lighting Designer: Hayley Garcia Parnell (she/they)
Sound Designer: Jennie Gorn (he/she/they)
Props Designer: Peggy Orman (she/her)
Production Stage Manager: Molly Delaney (they/them)
Assistant Stage Manager: Jazmin Miller (she/her)
Technical Director: Cat Copeland (she/they)
THE CAST
Emi: Kleo Mitrokostas (she/her)
Tip: Charles Hsu (he/him)
Kaz: Vann Dukes (they/them)
Stevie: Susan Lynskey (she/her)
Photo by Matthew Cubillos
ABOUT THE SHOW
It's summer in Washington, DC and three congressional interns are fielding constituent calls before yet another workplace lockdown begins. While everyone outside investigates a suspicious red Camry, they find themselves stuck in the one place no one has ever wanted to work overtime: the US government.
As their patience and snack supply runs out, they follow clues and evidence to get to the bottom of how this situation unfolded and why. A comedy with heart, This is Government grapples with the real-time consequences of political disarray.
85 Minutes
No intermission
PG-13
Adult Content & Language
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NINA KISSINGER
Playwright
Nina (she/her) is a playwright
based in Brooklyn. Her work has been
developed/produced by the B Street Theatre, Soho Playhouse, Valdez Theatre Conference, The Tank, T. Schreiber Studio & Theatre, Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts, Barons Court Theatre, National High School Institute, and more. She is the winner of the 2025 Stanley Drama Award and has twice been named a Semi-Finalist for the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference. Nina is a member of the 2024-2025 BMI Musical Theatre Bookwriting Workshop, 2024-2025 Purple Light Productions Artist Palette Cohort, and a graduate of Northwestern University.
VANN DUKES
Kaz
Vann (they/them) is an actor and
artist from St. Thomas, Virgin Islands,
now based in Brooklyn. Select credits include Henry V, Love’s Labor’s Lost (Smith Street Stage), A Raisin in the Sun (The Public), Time and Time Again (The Chain) and upcoming web-series “Man-Hating Lesbians.” Their career would not be made possible without their parents, family and friends. And to tyler, I love you <3.
SUSAN LYNSKEY
Stevie
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Susan (she/her) Off-Broadway
credits include Margaret Thatcher in
Handbagged (Brits Off-Broadway/59E59 Theaters), Night Sings Its Songs (Theatre Row), Self Help in the Anthropocene, and the title role in The Jewish Wife by Bertolt Brecht, both with the exceptional New Light Theater Project. Susan is the recipient of 9 Helen
Hayes Award Nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress, Outstanding Acting Ensemble, and Outstanding Supporting Actress in A Play, a Bay Area Critics Circle Award Nomination; her work has garnered profiles in The Washington Post (“TOP 10 Actors to Watch”—Peter Marks), BroadwayWorld, Washington Theatre Review Magazine, and she was honored with a ‘24-25 DC Commission on the Arts Individual
Artist Award. Recent Film/TV includes The Friend (opposite Bill Murray & Naomi Watts). Susan served on the faculty of Georgetown University for 14 years and is a new play development specialist who fosters new work around the country (Kennedy Center, Berkeley Rep, ACT, Magic, Arena Stage, NNPN); this summer she had the joy of reuniting with playwright Lisa Loomer on Side Effects May Include (Contemporary American Theatre Festival). Susan is represented by HCKR Agency. Susan is deeply grateful for her Parents, Susie, LBR, and The METSY, her family and friends for their profound loving support of her art and heart. @lynskeylenz
SARAH NORRIS
Director
Sarah (she/her) is an award-winning
director. Select: The Greatest Hits Down
Route 66 (Drama Desk nom, 'Best of 2024' Travel Style Magic), H*tler's Tasters (4 Stage Raw Awards, including Direction; 6 Scenie Awards from StageSceneLA, including Outstanding Direction of a Comedy-Drama; 'Top 20 of 2024' Angeles Stage; TimeOut NY Critics' Pick, Best of the Edinburgh Fringe; featured in the NY Times, Chicago Tribune, LA Times and the BBC), Everything is Super Great (TimeOut NY Critics' Pick), This Wrestling Place (w/ Executive Producer Ben Folds), Picture Ourselves in Latvia (Best of Theater, The L Magazine), and Lily ('Top 12 of 2019' NJ Arts). Other directing highlights include: Ensemble Studio Theater (NYC), New Jersey Rep, Guild Hall of East Hamptons, Pleasance Theatre (Edinburgh), Greenside Theatre (Edinburgh), Bottom Dog Theatre (Ireland), Adelaide Fringe Festival (Australia), 59E59 Theaters, Rogue Machine (Los Angeles), LAByrinth Theatre, Working Theater, Electric Lodge (LA), Chicago Dramatists, North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, The Flea Theater, Zeiders American Dream Theater, Calliope Stage, Forestburgh Playhouse, and New Light Theater Project (Founding Artistic Director). Member of SDC.
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CHARLES HSU
Tip
Charles (he/him) V: “The Better
Sister” (Amazon Prime), “FBI: Most
Wanted” (CBS) Theater: The Book of Mountains and Seas (Dir. Knud Adams, Edinburgh Fringe), The Tempest (Texas Shakespeare Festival) Education: NYU Tisch, RADA. Member of NYC sketch group LaLaHaHa. Charles is very grateful to be part of such an awesome show. Thank you to all involved, David, Alex, and Steven! @charlesahsu
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KLEO MITROKOSTAS
Emi
Kleo (she/her) is an NYC-based
actor and producer. Pendragon: Circle
Mirror Transformation (Lauren), The Mousetrap (Miss Casewell), Our Town (Si/Joe), The Muppet Cabaret (Waldorf). Off-Broadway: The Greatest Hits Down Route 66, According to the Chorus, Room 1214 (59E59 Theaters). Regional: Sweet Charity (Cotuit Center for the Arts), Fire and Air (Shakespeare & Company). NYU Tisch. @kleomitrokostas