David Siegel

How does ‘Homebound’ happen? A peek behind the screens

There has been oodles of well-deserved praise for Round House Theatre’s homegrown Homebound, an original ten-installment web series exploring life under stay-at-home orders. Penned by some of the DC...

Rehearsals in PPE and other big changes to expect when theaters reopen in DC

We will open again. The COVID-19 virus will neither darken nor silence us even with the many scary unknowns before us. We know reopening for DMV theater will happen. The date may be uncertain, but...

Washington Performing Arts does pandemic planning with patron feedback

Better days may be coming. Some restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic may be easing. But there is not yet a definitive date when DMV performing arts venues might reopen across three different...

Washington Performing Arts, looking ahead, sets town halls for input

With so much still unknown about the lasting effects of COVID-19 on the performing arts, the singular Washington Performing Arts (WPA) has delayed announcing its 2020–21 season until June 15, 2020....

Lessons in creative coping during COVID-19: Bowie State University theater and dance faculty tell how it’s going

With university campuses closed because of COVID-19, how is student education continuing forward? This is a critical question, especially for higher education theater and dance departments—where...

Meet the winners in American Pops Orchestra’s ‘Voices of Tomorrow’ competition

“What a fantastic NextGen competition, the talent was exceptional! I’m happy to say that we had an unprecedented amount of participation, both in viewers and votes. We’re committed to promoting new...

Lessons in creative coping during COVID-19: A conversation with Rick Davis, dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts at George Mason University

With college and university campuses in the DMV area closed because of COVID-19, distance learning is now the norm. But how do students in the performing and visual arts continue their education and...

UrbanArias’ new chamber opera ‘Glory Denied’ now streaming for free

The critically acclaimed production of Glory Denied from UrbanArias will stream until April 16, 2020. The streaming is viewable for free here on Vimeo and on the Urban Arias website. Glory Denied is a...

Arena Stage’s ‘Celia and Fidel’ explores the influences on Cuba’s revolutionary leader

Part of Arena Stage’s ongoing Power Plays, the world premiere of Celia and Fidel transports the audience back to a time when Fidel Castro was not just a name in the history books, but a feared...

Plenty to chew on in ExPats’ thoughtful production of ‘Einstein’s Wife’

Ready for a dandy production about the complicated life with a child-like diva who happens to be a genius? Then consider Einstein’s Wife from ExPats Theatre. Written by Serbian playwright Snezana...

Music of The Go-Go’s powers Monumental Theatre’s ‘Head Over Heels’

Monumental Theatre is providing DC-area audiences with a first look at the jukebox musical comedy Head Over Heels. The production features nearly two dozen musical numbers from The Go-Go’s propelling...

Taffety Punk’s ‘suicide.chat.room’: A unique, haunting, and compelling dance play

Highly recommended. An unsettling dance play. The phrase “sorry you’re here” takes on new meaning. It is not typical for me to write “highly recommended” at the top of an article. However, Taffety...

A formidable production of ‘The Wanderers’ at Theater J

“Isn’t it OK to sometimes be selfish?” asks a character in Anna Ziegler’s cunningly devised The Wanderers. With Amber McGinnis’ discerning, sympathetic direction, Theater J’s production provides...

Nu Sass’s world premiere of ‘Weep’ is an arresting, unflinching peek into complicated lives

Trigger warning. Nu Sass’s world premiere of Weep is an arresting, unflinching peek into complicated lives with emotionally charged scenes and character collisions. It is a slowly building...

Better Said Than Done’s Women’s Storytelling Festival: giving voice to women storytellers for all to hear

Who Tells Our Story is the theme of Better Said Than Done’s upcoming, first-of-its-kind, two-day Women’s Storytelling Festival. Audiences can expect stories that have been crafted for a solo spoken...

West-Eastern Divan Ensemble’s first American tour features Kennedy Center performance

The world is so full of intractable political and cultural issues, with deep chasms making understanding, let alone peace, seem so far away. But the venerable Washington Performing Arts (WPA)...

Signature Theatre’s commanding ‘Gun & Powder’ pulls no punches

Raw one moment, richly comic the next. Subtle in one scene, directly challenging the audience the next. The world premiere musical Gun & Powder at Signature Theatre is strikingly effective...

The Mason Cabaret is in splendid voice with ‘The Great American Songbook!’ at GMU

With personality galore and voices full of pizzazz and warmth, The Mason Cabaret in Concert delivered a wonderful evening of Celebrating the Great American Songbook! Under the direction of James...

Matthew M. Nielson on bringing Shakespeare’s ‘Merry Wives of Windsor’ into the 1970s through original music and sound design

Bright and jaunty as a hippie’s tie-dyed shirt, the opening musical number for Folger’s The Merry Wives of Windsor lets the audience know what’s in store. It’s a farce set long ago–well, 1972, to be...

Washington Stage Guild’s ‘Bloomsday’ is pleasurable, candid production for the heart

Washington Stage Guild’s Bloomsday is a flower of a production. One to gaze at, listen to, and revel in, enjoying the power of words, terrific acting, connections, and confessions. Written by Steven...

The Kennedy Center’s Alicia Adams on playwright Femi Osofisan’s ‘Not All Canoes Sail Back Home’ and the 2020 ‘Boundless: Africa’ series

There was revolution in the air. Decolonization of Africa was taking shape. The world was on fire. And The Kennedy Center’s World Stages will be providing audiences a taste of those times. “The World...

Interview with renowned choreographer Bill T. Jones ahead of world premiere of ‘What Problem?’ at Center for the Arts

Social commentary in a dance performance is not unusual, especially in the modern dance community. But in a week-long residency by The Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company at George Mason University,...

American Pops Orchestra cleverly re-imagines ‘The Pied Piper’ at Arena Stage

The weather outside was surely cold and cranky. But the outside world could be quickly forgotten as the American Pops Orchestra (APO), led by Maestro Luke Frazier, gently took children and adults by...

MLK’s final evening is imagined in NextStop Theatre’s ‘The Mountaintop’

The Mountaintop by Katori Hall is a remarkably affecting play full of humanity, faith, unexpected humor, and the Almighty. Strikingly directed by two time Helen Hayes award recipient Kevin S....

Director Stevie Zimmerman on the rewards of going outside of comfort zone

Professional theaters in the DMV have been at the forefront of making diversity a critical watchword and action step. During the past several years, the DMV has hosted two Women’s Voices Theater...

The audacity of Brave Spirits Theatre: a conversation with Artistic Director Charlene V. Smith

Tumultuous times call out for audacity in the performing arts. And Brave Spirits Theatre (BST) has boldly marked its territory for the next two years. Over the 2020 and 2021 seasons, Brave Spirits...

‘Not just a field trip’: Strathmore partners with Montgomery County Public Schools to engage children in the arts

Schools play a pivotal role in cultivating the next generations, and the arts have a key role. Research suggests that arts educational experiences can produce significant positive impacts on academic...

Dark Horse Theatre Company, theatreWashington’s newest member, kicks off 2020 with ‘The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later’

Dark Horse Theatre Company is the newest member of theatreWashington. As readers of DCMTA are aware, theatreWashington is the organization dedicated to supporting and representing the Washington, DC...

The appeal of ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ endures at The National Theatre

Fiddler on the Roof, the quintessentially Jewish musical about keeping one’s balance in changing times, remains ebullient and undiminished in its eternal appeal. At the opening night performance for...

‘A dream for me’: Ashley Bruce on playing Mary Delgado in ‘Jersey Boys’

While the Tony Award-winning musical is called Jersey Boys, let’s not forget that so many of the Billboard chart-toppers performed in the show are about the real-life Frankie Valli and the Four...

‘I Take Your Hand in Mine’ by Taffety Punk Theatre Company brings Chekhov’s romantic life to the stage

A matchless, hypnotic portrait of love. A seductive vision of two lives tangled up in blues with too many tough nights apart as each knows “I have no will of my own.” Are the two people on stage up...

‘The Woman in Black’ at Shakespeare Theatre Company is a delightfully spooky gem

A charming little gem of a ghostly, campfire-ish thriller is here for a short time courtesy of Shakespeare Theatre Company. Full of expressive acting, whodunit lighting moods and suspense-making...

Love reigns in ‘Love in Hate Nation’ Two River Theater premiere

Love in Hate Nation is the new musical from Be More Chill’s composer/lyricist, Joe Iconis. Animated with a driving wheel of rock and funk rock tunes, it grapples with the pressing cultural issues of...

UrbanArias delivers fun, deeply human evening of music and voices taking on the modern condition

How prescient of the innovative UrbanArias. To be ahead of a major Washington Post Sunday Business section about a modern-day retail apocalypse: the dying of America’s suburban retail malls. Yes, you...

1st Stage launches free Youth Engagement Subscription (YES) pass for Fairfax County high school students

Now in its 12th season, the professional 1st Stage Theatre located in Tysons, Virginia, serves as a cultural hub for the community. Beyond producing award-winning theatrical productions, 1st Stage...

Virginia Opera opens “From Screen to Stage” series with ‘Il Postino’ at George Mason University

The sensuality and passion of Nobel Prize-winning Chilean poet, diplomat, and politician, Pablo Neruda has become the bones for a contemporary opera, Il Postino by Daniel Catán. Il Postino (The...

The Welders’ Annalisa Dias on ‘HEARTSPACE’ and responding to impending and present climate disasters

The Welders, a self-described artists’ collective, burst upon the DMV theatrical landscape in the summer of 2013 with a mission to establish an evolving, alternative platform for play development and...

Artistry, rivalry, madness, and genius in Folger Theatre’s ‘Amadeus’

What a great lively yarn about a musical disruptor as a stand-in for the volcanic eruptions of out-and-out revolution in the air throughout Europe and America. Amadeus at Folger Theatre is a triumph....

Signature’s ‘A Chorus Line’ proves musicals can evolve in the right creative hands

“A Chorus Line is still one of those musicals you will sing about to your grandchildren,” wrote theater and dance critic Clive Barnes in his 1975 New York Times review for A Chorus Line. Barnes had an...

Stage managers work long hours for rich rewards

Being a stage manager of a theater production brings challenging, yet too often unheralded responsibilities that begin long before an audience steps into a theater to take a seat. As the production...

‘Blue Camp,’ an affecting play about men surviving enlistment in the Vietnam War

Dispatch from the front. “Greetings: You are hereby ordered for induction in the Armed Forces of the United States.” For those in the audience of the Boomer generation, Rainbow Theatre’s Blue Camp...

1st Stage to host musical group All 4 Bass on November 16th

Another unique cabaret evening is arriving at 1st Stage in Tysons. It is a musical performance by the quartet All 4 Bass. The event is entitled Play it LOW…Play it COOL. The All 4 Bass group is a...

‘The American Soldier’ to illuminate the impact of military service at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage

Next week, The Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage will present a performance keyed to Veteran’s Day–The American Soldier, conceived, written and performed by Douglas Taurel. The November 13 performance...

‘Stirring the Waters Across America’ at The REACH is a powerful musical exploration of resistance to racism

Electrifying. Awakening. These are words to describe the heart-rending workshop presentation of Stirring the Waters Across America performed at Studio K at The REACH. To call it anything less would be...

Strathmore: Growing a vibrant arts community that welcomes everyone

As DC-area demographics have evolved over the recent decades, so have the missions of some of the area’s nimble performing arts venues so that they are welcoming to those they serve and reach out to....

IN Series’ ‘Stormy Weather’ provides an original take on Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’ with Billie Holiday as musical fuel

Ingenious. Shakespeare’s venerable, often un-provocatively produced The Tempest has been reconstructed into theater with an invigorating musical arc and an awakening narrative bite. It has been...

New revision of Broadway musical ‘Rags’ is a timely story of the immigrant experience

Something’s coming: an exclusive opportunity to take in an award-winning creative team’s new adaptation of Rags, a hidden away musical gem. If you are not familiar with it, “Rags is a special creature...

ARTSFAIRFAX presents 2019 Emerging Arts Award to NextStop Theatre Company

ARTSFAIRFAX presented its 2019 Emerging Arts Award at its eighth Arts Awards event on October 18, 2019. The award was given to the professional, black box NextStop Theatre Company. The ARTSFAIRFAX...

Rorschach Theatre remounts and reimagines ‘She Kills Monsters’ at the Atlas

A much-needed rabbit hole to explore is opening in the DMV. Let us rejoice. It is the return of She Kills Monsters some five years after making its first appearance, thanks to Rorschach Theatre....

LA Theatre Works’ ‘SEVEN’ will explore social injustice through documentary theater at George Mason

LA Theatre Works is bringing its distinctive radio style, live theater to the DMV with a production of SEVEN. A documentary theater play, SEVEN is based on the lives of seven extraordinary women from...