Community Theater

Review: ‘The Women of Lockerbie’ by Bowie Community Theatre

By Andy Arnold Bowie Community Theatre has a hit on its hands with Deborah Brevoort’s The Women of Lockerbie. The play, which opened March 1, explores international affairs, and the depths of grief,...

The Providence Players Present ‘Oleanna’ at Falls Church’s Italian Café

Expanding its reach into the Northern Virginia community, the Providence Players of Fairfax are producing a special limited engagement of David Mamet’s Oleanna. The production will be at a new...

Review: ‘The Merry Wives of Windsor’ at the Colonial Players of Annapolis

Colonial Players’ production of The Merry Wives of Windsor is a rollicking farce and a fun trip down memory lane. Shakespeare’s comedy has been transplanted to Windsor, Connecticut in 1988, bringing...

Review: ‘You Can’t Take It With You’ at the Little Theatre of Alexandria

When one thinks about a classic romantic comedy, exploding with moments of farcical mayhem, You Can’t Take It With You is as classic as it gets. Written in 1936 by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, the...

Review: ‘In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play’ at Silver Spring Stage

When I think of how the scientific community has historically addressed the scourge of feminine hysteria, I tend to think of electro-shock treatments – those relics of masculine control over the...

Review: ‘The Wizard of Oz’ at Theatre@CBT

Everything about the Theatre@CBT production of The Wizard of Oz (book by John Kane based on L. Frank Baum’s classic novel, music and lyrics by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg) was thoroughly...

Review: ‘Plaza Suite’ by Sandy Spring Theatre Group

Those who aspire to great heights of theatrical art tend to look down on comedy. They don’t take it seriously, which is understandable, since it is, by definition, not serious. Famed comic actors...

Review: ‘The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940’ by Rockville Little Theatre

When you go to see The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940 at Rockville Little Theatre — and you should — prepare to be confused. This is not a bug, it’s a feature. The comedy takes your brain on a loopy...

Review: ‘Perfect Arrangement’ at the Greenbelt Arts Center

The title of Topher Payne’s play is, of course, ironic. Set during the early 1950s “Lavender Scare,” a purge of gay and lesbian Federal employees coinciding with the Red Scare of that era, the...

Review: ’12 Incompetent Jurors’ at Laurel Mill Playhouse

Laurel Mill Playhouse delivers a madcap, hilarious examination of judicial frailty in Ian McWethy’s 12 Incompetent Jurors. The twelve jurors are a rollicking physical ensemble that makes you feel the...

Review: ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’ by the Arlington Players

A quaint house at first glance is anything but when it is discovered that Aunt Abby and Aunt Martha are serving their guests something a little stronger than tea in Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph...

Review: ‘Gilligan’s Island: The Musical’ at Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre

Imagine sitting in your home watching a rerun of Gilligan’s Island when suddenly, the characters come through the screen, stand in your living room, and sing about their adventures while engaging in...

Review: ‘Chess’ at 2nd Star Productions

Chess, the complicated Cold War tale with music by Abba alumni Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus and lyrics by the unstoppable Tim Rice, bursts on to the stage at 2nd Star Productions under the...

Review: ‘Peter Pan’ by Vienna Theatre Company

J.M Barrie’s Peter Pan is a classic tale whose title character first appeared in a 1902 novel from the same author. Peter is a carefree spirit, who never wants to grow up and embodies innocence,...

Review: ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ by Castaways Repertory Theatre

The Castaways Repertory Theatre opened their production of Much Ado About Nothing, one of Shakespeare’s better-known romantic comedies, this past weekend. The story is packed with chicanery. There are...

WATCH Awards Nominations: 19th Annual Washington Area Theatre Community Honors

The nominees for the 19th Annual WATCH Awards were announced tonight at the Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia.

Review: ‘Jerusalem’ at Fells Point Corner Theatre

People staying when they need to go; people going when they long to stay. People hanging on to bits of myth and legend, or a bit of land, in the face of overwhelming forces of economic logic....

Review: ‘Superior Donuts’ by Reston Community Players

In Superior Donuts, which opened at the Reston Community Players last night, the new Starbucks across the street is taking business from a 60-year-old family-owned shop. It is a familiar story in...

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

Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt’s The Fantasticks had a legendary 42-year Off-Broadway run (and then an 11-year revival), suggesting that there’s something strangely captivating about this sweet and...

Review: ‘Silent Sky’ at Colonial Players of Annapolis

Colonial Players’ production of Silent Sky is a beautiful combination of wonderful acting, direction, lighting, and sound. The 2011 play, written by Lauren Gunderson, is based on the real-life stories...

Review: ‘And Then There Were None’ at Vagabond Players

By Andy Arnold If you fancy a trip to Broadway to see a play, a less expensive offering is the Vagabond Players’ adaptation of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. This production is faithful...

Review: ‘Proof’ by St. Mark’s Players

“The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree” implies that a child has similar qualities or characteristics as his or her parents. A particular talent may be handed down through the genes, but less...

Review: ‘Equivocation’ by Bill Cain at Silver Spring Stage

It is 1605. The Gunpowder Plot, in which a group of disaffected Catholics attempted to blow up King James I, his wife, his children, and all the political and religious leaders of the age, has just...

Review: ‘Heathers: The Musical’ at Dominion Stage

High school never changes. This is abundantly clear in Heathers: The Musical. With book, music and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe and Kevin Murphy, this edgy and fun musical comes to Dominion Stage under...

Review: ‘Catch Me If You Can’ at the Montgomery Playhouse

In Montgomery Playhouse’s production of Catch Me If You Can, now playing at the Gaithersburg Arts Barn, Director Ed Starr has once again sprinkled fairy dust on an erstwhile gaggle of ordinary...

DCMTA 2018 Staff Favorites: Outstanding Performance in a Community Theater Production

As the year draws to a close, we asked DCMTA writers to think back on the shows that left an indelible impression on them in 2018. Here are the community theater performances that made the biggest...

Review: ‘Measure for Measure’ at Green Globe Theatre

There is some uncanny and rather dismaying contemporary resonance in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, now playing at Baltimore’s Green Globe Theatre. The virginal Isabella (Grace O’Keefe), about to...

DCMTA 2018 Staff Favorites: Outstanding Community Theater Productions

As the year draws to a close, we asked DCMTA writers to think back on the productions that left an indelible impression on them in 2018. Here are the community theater productions that left the...

Review: ‘Blithe Spirit’ at Spotlighters Theatre

British comedies considerably older than Noel Coward’s 1941 Blithe Spirit enjoy frequent, high-spiritedly successful revivals. Think The Importance of Being Earnest or Charley’s Aunt (a sprightly...

Review: ‘It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play’ at Prince William Little Theatre

Prince William Little Theatre’s production of It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, directed by Caroline Scarborough, presents the well-known story of George Bailey (Michael Clendenin) discovering...

Review: ‘She Loves Me’ at Fauquier Community Theatre

From the same source of inspiration for the Jimmy Stewart classic, “Shop Around the Corner,” and 1998 Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan movie, “You’ve Got Mail,” is the 1963 musical She Loves Me. The show, with...

Review: ‘Frosted: A Traditional British Panto’ at Kensington Town Hall

It is a truth universally acknowledged in the modern era that everything must be novel, revolutionary, and exciting. People will (apparently) stand in line for the newest iPhone (whether they need it...

Review: ‘A Christmas Carol 2018’ at Wolf Pack Theatre Company

This isn’t your mother and father’s A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. In this present day version, Ebenezer Scrooge’s father Andrew runs the charitable Scrooge Family Foundation. Tim Cratchit...

Review: ‘A Christmas Carol’ at Providence Players of Fairfax

The Providence Players of Fairfax and The Young Hearts present Charles Dickens’ beloved classic A Christmas Carol, in an inventive adaptation by Rob Zapple. Set in the outskirts of St. Louis during...

Review: ‘Season of Light: A Winter Fairytale’ at Silver Spring Stage

The simplest tales can oftentimes bring the most enjoyment. Steph DeFerie’s Season of Light: A Winter Fairytale tells the mythical tale of a young girl, Magda, and a band of actors searching for the...

Review: ‘The Crucible’ by Lumina Theatre Company

It’s a witch hunt! Witches, whores, collusion, and corruption, peppered with a bit of witness tampering, threaten the dreams of small-town America in Lumina Theatre Company’s inaugural production of...

Review: ‘A Christmas Carol’ at The Little Theatre of Alexandria

I never feel like I’m fully in the Christmas spirit until I’ve donned an ugly sweater, had a gingerbread cookie and watched a production of A Christmas Carol. Little Theatre of Alexandria’s annual...

Review: ‘A Christmas Story’ by Rockville Little Theatre at the Arts Barn

SMOKE! That raises the alarm that there’s been another “Clinker” episode from the diabolical furnace in the basement of the Parker home as the Gaithersburg Arts Barn hosts an entirely entertaining and...

Review: ‘Oliver!’ at Laurel Mill Playhouse

Lionel Bart’s Oliver!, produced by Maureen Rogers and directed by John Cusumano, is strutting its stuff across the boards of the Laurel Mill Playhouse. The iconic musical is based on Charles Dickens’...

Review: ‘A Christmas Story, The Musical’ by Charm City Players

A more dazzling display of heart-warming family entertainment and memories may not be found this Christmas Season than Charm City Players’ A Christmas Story, The Musical. With deft direction by...

Interview: Ken Kemp, ‘A Christmas Story’ Director at Rockville Little Theatre

You’ll shoot your eye out! Get ready fans of holiday fun, Rockville Little Theatre is bringing A Christmas Story to the Arts Barn just in time for the holiday season. Based on the 1983 movie, A...

Review: ‘Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street’ by Sterling Playmakers

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, by Sterling Playmakers and produced by Shanna Christian, is an intense musical experience with just enough blood, murder, mischief, and mayhem to please...

Review: ‘A Piece of My Heart’ at Bowie Community Theatre

Female Vietnam veterans are saluted as actors give their whole hearts in Bowie Community Theatre’s A Piece Of My Heart, through November 18th. It seems likely that every veteran fights two wars: one...

Review: ‘Brigadoon’ at Rockville Musical Theatre

Below a luxurious burgundy velvet curtain, Rockville Musical Theatre’s Brigadoon Orchestra delivers the Overture under the Musical Direction of Joseph Sorge. The curtain opens as traveling New...

Review: ‘The Benjamins’ at the Music and Drama Ministry of Shiloh Baptist Church of Landover

“People that love money, they never have enough,” said a character from Director and Playwright Fay Brake’s engaging stage play, The Benjamins. With themes of overreaching ambition, greed and the...

Review: ‘The Toxic Avenger’ at Greenbelt Arts Center

The small, low-ceilinged theater at the Greenbelt Arts Center, with intimate seating arrangements and limited space for sets, is a natural habitat for The Toxic Avenger, a quintessential small-cast,...

Review: ‘Beauty and the Beast’ by Damascus Theatre Company at Olney Theater Center

I doubt there was one person in the entire Carl Freeman Auditorium who hadn’t seen some version of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (either the original animated film from 1991, the live-action version...

Review: ‘Barnum’ at The Heritage Players

Hey kids, let’s go see a show! “Come Follow The Band” with The Heritage Players at Thomas Rice Auditorium in Catonsville to see Barnum, the story of a man and his life-long love affair with illusion...

Review: ‘The Crucible’ at Silver Spring Stage

Silver Spring Stage’s spectacular and engrossing show, The Crucible, under Director Craig Allen Mummey’s expert guidance, tackles many contentious subjects, including sexism, racism, religious...

Review: ‘The Babylon Line’ by The Colonial Players of Annapolis

Colonial Players’ production of The Babylon Line is an engaging drama that raises many questions about memory and writing. Written by Richard Greenberg and first performed in 2016, it focuses on a...