David Siegel

In the Moment: George Mason University’s School of Dance’s GALA and Interviews with Students

“We expect that our Mason Dance Company will leave strong impressions,” said Susan Shields, director, George Mason University School of Dance. She was describing the multi-performance School of Dance...

In The Moment: Paata Tsikurishvili and Nathan Weinberger on ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ at Synetic Theater

Synetic Theater’s terrific “silent” production of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing had me wondering about the many technical design element decisions made long before an audience stepped into the...

In The Moment: An interview with Choreographer Shu-Chen Cuff of the Gin Dance Company on Appearing at Intersections at Atlas

Over the past several years, Shu-Chen Cuff and the Gin Dance Company have been making impressions on the DC area dance scene. Established in Reston, Virginia, the award-winning Gin Dance Company has...

‘The Pirate Laureate and the King of the Sea’ at Flying V Theatre Company

Escape the constraints of the everyday world to swagger and carry-on with some entertaining steampunk pirates of the Caribbean. All you need to do is take in the world premiere of The Pirate Laureate...

‘Metromaniacs’ at Shakespeare Theatre Company

Zowie! Pop! Slap! Holy Cow. Karabonga! I write to highly praise Metromaniacs as a wild, wonderful, built-for-speed, audaciously performed game-of-deception, fantasyland comedy based upon a...

In the Moment: A Tip of the Hat to Mary Stuart’s Todd Scofield

There is a “minor” character who has a key role in the terrific Mary Stuart production currently at the Folger Theatre. He has only a few moments of visibility. But, I want to call him out with a tip...

In the Moment: Chamber Dance Project Prepares for 2015 Summer Season at The Lansburgh

Who wouldn’t find it fascinating to listen to a performing artist describe a path to creativity to “put myself in a box as a way to take on a task or a new problem. Then to force myself to go and find...

In the Moment: Walnut Street Theatre’s Touring Company Brings ‘A Life in the Theatre’ to GMU’s Center for the Arts on February 6th

America’s oldest theatre, Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia, PA, also has a touring company component. The touring company is a regular presence at the George Mason University Center for the Arts,...

In the Moment: George Mason University Gets STEAMED

What is the arts role as a means to spark creativity for the American workforce in the post-recession world? Much is being said about keeping the competitive edge of the United States through what is...

‘The Tempest’ at Aquila Theatre

The touring Aquila Theatre production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest opened winningly. An older man we come to know as Prospero, is sitting alone at the lip of center stage. The curtain is closed behind...

‘Baskerville’ at Arena Stage at The Mead Center for American Theater

A small, merry band of actors is taking audiences on a lively, cheery, clever lark of an evening’s entertainment. What is it? It is a sharply produced production of local playwright and multi-Tony...

In the Moment: An Interview with WSC Avant Bard’s Tom Prewitt on ‘Othello’

On horror’s head horrors accumulate. (Othello Act 3, Scene 3) So why did Othello do what he did? Why did he take the life of Desdemona, the woman he loved? Why did he take his own life? Certainly...

‘Excuse Me’ at Zemfira Stage

Excuse Me is a high-energy, subversive, conspiracy theory-infused, paranoid, mash-up zombie comedy. It is madcap built upon zinger lines such as “don’t make any rational moves.” But, hidden away...

‘In the Moment’: ‘Bessie’s Blues’ Remounted at MetroStage

It’s been a long time coming. But the time is right. The multi-Helen Hayes Award production, Bessie’s Blues is returning twenty years after it first appeared on The Studio Theater stage. It is being...

‘Smellin’ Up the Den!’ A Co-Production of Red Knight Productions and Port City Playhouse

Red Knight Productions met its goal to design and perform Smellin’ Up the Den! as “a silly show” enabling audiences to “laugh at how ridiculous the world is,” as Director Scott Courlander wrote in his...

‘In the Moment’: Aquila Theatre’s ‘The Tempest’ Visits George Mason University’s Center for the Arts on Friday, January 23rd at 8 PM

Bringing “the greatest works to the greatest number,” the nationally recognized Aquila Theatre, will bring its touring stage production of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest to the George Mason...

‘In The Moment’: The Surprising Findings in Three New NEA Reports on the Arts

Well, this was an attention grabbing, eye-catching headline; “Surprising Findings in Three New NEA Reports on the Arts.” I found it on the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) home page along with...

‘In Love and Warcraft’ at No Rules Theatre Company

There is a lot to like about Madhuri Shekar’s In Love and Warcraft even before the opening scene. This newly minted full production of a romantic-comedy brings to the DC area a playwright representing...

In the Moment: ‘Poetry Out Loud’ at Signature Theatre on February 6, 2015

DCMetroTheaterArts is constantly on the look-out to learn about ways local theater companies make their venues available for community activities beyond presenting plays and musicals. We are aware of...

‘Diner’ at Signature Theatre by David Siegel

Music easily helps us drift back to another time and place, one that is fading away even as we try to keep it alive within us. It takes only the initial notes and musical measures of oldies but...

‘Famous Puppet Death Scenes’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

Ready for some comic puppet anarchy? Ready for some situational, very visual humor within nearly two dozen short puppet-driven skits? Ready to indulge into, of all things, existential takes on death?...

‘Beauty and the Beast’ at Synetic Theater

Synetic Theater has brought forth an earthy, musically rich, sophisticated retelling of the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast. At its heart, this appealing production harks back to the darker roots of...

In the Moment: Parents Chime In On Their Kids Appearing in NextStop Theatre Company’s ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’

Wonder what parents think of their children taking on a role in a theater production; one that is not school-based? With that in mind, I went to NextStop Theatre Company which is producing A Charlie...

In The Moment: An Interview with VA Museum of Fine Arts’ Jeffrey Allison on Photographer Jacques Henri Lartigue

The photo just jumped out at me. It had a joyful, playful performing arts feeling. But it was a photograph from a century ago by an artist I did not know. And I wanted to know more. So with a bit of...

‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ at Brave Spirits Theatre

There is a cheerful insouciance to the Brave Spirits Theatre production of that war-horse of Shakespeare comedy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Chalk it up to youthful, well-rehearsed nonchalance, with an...

‘Some Kind of Wonderful: Bayla Whitten Sings Carole King’ at the Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia

Just this past weekend, a sunny, very talented Bayla Whitten held the audience enthralled making her solo cabaret debut covering singer, song writer Carole King’s many hit tunes. She performed Some...

‘Fiddler on the Roof’ at Arena Stage at The Mead Center for American Theater

Fiddler on the Roof remains a musical theater audience pleaser, as it has been for five decades. The Arena Stage production is handsome and solid. Under Molly Smith’s direction, the Arena’s Fiddler...

In the Moment: Hub Theatre’s 2014-2015 Season Announced: Interviews with Helen Pafumi, Matt Bassett, & Kristen LePine

The Hub Theatre recently announced its full 2014-15 season. The season includes several mainstage productions and the annual Hub Playfest, along with developmental play readings. There will also be...

‘Green Porno Live on Stage’ With Isabella Rossellini at Lisner Auditorium

Green Porno. Now that’s a show title to bring interest. Add that it was adapted from a well-viewed Web series aired on the Sundance Channel and your reviewer wondered how it would be accomplished live...

‘There is a Happiness that Morning Is’ at WSC Avant Bard

There is one howl of a good time at There is a Happiness that Morning Is at WSC Avant Bard. The production is a masterly feat of acting prowess full of precise, adroit comic work and squinting eye...

In the Moment: “Julius Caesar’ at Folger Theatre

Let’s be provocative in this column. Let’s imagine a world where the debates within Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar are not between ambitious political people like Brutus, Mark Anthony, Cassius, and...

‘WORDLESS!’ at Lisner Auditorium

There was a cool visiting professor in town the other evening. You know the one, in his 60’s, an ex-hippie, still in the prime of life. He came with a vibrant presentation of a topic of great personal...

In the Moment: A Chat with the Director and Cast Members of George Mason University’s ‘The Mystery of Edwin Drood’ Which Opens This Friday Night

Ah, theatrical heaven! Being in the midst of the usually unseen controlled chaos of a rehearsal, especially with a large cast. Such a delight, so much infectious, intense energy pervading a large,...

‘Sex with Strangers’ at Signature Theatre

Let’s get this out of the way. Sex with Strangers by Laura Eason (at Signature Theatre) is a slam-dunk champ. It is an easy crowd-pleaser on its polished comic surface, but, oh what a delicious depth...

‘Vanishing Point’ at The George Washington University

The George Washington University Department of Theatre and Dance is presenting the world premiere of Vanishing Point. This production has a clear purpose well beyond providing students the opportunity...

In the Moment: An Interview with Tom Teasley on His Live Score for ‘Nosferatu’ on October 25th at Workhouse Arts Center in Lorton, VA

“I invite you to participate in a merging of sight, sound, drama and fantasy. For fifty minutes I will take your imagination on a fantasy journey and return you safely to your seats!” Now that is how...

‘The Island of Dr. Moreau’ at Synetic Theater

Synetic continues to plumb classic literature to find new sources of inspiration for its physical theater productions. Opening its new season, Paata Tsikurishvili and his team of artistic and...

Aquila Theatre Brings ‘Wuthering Heights’ to George Mason University’s Center for the Arts on October 5th and ‘The Tempest’ to Hylton Performing Arts Center on October 11th

Enduring works of live theater continue to be performed; even in this fast-changing digital age, with disruption to so much long-held, accepted wisdom. Classic works of literature and theater keep on...

In the Moment: An Interview with the Fredgren Studio Theater

A place to create is critical to the performing arts and artist. In Northern Virginia available space for emerging performing arts companies can be both difficult to locate and costly. So when a brand...

In the Moment: This Saturday 9/27/14: ‘ARTS by George!’ at George Mason University: An Interview with Co-Chair Mark Shugoll

ARTS by George, a signature event gala that supports scholarships and the Great Performance series at George Mason University, has raised more than $1 million. The co-chairs of this year’s gala are...

‘Broadway’s Next Hit Musical’ at Hylton Performing Arts Center

Cue the bright lights. Quick witted, theatrically smart, and skillful improv artistry took to the stage of the gleaming Hylton Performing Arts Center in Manassas bringing good cheer to the full-house...

‘Seven Guitars’ at No Rules Theatre Company

Under the affecting direction of Michele Shay, No Rules Theatre Company’s production of August Wilson‘s Seven Guitars raises an intimate, open-eyed awareness of lives without long-term satisfaction,...

‘Nevermore’ Opens Tomorrow at Pandemonium Theatrical Productions Performing at Workhouse Arts Center in Lorton, VA

Ah, September has come; with it the nights grow longer. Soon enough a cooler nip in the evening air. And then, could it be, really be, Halloween with all its fun and frolic. But there is also the...

‘Fool for Love’ at Round House Theatre

Burnished to an earthy golden, Director Ryan Rilette’s absorbing, sensually deep, measured take on Sam Shepard’s Fool for Love(1983) is full of the stickiness of love and repulsion. There are...

‘Nevermore’ Comes to Pandemonium Theatrical Productions at the Workhouse Arts Center in Lorton, VA From 9/12-10/10/14

Ah, September has come; with it the nights grow longer. Soon enough a cooler nip in the evening air. And then, could it be, really be, Halloween with all its fun and frolic. But there is also the...

Wu Promotions Presents: Peking Opera — 120th Anniversary of Mei Lanfang: ‘Classic Plays of the Mei School’ at The Kennedy Center

What a fabulous immersion into the dazzling world of the Peking Opera as The Kennedy Center hosted two performances to celebrate the 120th Anniversary of the birth of Mei Lanfang, a Jingju (Peking...

In the Moment: Reduced Shakespeare Company Brings ‘Extravaganza’ to Reston Community Center’s CenterStage September 12-21st

The Reduced Shakespeare Company (RSC) has been performing in the DC area for well over two decades, thanks to the folk at the Reston Community Center’s CenterStage and The Kennedy Center. Coming soon...

‘Monty Python’s Spamalot’ at Zemfira Stage

The inner friskiness of the 20-member cast, many making their Zemfira Stage debuts, took over after intermission, to make the opening night of Monty Python’s Spamalot ultimately a lively evening of...

In the Moment: ‘Gidion’s Knot’ Moves From Forum Theatre to NextStop Theatre Company: Interviews with Artistic Directors Michael Dove and Evan Hoffman and Director Cristina Alicea

I have been intrigued by the partnerships and reaching-out that the one-year old NextStop Theatre company has been developing. The company, performing in Herndon, Virginia and drawing audiences from...

An Interview with Playwright Julia Jarcho On Her Play ‘Grimly Handsome’ Staged at George Mason University’s Harris Theatre on 9/12@8 PM

The singular voice of 2013 Obie Award-winning playwright Julia Jarcho is coming to the area. Wait, you haven’t heard of her? Well, she hasn’t yet been produced in the DC area, not even her visionary...