Interviews and Features

How the Kennedy Center is keeping live performance alive (cautiously)

Update November 18, 2020: COVID cancelations to cost Kennedy Center over $80 million Scheduled performances through April 25 are off; Broadway musical tours are postponed; Kennedy Center Honors are...

Felicia Curry and Adam Immerwahr to co-teach Black and Jewish plays at Theater J

In these tumultuous times, theatermakers and theatergoers have been working to share a long-time common goal: to reflect upon and engage with the human condition. In a noble effort to continue this...

Next Ice Age dancers carve out haunting moves

Looking for something really cool to do this Halloween weekend? Check out The Next Ice Age (NIA), an amazing ice dancing troupe that will provide both tricks and treats. The company performs its...

Theater will have to be less racist to survive: A Q&A with Soyica Colbert

Although Shakespeare Theatre Company’s acclaimed The Amen Corner had to shut down in March before its run was done, the production proved fortuitous for STC’s future: It brought Director Whitney White...

E. Faye Butler speaks out on playing Fannie Lou Hamer right now

“Nobody’s free until everybody’s free.” —Fannie Lou Hamer Anyone who has ever seen E. Faye Butler perform knows that they are witnessing something truly extraordinary. A two-time Helen Hayes Award...

Why Bob Bartlett is putting on his new play in his own backyard

It was a few weeks ago; an unexpected FB post from playwright Bob Bartlett caught my attention. He was posting a teaser about his newest work, which was in an early development stage. He titled it...

Artists Who Inspire! #6: Kathleen Akerley

Welcome to the sixth installment of Artists Who Inspire! During the continuing shutdown of live theater, DCMTA will use this space to lift up local theater artists who are finding ways to remain...

Lights to go on again at GALA Hispanic Theatre with classic Spanish comedy

Now in its 45th season, GALA Hispanic Theatre has always been cutting edge. From its founding in 1976, GALA (Grupo de Artistas LatinoAmericanos) has been sharing and producing Latino arts and culture...

I have never been comfortable in theater, by Artemis Montague

I have never been comfortable in theater. Not safe. Not “safer.” Just completely unwelcomed. We are in a global pandemic. There is movement building on the ground and online that no one in the United...

A preshow chat with Felicia Curry and Naomi Jacobson, cohosts of the Helen Hayes Awards

Screens will be lighting up all over Metro DC as theater lovers, supporters, and luminaries gather online for the 2020 Helen Hayes Awards Friday, September 25. The red carpet unrolls at 6 pm sharp...

Reginald Douglas and David Muse on how Studio Theatre is “doing the work”

The ground feels as if American theater might actually be shifting in the direction of change for Blacks, Indigenous people, and People of Color. Here in the DMV, Studio Theatre is grappling with what...

Can laughter be lethal?: Dr. Linsey Marr on aerosol transmission of COVID

I first learned of Dr. Linsey Marr when I read a startling opinion piece that appeared in the New York Times July 30: As “a civil and environmental engineer who studies how viruses and bacteria spread...

The future of opera in the time of pandemic: A Q&A with Adam Turner

I spoke with Adam Turner, Artistic Director of the Virginia Opera, on Tuesday, September 15, about how a regional opera company weathers COVID and the shutdown of most live performance. Virginia Opera...

Remembering Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, by Edward Gero

“And though she be but little, she is fierce.” ~W. Shakespeare She was a giant. Borrowing from what was said at Lincoln’s passing, “Now, [s]he belongs to the ages.” Along with her victories for women...

“What this March means to me at this moment in America”: Now with all videos

Studio Theatre commissioned seven Black artists who have appeared on its stages to create artistic responses to their experience at the Commitment March on Washington, August 28, 2020. In these...

Arena Stage docudrama makes case for making DC ‘The 51st State’

In our current political and cultural stressful times, how can theater make a difference, not just to those who are in-person patrons but to a wider community in the DMV and into American hinterlands?...

A tribute to Brave Spirits as it calls off Shakespeare’s histories due to COVID

There are certain theater experiences that you look forward to with extraordinary excitement. Brave Spirits Theatre’s Shakespeare’s Histories 2020 was one of them. To their credit, Brave Spirits,...

Anti-racist theater and the #WeSeeYou movement: A Q&A with Nicole Brewer

I had the chance to attend Nicole Brewer’s Anti-Racist Theatre workshop at the National Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, last year, and it was an eyeopener. So when I thought...

Why I am an activist artist, by JChris

As a Latino gay millennial singer-songwriter, I believe I can make a difference. I’m here because I can become one of the reasons why things get better. We will fight and we won’t stop. The powers...

Get out the vote. Share this vid.

Elections have consequences. Some elections more than others. With voting participation trending downward over the years, what can be done to awaken folk to the critical importance of voting? What can...

First live local theater since COVID is a new-normal ‘Next to Normal’

By Steve Quintilian and Julie Lloyd, Encore Theater Company Co-founders As artistic directors and theater managers all over the DMV wrestle with how and when to stage live theater indoors, the...

The power of a pause, by Patrick W. Lord

Lights out. Beat. Beat. When the lights go and I’m plunged into darkness, sitting in a theater, my heart always skips a beat, because I know that moment of pause exists to move me—either into the...

A course at Theater J for theater lovers looks ahead to post-COVID change

Change is coming. As the DMV theater community is reeling and reckoning with the effects of the coming post-COVID-19 world and as artists of color are speaking their minds freely, what awaits? What...

Ignorance of the Black theatrical canon is no excuse, by Courtney Baker-Oliver and Steven A. Butler, Jr.

The authors of the following two op-eds are cofounders of DC’s acclaimed Restoration Stage, Inc., whose focus is “restoring the Black family—one story at a time.” Collaborating as director (Courtney...

Can white arts leaders become anti-racist “accomplices”?

Recently, during an interview with Nicole Brewer, founder of Anti-Racist Theatre, I learned about the Arts Administrators of Color Network’s Accomplices Leadership Institute (ALI). As a member of...

Playwright Ian August zeros in on ‘Zero,’ from Spooky Action

Interview by Roberta Alves Spooky Action Theater’s New Works in Action play-reading series continues Sunday, August 16, with Ian August’s Zero, a dark comedy about three miscreant teens—Nil, Julia,...

Theater and the risk of breath, by Kari Ginsburg

There is a moment in theater that I live for. I’m onstage, responding truthfully in the moment as if for the first time, embodying my skin as another person and existing in a brilliant...

A quick guide to going live online

By Violet Brookes The term “new normal” gets thrown around a lot nowadays. And indeed, things are going to be vastly different due to the effects of the global pandemic. Since mid-March, conversations...

Camp Arena Stage—DC’s longest-running daycamp for the arts—goes online

When COVID-19 first struck last winter, most of us in the theater world—audiences as well as those on or off stage—thought the crisis would end in a couple of weeks. No such luck. Theaters, along with...

For BIPOC women in theater who have had enuf: A roundtable on resistance

By Thembi Duncan DC Theater Arts has committed to offer our communications channel to help amplify the BIPOC voices (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) that are now pointing the path to American...

How Only Make Believe brings theater to kids in hospitals even during COVID

In these days of medically necessary masks and prudent social distancing, let us not forget children in hospitals and care facilities living with chronic illnesses and disabilities unrelated to...

Wolf Trap to stream a summer’s worth of gems from its archives

Wolf Trap’s Filene Center may be quieter than usual this summer of 2020, but it is far from dark. While there are no live performances in an abundance of caution because of COVID-19, Wolf Trap has...

Ricky Drummond opens up about love, death, and ‘Desiderium,’ his new musical from Monumental

On Monday, July 20, 2020, Monumental Theatre Company will present an online reading of a new musical, Desiderium, written by Ricky Drummond and featuring music by The Oh Hellos. Because of the...

The #WeSeeYou White American Theatre movement is ready to end a battle it didn’t start

Boots are on the ground. Battle lines are drawn. A collaborative network of more than 300 BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) theatermakers are in garrisons and trenches across the nation,...

Dark Horse Theatre to stream new comedy about amateur ghost hunters

As health and safety concerns continue to make live theater productions with a live audience dicey at best, the DMV’s Dark Horse Theatre decided to find its own way to produce new content and deliver...

How the Signature board behaved badly, from a patron’s POV

By Dalissa Vargas As a lifelong live theater fan and a woman of Puerto Rican descent, I have spent the better portion of my adult life as an avid theatergoer wherever I have lived. On any given week I...

In ‘Hamilton,’ Angelica Schuyler’s husband is called ‘not a lot of fun.’ Here’s his real story.

By Daryl Austin The hip-hop musical Hamilton is being released on Disney+ on Friday (July 3)—a full 15 months ahead of schedule—so you can watch the drama and all of its love stories and scandals...

What ‘Into the Woods’ can teach us about surviving COVID-19

Broadway has been dark since March 12 due to the coronavirus pandemic, the longest shutdown in its history. With theaters shuttered from Broadway to the Beltway, musical theater fans have an...

Why a whisper network turned into a tornado at Flying V

On Monday evening, June 22, 2020, the Board of Flying V Theatre Company terminated Cofounder and Artistic Director Jason Schlafstein following a weekend of sexual misconduct and harassment allegations...

Hot button issues for Black theater: A roundtable on revolution

Juneteenth 2020, Washington, DC—In response to the historic Black Lives Matter movement, DC Theater Arts has committed to offer our communications channel to help amplify the BIPOC voices (Black,...

Playwright Jack Novak probes life’s phases in ‘Transferal,’ online from Spooky Action Theater

Interview by Roberta Alves Spooky Action Theater’s livestreamed New Works in Action play-reading series concludes Sunday, June 21, at 3 pm with Transferal by Jack Novak. Directed by Bridget Grace...

A war-wounded woman meets myth in ‘Circular’ by Laura Shamas, livestreaming from Spooky Action Theater

Interview by Roberta Alves Spooky Action Theater’s livestreamed New Works in Action play-reading series continues Sunday, June 14, at 3 pm with Circular by Laura Shamas. Her heritage includes...

Remembering the power of live theater: My night of rapture under a ‘Silent Sky’

By Christopher Lancette I sit down at Ford’s Theatre a few months ago—back when there was no coronavirus and the world was normal—to watch a play. I have never been much of a theater guy. Not because...

Theatermakers of color call white theater to account for systemic racism

The cultural momentum powering protests that followed the May 25 murder of George Floyd has galvanized a national and local movement for transformational change in American theater led by Black,...

A challenge to theaters to reopen now—outdoors

When are the Small Box theater companies going to throw off the straightjacket of conventional space-bound theater and explore alternative venues? Black Lives Matter Plaza was created overnight with a...

How does ‘Homebound’ happen? A peek behind the screens

There has been oodles of well-deserved praise for Round House Theatre’s homegrown Homebound, an original ten-installment web series exploring life under stay-at-home orders. Penned by some of the DC...

Playwright Matthew Kelly on queering power in ‘We Victorians,’ online Sunday from Spooky Action Theater

Interview by Roberta Alves Spooky Action Theater’s New Works in Action play-reading series continues livestreaming Sunday, May 31, at 3 pm with We Victorians by out queer playwright Matthew Kelly. In...

The vision and resurrection of Studio Acting Conservatory

When Joy Zinoman—the doyenne of DC theater and founder of Studio Acting Conservatory—describes the training center’s new home as a “sacred place,” she’s not exaggerating. “Theater is my religion,” she...

National Memorial Day Concert preview

Every Memorial Day PBS throws a beautiful show to honor our military who gave the ultimate sacrifice. This year is no different, despite its not being live in front of a patriotic audience in front of...

Washington Performing Arts does pandemic planning with patron feedback

Better days may be coming. Some restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic may be easing. But there is not yet a definitive date when DMV performing arts venues might reopen across three different...