Karim Doumar

Review: ‘The Elves and the Shoemaker’ at Keegan Theatre

Capitalism. Exploitation. Greed. It’s the holiday season, folks, and your kids shouldn’t lose out on the fun. At Keegan Theatre’s The Elves and the Shoemaker, they won’t. Written by Kristin Walter and...

Review: ‘As You Like It’ at Keegan Theatre

The paradise in Shakespeare’s Arden Forest, a beautiful place where everybody is happy, communal, and fed, doesn’t exist in reality. But if it did, you’d want to be there. And since you can’t, here’s...

Review: ‘Frankenstein’ by We Happy Few

A giant, wheezing monster, many feet tall and wide, a formless head towering over the audience, bathed in green light, with a voice made of dust and despair. That’s just one of the many fabulous...

Review: ‘How to Win a Race War’ at the Klunch

How To Win a Race War—a whopping 3-hour, 15-minute ordeal—indulges in the world of white supremacy, wheels and deals in astoundingly racist and horrifying caricature, and expects a pat on the back for...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Sucks to be a Grownup’

In Sucks to be a Grownup, you’ll see every side of CJ. Her funny side, her angry side, and even her emotional side. You’ll see CJ laughing and interacting with her audience, and you’ll see her crying...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Bartleby, the Magical White Coworker’

White men win again — that seems to be the moral of Bartleby, the Magical White Coworker, written by Jeff Reiser and Chinwe Nwosu and directed by Jordyn Nicole. When Bartleby, an incompetent janitor...

‘Kiss Me Kate’ at Shakespeare Theatre Company

In a perfect world, the actors and actresses of a production get along. In a perfect world, there is no backstage drama. In a perfect world, that drama does not confuse and alter a production of The...

‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ at The Alliance Theatre

A heartfelt story of family loyalty and triumph, The Alliance Theatre’s Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, directed by Elaine Wilson, starts as the tale of a loving father who tries his hardest to make his...

‘Twelve Angry Men’ at The American Century Theater

In this famous, thrilling court-room drama, 12 jurors deliberate over the fate of an alleged murderer. The case seems clear-cut. They open the play with a vote, to see where everybody stands and the...

‘The Altruists’ at The Flying Muskrat Theatre Company

Being a student at UC Berkeley, I am all too familiar with how hypocritical and conceited student-activist culture can be. The Altruists, written by Nicky Silver and first performed off-Broadway in...

‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ at McLean Community Players

Jesus Christ Superstar is a rock n’ roll opera with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice, and the McLean Community Players cast and crew, directed by Kevin and Pamela McCormack, rocks...

2015 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Never Never’

Alexandra Petri’s Never Never is absolutely brilliant. It explores a heavy topic – pedophilia – without being overbearingly serious and dark. In fact, it was wildly funny. That said, Petri treated the...

2015 Capital Fringe Review: ‘The Girl With Two Belly Buttons’

The Girl With Two Belly Buttons, written and directed by Jeryl Parade, is a heartwarming story. A woman, Izzy, suffers from a rare muscular disorder which requires that she use a feeding tube. When it...

2015 Capital Fringe Review: ‘The Great Awkward Hope’

The Great Awkward Hope displayed both the good, funny aspects of awkward, and the bad aspects of the word. The play follows a man, Jeff, as he tries to write a play about himself writing a play in...

2015 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Interconnected’

Written and directed by Brian Schwartz and Karen Snyder, Interconnected tells the twisted and complex story of three intertwined families. It is ripe with dramatic turns worthy of the soap operas but...

2015 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Neda Wants to Die’

You never expect to sympathize with the murderer and rapist. You expect to be repulsed and disgusted by them. That, however, would do a disservice to the complexity of life, particularly in war-torn,...

2015 Capital Fringe Review: ‘DC Trash – Recycled!!’

In DC Trash – Recycled!!, the charismatic Ron Litman, star of this two man show, delivers a stirring commentary on the changes this city has gone through since his upbringing as the son of Deli owners...

2015 Capital Fringe Review: ‘ALICE’

Alice was colorful, in every sense of the word. And that was good. Adapted from Lewis Carroll’s book, Alice in Wonderland, Alice, directed by Haley Murphy was an explosive version of the story we all...

2015 Capital Fringe Review: ‘The Insanity of Mary Girard’

The Insanity of Mary Girard is a play showing Mary Girard’s descent into insanity as she comes to term with her admittance to an insane asylum by her jealous and hateful husband. This version,...

2015 Capital Fringe Review: ‘The Life of King John’

The Life of King John is a one-of-a-kind interpretation of Shakespeare’s historical play, directed by Alan Duda. The production weaves elements and references from Monty Python’s Spamalot into this...

2015 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Twelfth Night: A Musical Remix’

There was never a dull moment in Twelfth Night: A Musical Remix directed by Justin Poole. This version of William Shakespeare’s well-known comedy, filled with confused identity, trickery and...

2015 Capital Fringe Review: ‘The Little Crane and The Long Journey: A Fable’

The Little Crane and The Long Journey: A Fable is the all-too-common story of an immigrant family dealing with prejudice in the United States. The story is a representation of the struggles Japanese...

‘Cheaper by the Dozen’ at Aldersgate Community Church Theatre

There’s an old adage that states “time wasted having fun isn’t wasted.” The Aldersgate Community Church Theatre effectively explored this theme with its production of Cheaper by the Dozen, adapted by...

Flying V Fights: ’Heroes & Monsters’ at Flying V Theatre

Bold, gallant heroes; terrifying, grim monsters; beautiful young love; fear; heroism; nostalgia; excitement: these are just a few of the things you’ll experience at Heroes & Monsters. In its first...

‘Dirty Blonde’ at the Little Theatre of Alexandria

Dirty Blonde, written by Claudia Shear and directed by Jennifer Lyman, follows two stories: the rise to fame of star Mae West and the blossoming love affair of her two most obsessive fans after her...

‘Adriana Lecouvreur’ at Riverbend Opera Company at the Casa Italiana Sociocultural Center

Big things do come in small packages. This old adage was proven correctly with the Riverbend Opera Company’s performance of Adriana Lecouvreur at the Casa Italiana Sociocultural Center. The opera,...

‘Annie’ at McLean Theatre Company by Karim Doumar

Annie fully dresses audience with a smile The McLean Theatre Company’s production of Annie, directed by Amy Poe is one worth remembering. With music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and...