Sophia Howes

Dangereuse: She Will Rock You: ‘TAME.’ at WSC Avant Bard

One of Shakespeare’s greatest gifts is the inspiration he offers to other artists. In the case of Tame., playwright Jonelle Walker has captured the essence of Shakespeare’s Kate in The Taming of the...

Dangereuse: ‘The Lovers with a Thousand Faces’: ‘Romeo and Juliet’ at Shakespeare Theatre Company

Romeo and Juliet at the Shakespeare Theatre is a revelatory theatre experience. Director Alan Paul’s version of Romeo and Juliet has a complexity and richness that reaches deep into the meaning of the...

Review: ‘Sense and Sensibility’ at Folger Theatre

Hey Girl, I Hear You Read Jane Austen; Sense and Sensibility at the Folger Theatre The appeal of Jane Austen’s heroines lies in their lovability. In Sense and Sensibility, the two sisters, Elinor and...

Dangereuse: The Joyous Art: Free For All-‘The Tempest’ at the Shakespeare Theatre Company

The Tempest is one of Shakespeare’s greatest plays. Ethan McSweeny’s production makes us realize once again how profound it really is. This Tempest retains most of the cast of the original, which was...

Dangereuse: Globe Theatre’s ‘The Merchant of Venice’ at The Kennedy Center

W.H. Auden once said ,“Shylock is the outsider because he is the only serious person in the play.” Jonathan Pryce’s Shylock is a deeply serious person, and Pryce’s magnificent portrayal of Shylock’s...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘TARGET GOLDBERG (HELP! ROGUE GOVERNMENT AGENTS ARE TRYING TO FRAME ME!)’

A “show” was presented by one “David J. Goldberg”, purporting be a “theater piece” about a secret cabal of heartless corporations/rogue government agents/reptilized Masons who aim to incite fear in...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Good Kids’

What Happened After the Party? Theatre Prometheus’ Good Kids by Naomi Iizuka at the Fringe Theatre Prometheus is presenting a remarkable production of Naomi Iizuka’s Good Kids, which is inspired by...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Secret Honor’

Anyone Can Be President: Secret Honor at the Fringe “Scathing” “lacerating” and “brilliant” were three of the words the late Roger Ebert applied to the 1984 Robert Altman movie of Secret Honor, with...

Dangereuse: Reconstructing Shylock: ‘District Merchants’ at the Folger Theatre

Freud said, “When a delusion cannot be dissipated by the facts of reality, it probably does not spring from reality.” This is the essence of prejudice. In showing us a more human side of Shylock...

Review: ‘Red Herring’ at the Providence Players Players of Fairfax

Red Herring at the Providence Players is a delightful mix of murder mystery, romance, and broad farce. A noir of the 1950s, it reminds us vividly of the joys, sorrows, and nightmares of that period....

Review: ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ at Shakespeare Theatre Company

Roman Holiday: The Taming of the Shrew at Shakespeare Theatre Company According to scholar Jonathan Bate, “‘Shakespeare’ may be thought of as a vast collection of games…[some] games are resolved by...

‘Shylock Agonistes’: Howard Jacobson and Aaron Posner at Folger Theatre

On the stage of the Folger Theatre, with the vestiges of the set of Aaron Posner’s just-closed Midsummer Night’s Dream in the background, well-known director and playwright Aaron Posner and Man Booker...

Review: ‘Kabarett & Cabaret’ at The In Series

Like Liza Minnelli’s in Cabaret, the unforgettable image of Marlene Dietrich hovers over Kabarett & Cabaret, a production of the 2015-16 In Series at the Source Theatre. Kabarett & Cabaret: An Evening...

Review: ‘The History Boys’ at Dominion Stage

At the first press night of The History Boys by Alan Bennett, the cast and creative team were laughing and joking as the audience began to arrive. A fire had started in the flies of the theater, and...

‘As You Like It’ at Synetic Theater

Synetic Theater’s As You Like It is what W.H. Auden called an “inverted pastoral”—the outlaw theme of Shakespeare’s play is enhanced by the transformation of the Forest of Arden into a dystopian urban...

‘Pericles’ at the Folger Theatre

Pericles is a night of wonder, perfect for a romantic evening or a thought-provoking night out with family or friends. Watching it is like lying in the grass watching clouds move over a beautiful blue...

‘Dangereuse’: ‘Appomattox’ at The Kennedy Center by Sophia Howes (Review #2)

In the wake of Ferguson and the Black Lives Matter movement, it is the perfect time for an opera which tells the truth about race in America—Appomattox. Philip Glass, the internationally acclaimed...

The Women’s Voices Theater Festival: ‘The Magic Tree’ at The Keegan Theatre

Four lost young people in a deserted beach house, in Dublin, late at night. There is a thunderstorm beating down. This is the evocative opening scene of The Magic Tree, in its American premiere at The...

‘Dangereuse’ The Women’s Voices Theater Festival: ‘The Guard’ at Ford’s Theatre

Rembrandt once said, “Of course you will say that I ought to be practical and paint the way they want me to paint. Well, I will tell you a secret. I have tried and I have tried very hard, but I can’t...

Dangereuse: An Interview With Playwright Karin Coonrod on ‘texts and beheadings/ElizabethR’ at The Folger Theatre

I asked Playwright Karin Coonrod to talk about her play texts and beheadings/ElizabethR, which ends its run this weekend at Folger Theatre. Sophia: Please introduce yourself to our readers and tell us...

Dangereuse: ‘Texts and Beheadings/Elizabeth R: The Heart of a Lonely Queen’

“[I]f I were turned out of the realm in my petticoat I were able to live in any place in Christendom,” said the legendary Elizabeth I: wit, scholar, great Queen, and poet. There is no doubt that this...

The Women’s Voices Theater Festival Launch Party: The Astonishment Begins

The Women’s Voices Theater Festival Launch Party was more than a celebration. It was a defining moment for DC theater. The National Museum of Women in the Arts was a superb setting for the exuberant...

The Women’s Voices Theater Festival: ‘What Do Women Want? Playwrights Edition’

The opening of the Women’s Voices Theater Festival is a good time to reflect on the state of gender parity in the American theatre, in respect to playwrights. The numbers are, frankly, appalling....

‘Romeo and Juliet: Love Knows No Age’ at Unexpected Stage Company

Romeo and Juliet has a special place in our popular culture. BBC’s 60 second Shakespeare has a hilarious front page, “Double Teen Death Horror”; “City’s Top Clans Devastated after Botched Love Pact.”...

2015 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Sanctuary’

A woman’s perspective on war is a powerful thing. We are often mothers, and because we can give birth, I think some of us find killing especially terrible. “I didn’t raise my boy to be a soldier”...

2015 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Blind Pug Arts Collective Presents: The Theatre of Self-Loathing Presents: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf?’

This is a rare opportunity to see the avant-garde Theatre of Self-Loathing, bringing the best of Eastern European theatre to the DC audience. Eddie and Cassilda, winners of the 2003 CAPB Award, are in...

2015 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Dust to Dust’

This appealing musical is an engaging discovery, performed by The Class Act Players, a theater company of seniors from Robinson Secondary School and Oakton High School in Fairfax. Toby (Preston Kemp),...

Dangereuse: ‘The Madwoman of Chaillot: An Ode to Joy in the Midst of Corruption’

WSC Avant Bard’s current production of Giraudoux’ The Madwoman of Chaillot, an entertaining tribute to the power of joy over despair, reminds us of the importance of the artist in an inevitably...

‘Tartuffe’ at Shakespeare Theatre Company

“People do not mind being wicked,” said Moliere, “but they do object to being made ridiculous.” In Moliere’s great play Tartuffe, the merchant Orgon is made ridiculous by his overwhelming...

Romell Witherspoon on Playing Rosencrantz in Folger Theatre’s ‘Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead’

In Part 2 of our interviews with the actors playing Rosencrantz and Guildenstern at Folger Theatre, meet Romell Witherspoon. Sophia: Please introduce yourself to our readers. What are your favorite...

Adam Wesley Brown on Playing Guildenstern in Folger Theatre’s ‘Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead’

In Part 1 of two interviews with the actors who play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in Folger Theatre’s production of Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, meet Adam Wesley Brown. Please...

‘Major Barbara’ at Pallas Theater Collective

Money Talks The Pallas Theatre Collective’s Major Barbara is a captivating, thought-provoking comedy. The themes of class disparity, the necessity to compromise one’s values to survive, and the...

‘Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead’ at Folger Theatre (Review)

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead at the Folger Theatre is a sumptuously original production of the breakthrough play of one of England’s greatest living playwrights. “I write plays” Tom Stoppard...

‘Hamlet, The First Quarto’ at Taffety Punk Theatre Company

Taffety Punk has given us a passionate Hamlet, whose loneliness, wit, and audacity make him utterly unsuited to the corrupt and deceptive society in which he lives. Go if you like Shakespeare. Go if...

‘Fun Home’ Receives 12 Tony Nominations

The glittering prizes keep coming for Fun Home, a mainstream musical about a young lesbian and her closeted gay father. Fun Home received 12, that’s right 12, Tony nominations, for Best Musical, Best...

‘Lettice and Lovage’ at the Quotidian Theatre Company

Tea and Entropy: Lettice and Lovage at the Quotidian Theatre Company Lettice and Lovage is crafted with love, a fitting tribute to a playwright, Peter Shaffer, whose passion for words makes this play...

‘Greater Tuna’ at Compass Rose Theater by Sophia Howes

Hail, Tuna! Greater Tuna will delight you, whether you have ever lived in a small town or whether the closest you have ever been to one is the East Village in New York. As directed by Lucinda...

‘Othello’ at WSC Avant Bard

T.S. Eliot’s great poem The Hollow Men is sometimes said to be about the shell-shocked soldiers of the First World War. (“We are the hollow men/We are the stuffed men/ Leaning together /Headpiece...

‘Mary Stuart’ at The Folger Theatre

Mary, Mary quite contrary, how does your garden grow? With silver bells, and cockle shells, and pretty maids all in a row.” This nursery rhyme is often said to be about Mary Stuart. The pretty maids...

‘The Game’s Afoot’ at The Little Theatre of Alexandria

Before Benedict Cumberbatch starred in the incandescent puzzle palace that is Sherlock, there was William Gillette, the definitive Sherlock Holmes of his time. Tall, lean, with the manner of a...

‘Julius Caesar’ at The Rude Mechanicals

Julius Caesar seems to be always with us. High school Latin still features Caesar’s Commentaries. Once there was a Russian Tsar. Now there is an Ebola czar. Caesar appears on Pinterest, Tumblr, and...

‘The Tempest’ at Shakespeare Theatre Company

“We work in the dark – we do what we can – we give what we have. Our doubt is our passion, and our passion is our task. The rest is the madness of art.” ― Henry James, The Middle Years Henry James’...

‘As You Like It’ at the Shakespeare Theatre Company

As You Like It is a celebration of love; love as we hope it will be, love as it often is, and love as a harbinger of growth and redemption. The Shakespeare Theatre’s As You Like It is a veritable...

‘Julius Caesar’ at Folger Theatre

Folger Theatre launches its 2014-15 season with a strikingly imaginative production of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, a play whose contradictions and cruelties mirror the bewildering politics...

‘Our War’ at Arena Stage at The Mead Center for American Theater

The Better Angels of Our Nature: Our War, an unforgettable production, explores the present-day echoes and historical memories of the Civil War, in a series of monologues which are really like one-act...

‘The Wolfe Twins’ at The Studio Theatre

Crying Wolf; ‘The Wolfe Twins’ at Studio Theatre The Wolfe Twins, by Rachel Bonds, is a World Premiere by Studio Lab, which features scaled-back productions of provocative new plays. First-rate acting...

‘The Devil in His Own Words’ at Taffety Punk Theatre Company

The Devil Made Me Do It: An Evening with the Antichrist A dying man, said to be, among others, Voltaire, Machiavelli, or an anonymous Irishman, is exhorted by a priest to renounce Satan. “Now, now, my...

Capital Fringe 2014 Review: ‘The Inaugural Election for President of Mrs. Jacobson’s Sixth Grade Class’

In this delightful comedy, six 6th graders are running for President of Mrs. Jacobson’s Sixth Grade class. You, the audience, get to participate and choose the winner. In the age of Stephen Colbert...

Capital Fringe 2014 Review: ‘Coriolanas’

(Best of the Capital Fringe) Shakespeare’s Coriolanus has been played, memorably, by some of the greatest actors. Richard Burton played it; Laurence Olivier played it twice, and here in D.C., Patrick...

Source Festival Review: ‘Countdown’

Countdown: An Interlude Albert Einstein said, “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” This statement is particularly apposite to the CulturalDC Source Festival, which...