Community Theater

‘Sweat’ at Silver Spring Stage: a precise portrayal of workers caught in a rip tide

I’ve never been to Reading, PA, the location of Lynn Nottage’s searing 2015 Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Sweat, now playing at Silver Spring Stage, but my life has been bracketed by living in or near...

‘Little Red’s Most Unusual Day’ entertains at Kentlands Arts Barn

Offenbach and Rossini are not names that roll easily off most children’s tongues. Luckily for parents who are looking for a fun way to introduce their children to classical music, the work of these...

A colorful ‘Seussical’ at Rockville Musical Theatre

Imagine how excited I was. For the first time in my life, the baseball World Series was being played in Washington DC. On top of that, it is rookie left fielder Juan Soto’s 21st birthday. But, best of...

Murder most melodic in Reston’s ‘Gentleman’s Guide’

Getting killed multiple times in a single production can be great fun (my personal best is three). In Reston Community Players’ (RCP) A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, Patrick Graham – playing...

‘Afflicted: Daughters Of Salem’ at Laurel Mill Playhouse is a haunting story of witch hunt origins

The peer pressure of in-groups, man. Is there anything more toxic? Turns out, there is. This is the central theme of Afflicted: Daughters Of Salem, which is set before the infamous Salem Witch Trials...

‘The Drowsy Chaperone’ rouses audience at Goddard Music and Drama Club with exuberant performance

If you are looking for some enjoyable entertainment before the holiday rush sets in, see The Drowsy Chaperone by the Goddard Music and Drama Club at the Barney & Bea Recreation Center. This production...

Colonial Players’ magnificent ‘White Rose’ is a prophetic must-see

What do you do when your country has taken a wrong turn? With a corrupt government, racist policies, oppression of the marginalized, suppression of the truth and attacks on the media being commonplace...

Slapstick is served with ‘One Man, Two Guvnors’ by Vienna Theatre Company

One Man, Two Guvnors, written by Richard Bean and directed at Vienna Theatre Company by Eric Storck, is aggressively funny stuff. Played as big as possible, each character pays homage to Commedia...

‘The Haunting of Hill House’ delivers insidious, subtle terror this Halloween

The Little Theatre of Alexandria presents The Haunting of Hill House, inspired by the novel by Shirley Jackson and adapted for the stage by F. Andrew Leslie. Maggie Mumford directs a talented ensemble...

‘The Last Night of Ballyhoo’ educates and entertains at Bowie Community Theatre

Who is a Jew? Will you go with me to the Ballyhoo ball? Those are two questions the Jewish upper-middle-class Freitag family kvetch about during the happenings of playwright Alfred Uhry’s The Last...

Prince William Little Theatre brings difficult history and ethical questions to the stage in ‘Judgment at Nuremberg’

Prince William Little Theatre has chosen some heavy material for their recent show. Judgment at Nuremberg, directed by Harry Kantrovich, focuses on the international military tribunals that were a...

Lots To Love About Silhouette’s ‘She Loves Me’ at Slayton House in Columbia

Imagine someone wanted Sondheim, but with a happy ending and genuinely lovable characters. Ta-da! She Loves Me was written in the ‘60s by Joe Masteroff (book), Sheldon Harnick (lyrics) and Jerry Bock...

‘The 39 Steps’ by the St. Mark’s Players is a delightfully crafty, if uneven production

First things first for those expecting an honest adaptation of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 spy thriller of the same name. This latest production by the St. Mark’s Players might benefit from a...

Review: ‘And Then There Were None’ by Providence Players of Fairfax

Providence Players of Fairfax present Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, based on her book of the same name. By one of the world’s most decorated crime writers, And Then There Were None...

Review: ‘Murder on the Nile’ at Castaways Rep

Murder on the Nile is Agatha Christie’s staging of her popular novel, Death on the Nile, published in 1937. Castaways Repertory Theatre has chosen this definitive whodunit for their Fall production of...

Review: ‘The Giver’ at Aldersgate Church Community Theater

In The Giver, Eric Coble’s adaptation of the Newberry Award-winning novel by Lois Lowry, Aldersgate Church Community Theater offers a family-friendly production about a future society that has gained...

Review: ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’ at Rockville Little Theatre

Although three murders, or “helping lonely men to find peace,” as the aunts see it, take place in the first two minutes, Rockville Little Theatre’s current presentation of Joseph Kesselring’s classic...

Review: ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ by Britches and Hose Theatre Company

By Brianna Lau See the greatest show with Britches and Hose Theatre Company’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream! Magic and mayhem run rampant in this William Shakespeare comedy, and the setting...

Review: Book ‘The Book Club Play’ at Silver Spring Stage

Whether you’re an avid reader or a theater buff or both, there’s a supersmart, superfunny show up in Silver Spring that should be on your short list. Marking its 52nd anniversary (!), community...

Review: ‘Isn’t It Romantic’ by Theatre@CBT

Isn’t It Romantic, written by Wendy Wasserstein and directed by Arielle Katz, follows Janie Blumberg (Elizabeth A. Weiss) and Harriet Cornwall (Betsy Ryan), both in their late 20s and both trying to...

Review: ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’ at the Colonial Players of Annapolis

Should you see Colonial Players’ production of Arsenic and Old Lace in old town Annapolis before it closes? That depends. Are you opposed to comedy, physical, situational and verbal? Don’t go. Do you...

Review: ‘Beauty and the Beast’ by The Arlington Players

After a highly successful animated film, a long-running Broadway show, a live-action movie version, various spin-offs, and innumerable theme park, cruise ship, and school productions, the Disney...

Review: ‘The Girls of the Garden Club’ at Laurel Mill Playhouse

The Girls of the Garden Club, written by John Patrick, directed by Larry Simmons and produced by Maureen Rogers, is presently playing at Laurel Mill Playhouse located on historic Main Street in...

Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre To Host Free Staged Reading of ‘Mids and Johnnies’ on September 20

Looking for an uplifting original musical? Check out Mids and Johnnies, a new musical about life in Annapolis. The plot revolves around Roman, a Ruritanian foreign-exchange student at St. John’s...

Review: ‘A Few Good Men’ at The Little Theatre of Alexandria

OORAH and HOOYAH! Integrity and a code of honor is at the heart of the play A Few Good Men, showing now at The Little Theatre of Alexandria. Many Marines and a few Naval officers share the focus of...

Review: ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ by the Potomac Playmakers

Bringing Little Shop of Horrors to life is no small feat for any theatre company, and it’s even more difficult when performing in a very limited space, but the Potomac Playmakers and Director Nic...

Review: ‘Bobby Gould in Hell’ by Providence Players of Fairfax

Eternal questions are being hotly debated in the back room of the Italian Café in Falls Church, where the Providence Players of Fairfax have once again set up shop for a “pop-up production” of a David...

Review: ‘Nuthin’ But The Truth!’ by Black Carpet Productions

As the Gospel stage play Nuthin’ But The Truth! opened, the fictional Rising Star Missionary Baptist Church in Mississippi had figuratively seen many literal and emotional battles in its one-hundred...

Providence Players’ Julie Janson Previews Pop-Up Production of ‘Bobby Gould in Hell’

With the success of their first pop-up theatrical venture, the Providence Players of Fairfax are ready for a second pop-up production. This time the Providence Players, a Northern Virginia staple for...

Lighting Designer John H. Purnell Discusses ‘Mamma Mia’ at Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre

John H. Purnell is the Lighting Designer for Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre’s sold-out production of Mamma Mia! He has done the lighting design for many shows in the Annapolis area, including a A New...

Review: ‘The Country Wife’ at The Rude Mechanicals

In 1675 William Wycherley wrote The Country Wife, a bawdy comedy of manners that pushed back against an 18-year stage ban instituted by a Puritan government. With the Restoration of the English...

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...

Review: ‘Mary Poppins’ by Glyndon Area Players

“Anything can happen if you let it” isn’t just the watchcry of the rosy cheeked heroine of Mary Poppins, currently dazzling audiences at Sacred Heart’s Glyndon Area Players. It would also seem to be...

Review: ‘Mamma Mia!’ at Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre

Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre’s production of Mamma Mia! is a colorful, fun-filled spectacle. With Music and Lyrics by Benny Anderson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, and Book by Catherine Johnson, the musical,...

Review: ‘Generations: A Series of One Acts’ at The Colonial Players of Annapolis

Generations: A Series of One Acts, at Colonial Players, is a touching, thoughtful evening of three brand-new one-act plays, each about 30 minutes long, by three playwrights well-known in the Annapolis...

Review: ‘The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee’ by Wildwood Summer Theater

How do you spell “talented”? This summer it’s spelled W-I-L-D-W-O-O-D. Wildwood Summer Theater is the DC area’s only all-youth musical theater company. Everyone associated with the group, from the...

Review: ‘The Producers’ at The Little Theatre of Alexandria

Funny Boy, a musical version of Hamlet, A Breaking Wind, She Schtups to Conquer–could anyone predict how much those fictional plays would wow audiences? The Little Theatre of Alexandria’s The...

Review: ‘The Mousetrap’ by Thunderous Productions

Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap is a serious whodunit in which strangers are thrown together at a remote place and cut off from the outside world, with a police inspector unlocking a murder mystery in...

Review: ‘Annie’ by Prince William Little Theatre

From toe-tapping numbers, to adorable orphans, there are few things as purely wonderful for the soul as a production of Annie, and Prince William Little Theatre delivers a production like no other....

Review: ‘Beauty and the Beast’ at the City of Fairfax Theatre Company

One doesn’t generally think of Beauty and the Beast as a dance show first and foremost. But in this lively production by The City of Fairfax Theatre Company and Truro Anglican Church, featuring so...

Review: ‘Mary Poppins’ at Upper Room Theatre Ministry

Since 2002, Upper Room Theatre Ministry has presented one musical every summer. This year, they bring the stage adaptation of the Disney classic, Mary Poppins, to Manassas. The story of the mysterious...

50th Annual Ruby Griffith Award Goes to 2nd Star Productions

By Frankie Lewis The British Players’ ceremony for the 50th Anniversary of The Ruby Griffith Awards for Excellence in Community Theatre was held at the Bretton Woods Recreation Center in Germantown,...

Review: ‘Southern Hospitality’ at Aldersgate Church Community Theater

Aldersgate Church Community Theater presents Southern Hospitality, written by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope, and Jamie Wooten. Eddie Page directs this outlandish comedy about a band of people who are...

Review: ‘Absolutely Dead’ at Bowie Community Theatre

Absolutely Dead, written by Michael Walker and directed at Bowie Community Theatre by Ken Kienas, is a charming and hilarious dark comedy centered around a murder mystery. I’m afraid to give away too...

Review: ‘Hand to God’ by Wolf Pack Theatre Company

Featuring everything from simulated puppet sex, tawdry seductions and a mangled ear, the Tony-nominated Hand to God, by Robert Askins, is a play that dares to be different. Director William Dean Leary...

Review: ‘Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike’ by Sandy Spring Theatre Group

Christopher Durang’s Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, which won the Tony Award for Best Play in 2013, is a comedy about neurotic, middle-aged, well-off white people whining about their lives. In...

Review: ‘Hairspray’ by Rockville Musical Theatre

Rockville Musical Theatre’s Hairspray is musical dynamite. The winning trio of Director T.J. Lukacsina, Musical Director Marci Shegogue, and Choreographer Rikki Lacewell make this show ovation worthy....

Review: ‘Intimate Apparel’ at Silver Spring Stage

Intimate Apparel by Lynn Nottage is a bittersweet and brilliantly acted dramedy at Silver Spring Stage, featuring insightful direction from Seth Ghitelman for this period piece with a modern message...

Review: ‘Songs for A New World’ at Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre

Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre’s production of Songs for A New World is something different. Jason Robert Brown’s first musical, which appeared in 1995, has been described as a “song cycle,” a series...

Review: ‘Macbeth’ by Britches and Hose Theatre Company

By Katie Crabb Something wicked this way comes in Britches and Hose Theatre Company’s gender-blind version of Macbeth, which breathes new life into one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays. The classic...