David Siegel

Review: ‘Summerland’ at Washington Stage Guild

What began as a mundane two-hander focused on stiff argumentative males in an investigative procedural play, develops into something pleasingly knotty and intense. All it takes is one new character...

Review: ‘Born Yesterday’ at Ford’s Theatre

What a sparkling production of Born Yesterday at Ford’s Theatre. Written in 1946 as the United States was standing powerful after the carnage of WWII, Garson Kanin’s script is delightfully subversive;...

In the Moment: ‘Lincolnesque’ at the Keegan Theatre

Separating a theater company’s production from the playwright’s script is crucial when evaluating a performance. After all, an engaging full production can do the old razzle-dazzle to cover a script’s...

THE ROSE THEATRE CO Brings FIRST DRAFT Reading Series to 1st Stage

Love new plays? Then THE ROSE THEATRE CO’s Reading Series|FIRST DRAFT has great news to report. The series will begin its 2018-19 season of new play readings with a new Northern Virginia location to...

Next Reflex Dance Collective Now In Residence at Workhouse Arts Center

Continuing to expand their regular offerings of performance events, the Workhouse Arts Center now has an official dance company-in-residence, Next Reflex Dance Collective. Stepping out to find new and...

Review: ‘If I Forget’ at Studio Theatre

When I grew up in a small New Jersey shore town with a single synagogue to serve many surrounding communities, I recall a particular question uttered within my family and my own Jewish tribe. This...

Interview: Creative Cauldron Producing Director Laura Connors Hull

Creative Cauldron is celebrating its 10th season performing at its ArtSpace venue in Falls Church. Creative Cauldron is one of the area’s small theater gems, with a consistently high quality along...

In the Moment: ‘Passion’ at Signature Theatre

Leaving Stephen Sondheim’s Passion, directed by Matthew Gardiner, I found one word to describe my reaction: Believable. Yes, believable. This Signature Theatre production of Passion took me inside its...

Interview: The Hub Theatre’s New Artistic Director Matt Bassett Looks Ahead to 2018-19 Season

In a recent telephone interview, Matt Bassett, Hub Theatre’s new artistic director, discussed the company’s upcoming season. In shaping the season, his first as Hub artistic director, Bassett said...

Interview: MetroStage’s Carolyn Griffin and Actor Doug Brown Discuss ‘The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek’ by Athol Fugard

Over its 30 seasons, MetroStage has had several homes, including 17 years in a cozy venue in Alexandria’s North End. Redevelopment of the area will lead MetroStage to another location in Alexandria in...

Review: ‘The Interstellar Ghost Hour’ by Longacre Lea

It’s the time of the theater season for those with a taste for the offbeat and original, and time to accept the invitation for the yearly production from Longacre Lea displaying Kathleen Akerley’s...

Bloomberg Philanthropies Names D.C. Participants in Arts Innovation and Management Program

Washington, D.C. is no longer just a tourist city with iconic national monuments and fabled museums. Over the past decades, a distinguished cadre of small and medium-sized cultural institutions have...

In the Moment: ‘The Bridges of Madison County’ at the Keegan Theatre

Iowa can seem such a mythical place. That crossed my mind as I took in the Keegan Theatre’s top-notch production of the bittersweet, mystical romance of The Bridges of Madison County. Sure, Bridges is...

Interview With Tom Sweitzer About ‘Coming of Age’ Cabaret

Entertainment and enlightenment are only two of the expectations for the upcoming performance of Coming of Age at the Creative Cauldron as a group of talented teens perform a cabaret with compelling...

Review: ‘Dave’ at Arena Stage

The real news getting you down? Do you have a plentitude of cares and woes hanging over your head? Are you an addicted MSNBC watcher who wants to get off the couch and away from the cell for a few...

In The Moment: Building New Homes for the Arts in Fairfax County

Throughout my years covering the arts in the DC area, I have often heard that Fairfax County is a wasteland, a desert, no place for the creative theater artist. A locale with few outlets for...

Review: ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’ at Synetic Theater

Synetic Theater’s admirable, family-friendly production of L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) is the premiere mainstage production of Synetic’s New Voice Series. For those familiar with...

Review: ‘Where Did We Sit On The Bus?’ at 1st Stage Tysons

Where Did We Sit On The Bus? is a solo performance that examines identity in America through the eyes and observations of a Brown young man named Brian Quijada. With his charismatic smile, playwright...

Review: ‘Pippin’ by Monumental Theatre Company

Yes, there is magic done at Monumental Theatre’s nifty production of Pippin. I am not overstating my utter enjoyment of this production. It is spunky, buoyant, and engaging from the moment the first...

Review: ‘Brahman/I’ at The Logan Festival of Solo Performance

Set in a non-descript stand-up comedy club, the 1st Stage production of Brahman/I has a clever premise: a solo performer reveals some of a human being’s most intimate details. Brahman/I is a unique...

Review: ‘The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey’ at 1st Stage Tysons

“The dark side is my beat.” These are some of the first words heard from a New Jersey detective in The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey. He is recalling a hate crime from a decade previously that...

With Community Theatre Project, GALA Theatre Brings Immigrant Voices ‘Out of the Shadows’

They are likely the unseen in our midst; that is until a particular, probably short-term job needs the informal employment market as the source of a worker. They have their own personal stories to...

Review: ‘Why is Eartha Kitt Trying to Kill Me? A Love Story’ by UrbanArias

Getting audience attention these days with a title few likely know is no easy task. So know that once again UrbanArias has found a terrific little musical gem: a chamber opera called Why is Eartha...

Can a Community Theater Go Professional?

With NextStop Theatre Company celebrating its 30th anniversary, I chatted with Evan Hoffmann, NextStop’s producing artistic director, to learn about the company’s journey. Founded in 1988 as the...

With ‘A New Nation,’ Convergence Theatre’s Elena Velasco Aims To Make Theater Visceral

Art and activism are long-time partners. What better place than the DC area to meld the two in an effort to stimulate social justice and discover humanity from a progressive perspective. Or should I...

Review: ‘Motown the Musical’ at Wolf Trap

Motown the Musical is one irresistible playlist of infectious chart-topping music performed by a bevy of fine singers and dancers who have plenty of acting chops as well. While too-sweet nostalgia...

Synetic’s New Voice Series production of ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’

With the announcement of its New Voice Series, Synetic Theater is taking its own unique approach to the development of the richly talented pool of emerging theater-makers and budding theater...

Review: ‘The Emperor of Atlantis or Death Goes on Strike’ and ‘The Soldier’s Tale’ by The In Series

“In the dark times Will there also be singing? Yes, there will also be singing. About the dark times.” ― Bertolt Brecht With unsettling powers of persuasion, compelling is the watchword for patrons at...

Kennedy Center to Honor World Refugee Day with Free Performance by Melat

In a special Kennedy Center Millennium Stage performance commemorating World Refugee Day on June 20, 2018, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and The Kennedy Center will present...

In the Moment: Another look at Round House’s ‘The Legend of Georgia McBride’

Round House is the current Promised Land for anyone wanting to get happy. With its divine, illusion rich production of The Legend of Georgia McBride helmed by Tom Story, Round House is a divine, sunny...

In the Moment: Chamber Dance Project Brings ‘Chant’ to the Lansburgh Theater

The summer season of DC’s very own Chamber Dance Project will be in residence this month at the acoustically rich, 450-seat Lansburgh Theater in downtown DC. The contemporary ballet troupe will be...

Review: ‘The Tempest’ by Avant Bard

How does a nimble theater company retool an often produced Shakespeare classic such as The Tempest? Well, Avant Bard found a way under Tom Prewitt’s inviting direction, with gender-swapping and...

In the Moment: Another Look at Theater J’s ‘Trayf’

I looked forward to taking in the premiere stage production of Lindsay Joelle’s Trayf at Theater J. The title Trayf alone brought me smiles then and now. After all, trayf is the Yiddish word for food...

Tom Teasley to Bring His Signature Sound to Workhouse Arts Center This Weekend

Spend a one-of-a-kind musical evening with Helen Hayes recipient Tom Teasley at the Workhouse Arts Center, Teasley will add fresh musical life to silent comedy films in a mini-film festival tribute to...

Review: ‘The Scottsboro Boys’ at Signature Theatre

“Strip me naked. Take my name. Make me an animal. So you can kill me. Then forget all about me. Like I never happened. Like I don’t matter.” No, those unsettling words are not reactions to a racially...

In The Moment: ‘An Iliad’ Brings Homer to Millennial Audiences at the Atlas (Interviews)

It has been a muscular classic read for centuries. It has withstood the test of time, at least up to now. But in these contemporary days, does Homer’s Iliad resonate, or has it lost its timeless...

Review: ‘The Small Room at the Top of the Stairs’ at Spooky Action

Looking for something well-crafted, suspenseful, and with plenty of lingering moments of anxiety? Then head on to Spooky Action Theater’s production of The Small Room at the Top of the Stairs. Written...

In the Moment: ‘Saint Joan’ by Bedlam Theater Company at Folger Theatre

Bedlam’s take on George Bernard Shaw’s Saint Joan will resonate with many Blue State denizens with its updated, coolness factors and fine acting. Under Eric Tucker’s direction, Bedlam has taken a...

In the Moment: Bloomberg Philanthropies investing in DC’s non-profit cultural institutions

When we think of non-profit arts and cultural institutions, do we only think of the creative side of the organization, the parts we see and interact with or immerse ourselves in? What about the often...

In the Moment: Interview with Emily Whitworth, Synetic Theater’s ‘Titus Andronicus’ Adaptor

Synetic Theater’s marvels of silent Shakespeare begin with a superstructure; the adaptation of one of The Bard’s works and his words into audacious silences of the human voice. Over the years those of...

In the Moment: Interviews with Storytellers of Better Said Than Done

Seven years ago, Better Said Than Done stepped out onto the theatrical stage as a storytelling organization. The idea behind the establishment of Better Said Than Done was to bring storytellers from...

In the Moment: ‘An Evening with Mavis Staples’ at the Kennedy Center Spring Gala

The 2018 Kennedy Center Spring Gala was a dandy one, celebrating the recipients of the third annual Kennedy Center Award for the Human Spirit. The award recipients, Gary Sinise and Eli and Edythe...

In the Moment: Conversation about Diversity with Laveen Naidu, Artistic Director, BalletNova

It started with a conversation with Laveen Naidu, artistic director for Northern Virginia’s BalletNova. Naidu said he wanted to change this observation: “ballet is often perceived as being for and...

In the Moment: Meet the 2018 John Aniello Award for Outstanding Emerging Theatre eligible companies

For over three decades, Helen Hayes nominations and awards have represented the pinnacle of professional excellence in Washington, DC area theater. What began as public recognition of a small...

In the Moment: Interview with Shakespeare Theatre Company Wig Master Dori Beau Seigneur

How important can a wig be to a theater production and an actor’s performance? What better way to answer that question then with a section from the recent book, The Ascent of Angels in America: The...

In the Moment: ‘Iron & Coal’ Creator Calls His Work an Ode to a Ravaged Soul (at Strathmore)

How does anyone cope with the unthinkable: Whether the unthinkable is The Holocaust, The Killing Fields, chemical bombs dropped on children, slavery or lynchings. How does one survive even somewhat...

In the Moment: ‘Girlfriend’ at Signature Theatre

Girlfriend is a sensitively constructed and gracefully performed coming of age musical about two late teen boys having an unexpected first crush that turns into love between them. Girlfriend’s arc is...

In the Moment: ‘Waiting for Godot’ Interviews with Creative Production Staff

Bleak? Nope, not at all. Galway, Ireland-based theater company Druid’s touring production of Samuel Beckett’s warhorse of postwar failure and ennui, Waiting for Godot, at Shakespeare Theatre Company...

In the Moment: ‘Witch’ at Creative Cauldron

With an astute, quality production of Witch, its latest Bold New Works for Intimate Stages creation, the Creative Cauldron continues to show what a nimble, un-fossilized theater company can do, even...

In the Moment: Report on The Kennedy Center’s 2018 Arts Summit

The time is most certainly right for the arts to be disruptive; to assert and insert itself in national discussions about social justice and inclusion. Turbulent times call out for the arts–not merely...