Spooky Action Theater continues its 2025-26 season with Dave Harris’ provocative satirical off-Broadway hit Tambo  Bones. Harris’ work has previously been seen in the DC area at Studio Theatre (Exception to the Rule) and Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company (Incendiary). The production, directed by Helen Hayes Award winner Ashleigh King, features Deimoni Brewington and Jeremy Keith Hunter with Clint Blakely and Robert Bowen Smith. Performances run from February 12 to March 7, 2026, with two Pay-What-You-Can performances opening week, February 12 and 13 at 7:30pm. Performances take place at Spooky Action’s home at The Universalist National Memorial Church, 1810 16th Street, NW. ABOUT THE PLAY Tambo and Bones find themselves in a fix: they’re trapped in a minstrel show. And it’s damn hard to know what’s real and what’s not. The escape plan? Get famous…cash in…and get even. This time-traveling hip-hop fantasia from slam poet turned playwright Dave Harris dares to say the quiet part out loud, wrestling with America’s racist past and present and exploding its post-racial future. “…will make you second-guess everything you do in a theater…Tambo  Bones gets the highest possible marks” – TheaterMania “…INVENTIVE AND IMMERSIVE, constantly shape-shifting to both unsettle and surprise us.” – Indulge Magazine “Not your typical play about race… Harris has created a HALLUCINOGENIC COLLAGE in which ideas about protest and history, art and moneymaking tumble over each other” – The Times Director Ashleigh King shares, “At its core, Tambo  Bones is a piece about the evolution and exploitation of Black performance. It is a piece that refuses to ‘behave.’ The piece is sharp, provocative, hilarious, and uncomfortable in the way it confronts how Black bodies have been commodified, consumed, celebrated, and distorted across American history. And it does so with a bold theatricality that catches you laughing just as the floor drops out. Ultimately, I believe the audiences should expect to be entertained, startled, and challenged by the charge running through every scene — and unable to shake what they just saw.” ABOUT THE TEAM Ashleigh King (Director) is a DC-born artist, whose work spans performance, direction, and choreography across all genres of theater. She is a four-time Helen Hayes Award winner and a recipient of an RTCC Award. Ashleigh is thrilled to be marking her first collaboration with Spooky Action with this production. DC area credits include: Which Way to the Stage, Ragtime, Hair, and Hedwig and the Angry Inch at Signature Theatre; Merry Wives at Shakespeare Theatre Company; Little Shop of Horrors at Ford’s Theatre; The Sensational Sea Minkettes, Teenage Dick, and Fairview at Woolly Mammoth; Fun Home, Problems Between Sisters, and Octet at Studio; Beautiful at Olney Theatre Center; Junie B. Jones and She Persisted at Adventure Theatre MTC; and A Year with Frog and Toad at Imagination Stage. Other regional credits include Waitress, Bov’ Water, Spring Awakening, and Spamalot at Northern Stage; The Donna Summer Musical at Red Mountain Theatre; Mamma Mia! at Virginia Repertory Theatre.  The production team includes Sarah Beth Hall (Scenic Design), Emmanuel Garcia (Lighting Design), Luis Garcia (Projections Designer/Co-Lighting Design), Navi (Sound Design/Composer), Rukiya Fields (Costume Design), Robert Bowen Smith (Movement Director), Maria Mills (Stage Manager), Everett Judd (Assistant Director), Jaden Madgett (Assistant Stage Manager), and Matty Griffiths (Technical Director). The cast features Deimoni Brewington and Jeremy Keith Hunter with Clint Blakely and Robert Bowen Smith. Understudies are Everett Judd and Jaden Madgett. Deimoni Brewington (Tambo) is excited to make his Spooky Action debut. Regional credits include American Stage: Fat Ham; Signature Theatre: Private Jones, Passing Strange; Imagination Stage: A Year with Frog Toad; Adventure Theatre MTC:Charlotte’s Web, You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown; Keegan Theatre: Sweat; Faction of Fools: Missed Connections; A Commedia Romeo Juliet; Arts On The Horizon: Squeakers and Mr. Gumdrop; Constellation Theatre Company: Once On This Island; Arena Stage: Toni Stone; Round House Theatre: Sleep Deprivation Chamber; Theater Alliance: Protest in 8; Blood at the Root; Chesapeake Shakespeare Company: Macbeth; Romeo and Juliet; The Adventures of Pericles. He holds a BFA from Howard University.  Jeremy Keith Hunter (Bones) hails from the DMV and is a multidisciplinary artist with a strong focus in theater acting, writing, and graphic design. Recent credits include: The Kennedy Center (The Sea Beyond the Ocean); Signature Theatre (Primary Trust); Port Tobacco Players (Othello), 1st Stage (Mlima’s Tale, The Farnsworth Invention); Everyman Theatre (Proof); Lyric Repertory Company (A Raisin in the Sun, Clybourne Park, The Great Society); Mosaic Theater Company (Les Deux Noirs, Hooded or Being Black for Dummies, Milke Like Sugar, When January Feels Like Summer); WSC Avant Bard (Topdog/Underdog — Helen Hayes Award Nomination); MetroStage (The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek); Studio Theatre (The Effect u/s, Chimerica u/s); Ally Theatre Company (Rabbit Summer); Theatre Alliance (Word Becomes Flesh); and Constellation Theatre (Arabian Nights).  Clint Blakely (Robot) is making his Spooky Action (and DC professional) debut in Tambo  Bones. Clint is an actor and musician from the San Francisco Bay Area. Recent credits include The Tempest (Devil’s Isle Shakespeare Company), Macbeth (Gem City Groundlings), Romeo Juliet, The Rover, The Odyssey, and Cymbeline (Shakespeare Theatre Company Academy). Clint performed across the USA and Canada as the kids’ TV character Blippi, and as the Boss Elf in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Musical. As a musician, he played with the duo Here There as part of Spooky Action’s cabaret series. Stream his original song “Bountiful Earth” on all platforms. TRAINING: GWU/Shakespeare Theatre Company Academy: MFA in Classical Acting.  Robert Bowen Smith (Robot) happily makes his return to Spooky Action’s stage for this wonderful production. Previous Spooky Action acting credits include Rameau’s Nephew, Happy Hour, and Collaborators. In addition to acting, Bowen Smith choreographs; his work as a choreographer has earned him two Helen Hayes Award nominations for Outstanding Choreography. Select previous theater credits include Frontieres Sans Frontieres and The Dragon (Spooky Action Theater); Lie Low (Solas Nua); Romeo Juliet (Folger Theatre); Shakespeare in Love, Ripcord (Keegan Theatre); Muffed (Prologue Theatre); Sleeping Giant, Angel no.9, Reykjavik (Rorschach Theater); Fly By Night, New Brain (1st Stage); Hurricane Diane (Avant Bard), Wonderland, Davey Copperfield, Cinderella: A Salsa Story (Imagination Stage); The Raid  (Theater Alliance). This season he will also be choreographing Once at NextStop Theater.  Jaden Michael Madgett (Bones understudy, Assistant Stage Manager) is a native Houstonian currently studying Acting at the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts at Howard University. He is honored to make his professional performance debut in Tambo  Bones. Jaden is a two-time Owen Dodson Award recipient for his performances in Sonnets and Soul (2024) and Black Nativity (2023), recognizing his commitment to disciplined craft and expressive storytelling. His favorite credits include Sweeny Todd (Judge Turpin), Dreamgirls (Curtis Taylor Jr.), and Fences (Troy Maxson). His training emphasizes classical and contemporary techniques, rigorous text analysis, and ensemble-based performance. In addition to his work as a performer, Jaden has gained experience in stage management, developing a strong appreciation for the organizational and collaborative processes that support live performance. He hopes audiences leave the production engaged, reflective, and in conversation long after the final moment onstage.  Everett Judd (Tambo understudy, Assistant Director) is an actor, director, and dramaturg whose work centers Black storytelling, political consciousness, and theatrical ritual. His acting credits include No Child (2021), The Piano Lesson (2022), and Black Nativity (Howard University, 2023), along with multiple collaborations with the Great Plains Theatre Festival and the International Black Writers Festival. His dramaturgical work includes A Fine Fine Fine Showcase (2025), Young Griots: New Works for the Stage, and Changes (2026), while his directing credits include Word Becomes Flesh (2024), For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf (2025), A Fine Fine Fine Showcase (2025), and Charged, a TV web series (2025). He is currently developing the feature film End of the Road (2026), now in pre-production. Everett approaches theater as both a communal act and a political gesture grounded in precision, courage, and imagination. ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT Dave Harris is a poet and playwright from West Philly. Selected plays include Tambo  Bones (LA Drama Critics Award “Best New Play”; Royal Stratford East, London Premiere, 2023; Playwrights Horizons; Center Theatre Group), Incendiary (Woolly Mammoth, 2023), Exception to the Rule (Roundabout Theatre Company, 2022 and Studio Theater, 2025), and Everybody Black (Humana Festival 2019). His first feature film, Summertime, premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and was released in 2021. Selected honors include: the 2019 Ollie Award, The Lorraine Hansberry Award and Mark Twain Award from The Kennedy Center, The International Commendation for The Bruntwood Prize, the Venturous Fellowship from The Lark, and a Cave Canem poetry fellowship amongst others. Dave is currently writing the feature adaptation of The Fortress of Solitude amongst several other features and television projects for AMC (Interview with the Vampire), ABC Signature, Goddard Textiles, and Amazon. His first full-length collection of poetry, “Patricide,” was published by Button Poetry. Tambo  Bones runs February 12 to March 7, 2026 at Spooky Action Theater performing at Universalist National Memorial Church, 1810 16th St NW, Washington, DC. Performances are Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 7:30pm, Sunday at 2 pm (Feb. 22 and March 1 only; NOTE: at these performances, Jaden Michael Madgett will play the role of Bones usually played by Jeremy Keith Hunter), plus an Industry Night performance Monday, February 16 at 7:30pm and one Wednesday performance March 4 at 7:30pm. All tickets are General Admission and range from Pay-What-You-Can to $43. Purchase tickets online. Tickets for the opening week performances Thurs, Feb. 12 at 7:30pm and Fri, Feb. 13 at 7:30pm are Pay-What-You-Can, available online in advance, and in person the day of the show, depending on availability. Tickets for other performances through March 7 (inclusive of fees) are $43 and a limited amount of $17 Economy price tickets for each performance (includes fees, see website for details). Student Admission is $23 (includes fees) with a valid Student ID to be shown at will call. Senior Citizens, 65 years of age and over, will receive $5 OFF full-price tickets, $38 (includes fees). The UNMC is an older venue and is currently not accessible to wheelchairs. ABOUT THE THEATER Spooky Action Theater is an award-winning professional theater located near DC’s Dupont and Logan Circle neighborhoods. Founded in 2004, SAT takes its name from a phenomenon of quantum mechanics in which particles become entangled – so that a change in one is forever mirrored by change in the other. SAT recharges people’s intuitive and emotional core by linking artists and audiences in a shared act of imagination that leaves all parties transformed. SAT stages and develops groundbreaking plays by diverse writers across the globe, trains the next generation of artists, empowers students to express themselves, and partners with mission-aligned organizations to spotlight vital themes. 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