French-Romanian absurdist master, Eugène Ionesco, wrote his well-known tragic farce, The Chairs, in 1952. This one-act sketch concerns two characters, Old Man and Old Woman, arranging chairs for their numerous guests who have been invited to hear an Orator deliver a special message. As the couple fills the stage with actual chairs for their invisible guests, the pieces of furniture wind up separating the two, leading them to a futile situation of alienation.

This production of The Chairs stars noted D.C. actors David Bryan Jackson (Old Man), Colleen Delany (Old Woman), and Ian Blackwell Rogers (The Orator). The design team includes Hannah J. Crowell (sets), Stephanie Petagno (Costumes), David Crandall (Sound), and Marianne Meadows (Lights). The play is staged by SCENA Theatre Artistic Director, Robert McNamara.

Born in Romania in 1912, Eugène Ionesco spent most of his childhood in France and moved there permanently as an adult with his wife and daughter. While working as a proofreader in 1948, he wrote his first play, The Bald Soprano. His succeeding plays, including Rhinoceros, Exit the King, and The Chairs, gave precedence to the modern movements of alienation and dehumanization while also securing the author's place as one of the most significant playwrights of the twentieth century.

Widely regarded as one of the foremost innovators of modern absurdist theatre, Ionesco has enjoyed a special relationship with SCENA Theatre over the years. Upon the playwright's death in 1994, the theatre company mounted the well-received retrospective, By and Under the Influence of Eugène Ionesco, a collection of Ionesco's works performed at multiple Washington, D.C. venues for six weeks straight."