Ramona Harper

‘I have to live in hope’: Tazewell Thompson gets personal

In rehearsal for August Wilson’s ‘Seven Guitars’ at Arena Stage, the renowned director opens up about the future of theater and America.

For Folger’s Karen Ann Daniels, the Bard’s big O stands for opportunity

The new artistic director and director of programming has her sights set on equity and community.

‘My Lord, What a Night’ becomes truly thrilling at Ford’s Theatre

Imagined musings on the historically real friendship between Marian Anderson and Albert Einstein, two powerful voices for freedom.

Once upon a time under the stars at Wolf Trap: Shakespeare Theatre’s gala

On the scene at the company’s buzzed-about fundraiser.

‘Concert of Remembrance’ at Kennedy Center for a nation in need of healing

Patriotism and love of country were in the air as a unifying force to heal the past and lend hope to a future of inclusion and equality for all.

Thoroughly enjoyable ‘Toni Stone’ gets a hero’s welcome at Arena Stage

You don’t need to be a baseball fan to be inspired by this amazing story.

Why Toni Stone’s story needs to be told: A Q&A with Santoya Fields, who stars as the trailblazer at Arena Stage

The ballplayer who slugged it out against race and gender stereotypes in the 1950s shows what it takes to play the game today.

A Juneteenth benchmark of local #WeSeeYouWAT action

A measure of antiracist work underway and a reminder of work yet to be done.

‘Twelve Days of Watchmas’ from #WeSeeYou is a blunt and raw must-read

Revolution is rooted in protest. And in revolutionary ways, protest theater promotes social change. The ubiquitous We See You, White American Theater movement courageously flips the script using the...

‘A Protest in Eight’ at Theater Alliance packs a social-justice punch

No doubt about it, in just fifteen minutes, protest theater can pack a powerful punch. Theater Alliance’s creatively ambitious A Protest in Eight, with its lineup of eight fierce young playwrights,...

Reginald Douglas and David Muse on how Studio Theatre is “doing the work”

The ground feels as if American theater might actually be shifting in the direction of change for Blacks, Indigenous people, and People of Color. Here in the DMV, Studio Theatre is grappling with what...

Anti-racist theater and the #WeSeeYou movement: A Q&A with Nicole Brewer

I had the chance to attend Nicole Brewer’s Anti-Racist Theatre workshop at the National Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, last year, and it was an eyeopener. So when I thought...

Can white arts leaders become anti-racist “accomplices”?

Recently, during an interview with Nicole Brewer, founder of Anti-Racist Theatre, I learned about the Arts Administrators of Color Network’s Accomplices Leadership Institute (ALI). As a member of...

A dynamic ‘Tears of the Soul’ dramatizes 1968’s BLM awakening

Racial unrest and violent protests in the streets. Social division and a nation on the verge of collapse. A nascent social movement confronting racial injustice and police brutality. Internal family...

The #WeSeeYou White American Theatre movement is ready to end a battle it didn’t start

Boots are on the ground. Battle lines are drawn. A collaborative network of more than 300 BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) theatermakers are in garrisons and trenches across the nation,...

A void in live protest theater is a silenced cry of pandemic proportions

Once again, anti-Black violence strikes at the heart and soul of America. We are shocked and saddened to watch an unarmed, handcuffed Black man struggle to breathe as he lies helpless on the ground....

‘Rasheeda Speaking’ is a ticking time bomb of workplace racial animus

Something struck me as incredulous about Rasheeda Speaking, a ticking time bomb about racial paranoia interlaced with the destructive power of office politics. But its recently deceased playwright...

James Baldwin’s ‘Amen Corner’ bears witness to the Beloved Community

Corners can be safe spaces for hiding. There’s comfort in corners because they’re out of sight and out of danger. In The Amen Corner, James Baldwin’s dilemma is whether to embrace the inner life of...

The power of romantic love endures in American Ballet Theatre’s ‘Giselle’

After almost two centuries of gracing the ballet world, American Ballet Theatre’s Giselle, sometimes called the Hamlet of ballet, still has the redemptive power to transform a story of deception and...

‘Quadrille’ at Greenbelt Arts Center is a four-handed game of romance and chance where true love prevails

In a veddy, veddy proper tale about class differences, gender roles, secret lovers and the pitfalls of an arranged marriage, playwright Melynda Kiring is quite right that “the fun in this play is the...

‘A Holiday Pops! with Leslie Odom, Jr.’ brings holiday cheer to the Kennedy Center

The NSO Pops helped to make our spirits bright with its annual Christmas concert featuring Tony and Grammy Award-winning Leslie Odom, Jr. and a parcel of musical gifts from his Simply Christmas album....

The music lives forever in ‘Ain’t Too Proud:  The Life and Times of the Temptations’ at The Imperial Theatre

The most successful singing group in the history of R&B proudly lives on in the Tony-award winning jukebox musical Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations. Now onstage at Broadway’s...

Jeremy O. Harris’ ‘Slave Play’ is a raw and ribald examination of race

An antebellum plantation is a hotbed of erotica in the raw, ribald and at times ridiculously funny examination of race in Jeremy O. Harris’s Slave Play. Three interracial couples run wild, in body and...

Review: India.Arie at Strathmore Music Center

India.Arie is music therapy for the soul – part mindfulness meditation through song and part groove-funk to keep it real. Authenticity is her brand essence, but her performance is much more than a...

Review: ‘Fences’ at Ford’s Theatre

As seen through the simple symbolism of a wooden fence, Ford’s Theatre’s season opener of August Wilson’s Fences is a brilliant and searing exploration of the tragi-conflicts and heroic triumphs of...

Review: ‘School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play’ at Round House Theatre

Teenage girls can be mean – just ask Broadway’s Tina Fey. But if you ask Jocelyn Bioh, the award-winning playwright of off-Broadway’s School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play, you’ll get an...

Review: ‘Jitney’ at Arena Stage

When the opening moments of a play are a super loud blast of bluesy music and a checkers game on the verge of anarchy, you know you are in for a lively ride. But it was the acting in Jitney, Arena...

Review: ‘NSO Pops: Maxwell: A Night at the Symphony’ at the Kennedy Center

There’s something way-cool seeing a full classical orchestra accompany a cornrowed, ponytailed R&B crooner in a bow-tied tux on the stage of the hallowed Concert Hall of the Kennedy Center. These...

Review: ‘Amélie’ at 2nd Star Productions

Amélie is a whimsy of a musical with a big cast of characters and an equally big heart. An ensemble-driven rom-com that transports you into a world of imagination and prankish intrigue, Amélie paints...

Holy Ground that’s Marvtastic: Black Theatre Is for Everybody at the National Black Theatre Festival

The National Black Theatre Festival was over-the-top for the 65,000 ticketholders who descended upon Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the City of the Arts and Innovation, July 29 through August 3rd....

Review: ‘Twisted Melodies’ at Mosaic Theater Company

A foreboding, wide-open hotel window overlooking the Manhattan night skyline beckons you to enter the tender interior space of ’70s soul singer, composer and recording artist, Donny Hathaway. Twisted...

Interview: Sean-Maurice Lynch of ‘Jubilee’ at Arena Stage

The reviews are in: Jubilee is being praised for honoring and preserving the impact of the Negro Spiritual upon the American Songbook. In the Arena Stage production, Director Tazewell Thompson gives...

Review: ‘NOC-tURNE’ by NFT Dance & Company at Atlas Performing Arts Center

The airy-fairy world of contemporary ballet takes a turn toward the macabre in Nancy Flores-Tirado’s darkly romantic NOC-tURNE, performed by NFT Dance & Company in follow-up to Atlas’ INTERSECTIONS...

Review: The Kennedy Center’s ‘Celebrating the Human Spirit Awards’ Gala featuring Idina Menzel

The Kennedy Center’s annual party with a purpose on Wednesday night, the Celebrating the Human Spirit Awards Gala, honored Distinguished Philanthropists Patrick G. Ryan and Shirley W. Ryan and Citizen...

Review: ‘New York City Ballet: Works by Balanchine, Robbins, and Reisen’ at the Kennedy Center

Spring is in the air with not only the blooming cherry blossoms but also the bursting energy of the New York City Ballet’s exciting spring concert at the Kennedy Center. Something old and something...

Review: ‘Native Son’ at Mosaic Theater

We usually think of a rat as a detestable lowlife animal that we dread. It slinks in dark corners of the floor, hiding itself from being seen. It nervously darts and runs when spotted and can fit...

Review: ‘A Bronx Tale’ at the National Theatre

Chazz Palminteri is one cool dude. Imagine having your own life story play to sold-out houses on and off Broadway, and be made into a classic film directed by none other than Robert De Niro. And De...

Review: ‘The Heiress’ at Arena Stage

Women are on the move today. A US Congress reflects the voices of women as never before. #MeToo movements everywhere are fighting the forces that would stifle those voices. So, on the surface, it...

Review: ‘Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (Program B)’ at The Kennedy Center

“Who will tell our grandmothers’ stories?” The phenomenal Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater soulfully responds in memory of its iconic founder with dignity, power and enough creative energy to light...

Review: ‘Lincolnesque’ at the Keegan Theatre

In Lincolnesque, a play written by John Strand and directed by Colin Smith, the art of lying for one’s country succeeds in fusing a deceptively light touch and inside-the-Beltway political humor with...

Review: ‘New Releases Choreographers Showcase’ at Dance Place

Back in the ’60s, Bob Dylan wrote “The Times They Are a-Changing,” an ode to protest, social change and the country’s mood moment. Dance Place’s New Releases Choreographers Showcase vamped Dylan’s...

Review: ‘The Frederick Douglass Project’ by Solas Nua

Imagine yourself sitting on a creaky ship as a passenger en route to the Emerald Isle of Ireland. Frederick Douglass, the great abolitionist, is on board with you. The year is 1845. The ship gently...

Review: Malpaso Dance Company at the Kennedy Center’s “Artes de Cuba” Festival

Make no mistake about it, there were no missteps in the lusciously agile performance of the Malpaso Dance Company at the Kennedy Center on Friday night. The company has been growing strong since 2012...

Review: ‘Two Trains Running’ at Arena Stage

There’s simplicity in truth. Arena Stage’s Two Trains Running is August Wilson’s simple truth about the African American experience during the 1960s urban renewal of inner-city Pittsburgh. But simple...

Review: ‘Nat Turner in Jerusalem’ at Forum Theatre

The unsettling sight of a young man in shackles sitting on a bare, plank-wood floor; a glimmer of night sky piercing the darkness through the barred window of a simple jail cell; and the tense,...

Review: PostClassical Ensemble’s ‘Deep River: The Art of the Spiritual’ at the Washington National Cathedral

When is art an intentional expression of respectful cultural appreciation and when is it an unconscious foray into cultural misappropriation? These were some of the deep questions raised in Deep...

Review: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at the Kennedy Center

For the sixth consecutive year, Alvin Ailey renewed its February tradition of hosting a gala evening of dance to raise funds for gifted young dancers in the DMV. The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater...

Review: NSO Pops and Kenny ‘Babyface’ Edmonds at the Kennedy Center

The NSO Pops presented its first-ever collaboration with superstar Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds on Friday night for a two-night run in the Concert Hall of the Kennedy Center. Under the musical direction...

Review: ‘A Night with Janis Joplin’ at the Strathmore

If any singer from the hippie era could take a little piece of your heart, it was the legendary Janis Joplin. In A Night with Janis Joplin, the story of the iconic rock star emblazoned the stage of...

Review: ‘Word Becomes Flesh’ at Theater Alliance at Anacostia Playhouse

The Word, in spiritual parlance, is the creative power of God made audible and visible through His Son. It is the energy of the divine dynamic made manifest through Self-revelation. True to principle,...