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THURSDAY
Even among theater buffs, Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux isn’t exactly a household name. (He’s most famous for his unfinished novel La Vie de Marianne, which gave rise to the term “Marivaudage,” a kind of overwrought would-be-seductive prose.) Nonetheless, the 18th-century lawyer-turned-dramatist is one of France’s most exquisite exports. A new translation of The Disputehis renowned but rarely staged dark comedyreceives its U.S. premiere at the hands of the Theater Alliance and Worldwide Art Collective. Jeremy Skidmore directs the production, which was originally commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company and first adapted in 1999 by Neil Bartlett, artistic director of Britain’s Lyric Theatre Hammersmith. Just what is the dispute of the title? A nobleman and his fiancée observe four unsocialized children in a synthetic Garden of Eden and speculate on whether the girls or the boys will be first to go astray. Curtain goes up at 7:30 p.m. at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop’s Black Box Theater, 545 7th St. SE. $15. (202) 547-6839. (Robin Dougherty)