Opinion

Two women dress down ‘Five Women Wearing the Same Dress’

The comedy now running at Dominion Stage gets a critical look by its director and a cast member.

It’s time to say ‘No shot, no show,’ by Stephen Beaudoin

The executive director of The Washington Chorus calls on DC Metro performing arts organizations to make a vaccination policy rooted in respect.

The reopening long shot

It’s been quite the terrifying year for us connected to the performing arts. An absolute scary time that began in mid-March 2020 as theaters went dark, lit only by their ghost lights. And now it seems...

On toxic artistic leadership (part three): Manifesto for theater ethics

Back in the 1980s, the Harvard University Business School dismissed offers to create a curriculum in ethics—free of charge, if I remember correctly; an alumnus even offered to pay for it. The Business...

On toxic artistic leadership (part two): Training actors to be abused

The departure of Ethan McSweeny from the American Shakespeare Center was only one among many over the past year. Taken as a whole, the protests and departures/firings raise issues that all of us must...

On toxic artistic leadership (part one): When workers unite in protest

News of Ethan McSweeny’s departure as artistic director of the American Shakespeare Center has prompted a variety of responses—and the mainstream theater critics seem divided on how to handle it. A...

The year that COVID canceled live theater and a revolution came to life

Theater history will long remember that 2020 was the year that COVID canceled live performance. It canceled lots else, of course, including, tragically, hundreds of thousands of lifetimes. But it is...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

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,...

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...

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...

A void in live protest theater is a silenced cry of pandemic proportions

Once again, anti-Black violence strikes at the heart and soul of America. We are shocked and saddened to watch an unarmed, handcuffed Black man struggle to breathe as he lies helpless on the ground....

Gwydion Suilebhan: “Now is the time for artists to ask The Deep Why”

By Gwydion Suilebhan In 1960, a Turkish immigrant named Erol Onaran arrived in the United States with a whopping $32 in his pocket and a fair bit of skill as a television repair person. Erol was a man...

What’s the future of live theater beyond COVID-19?: A point-counterpoint between Audrey Cefaly and Elliott Bales

What follows is an extraordinary conversation. It started as a Facebook post by award-winning playwright Audrey Cefaly. It was joined by her dear friend, acclaimed actor Elliott Bales, who doubles as...

Molly Smith: “Our job as artists is to remind our fellow human beings that better days are coming”

“In the dark times Will there also be singing? Yes, there will also be singing. About the dark times.” —Bertolt Brecht (motto to Svendborg Poems) When I saw the blooming cherry blossoms this year, I...

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...

‘White Pearl’ and the Toxicity of Whiteness

“I love white,” began the commercial. “White is clean. White is pure. White is beautiful.” I stared at my laptop disgusted by the blatant discrimination in the ad as I watched a light-skinned Asian...

‘Hamilton’ is Encouragement for True Inclusion in Theater

Hamilton: An American Musical is whatever kind of success you want to call it for its time. Artists, audiences, and critics observed it as groundbreaking in its music composition, choreography, and...

How I Became A Jewish Mother of Fascism (Show Preview)

by Emily Canavan Opinion Since the 2016 election, I am sure you have noticed the term Fascist is being dusted off and nervously applied to our current president. I have banged my head against...