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EXTENDED - DC Premiere

No Place to Go

Aug 30 - Oct 20, 2022
A white middle-aged man in a blue suit holding a suitcase, leans elbow against a human-sized model of Mars. Background is light blue.

Bobby Smith stars in this musical ode to the unemployed with an enterprising twist.

A dedicated corporate “information refiner” has learned that his company is moving to a cheaper, but very (very) remote, location and taking the jobs with it. Backed by a jazz band, this permanent part-timer must decide whether to go and uproot his family’s life or embark on an unknown venture.

Sardonic wit merges with clever jazz, blues and bluegrass music for an irreverent capitalist critique of the personal cost of doing business.

“Immensely appealing… music, jokes and personal narrative [are] tightly knitted together into one consistent human package.”
The New York Times

Written by Ethan Lipton
Music Composed by Ethan Lipton, Eben Levy, Ian M. Riggs and Vito Dieterle
Directed by Matthew Gardiner
#SigNoPlaceToGo
#SigNoPlaceToGo

Performance Information

Seating Chart

  • Run Time

    Running time is approximately 1 hour and 25 minutes, no intermission.

  • Content Warnings

    This show is recommended for teens and adults and will use strobe effects. Signature does not admit children under 6 years old

  • Masks

    Masks are required at all performances

Content Warnings

This show contains strobe effects and some adult language.

Program

Flip through the No Place to Go Program

Click the arrows to turn the pages, and click the box in the bottom right corner to view in full screen.

Specialty Nights

Discussion Nights

September 20 & October 12, 2022

Pride Night

September 23, 2022

Cast Members

Bobby Smith

Bobby Smith

George

he/him SIGNATURE: No Place to Go, She Loves Me, Midnight at The Never Get, Assassins, Grand Hotel, Passion, Light Years, A Little Night Music, Titanic, Simply Sondheim, Company, Midwestern Gothic, Road Show, Threepenny Opera, Disney's Freaky Friday, La Cage aux Folles (Helen Hayes Award), Spin (Helen Hayes Award). BROADWAY: Crazy for You. OFF-BROADWAY: Forever Plaid, The World Goes ‘Round, Of Thee I Sing. NATIONAL TOURS: Brigadoon, The World Goes ‘Round. DC AREA: Theater J: Two Jews Walk Into a War; Studio Theatre: Fun Home, A Class Act; The Long Christmas Ride Home; Caroline, or Change; Grey Gardens; Reefer Madness; Jerry Springer: The Opera; Ford’s Theatre: Elmer Gantry, Liberty Smith, 1776, Violet; Metrostage: Girl in the Goldfish Bowl, Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris (Helen Hayes Award). AWARDS: 2018 Anderson/Hopkins award.

Tom Lagana

Jonah/Guitar

SIGNATURE: Giant, Chess, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. DC AREA: Kennedy Center: Little Shop of Horrors, Footloose; Meyerhoff: Hairspray In Concert (featuring John Waters with the BSO); The Hippodrome: Mean Girls. MUSIC: ranging from jazz concerts with Joel Frahm, George Garzone, Walt Weiskopf, Red Rodney to appearances with the NSO, BSO, and Wolf Trap Orchestras. Tom has also won praise for his three recordings from both Jazz Times and Downbeat magazines. TEACHING: Howard University; UMBC. EDUCATION: Berklee College of Music: B.M.; Towson University: M.M.

Grant Langford

Sal/Saxaphone

he/him SIGNATURE: Ain’t Misbehavin’, Unforgettable: A Tribute to Nat King Cole. DC AREA: Metrostage: Ladies Swing the Blues, Shake Loose, Josephine Tonight, Ella: First Lady of Song (sax, flute, clarinet). REGIONAL: ArtsCentric: Technicolor. OTHER: United States Air Force Band Airmen of Note. EDUCATION: B.M. New England Conservatory. langfordjazz.com @langfordcreates @langfordjazz

Ian M. Riggs

Duke/Bass/Guitar/Conductor

BROADWAY: Mean Girls, Paramour (Cirque du Soleil). INTERNATIONAL: UK: No Place to Go. NATIONAL TOUR: Mean Girls. OFF-BROADWAY: The Public Theater: The Outer Space, No Place to Go; The Flea Theater: Baal. TV/FILM: Amazon: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. OTHER: The Hollywood Bowl and Kaloo Bang Festival with Burning Spear, Bonnaroo with the Lonesome Trio. AWARDS: Obie. EDUCATION: Mannes/New School: BFA.

Creative Team

Ian M. Riggs

Music Director/Arrangements

BROADWAY: Mean Girls, Paramour (Cirque du Soleil). INTERNATIONAL: UK: No Place to Go. NATIONAL TOUR: Mean Girls. OFF-BROADWAY: The Public Theater: The Outer Space, No Place to Go; The Flea Theater: Baal. TV/FILM: Amazon: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. OTHER: The Hollywood Bowl and Kaloo Bang Festival with Burning Spear, Bonnaroo with the Lonesome Trio. AWARDS: Obie. EDUCATION: Mannes/New School: BFA.

Inside Signature with Ethan Lipton and Ian M. Riggs

The creative team behind the irreverent musical No Place to Go, Ethan Lipton and Ian M. Riggs, discuss how they met, their longstanding friendship, working together and their other projects.

Food and Drink Specials

Head to Ali’s Bar in the Mead Lobby on the 2nd floor to enjoy our specialty items inspired by No Place to Go: Red Planet Old Fashioned: Bourbon, red wine and maple syrup come together to make this extraterrestrial Old Fashioned. Topped with a little bit of cinnamon and garnished with a cherry. Mars Cookies: Little cookie-cupcake hybrids filled with a gooey bit of Mars Bars™ candy that are out of this world.

Signature Theatre

4200 Campbell Ave Arlington, Virginia

Press Reviews

Spot-on satire of corporate culture and the daily office grind

The Washington Post

What Smith does well, really well, is truly embody the whirlwind of emotions—fear, guilt, even heartbreak⁠—that accompanies job loss

MD Theatre Guide

Funny and whimsical

DC Theater Arts

A stunning performance

Washington Blade

No Place to Go proves a rich showcase of star Bobby Smith’s impressive range

Metro Weekly

I loved it… [a] delightful mirror of our times

TheatreBloom

An insightful and often very funny consideration of the plight of the overworked, undercompensated, and unappreciated

Talkin' Broadway