In the Moment

In the Moment: ‘1984’: A Loud Flash-Bang Grenade of a Theater Experience

Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) has a loud flash-bang grenade of a theater experience for audiences. It comes with a chilling take on gloomy lives lived in a world of law and order under total...

In the Moment: The Costumes of Synetic Theater’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’

Ah, the importance of the costumes actors wear to set the scene for any stage production: the shapes, colors, textures. How the fabric flows, drapes, curves or hugs fast to an actor’s frame. Does the...

In the Moment: A Look at Jack Viertel’s “The Secret Life of the American Musical: How Broadway Shows Are Built”

Revealing the concealed underpinnings and durable structures of American musicals is no easy undertaking. Let alone covering and analyzing the past seven decades of musical theater history. But,...

In the Moment: Véronneau and Company Danzante at Atlas’ INTERSECTIONS Festival

Having separately followed two of the DC area’s delightful performing arts groups, one a jazz ensemble and the other a dance troupe, I was intrigued to learn they would be performing together at this...

In the Moment: Gin Dance Company at Atlas’ INTERSECTIONS Festival on March 5th at 5 PM

Gin Dance Company (GDC) is a Metropolitan DC/Northern Virginia based performing arts modern dance company. Founded in Reston, Virginia in 2011 by Artistic Director Shu-Chen Cuff, GDC performs works...

In the Moment: Reston Community Center Presents ‘If Music Be the Food of Love’ on 2/24 & Washington Chorus Presents ‘New Music for a New Age’ on 2/28 at National Presbyterian Church

Adventurous? Looking for something fresh, uplifting, and yes, even heavenly in contemporary classical music with ethereal, hypnotic voices? There are two upcoming musical events in close-by venues to...

In the Moment: The Hub Theatre’s Emerging Writers Festival

If we in the theater universe want to nurture new and emerging playwrights, I would think the earlier we are there for them, the more likely we can be helpful. Once again, The Hub Theatre is providing...

In the Moment: Megan Graves as Snug in Folger Theatre’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’

Ha! Minor role indeed. It’s only Snug one of the Rude Mechanicals in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. But special fan’s props are due to the gentle, shy Snug in the current Folger Theatre...

In the Moment: Theater J’s ‘The Sisters Rosensweig’

What now, two decades after the lives depicted in The Sisters Rosensweig? Certainly Theater J has produced a polished, lovingly curated production of Wendy Wasserstein’s The Sisters Rosensweig. The...

In the Moment: Virginia Opera’s Quest for The Youngest Audience in America

“Opera is officially dead.” So read the headline for Christopher Ingraham’s Washington Post Wonkblog. And in “one chart” yet. Ah, yes big data says it all neatly and with great certitude. Maybe. Then...

In the Moment: 1st Stage Gets Bigger: A Chat With Managing Artistic Director Alex Levy

The cranes are up and building is moving afoot in the “new” Tysons in Fairfax County, Virginia. So, what will Tysons residents do for their near-by cultural arts fix and live performing arts...

In the Moment: Dr. King Commemorations in Reston and McLean

In Northern Virginia, two community centers have had long-standing and continuing activities commemorating the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday. They are the McLean Community Center and the Reston...

In the Moment: An Interview With the Creative Team of MetroStage’s ‘Shake Loose’

Shake Loose, the new musical bound for Alexandria’s MetroStage, aims to bear witness to a swirling whirlwind century of events in the lives African American people. Its purpose is “to bring order to...

In the Moment: A Look at Synetic Theater’s ‘As You Like It’

Synetic Theater continues to winningly upend The Bard’s canon with its 12th production in the speechless, though far from silent, series that had its start in 2002 with Hamlet…the rest is silence....

Meet the Cast of ‘George is Dead’ at The Klunch: Part 2: Fiona Blackshaw

In Part 2 of a series of interviews with the cast of George is Dead, meet Fiona Blackshaw. Joel: Please tell our readers where they may have seen you perform on our local stages? Fiona: I’ve been a...

In the Moment: Liel Leibovitz, Author of ‘A Broken Hallelujah: Rock and Roll, Redemption and the Life of Leonard Cohen’ to Appear at JCCNV on December 5th at 8 PM

The man with the famous blue raincoat who wrote many a reflective, if not prophetic song over the past decades will be arriving at the Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia Northern Virginia....

In the Moment: ‘Seussical’ Comes to NextStop Theatre Company December 4-20th

One of the most popular heartwarming family musicals, which is chock-full of youthful energy, charming songs and wise life-lessons, is coming to the Dulles Corridor. It is Next Stop Theatre’s...

In the Moment: Reflections on ‘Sons of the Prophet’ at Theater J

At the heart of Stephen Karam’s Sons of the Prophet are his Old-Testament Job-like questioning of an unseen, unknown higher presence. Questions abound around the matter of why do we (and, of course,...

‘In the Moment’: Thoughts on Folger Theatre’s ‘Pericles’

Dazzling. Indeed Pericles is quite dazzling in the contemporary creation from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival currently at the Folger Theatre. It possesses a radiance with its modern youthful vigor of...

In the Moment: Inner Voices Lecture with Roach Brown at Workhouse Arts Center at 2 PM

In collaboration with the Workhouse Museum and the History Committee Lecture series, the Workhouse Arts Center located in Lorton, VA will present an Inner Voices Lecture with Roach Brown. Brown is the...

‘In the Moment’: ‘Unexplored Interior (This is Rwanda: The Beginning and End of the Earth)’

Unexplored Interior (This is Rwanda: The Beginning and End of the Earth), the production launching the inaugural season of Mosaic Theater Company of DC, met Founding Artistic Director Ari Roth’s...

Magic Time! ‘Winners and Losers’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

I left Winners and Losers thinking, Wow, there’s more here than meets the eye. Or, as one of the performers said in an interview, “The show really bangs around in your head….” On the face of it,...

In the Moment: Stephen Lang on Performing in ‘Beyond Glory’ on 11/10@8pm at Reston Community Center

There are many ways to commemorate Veteran’s Day and the over 21 million veterans of military service. Attending a live theater performance about Medal of Honor recipients is certainly one way to...

Magic Time! ‘Avenue Q’ at Constellation Theatre Company

The intriguing tagline for Constellation Theatre Company’s 2015/16 season is “Playtime for Grownups,” which could not have been more appropriate on opening night of its Avenue Q—the wholly humable...

In the Moment: An Interview with William V. Madison Author of ‘Madeline Kahn: Being the Music-A Life’ Coming to JCCNV’s Book Fest on 11/10@7:30 pm

A terrific opportunity awaits those of us who enjoy delving deeper to examine the lives of actors that enthralled us over their careers. The upcoming occasion features author William Madison who will...

In the Moment: Aaron Copland’s ‘The Tender Land’ by The In Series

How fortunate we are to have The In Series. Over the decades it has taken artistic risks for audiences to extend their knowledge and experiences with a creative artist’s more rarely produced works, or...

In the Moment: BalletNova Center for Dance Presents A Global Dance Showcase on Saturday, 10/17/15@7:30 PM

BalletNova Center for Dance will present a Global Dance Showcase, featuring ethnic dance companies from around the DC metro region. The performances will be held in the Fredgren Studio Theatre – a...

In the Moment: World Premiere Staged Reading of ‘Redder Blood’ at JCCNV on Monday, 10/19@7:30pm as Part of Women’s Voices Theater Festival

Playwright Helen Pafumi and the JCCNV/Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia have partnered to develop a staged reading of the world premiere play Redder Blood. The play was written by Pafumi,...

In the Moment: Erica Rebollar on ‘Sacred Profane’ at Dance Place on October 3rd

With the ongoing Women’s Voices Theater Festival, I wondered if other performing arts in the DC area were highlighting the work of women artists. I didn’t have to search far to find that there is a...

In the Moment: Ava Spece Named President and CEO of Workhouse Arts Center

Taking the Helm at Workhouse “The selection of Ava Spece to lead the Workhouse was due to her vast, deep appreciation and passion for the Arts as well as her strength, poise and character to help us...

In the Moment: An Interview with Playwright Sam Chanse Appearing at ‘Fall for the Book’

There is lots of ground to cover for gender and demographic parity for playwrights and directors in the multi-cultural world that is the ever-changing DC metropolitan area. Beyond the current Women’s...

In The Moment: A Preview of the DC Shorts Film Festival & Screenplay Competition September 10-20th

Ah, the end of August. The August month-long Congressional recess will be ending soon. DC area schools at all levels are opening momentarily. We can only hope that the recent mid-summer-time swoon of...

In The Moment: An Interview with Richard Heinrich, Mario Baldessari, and Lynn Sharp Spears on Spooky Action Theater’s Reading of ‘The Bison Beast of Dubois’ on 8/22 & 23

Having recently returned from some time away in Wyoming from the hustling of DC, my eyes widened when I saw an email from Spooky Action Theatre for several staged readings for a play that takes place...

In the Moment: Pocket Change Theatre Company Presents ‘Midsummer on a Playground’ 8/28-29 at Workhouse Arts Center

So where does a new theater company head after a successful introduction at the recent Capital Fringe Festival with its production of War and Peas? In the case of Pocket Change Theatre, the answer is...

In the Moment: A Personal ‘Good Luck and Thank You’ to The American Century Theater and Their Ghost Light

Ghost light. Very soon the 20-year run of the The American Century Theater (TACT) will fade into a ghost light -a light that we theater folk know is left lit onstage to protect us from misbehaving...

In the Moment: And Now for a Little Baseball, ‘The Nats and the Grays’

The days may have been dark on the home-front during WWII America for Tom Brokow’s The Greatest Generation, but baseball endured. Baseball was the National Pastime; playing ball, along with Big Bands...

In the Moment: Helen Pafumi and Kristen LePine on The Hub Theatre’s ‘Leto Legend’

The Hub Theatre is opening its world premiere of a work by a woman playwright, directed by a woman and with an all-female cast. It is the Hub’s Leto Legend which opens on July 10, 2015. Hub describes...

In the Moment: ‘Arts Live Here -Tysons Tiles: Bringing Art to Tysons Corner’

Density, urbanization and perhaps, someday in the future, “cool” is coming to the new downtown “Tysons” in Fairfax County, Virginia. Over the decades there has been much talk about refreshing the now...

2015 Capital Fringe Preview #14: ‘Brothel’ by David Siegel

“Characters at the edge of life” is how Playwright, Director, and Producer Isa Seyran described his Capital Fringe offering, Brothel. The new play is to be more that a provocative Buzzfeed worthy,...

In the Moment: Company Danzante Performs at the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival

Northern Virginia’s Company Danzante will perform at the prestigious Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in Massachusetts on June 26, 2015. Company Danzante will perform repertory by Co-Directors, Katherine...

In The Moment: 2015 Capital Fringe Preview #4: ‘Our Lady of the Clouds’ by David Siegel

Be transported to the far-away of the mind. What better place to explore provocative magical realism as a performing art than at this year’s Fringe Festival. Letting one’s mind drift into a world...

In the Moment: 2015 Capital Fringe Festival Preview #1: ‘BOND: An Unauthorized Parody’ first at Workhouse Performing Arts Center and then at The Capital Fringe

Looking at the upcoming Workhouse (Lorton, VA) Performing Arts Center calendar and the Capital Fringe Festival performance schedule, I spotted a show from Tasty Monster Productions that is crossing...

In the Moment: Chamber Dance Project’s 2015 Summer Season at the Lansburgh

Don’t hurry out of town for the summer just yet or you will miss the new summer season of DC’s own Chamber Dance Project in residence at the Lansburgh Theatre at Shakespeare Theatre Company. Known for...

In the Moment: ‘After Seeing ‘Jarry Inside Out’

Much has been written about Spooky Action Theater’s premiere production Jarry Inside Out by Richard Henrich. I take this opportunity to connect it to popular culture, in a different manner than I have...

In the Moment: Creative Cauldron’s Summer Cabaret

Ah, the enduring popularity of sophisticated, stylish cabaret entertainment. Now add-in musical artists who easily mix the known American Songbook standards with the less often heard to bring a...

In the Moment: A Chat with Director Aaron Posner and Scenic/Properties Designer Paige Hathaway at ‘Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead’ at the Folger Theatre

Walking into the Folger Theatre, I did a double-take. This clearly was going to be a different visual experience for Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead as directed by Aaron Posner....

In the Moment: Hylton Performance Center Presents Rosanne Cash on 6/26 and The Castleton Festival on 6/28

It’s never too early to begin thinking about summer entertainment plans, both venues and entertainment. Early this summer, the Hylton Center for the Performing Arts, entering its sixth season on...

In the Moment: ‘Anne & Emmett’ at MetroStage

Created and handsomely rendered with boundless love, heart and soul, the short-run Metro Stage/Race and Reconciliation in America (RARIA) production of Anne & Emmett was a production of grace and...

Audaciously Magical MOMIX Performing on the Center for the Arts Stage Tomorrow Night at 8 PM

“Optical confusion” is how choreographer Moses Pendleton describes the inventive, arresting illusions he has developed over the past decades for his renowned dance theater company, MOMIX. In a recent...

In the Moment: Meet the Encore Chorale

Ideas for this column can come from unexpected encounters. This column was sparked over a dinner with some good friends a few nights ago. Let’s call them Rayna and Ed. We were at the neighborhood...