David Siegel

A Personal View of the Coming Apocalypse: Caryl Churchill’s ‘Escaped Alone’

What a play! Escaped Alone is full of dramatic presentations announcing a coming apocalypse; an end of days. The production at Signature Theatre is receiving rightful praise (read my colleague Barbara...

‘My Barking Dog’ Explores Wildness and Uncertainty at Caos on F

Building on its mission to produce “exciting yet profound theatre in greater Washington, DC” The Edge of the Universe Players 2 is presenting My Barking Dog, a play about “A woman. A man. A wild...

Review: ‘The Tempest’ at Synetic Theater

What an inspired creative jewel. What a brave new world. What a daring technical and artistic production. That is Synetic’s The Tempest; Shakespeare’s tale of shipwreck and magic, power grab and...

Review: ‘Unexpected Turbulence’ at The Fridge DC

What a charmer is the fringy play Unexpected Turbulence. It’s an engaging, first-class “flight” with personable service provided by flight attendant Crystelle Desjardins (Alexander Burnett) who is on...

Review: ‘Life is a Dream’ at GALA Hispanic Theatre

In our world-class DC area, the GALA Hispanic Theatre continues to be a beacon with a mission to produce playwrights and plays often unknown to English-speaking audiences. GALA is a National Center...

REACH Report: DC Playwrights Forum

It’s true. The DC area has moved into the forefront of the nation’s theater communities. A recent report from Actors’ Equity Association named DC the “fastest-growing theater city.” It was in the...

Review: ‘Meatballs and Music’ at Creative Cauldron

“Sing your song… be someone big on earth” is one of the centering lyrics that Tom Sweitzer sang in his one-actor, cabaret-like performance of Meatballs and Music on September 13 & 14, 2019 at Creative...

Review: ‘Love Sick’ at Theater J Offers a Contemporary Look at the Biblical Song of Songs

Celebrating the lushness of love without shying away from the moody darkness that might befall lovers, Theater J opens its new season with the East Coast premiere of the musical Love Sick. Love Sick...

In the Moment: Peter’s Alley Theatre moves to The Writer’s Center in Bethesda and opens with ‘The Gulf’

Peter’s Alley Theatre has moved its base of performances to The Writer’s Center in Bethesda. Founded in 2012 by Aly B. Ettman, Peter’s Alley is a non-profit professional theatre company dedicated to...

Review: ‘Beehive’ at NextStop Theatre Company

Let yourself drift back and be carried away to another time–the time when music with its rhythms was the center of a young life. Now with that thought, take yourself to the vibrant, energetic...

Casting Director Kelly Crandall d’Amboise on Signature Theatre’s ‘Assassins’

The splendid, bone-chilling darkness of Signature Theatre’s production of Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins is lifted into reality by a most unexpected source: a 10-year-old character named Billy. He does...

Providence Players’ Julie Janson Previews Pop-Up Production of ‘Bobby Gould in Hell’

With the success of their first pop-up theatrical venture, the Providence Players of Fairfax are ready for a second pop-up production. This time the Providence Players, a Northern Virginia staple for...

Vocalists Add a Narrative Twist to Cirque du Soleil’s ‘Volta’

Cirque du Soleil’s Volta is a rush of energy and hand-over-mouth gulps of emotions. Currently decamped in Fairfax County, a quick saunter from the raised Metro Silver Line station at Tysons II, Volta...

In The Moment: Kimberly Gilbert Is King In ‘Bootleg Shakespeare, Richard III’

Once again, Taffety Punk Theatre Company has succeeded at challenging the theatrical status quo. This time, it was with a mesmerizing Bootleg Shakespeare Richard III. Under the open-eyed, “the...

Dark Horse Theatre Company Brings Daring Production of ‘No Exit’ to Two Northern Virginia Venues

Adding to professional theater options for audiences in Northern Virginia, Dark Horse Theatre Company will be mounting its next production at ArtSpace Herndon, as well as in its regular home base...

In the Moment: ‘The Happiest Place on Earth’ at 1st  Stage

With a return visit to The Happiest Place on Earth, new gemstones are uncovered, adding complexity and currency to its bittersweet tale about dreams that a heart makes. In its current incarnation as...

Review: ‘The Things They Carried’ at the Logan Festival of Solo Performance at 1st Stage

The Things They Carried is a personal people’s history. A sharply conjured chronicle. It is told at the most granular of levels by a platoon of characters. Performed solo by David Sitler, the...

Review: ‘Joy Rebel’ at the Logan Festival of Solo Performance at 1st Stage

Joy Rebel, written and performed by Khanisha Foster, is a moving, deep dive into fluid identity and the fraught experiences of a mixed-race human being. Joy Rebel is a revealing autobiographical...

Review: ‘The Band’s Visit’ at The Kennedy Center

“All alone in the quiet /And my ears are thirsty / For your voice, for your voice / Can you answer me.” Those lyrics from The Band’s Visit’s “Answer Me” burrowed into my heart as I took in The Band’s...

Monumental Theatre Opens DC-Area Premiere of ‘Be More Chill’ July 11

You may remember James Corden, Sara Bareilles, and Josh Groban singing a parody of the song “Michael in the Bathroom” a few weeks ago on the Tony Awards network television show. The stars sang of...

Review: ‘Vivian’s Music 1969’ at The Essential Theatre

It was 50 years ago. Lost deep in the pages of the June 26, 1969 edition of The New York Times was this, “Firebombings, rock throwing and rifle shots marked a third straight night of racial violence...

Review: ‘L’homme Cirque: The One-Man Circus’ at Strathmore

Glory days of diminutive touring tent circuses visiting small towns return with David Dimitri and his L’homme Cirque: The One-Man Circus, currently at Strathmore. In a cozy tent set up on the...

Review: ‘Blackbeard’ at Signature Theatre

I have no idea who the “real” Blackbeard might have been. But I raise a cup (and maybe a cutlass) to Signature Theatre’s epic, cheeky vision of the dude and his derring-do. Envisioned by Signature...

Playwright Sam Hamashima and Director Kathryn Chase Bryer Discuss Hub Theatre’s ‘American Spies’

Once again Fairfax’s Hub Theatre will be introducing a new playwright, and a new play that highlights America’s common humanity, to a wider DMV audience. This time the playwright is Sam Hamashima and...

Review: ‘The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui’ by Scena Theatre

I love Brecht. My heart and soul were ready for Scena Theatre’s production of The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (written during World War II but not produced in America until the late 1950s) – a play...

Review: ‘A Doll’s House, Part 2’ at Round House Theatre

Battle lines drawn. Cogent argument made. Can everyone be right at the same time? Does it matter in a world full of choices? Invigorating and decidedly bracing, the Round House production of A Doll’s...

Chamber Dance Project Brings ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’ From Page to Stage

‘‘Do I dare/Disturb the universe?” asked T.S. Eliot’s protagonist in the confessional modernist masterwork “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” Through a world-premier devised performance,...

Review: ‘Gwen & Ida: The Object is of No Importance’ by Nu Sass Productions and Uncle Funsy at Caos On F

With the world premiere of DC playwright David Kessler’s fictional memory play, Gwen & Ida: The Object is of No Importance, Nu Sass & Uncle Funsy present an enlightening window into the lives and...

A ‘Life-Affirming’ Journey: Playwright Samuel A. Simon and Actor Chuk Obasi Discuss ‘The Actual Dance’

“It is what I am supposed to do in my life,” The Actual Dance playwright Samuel A. Simon told me in a phone interview. He was speaking about the play he developed and has performed that began when he...

Director Coral Cohen Discusses ‘Between the Threads (Jewish Women Project)’

There are so many intersections in life–so much for creative artists to put before audiences as a way to initiate larger conversations about issues that can divide or bring together. In a devised...

The Kennedy Center Previews Its New Addition, The REACH

With construction ongoing but substantially completed, The Kennedy Center recently threw open the doors on May 29, 2019 to its new addition, The REACH. It was a glorious day to take in the swooping...

Legendary Puppeteer Bill Diamond Helps Bring ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ to Life at Workhouse Arts Center

The Workhouse Arts Center has someone special working closely with its upcoming production of that fan favorite, Little Shop of Horrors–Emmy Award-winning puppet fabricator and performer Bill Diamond....

The Cappies Honor High School Theater Students in the DMV

Many of us started our journey into theater as high school students. There was just something about the stage that beckoned us. And that continues for today’s high school students. For 20 years,...

In the Moment: ‘Last Out’ by The Heroes Journey

Last Out is a raw emotional journey with no illusions as its core value. It is an intense confessional about military service and the effects on family, told from multiple perspectives. It is no...

In the Moment: ‘Richard iii’ at Synetic Theater

Synetic Theater’s Richard iii is a potent conspiratorial theatrical experience for an anxious age such as ours. It is the ultimate in theatrical paranoia, set in a time out of joint. It’s as if...

Local Arts Institutions Among Recent NEA Grant Recipients

The National Endowment for the Arts recently announced more than $80 Million in arts funding awarded across the United States. This is the second round of NEA grant announcements for this year. The...

Review: ‘On Air’ at Creative Cauldron

Dancing and singing over the wireless airways–how might it have happened? What might have been a dry history lesson is given delightfully appealing musical charm in Creative Cauldron’s world premiere...

Review: ‘Love’s Labor’s Lost’ at Folger Theatre

Ready for teasing mockery and romantic conflict that crosses economic classes and genders with an added dash of some re-imagined blurred lines? Then step up to the wit and words of William...

Ally Theatre Company Earns the John Aniello Award for Outstanding Emerging Theatre Company (Interview)

Ally Theatre Company will receive the 2019 John Aniello Award for Outstanding Emerging Theatre Company at the 35th Annual Helen Hayes Awards. At its core mission, Ally Theatre Company is committed to...

Interview: It’s Been a ‘Monumental’ Year for This DC Theater Company

In 2018 Monumental Theatre Company was the recipient of the prestigious theatreWashington John Aniello Award for Outstanding Emerging Theatre Company. The Aniello Award aims to give public recognition...

Review: ‘Oslo’ by Round House Theatre

For those wanting to be absorbed into a highly recommended, fictionalized account of events surrounding the 1993 Oslo Accords and the inconceivable peace between Israelis and Palestinians that bloomed...

Interview: BodyWise Dance Director Margot Greenlee on ‘Rookies’ First Feast’

Dance and theater performances can be much more than sitting in a seat and watching. BodyWise Dance and its cadre of dedicated, diverse artist educators have been touring throughout the DMV to respond...

Behind the Scenes at Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Props Warehouse

Staging an epic that involves a bloody chain of events in “a deluge of violence,” as the Shakespeare Theatre Company describes The Oresteia, requires not just the skills and talents of the actors on...

Review: ‘Beckett Trio, Part 2’ by Scena Theatre

Ready for your Samuel Beckett fix? A fix for the lesser-known, very short-form works by the winner of the 1969 Nobel Prize for Literature? If you are the least bit curious and open to a quieter form...

Review: ‘Grand Hotel’ at Signature Theatre

Time may be running out for the denizens of Berlin’s swanky Weimar era Grand Hotel who wonder if life has passed them by. But Signature Theatre’s roaring, non-stop rendering of the musical Grand Hotel...

Review: ‘As You Like It’ by Brave Spirits Theatre

Ah, Shakespeare’s As You Like It–the ultimate romantic comedy about people trying to find their way to love in a bewildering world; a world that seems to have no rules, or rules that are made as one...

DCMTA Exclusive: Helen Hayes Award Winner Iyona Blake Announces Upcoming EP ‘Timeless’

On a recent warm Monday evening, Helen Hayes Award recipient Iyona Blake announced her next musical venture, an EP (extended play) of some of her favorite songs. The album will be called “Timeless.”...

Artistic Director Matt Bassett Discusses Hub Theatre’s DC Premiere of ‘The Burn’

In the Hub Theatre’s first full production under Artistic Director Matt Bassett, the company will be producing The Burn by playwright Philip Dawkins. The Burn will be the first Hub production in its...

Review: ‘Alice in Wonderland’ at Creative Cauldron

Full of high-spirited playfulness, flights of adorable fancy and some verbal gymnastics that children and adults can savor, Creative Cauldron’s Alice in Wonderland is family entertainment that will...

“The Puppets Help Tell the Story”: World Puppetry Day Interview with ‘Vanity Fair’ Creative Team

In honor of World Puppetry Day celebrated on March 21st, it was time to learn more about the puppetry used in the Shakespeare Theatre Company production of Kate Hamill’s adaptation of Vanity Fair, now...