February 11–March 15, 2026

NOTHING UP MY SLEEVE

MAGICAL WORLD PREMIERE

Overview
Cast
Creative Team

Limited remaining!

By Aaron Posner & Dendy
Magic by Dendy
Directed by Aaron Posner
February 11–March 15, 2026 | World Premiere

Part of the Bonnie Hammerschlag National Capital New Play Festival

Master illusionist Dendy and acclaimed playwright/director Aaron Posner reunite after their smash-hit collaboration on The Tempest for a spellbinding new one-man show. Part dazzling magic act, part deeply personal journey, Nothing Up My Sleeve...Simple Deceptions for Curious Humans pulls back the curtain on the history of magic while exploring Dendy’s own path to becoming a magician. Prepare to be amazed, inspired, and transported into a world where the impossible becomes reality. Featuring captivating storytelling, audience interaction, jaw-dropping tricks, and mind-bending surprises, this exhilarating experience will leave you believing in magic again.

Thank you to our sponsors:

The 2025-2026 Season is sponsored by Linda J. Ravdin & Don Shapero and David & Sherry Smith.

Lead Sponsors: Lisa Mezzetti and Jan & Carole Klein
Sponsors: John & Rachel King, Robert Hebda, and John & Val Wheeler
The Great Tomsoni Sponsors: Leslie Grizzard & Joseph Hale, John & Margaret Hauge, and Don McMinn & Harv Lester
Performance Sponsors: Nan Beckley and John Horman

Seat Map for Nothing Up My Sleeve

Please note that zones are subject to change.

Recommended for ages 10+

Nothing Up My Sleeve runs approximately 2 hours with one intermission.

EVENTS & DISCUSSIONS: View pre-show and post-show discussions here.

Audio-Described performances: February 21 (matinee)
Open-Captioned performances: February 22, February 28 (matinee), March 4

Masks are required at the following performances: March 10. Learn more.

Learn more about accessibility at Round House here.

Learn more about our special discounts here and our Free Play program for students here.

CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM

Dendy

Co-Writer/Magic Designer/Performer

Aaron Posner

Co-Writer/Director

Daniel Conway

Scenic and Projections Designer

Jeannette Christensen

Costume Designer

Thom Weaver

Lighting Designer

Sartje Pickett

Composer and Sound Designer

Christina Garner

Properties Coordinator

Naysan Mojgani

Dramaturg

Brandon Roak

Associate Scenic Designer

Andrés Poch

Associate Projections Designer

Yannick Godts

Associate Lighting Designer

Che Wernsman

Production Stage Manager

Dendy

Co-Writer/Magic Designer/Performer

Dendy (Co-Writer, Magic Designer, and Performer) is a magician, actor, playwright, and magic designer. He returns to Round House Theatre, where he previously appeared as Ariel in The Tempest. Other DC acting credits include The Fantasticks at Arena Stage. His work has been seen at theaters across the country, including American Repertory Theater, Trinity Repertory Company, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse, the Smith Center, Tanglewood Music Festival, Folger Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, South Coast Repertory, and Atlantic Theatre Company. His magic designs have been seen on Broadway in the revival of Sondheim’s Company and Once Upon a One More Time, and featured on Netflix; including the Adam Sandler film The Week Of. He has worked with Penn & Teller, the longest-running headliners in Las Vegas history, and appears on Penn & Teller: Fool Us on The CW. Dendy has received a Jeff Award nomination and two Helen Hayes Award nominations for his work as an actor. Find him on Instagram @natedendy.

Aaron Posner

Co-Writer/Director

Aaron Posner (Co-Writer and Director) is a theatre director, playwright, former Artistic Director of two major regional theaters, and a tenured full professor at American University. Aaron has directed nearly 200 productions at major regional theaters across the country, including most major theatres in the DMV. Previously at Round House: The Tempest (with Teller), Or, Stage Kiss, and his Mark Twain musical (with composer James Sugg) A Murder, A Mystery & A Marriage. His many published and produced plays include Stupid Fucking Bird, Life Sucks, No Sisters, JQA, District Merchants, The Chosen, My Name Is Asher Lev, The Gift of Nothing, Me... Jane: The Adventures of Young Jane Goodall, and more. He has won more than 20 regional theatre awards, including six Helen Hayes Awards, two Barrymore Awards, a Jeff Award, an Eliot Norton Award, an Outer Circle Critics Award, and the John Gassner Prize.

Daniel Conway

Scenic and Projections Designer

Daniel Conway (Scenic and Projections Designer) has designed more than a dozen plays for Round House Theatre. Other projects include Play On! at Signature Theatre; Born Yesterday and Sabrina Fair at Ford's Theatre; MacBeth at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre; Penn and Teller on Broadway; the premiere of Queens for a Year at Hartford Stage; The Tempest (directed by Aaron Posner and Teller) for American Repertory Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare, and South Coast Repertory theatres; At Wit's End, Love in Afghanistan, Vanya, Sonia, Masha and Spike at Arena Stage; the premiere of American Song at Milwaukee Rep; The Games Afoot at Cleveland Playhouse; Company, Hairspray, Chess, and Sunset Boulevard, and Jelly's Last Jam at Signature Theatre; and The Merry Wives of Windsor at Shakespeare Theatre Company; Hand to God, Three Sisters, and the premiere of No Sisters at Studio Theatre; and District Merchant at South Coast Repertory. He is a fourteen-time Helen Hayes nominee for Outstanding Set Design, and received the award in 2000, 2009, and 2015. Most recently in 2017, he won for Stunning at Woolly Mammoth Theatre. In 2019, Mr. Conway was the featured American set designer at The Prague Quadrennial of International Theatre Design and Performance Art.

Jeannette Christensen

Costume Designer

Jeannette Christensen (Costume Designer) is a Baltimore-based designer with notable credits including the Broadway national tour and the Spanish world premiere at GALA Hispanic Theatre (Helen Hayes Award win) of On Your Feet!. National tours include: Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, Show Way The Musical, and Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks at The Kennedy Center TYA. Regional work includes: Dinner & Cake and Art at Everyman Theatre; Wolf at the Door and Tribes at American Players Theatre; The Thanksgiving Play and Life Sucks at Oklahoma City Repertory Theater; The Last Five Years and In the Heights at Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival; Romeo and Juliet at Folger Theatre; The Brothers Paranormal and Red Pitch at Olney Theatre Center. She has also worked as an associate designer with The Muny, Wolf Trap Opera, and Studio Theatre. As an educator, she has taught at the University of Maryland, University of the Arts, and George Washington University. She holds a BA from Arizona State University, an MFA from University of Maryland, and an MPS in Business of Art & Design from MICA. jchristensendesign.com

Thom Weaver

Lighting Designer

Thom Weaver (Lighting Designer) Previously for Round House: The Tempest, The Heal, Or, How I Learned What I Learned, and 26 Miles. Off-Broadway credits include: Sandra (Vineyard), The Total Bent (Public), Kingdom Come (Roundabout), Exit Strategy (Primary Stages), King Hedley II, How I Learned What I Learned, The Liquid Plain (Signature Theatre Company), and Teller’s Play Dead (The Players Theater). Regional credits include productions with: Alliance Theatre, Huntington Theatre Company, Alley Theater, Arden Theatre, The Wilma Theater (Associate Artist), Philadelphia Theatre Company, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare, Children’s Theatre Company, Geva, Cleveland Play House, Portland Center Stage, The Folger Theatre, Asolo Repertory Theatre, Hangar Theatre, CenterStage, California Shakespeare Theater, Syracuse Stage, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Spoleto Festival USA, Lincoln Center Festival, City Theatre, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, and Yale Repertory Theatre, as well as numerous designs with Pilobolus. He is the recipient of a Helen Hayes Award, two Jeff Awards, six Barrymore Awards and two AUDELCO Awards. Education: Carnegie Mellon and Yale. @thomweaverdesign

Sartje Pickett

Composer and Sound Designer

Sartje Pickett (Composer and Sound Designer) is a composer and sound designer working in theaters across the United States. DC credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Folger Theatre (Helen Hayes Award). Regional credits include The 39 Steps, Proof, Love’s Labours Lost, Cyrano de Bergerac, and Mary’s Wedding at American Players Theatre; The Great Leap and Twelfth Night at The Guthrie; Hamlet and A Delicate Balance at Yale Repertory Theater; The Merry Wives of Windsor, Much Ado About Nothing, and Richard III at The Oregon Shakespeare Festival; Fat Ham, Dracula: a Feminist Revenge Tragedy Really, and The Three Musketeers at Virginia Stage Company; and Nina Simone: Four Women at Milwaukee Rep and Kansas City Rep. Film and game composition credits include: Insight, A Space of Time, and Flanker ExerGame.

Christina Garner

Properties Coordinator

Christina J. Garner (Properties Coordinator) is a New York Area-based scenic designer and props artisan originally from Casper, Wyoming. She is thrilled to be making her Round House Theatre debut with such an exciting show! Christina holds an MFA in Scenic Design from the University of Connecticut where she studied under Alexander Woodward. Recent props work includes, The Cottage (Hartford Stage Company) and properties supervisor for the 2025 summer season at The Cape Playhouse in Dennis, MA. Recent designs include Offenbach’s Orphée aux Enfers (UConn School of Music), Much Ado About Nothing, and the North American premiere of A Hundred Words for Snow (Connecticut Repertory Theatre). Instagram: @christinajgarnerdesign Website: christinajgarnerdesign.com (She/They)

Naysan Mojgani

Dramaturg

Naysan Mojgani (Dramaturg) is the Artistic & Dramaturgical Advisor at Round House, serving as a member of the artistic team and guiding the new work program. As a theatre scholar, director, and dramaturg, Naysan has worked on new and classic work with theatres around the country, including Arena Stage (where he served as Literary Manager), La Jolla Playhouse, MOXIE, Theatre de la Jeune Lune, Theatre Squared, Malashock Dance, and Signature Theatre, and has taught at UC San Diego and George Mason University. Naysan holds a PhD in Theatre & Drama from UC San Diego, and a BA from Carleton College.

Brandon Roak

Associate Scenic Designer

Brandon Roak (Associate Scenic Designer) is excited to join the team at Round House Theatre. Previous Round House credits include Assistant Scenic Designer on A Hanukkah Carol and The Tempest. DC design credits include The One Good Thing at Washington Stage Guild. Regional design credits include Waitress (Suzi Bass Award for Best Scenic Design of a Musical) at Aurora Theater; Misery and The Flick at The Warehouse Theatre; Don Giovanni at Maryland Opera Studio; and La Calisto at the Peabody Institute at John Hopkins University. Brandon has an MFA in Scenic Design from the University of Maryland. Instagram: @brandonroak_designs | Website: brandonroakdesigns.com

Andrés Poch

Associate Projections Designer

Andrés Poch (Associate Projections Designer) is a Colombian live entertainment artist and designer. He is a graduate of University of Maryland with an MFA in Design in Scenic and Projection. He currently serves as Vice President and Director of Theatrical Productions at Glenda’s Baby Production. His artistic mission is to improve accessibility to theatre through design for people onstage, backstage, and audiences. Credits include Julius X (Folger Theatre); Harmony High: Pegasus Remix (Imagination Stage); Meat Expectations and Autocorrect Thinks I’m Dead (Gallaudet Theatre); I Will Eat You Alive (Interrobang Productions); Not So Quiet Nocturne (VOCA); Lost Patterns, Finally Fairies!, Triple Helix, Risk of Play and Overscore (UMD); Winterfest (Adventure Theatre); POTUS and In the Heights (Winnipesaukee Playhouse); Giant Slalom (Best Scenic Design, NH Theatre Awards), Waffle House, Folding Time, and Out There (Andy’s Summer Playhouse); WORD.SOUND.POWER. (Brooklyn Academy of Music). www.andrespoch.com. (He/Him)

Yannick Godts

Associate Lighting Designer

Yannick Godts (Associate Lighting Designer) is a lighting designer based in Washington, D.C., and currently an MFA Theatre Design candidate at the University of Maryland. Prior to pursuing his MFA, he toured for many years with Pilobolus as their Lighting Supervisor while designing lighting, scenery, and props for various theater and dance companies in DC and New York. Theater: fire work (Theatre Alliance); Damn Things Will Kill Ya; Daughters of Leda (American University); and Sweeney Todd (Ocala Civic Theater). Assistant/Associate: The Great Privation (Woolly Mammoth); Kim's Convenience (SoulPepper); Senior Class (Olney); Data (Arena Stage); The Migration; and Drumfolk (Step Afrika!). Opera: San Giovanni Battista (In Series/Catapult Opera); Così fan tutte (Maryland Opera Studio); The Marriage of Figaro (assistant, Wolf Trap); and Prisoner of the State (associate, Unusual Suspects). Recent Dance: Put Away The Fire, Dear (Kayla Farrish); Moon (assistant, Mark Morris); Tales from the Underworld; The Ballad; and Behind the Shadows (Pilobolus).

Che Wernsman

Production Stage Manager

Che Wernsman (Production Stage Manager) is in her tenth season as Resident Stage Manager at Round House Theatre. Some of her favorite Round House credits include: The Inheritance, Bad Books; What the Constitution Means to Me; A Hanukkah Carol; Topdog/Underdog; Ink; On the Far End; The Tempest; Nine Night; "We declare you a terrorist…"; A Boy and His Soul; The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time; Handbagged (Off-Broadway - 59E59, Bethesda); Oslo; Gem of the Ocean; Small Mouth Sounds; The Book of Will; and A Prayer for Owen Meany. Che has worked as an AEA Stage Manager in the DC/Baltimore region for over two decades, with shows at Everyman Theatre, The Kennedy Center, Folger Theatre, Imagination Stage, The National, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Theatre J, Studio, Rep Stage, Center Stage, and Olney Theatre Center. Che has a Bachelor of Science from Virginia Tech.