Holly Twyford wants the world to know that she chose to direct Edgar and Annabel long before Edward Snowden blew the whistle on the National Security Agency. Intense surveillance is the modus operandi of the police state in which this dark comedy is set. British playwright Sam Holcroft explores the double lives of revolutionaries living in an alternative future. Though the themes have proven more timely than Twyford anticipated, it’s the thrill of “being able to actually tell a story from all the angles,” she says, that led this admired D.C. actress to her second outing as a director. Even with opening night months away, Twyford spent the summer reading accounts of secret agents and resistance fighters in France, Britain, and Germany. Edgar and Annabel will offer audiences an opportunity to draw parallels not just to current events, but to events throughout the 20th century.