News

DCMTA Spring 2020 Staff Favorites: Outstanding Community Theater Productions, Performances, and Design Elements

Normally we who cover theater for DC Theater Arts collect our favorites as the year draws to a close, but this has not been a normal year. In mid-March the 2020 season was interrupted by a pandemic...

Mosaic Theater welcomes Psalmayene 24 as playwright-in-residence

Mosaic Theater Company and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation have announced the illustrious recipient of their National Playwright Residency Program Grant—Veteran DC playwright, director, and Helen...

World’s largest celebration of Shakespeare to mark the Bard’s birthday

The Folger Shakespeare Library is partnering with the Royal Shakespeare Company and Shakespeare Birthplace Trust for the world’s largest celebration of Shakespeare—inviting audiences all over the...

When theaters reopen, will DMV audiences return? Survey says it’s iffy.

What follows is sobering news about the challenges ahead for the DMV theater community. We at DC Theater Arts share this information in a spirit of solidarity and with determination to do all we can...

Round House Theatre announces full 2020–2021 season

Round House Theatre Artistic Director Ryan Rilette and Managing Director Ed Zakreski recently announced the six shows that will constitute Round House Theatre’s 43rd season. All shows will be...

Arts Barn previews compelling 2020–2021 season

Arts On The Green, the organization that provides indispensable arts programming at a collection of venues on the beautiful Gaithersburg campus, has recently offered audiences a sneak peek at the...

Fade to black: Coronavirus closures force local theaters to rethink their futures

This article originally appeared in the April issue of District Fray Magazine. It is reprinted here with permission. The paint was still drying on the set of Signature Theatre’s world-premiere...

1st Stage announces dynamic 2020–2021 season

1st Stage, a vibrant professional company in Tysons, Virginia, recently announced their dynamic 2020-2021 season. This 13-year-old organization has grown from a grassroots collective of local artists...

DCMTA Spring 2020 Staff Favorites: Outstanding Design Elements in Professional Productions

Normally we who cover theater for DC Theater Arts collect our favorites as the year draws to a close, but this has not been a normal year. In mid-March, the 2020 season was interrupted by a pandemic...

Full schedule of Quarantine Fest live play readings

Quarantine Fest—an all-day marathon of live readings of flash-created 10-minute plays—livestreams Sunday, April 19, 2020, with 26 new plays from Adventure Theatre MTC and another 26 new plays from...

UrbanArias’ new chamber opera ‘Glory Denied’ now streaming for free

The critically acclaimed production of Glory Denied from UrbanArias will stream until April 16, 2020. The streaming is viewable for free here on Vimeo and on the Urban Arias website. Glory Denied is a...

DCMTA Spring 2020 Staff Favorites: Outstanding Performances in a Professional Production

Normally we who cover theater for DC Theater Arts collect our favorites as the year draws to a close, but this has not been a normal year. In mid-March the 2020 season was interrupted by a pandemic...

Julianne Brienza announces “with agony” this year’s Fringe Festival is off

By Julianne Brienza Founding Director, Captial Fringe When planning began for the fifteenth annual Fringe Festival, no one could have imagined a pandemic with such fast, global restrictive changes,...

Olney Theatre Center announces ambitious 2020–2021 season

During a recent live-streamed event, Olney Theatre Center Artistic Director Jason Loewith unveiled a lineup of 17 plays, concerts, and presentations coming in 2020–2021 as part of the company’s 83rd...

Flying V announces new full-time managing director

In the midst of these unprecedented and uncertain times, Flying V has some good news: the company has hired Katherine Offutt as its new full-time managing director. “We genuinely cannot express how...

The Kennedy Center and NSO reach new agreement in the face of COVID-19

After several days of collaborative discussions, Kennedy Center leadership and the musicians of the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) have reached a new agreement, a significant step in stabilizing...

Pipeline Playwrights to stream free plays in progress

Pipeline Playwrights, a Northern Virginia–based collective of women playwrights, presents its first set of online offerings, Playwrights at Work! starting on April 20, 2020. This brand new non-profit...

DCMTA Spring 2020 Staff Favorites: Outstanding Professional Theater Productions

Normally we who cover theater for DC Theater Arts collect our favorites as the year draws to a close, but this has not been a normal year. In mid-March, the 2020 season was interrupted by a pandemic...

20th annual WATCH Award winners

Announcement of Awards: 20th Annual Washington Area Theatre Community Honors (THE WATCH AWARDS) The 2019 WATCH Award winners were announced on April 4th, 2020. The ceremony was canceled due to the...

Contemporary American Theater Festival rescheduled to July 2021

For the past thirty years, the Contemporary American Theater Festival at Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, has produced and developed new plays in rotating repertory. DC Theater...

Signature Theatre’s ‘Easy Women Smoking Loose Cigarettes’ now available for streaming

Beginning Monday, March 30, 2020, Signature Theatre patrons will have the ability to watch the world premiere production of Easy Women Smoking Loose Cigarettes by DC playwright Dani Stoller from their...

Arena Stage temporarily furloughs a majority of its staff

Arena Stage announced on Saturday, March 28th that it will temporarily furlough the majority of its staff starting on April 13th. 88 employees will be furloughed at that time. Furloughed employees...

Olney Theatre Center makes ‘The Amateurs’ available online for one week, offers other online content

Olney Theatre Center’s production of The Amateurs by Jordan Harrison and directed by Jason King Jones will be available to stream online beginning Saturday, March 28 at noon through the end of Sunday,...

Financial help for theaters and individuals to offset COVID-19 losses

During these difficult, uncertain times of the COVID-19 pandemic, we at DCMTA want to inform the theater community about financial relief that becomes available to nonprofits and individuals in the...

4615 Theatre Company launches first livestream performance tonight

Surprise! 4615 Theatre Company is thrilled to announce its first piece of #quarantinetheatre: a live online reading of This Vessel Is A Fragile Thing, by DC-based playwright Britt A Willis. An...

COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund established for Washington theater community

As the world reels from the COVID-19 global pandemic, the Washington theater community— both institutions and individuals — alongside other entertainment and freelance industries, face financial...

Contemporary American Theater Festival hosts season announcement online

Shepherdstown, WV: For the past decade, the Contemporary American Theater Festival at Shepherd University has hosted a Shepherdstown Sneak Peek. Originally scheduled to be held at the Marinoff Theater...

Solas Nua celebrates 15th anniversary season with ‘Cyber Craic’

Washington might be stuck at home this St. Patrick’s Day but that’s not stopping Solas Nua from celebrating the best of Irish culture. Over the next two weeks, the DC Irish arts group will be posting...

Kennedy Center Education Artist-in-Residence Mo Willems to host ‘Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems’

(WASHINGTON)— The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts’ first-ever Education Artist-in-Residence, Emmy Award®–winning writer and New York Times best-selling author and illustrator Mo...

1st Stage announces thirteenth season

1st Stage Tysons has announced its thirteenth season, opening in September 2020. September 10 – October 11, 2020 Mlima’s Tale by Lynn Nottage directed by José Carrasquillo Pulitzer Prize Winner and...

An open letter to the DMV theater community

As passionate theater lovers and as members of the DC Theater Arts leadership team, we applaud the DMV theaters that have announced closure or postponement of current and upcoming productions. We can...

Multidisciplinary arts platform Indicoe relaunches as Alveo Creative

Online arts platform Indicoe recently rebranded and relaunched itself under the name Alveo Creative. As Alveo Creative, the company will continue to promote collaboration and support for artists, but...

New theater company in Takoma Park announces inaugural season and open auditions

There’s a new theater in town. Encore Theater Company, a new nonprofit theater based in the Takoma Park community, has announced its inaugural season. The 2020/21 season will feature two intimate,...

Arena Stage announces 2020-21 season

Arena Stage Artistic Director Molly Smith and Executive Producer Edgar Dobie have announced the theater’s ten-show 2020/21 Season. This season, more than half of the playwrights and directors are...

DC theater community mourns passing of Victor Shargai

Update: February 13, 2020: The Washington theatre community remains in mourning over the loss of Victor Shargai, long-time theatreWashington board chair, theater lover, and philanthropist, who passed...

Monumental Theatre Company Presents Regional Premiere of ‘Head Over Heels’

Head Over Heels, a jukebox musical comedy featuring music by The Go-Go’s, will launch its first D.C. metro area production opening Monumental Theater Company’s 2020 season. With a book by James...

All the world’s on stage as Shakespeare Theatre Company announces 35th anniversary season

Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Artistic Director Simon Godwin announced the Company’s 2020/21 Season to a gathering of dedicated theatergoers at the Michael R. Klein Theatre at the Lansburgh on...

2020 Helen Hayes nominations are announced

At a February 3, 2020 celebration honoring theatre excellence on stages across the Washington area, theatre artists, administrators, patrons, and special guests gathered in the National Theatre’s...

Washington Theatre to honor Victor Shargai with a region-wide dedication on February 14

The following news was released today by theatreWashington: The Washington theater community remains in mourning over the loss of Victor Shargai, long-time theatreWashington board chair, theater...

Theater and Policy Salon discusses Attainment, Fulfillment, and Resilience following January 30 performance of ‘Pipeline’ at Studio Theatre

Next Thursday, January 30, please join Theater and Policy Salon for a discussion on Attainment, Fulfillment, and Resilience at Studio Theatre following the 8 pm show of Pipeline. The panel discussion...

StateraArts Launches DC Area Mentorship Chapter for Womxn+ in the Arts

Female, female-identifying, GNC, and Trans theater artists in the Washington, DC area will soon have a new opportunity for career mentorship. Statera Mentorship recognizes that women, gender...

2019 WATCH Award Nominations

In a ceremony at the Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia, the WATCH Award committee announced the 2019 WATCH Award nominees. 101 productions (40 musicals, 61 plays) were adjudicated in 2019. The...

‘1001 Black Inventions’ continues The Essential Theatre’s free presentations for young audiences

The Essential Theatre rings in the New Year by continuing an 18-month celebration of the 30th anniversary of its founding. In partnership with the District of Columbia Public Library System the...

A Taste for Murder Productions presents ‘Murder at McGinty’s’

What does the New Year bring to downtown Silver Spring? Murder at McGinty’s! A Taste For Murder Productions and McGinty’s Public House have formed a partnership to present dinner theatre – of the...

Folger Theatre setting up summer shop at National Building Museum

The National Building Museum announced its partnership with Folger Shakespeare Library, in association with the University of South Carolina, to design the 2020 Summer Block Party exhibition for the...

American Shakespeare Center announces principal casting for Marquee Repertory season

American Shakespeare Center launches the 2020 Marquee Repertory season this summer navigating the waters of Venice, the glittering locale of Shakespeare’s Othello and The Merchant of Venice and Ben...

Comedy game show ‘The Internet: LIVE!!1’ to play two nights at a sports bar

The Arcanists in co-production with Science Art Fusion (ScienceAF) announce the launch of The Internet: LIVE!!1, an inventive new live comedy game show. In it, player-performers bring web content to...

Studio Theatre names Reginald L. Douglas Associate Artistic Director

Studio Theatre and Artistic Director David Muse are pleased to announce that Reginald L. Douglas will join the organization as its new Associate Artistic Director later this month. Douglas comes to...

DCMTA 2019 Staff Favorites: Outstanding Design Elements in Professional Productions

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 2019. In this category, outstanding professional design, we recognize:...

DCMTA 2019 Staff Favorites: Outstanding Performance in a Professional Production

As the year draws to a close, we asked DCMTA writers to think back on the performances that left an indelible impression on them in 2019. Here are the professional performances that made the biggest...