Ravelle Brickman

Michael Bobbitt’s ‘Aida’ Mixes Grandeur and Intimacy at Constellation

Michael Bobbitt gets around. This master-of-all-trades, whose adaptation of Aida is now playing to sold-out audiences at Constellation Theatre, has danced, directed and choreographed his way around...

Rick Foucheux Returns to Quotidian: Retired Acting Legend Presents Backstage Comedy at Fundraiser

When Rick Foucheux, the award-winning actor whose work has dazzled DC audiences for 35 years, decided to retire last year, it wasn’t because he was tired of the stage. He just wanted to focus on other...

Kelsey Hunt Dresses the Stars in Ford’s Frothy Revival of ‘Born Yesterday’

“Born Yesterday is a winner.” Those are the words of my colleague, David Siegel, whose review of the gloriously effervescent comedy that just opened at Ford’s Theatre is full of superlatives....

Timothy Douglas: The Voice Behind ‘Small Mouth Sounds’ at Round House Theatre

In case you haven’t heard, there’s a disembodied voice floating above the seats at the Round House Theatre this month. The voice belongs to Timothy Douglas, an award-winning director whose work has...

A New Dynasty Commands the Stage in the Folger Theatre’s ‘Macbeth’

“The moon is down; I have not heard the clock.” Those words—spoken by 10-year-old Owen Peakes in the Folger Theatre’s startling new production of Macbeth—send a faint tremor through the packed house....

Surrealism on Stage: Behind the Doors at Sarah Ruhl’s ‘Melancholy Play’ at Constellation Theatre

Imagine a cluster of windows without walls, set against a backdrop of doors. And imagine a stage with a floor whose texture resembles sand. Those are just a few of the images—improbable as they...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: ‘up your aesthetic’

Although it is aesthetically pleasing—beautifully designed and performed—up your aesthetic has nothing to do with aesthetics, per se. Instead, the production—which opened at the Blind Whino SW Arts...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Burn Out Blessings’

Imagine a classroom decorated for a birthday party. On the table is a cake, party hats, paper napkins, and plates; a banner is tacked on the wall. Ambling back and forth in this classroom is Al Baker,...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: metamorphose

Jo Williamson is the creator and performer behind metamorphose, a solo production stitched together out of some musical storytelling and the patterns of Martha Graham-like modern dance. As its name...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Love in Three Scenes’

Love in Three Scenes, which opened during the second week of this year’s Capital Fringe, is not so much about love per se as it is about the lack thereof, particularly on the part of our political...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Dangerous When Wet: Booze, Sex & My Mother’

Solo performances are among the most difficult in show business. Without other actors to parry dialog or set up jokes, the entertainer can easily end up putting an audience to sleep. Luckily for us,...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: The Tragical Comical Fool’s Game

Shakespeare is alive and well at this year’s Fringe, and that includes both the usual adaptations and some of the more surprising spin-offs. One of the most entertaining of the latter—qualifying as...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: ‘O Monsters’

Against a background of black timber walls, a beautiful dark-haired woman stretches out languorously on a table. Dressed in a skimpy black nightgown, she moves like a dancer. On the floor, three...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: ‘The Vandal’

The Vandal, which opened to a sold-out audience on the first weekend of the 2018 Capital Fringe, is a comedy about loss. It’s also a bittersweet riff on death, performed by a trio of talented DC-area...

Profile: Naomi Jacobson Lends Laughter and Innocence to ‘The Remains’ at Studio Theatre

The Remains, a brand new one-act play that’s been generating rave reviews since its opening at Studio Theatre two weeks ago, is a witty and wise meditation on marriage. By turns funny and sad, this...

Rising Stars: Emily Pogorelc in the Washington National Opera’s ‘Candide’

When Emily Pogorelc bursts onto the stage in the Washington National Opera’s current production of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide, there is a shock of laughter. Pogorelc plays Cunegonde, the spoiled...

Profile: Chris Stezin Plays a Rock Music Diehard in the ‘Undeniable Sound of Right Now”

Chris Stezin is a prolific playwright whose last play—produced at The Keegan Theatre in January of 2017—was Mack,Beth, a contemporary take on Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Now he’s back at the Keegan, this...

A Modern Classic Takes on Epic Proportions: Constellation Theatre Brightens Brecht’s Manifesto, Adds Musical Makeover to ‘Caucasian Chalk Circle’

Last week, I decided to venture off my usual path and check out the Constellation Theatre, which performs at Source in the lively 14th Street corridor. What lured me there was the chance to see a new...

Hosting the 2018 Helen Hayes Awards: Michael J. Bobbitt and Alyssa Wilmoth Keegan Talk About their Lives On and Off the Stage as They Prepare for DC Theater’s Big Night Out

Forget the Oscars, the Emmys, and the Tonys. Here in the nation’s capital, there is only one award worth talking about. And that’s the Helen Hayes, honoring the best of DC’s theater professionals for...

Living Dolls: A Conversation With the Five Actors Who Breathe Life Into ‘Paper Dolls’ at Mosaic

Paper Dolls, the bittersweet new musical that opened at Mosaic Theater Company two weeks ago, has produced standing ovations—and laughter and tears—at every production so far. Yet the show, which...

From ‘Les Miserables’ and ‘Evita’ to ‘Snow Child’ at Arena Stage, Bronx-Born Singer Natalie Toro Has Built a Career Belting Out Broadway Hits (Interview)

When Natalie Toro steps onto the Arena Stage in the world premiere of Snow Child this week, she’ll be adding a whole new role to the worldwide musical repertoire. But while the part is new, the...

Interview with Matt Torney, director of ‘Translations’ at Studio Theatre

It’s no coincidence that Matt Torney is directing Translations, the iconic Brian Friel play now on view at Studio Theatre. “It’s a play I’ve wanted to do ever since I first saw it in Belfast, when I...

Review: ‘A Burial Place’ at The Wheel Theatre

If you’re looking for proof that big things come in small packages, then you need look no further than the tiny black box theater where A Burial Place, produced by the Wheel Theatre Company at the DC...

Review: ‘Bill Murray, Jan Vogler & Friends: New Worlds’ at the Kennedy Center

Can you imagine a chamber music concert—a quartet, playing mostly classical work by composers with names like Bach, Schubert and Shostakovich—getting six encores? And seven—yes, seven—standing...

Review: ‘Hobson’s Choice’ at Quotidian Theatre

Hobson’s Choice is a winner. The play – a sparkling comedy with a terrific cast – just opened at the Quotidian Theatre Company, a jewel of a playhouse tucked into the rear of the Writer’s Center in...

Review: ‘Digging Up Dessa’ at The Kennedy Center (Women’s Voices Theater Festival)

Despite its off-putting (and overly-clever) title, Digging Up Dessa is a lively and often moving tale of two 12-year-olds who are lost in the middle of a strange new world and trying to find...

Review: ‘Sovereignty’ at Arena Stage

Sovereignty, the long-heralded new play by Mary Kathryn Nagle – a member of the Cherokee Nation and one of barely a dozen Native American playwrights writing today – has arrived. Inspired by a Supreme...

‘Everything Is (Finally) Illuminated’ – Aaron Posner’s Setting of Jonathan Safran Foer’s Masterpiece Makes Its DC Debut at Theater J

Twelve years after it was first adapted for the stage by British playwright Simon Block, the play Everything Is Illuminated – based on the novel by Jonathan Safran Foer – has arrived at Theater J,...

Erika Rose Lights Up the Stage in ‘Queens Girl in Africa’ (Women’s Voices Theater Festival)

It’s no coincidence that Queens Girl in Africa—Caleen Sinnette Jennings’ semi-autobiographical one-woman play now at Mosaic Theater Company of DC—was chosen to kick off the Women’s Voices Theater...

Review: Comedy at The Kennedy Center Millennium Stage with Gary Vider and Sara Armour

Now in its 21st year, the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage is the Center’s gift to everyone in the Washington area, offering live entertainment at no cost every single day. It’s also a great way to...

Review: ‘Citizens’ Watch’ at Washington Improv Theater

One of the best things about improv is that no two shows are alike. And Citizens’ Watch, the improvisational mystery now unfolding at Washington Improv Theater, is no exception.

Interview: Beyond ‘Seinfeld,’ Brian George Moves From Sitcom to Stage in ‘Vicuña’ at Mosaic Theater Company of DC

Chances are you’ve seen him before, either as an angry Pakistani cook on Seinfeld or a benign Indian doctor on The Big Bang Theory. That’s because Brian George – the character actor now dazzling...

Review: ‘Coffin in Egypt’at Quotidian Theatre Company

Anyone who thinks that storytelling is a lost art should hurry on over to the Quotidian Theatre Company, where Jane Squier Bruns is now holding forth in A Coffin in Egypt, Horton Foote’s masterfully...

Review: ‘Vicuña & The American Epilogue’ at Mosaic Theater Company

It’s roughly a year ago to the day that Vicuña—a political satire of presidential proportions—had its first showing in Los Angeles. At the time, audiences laughed themselves silly over the idea that a...

Review: ‘Sotto Voce’ at Theater J

In Sotto Voce, Theater J’s first production of the 2017-18 season, the characters don’t actually lower their voices. Instead, they speak in whispers, and not always to each other. However, they do...

Review: ‘Skeleton Crew’ at Studio Theatre

Even before the houselights go dim, sparks fly. That vision — of fire blazing from a riveter’s gun in a factory in Detroit — is emblematic of what is to come in Skeleton Crew, Dominique Morrisseau’s...

Page-to-Stage New Play Festival: Six Short Plays from Playwrights Collaborative

Some of the most interesting new plays unveiled at this year’s Page-to-Stage Festival–held over the Labor Day weekend at the Kennedy Center–were among those offered by Playwrights Collaborative, a...

Page-to-Stage New Play Festival: ‘Queens Girl in Africa’ at Mosaic Theater

Any doubts about the future of the American Theatre were put firmly to rest on Labor Day Weekend, when more than 60 DC-area companies presented excerpts from some of their newest plays at The Kennedy...

Review: ‘The Devil’s Music’ at Mosaic Theater Company of DC

It’s no coincidence that The Devil’s Music – the show that celebrates the life and song of Bessie Smith – blew into Washington’s bustling H Street district at roughly the same time that Hurricane...

Review: ‘Night Seasons’ at Quotidian Theatre Company

Horton Foote, the Oscar and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of hundreds of plays for stage and screen, was known as the American Chekhov. As such, his work is a perfect choice for The Quotidian Theatre....

Review: ‘Cabaret’ at The Kennedy Center

Cabaret, the blistering musical satire written more than 50 years ago by John Kander and Fred Ebb, stormed into The Kennedy Center this week with a performance that had the audience on its feet, and...

2017 Capital Fringe Review: ‘ClickB@it’

Internet addiction is no laughing matter. However, for the talented team now lighting up the stage at the Sprenger Theatre at Atlas, the Internet–and all the craziness it has produced–is the stuff of...

2017 Capitol Fringe Review: ‘Show Business 101’

Welcome to show business! And welcome to Show Business 101, the comedy revue where four talented actors burst on and off the stage offering send-ups of various show biz situations, real and imaginary....

2017 Capital Fringe Review: ‘The Laramie Project’

One of the most frequently performed plays in America today, The Laramie Project, is now on view at the Atlas Performing Arts Center, where the bare stage of the Lang Theatre has been transformed, for...

2017 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Exit Carolyn’

I love Fringe. And like many theatergoers, I head off each day with tolerance and hope. The tolerance is for shows that are long on ambition, and the hope is for something more. Imagine my surprise at...

2017 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Quantum Suicide: A Talk by Professor Sophie Miller’

You don’t have to understand quantum mechanics – or even elementary physics – to follow Quantum Suicide: A Talk by Professor Sophie Miller, the one woman show now enjoying its first Fringe production...

Report: ‘Justice for Shylock’ at the Library of Congress

The verdict is in: Shylock–the Jewish moneylender whose trial is detailed in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice–has been exonerated. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg presided over the...

Review: The Second City’s ‘Divided We Stand’ at The Kennedy Center

They’re back! Second City–the group that made Chicago the capital of comedy and that all but invented improv–has returned to DC, where it is part of The Kennedy Center’s month-long second annual...

Interview: Playwrights Hanna Eady and Edward Mast on ‘The Return,’ Now in US Premiere at Mosaic Theater Company of DC

Seeing The Return – the stunning new play that has just burst upon the stage at Mosaic Theater Company of DC – is like watching fireworks up close. In fact, the heat from this drama is so intense that...

Report #1: ‘Callado Conmigo’ (‘Silenced Within Me’) at GALA Hispanic Theatre

The idea of using theater to educate people is not new. The Greeks were doing it way back when, using the great amphitheater at Epidaurus to teach the populace that murder and mayhem would not be...