Community Theater

Review: ‘Steel Magnolias’ at Spotlighters

It’s the mid-1980s. The Oval Office is occupied by a former movie star, Al Gore has yet to create the Internet, and an aspiring actor from Alabama named Robert Harling lost his younger sister....

‘Mamma Mia!’ at Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre

The musical Mamma Mia! is playing in Frederick, Maryland for the first time at Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre. If opening night is any indication, WOB has a hit on its hands. Director Jordan...

‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’ by the Rude Mechanicals at the Greenbelt Arts Center

Tennessee Williams famously wrote fragile female leads: Laura, delicate and easily shattered; Blanche, already defeated before she is forced to rely upon the kindness of strangers. Not so with Maggie...

Review: ‘Old Time Music Hall’ by The British Players

It’s June, a time for anniversaries, celebrations and commemorations. Where can you simultaneously look back with fond nostalgia at British pluck and cheek, and party for Pride month? How about at The...

Review: ‘A Fox on the Fairway’ by The Little Theatre of Alexandria

The Quail Valley Country Club is the setting for Ken Ludwig’s A Fox on the Fairway, and the annual golf tournament against their rivals, Crouching Squirrel Country Club, is at hand. Quail Valley’s...

Review: ‘Princess Ida’ by The Victorian Lyric Opera Company

Princess Ida, now being presented by The Victorian Lyric Opera Company (VLOC), is something of an odd duck in the Gilbert and Sullivan repertory. It has three acts, the dialogue is in blank verse, and...

Review: ‘How the Other Half Loves’ at Montgomery Playhouse

Farces are hard to do well or differently, but they nearly always impart an important lesson: always tell the truth. How the Other Half Loves is an innovative farce, replete with secret affairs,...

Review: ‘Leaving Iowa’ by Providence Players of Fairfax

Providence Players of Fairfax presents Leaving Iowa, a touching comedy written by Tim Clue and Spike Manton, and directed by Julie Janson. A hilarious homage to the typical American family road trip,...

Review: ‘Towards Zero’ at the Colonial Players of Annapolis

Colonial Players’ production of Towards Zero is an intriguing murder mystery, by one of the genre’s icons. Written by Agatha Christie and Gerald Verner in 1956, the play is based on Christie’s 1944...

Review: ‘Crazy for You’ at Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre

Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre’s production of Crazy for You is a fabulous celebration of song, music, and dancing. The 1992 musical, with a Book by Ken Ludwig and Music and Lyrics by George Gershwin...

Review: ‘Cabaret’ at Silhouette Stages

Bless playwrights John Van Deuten/ Joe Masteroff, composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb who give us a specific piece of theatre, which is chilling in its applicability to the social climate of...

Review: ‘Hand to God’ by Fredericksburg Theatre Ensemble

Fredericksburg Theatre Ensemble (fte) was established in the Spring of 2011. They’re a nonprofit organization, focusing on guilty pleasures and “celebrating the art of the uncomfortable through...

Review: ‘Oliver!’ at Kensington Arts Theatre

The question when reviving a classic musical is always how much to preserve and how much to adapt. Audiences can often have fond memories of famous original productions, but times change, and...

Review: ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ at Silver Spring Stage

For a play so interested in the parameters of boredom endured by English high society, Silver Spring Stage’s rollicking production of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest is anything but...

Review: ‘Vinegar Tom’ at Spotlighters Theatre

Mount Vernon at the heart of Baltimore City is home to many fabulous jewels. One of these, tucked away below street level, is the Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre. Distance-wise, it’s hardly a far...

Review: Local Students Let Their Freak Flags Fly in KAT – Second Stage’s ‘Shrek the Musical, Jr.’

Sometimes, true perfection can be found where we least expect it. Whether you know it as a movie or a musical, Shrek has a pretty clear message for audiences: If you keep waiting for a perfect happy...

Review: ‘Sherlock’s Veiled Secret’ at Rockville Little Theatre

A day marked by soaking rains lent a fitting atmosphere to Sherlock’s Veiled Secret, set between Sussex and London, England. K.C. Brown crafted the play around the legendary sleuth Sherlock Holmes in...

Review: ‘The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence’ by City of Fairfax Theatre Company

In this age of devices, the continuing evolution of man’s relationship with technology has been the subject of many studies and stories. Madeleine George’s play, The (curious case of the) Watson...

Review: ‘P.S. Your Cat is Dead!’ by Dominion Stage

P.S. Your Cat is Dead!, written by James Kirkwood, Jr. and directed by Michael Page, is a great look at different manifestations of schadenfreude (pleasure derived by someone from another person’s...

Review: ‘The Honey Trap’ at Greenbelt Arts Center

The Honey Trap, a World Premiere at Greenbelt Arts Center, clearly has the best set I’ve seen in years: a mixture of ’50s kitsch, photos of ’50s-era entertainers, a record player console, plush-period...

Review: ‘Gypsy’ by St. Mark’s Players

Rose Hovic is one of the most riveting characters in the history of musical theater, inspiring allusions to the most renowned figures in dramatic literature. Gypsy’s lyricist, Stephen Sondheim (the...

‘Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead’ by Wolf Pack Theatre Company

What happened to the characters in Charles Schulz’s Peanuts gang when they entered adulthood? We find out in Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead, written by Bert V. Royal and...

Review: ‘Curtains’ at The Arlington Players

The Arlington Players’ new production of Curtains brings all that musical theater promises an audience: gorgeous sets, outsized talent, big production numbers, and memorable musical pearls strung...

Review: ‘Annie’ at Reston Community Players

Reston Community Players (RCP) serves up a tasty dish of that ultimate Broadway comfort food, Annie. Cooked up by Thomas Meehan (book), Charles Strouse (music) and Martin Charnin (lyrics) in 1977, and...

Review: ‘The Savannah Disputation’ at The Little Theatre of Alexandria

If you never thought the words “theological comedy” could go together, think again. The Savannah Disputation, playing now at The Little Theater of Alexandria, bills itself as just such a comedy. And...

Review: ‘Steel Magnolias’ at Sterling Playmakers

So many stories can be started with “boy meets girl.” It’s a trope that almost clutters literature – and drama for that matter. Even in shows with almost exclusively off-stage men, they are often the...

Review: ‘Ripcord’ by Vienna Theatre Company

Vienna Theatre Company has just opened David Lindsay-Abaire’s hilarious play, Ripcord, for the last production of their current season. The show takes place in an assisted living facility, with two...

Preview: Bethesda Little Theatre Switch-Hitters Knock It Out of the Park

By Christina Ling Or should that be hit-switchers? Either way, the talented cast of the Bethesda Little Theatre (BLT) is sure to delight as they cross the musical gender divide with their upcoming...

Review: ‘Rumors’ by the King William Players

The King William Players’ production of Rumors delivers constant laughs. Neil Simon’s 1988 farce comes to roaring life in this production, directed by Sarah Irving and performed and produced by the...

Review: ‘Blithe Spirit’ by Vagabond Players

After three – count ‘em, three – local productions of Blithe Spirit during 2018, Maryland audiences are well aware of the fact that it takes more than fear of Christmas to make a Noël Coward. And...

Review: ‘A New Brain’ at the Colonial Players of Annapolis

Harmonious voices! Hilarious hoofing! A dancing frog! With over 30 songs packed into its 90 minutes, the Colonial Players’ A New Brain is a magnificent autobiographical musical comedy that is based on...

Review: ‘Appropriate’ at Silver Spring Stage

Silver Spring Stage is known for producing professional-level community theater, garnering more WATCH nominations and awards than any other company in Maryland. The Obie-award winner Appropriate by...

Review: ‘Godspell (2012 Revised Version)’ by Rooftop Productions

Rooftop Productions has wowed me yet again, this time with its current production, Godspell. I have a hard time describing Godspell because there isn’t exactly a plot; there are several incredibly...

Review: ‘Bus Stop’ at Aldersgate Church Community Theater

Aldersgate Church Community Theater presents Bus Stop, by William Inge. Written in 1955, this production follows a group of strangers who find themselves stranded together overnight after being hit by...

Review: ‘August: Osage County’ by Providence Players of Fairfax

Providence Players of Fairfax presents Tracy Letts’ August: Osage County, winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best New Play. Michael Donahue directs a strong, searing...

Review: ‘My Fair Lady’ at Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre

“She sweeps out,” says George Bernard Shaw of Eliza in a stage direction at the end of Pygmalion, leaving Henry Higgins alone and feeling self-satisfied. As Shaw said emphatically in his postscript to...

Review: ‘Leave It to Psmith’ at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s Music and Drama Club (MAD Productions)

He’s charming, he’s debonair, he’s sophisticated, and when you’ve got a problem, you better call Psmith – that’s Ronald Eustace Psmith (“the P is silent, like pterodactyl”). You could feel the fun...

Wolf Pack Theatre Company Has Found a Home

Wolf Pack Theatre Company has found a new home at the Cora B. Woods Center in Brentwood Maryland. After almost five years of being nomads, Wolf Pack Theatre Company will be moving into the Cora B....

Review: ‘The Comedy of Errors’ by Britches and Hose Theatre Company

By Daniel Rinehart Britches and Hose Theatre Company’s production of William Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors begins with a boisterous crowd scene. Then suddenly a great lord and a prisoner enter....

2019 WATCH Award Winners and Ceremony Recap

The 19th Annual WATCH Awards recipients were announced tonight at a ceremony at The Birchmere in Alexandria Virginia. The ceremony was notable for two touching moments. Charles Hall, father of Leta...

The 2019 WATCH AWARDS Ceremony Takes Place Tonight

The 19th Annual WATCH Awards winners will be announced tonight at a ceremony at the Birchmere in Alexandria Virginia. DC Theater Arts will be at the ceremony to bring you updates on social media...

Review: ‘Hexagon 2019: Romp in the Swamp’

Hexagon has been around for 64 years and never seems to age. Since 1956 the musical comedy theater group has been turning out original political satire that’s as of-the-moment as the news. Its latest...

Review: ‘Time Stands Still’ at Reston Community Players

Many plays try to capture the complexity of the human spirit and the Reston Community Players production of Donald Margulies’, Time Stands Still, does just that. The poignant tale examines an...

Review: ‘Noises Off’ by the British Players

Noises Off is the Mount Everest of farce. Numerous critics have called Michael Frayn’s 1982 masterwork the greatest farce ever written, and its second act may well be the most difficult to perform...

Review: ‘Crimes of the Heart’ at Vagabond Players

Infusing some eccentric Southern charm into their 103rd season, Baltimore’s Vagabond Players segue into spring with their revival of Beth Henley’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Crimes of the Heart....

Review: ‘Disgraced’ at Greenbelt Arts Center

Your mother no doubt told you not to discuss religion or politics over dinner. In Ayad Akhtar’s Disgraced, now playing at the Greenbelt Arts Center, the exchanges among the characters during the...

Review: ‘Anything Goes’ at Silhouette Stages

Silhouette Stages’ production of Anything Goes with music and lyrics by Cole Porter, and book by Guy Bolton, P.G. Wodehouse, Howard Lindsay, and Russel Crouse is presently playing at Slayton House...

Review: ‘Oleanna’ by Providence Players of Fairfax

By Rob Cuevas The current production of Oleanna by Providence Players of Fairfax, hosted at Italian Café in Falls Church, VA, is the perfect night out for both delicious Italian cuisine and hearty...

Review: ‘Heathers’ at Rockville Musical Theatre

Heathers: the Musical is an intense roller-coaster of a show, careening from biting satire and dark comedy to touching and intense emotion to hope. In the 2013 Off-Broadway debut, based on the 1989...

Review: ‘The Philadelphia Story’ by Sterling Playmakers

By Pamela O’Reilly The weather in Northern Virginia is miserable again; thank goodness for the Sterling Playmakers’ rendition of The Philadelphia Story, Philip Barry’s humorous look at the glamorous...