Reviews

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Aliens, Nazis and Angels’

Leah Harris has been through a lot of crap. Coping mechanisms for healing an emotionally havocked childhood are hard to come by, but when extraterrestrials, WWII German Soldiers, and Gabriel himself...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Becoming’

Strength is the first word that comes to mind as the lights come up at the beginning of fusiondance’s production of BECOMING. The dancers are all women, and their strength is particularly refreshing...

Review: ‘The Lady With the Little Dog’ at Quotidian Theatre Company

Stephanie Mumford’s adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s short story, The Lady With the Little Dog—now at the Quotidian Theatre Company—is a stunning tribute to the literary classic and as faithful to its...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Better A Witty Fool’

This short political farce by Louis James Brenner is reminiscent of the comedy of SNL with the irreverence of South Park. Better A Witty Fool is a timely comedy reflecting the present presidential...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘The Apocalypse of Darkness’

The Hashish Eater, the dark, lovecraftian epic poem by Clark A. Smith upon which The Apocalypse of Darkness is based, is a beautiful and terrifying piece. It is vivid and it forces itself into a...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Too Close’

What better setting for black-box theater than a figurative black box — a stalled elevator — with two discordant strangers trapped inside? Luigi Laraia’s Too Close is definitely too close for comfort....

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Amelia Earhart in Space’

As you can probably guess, writer John-Nicholas Walsh’s new play, now running in the upstairs performance space at Logan Fringe Arts Center, is about, well, the adventures of aviatrix Amelia Earhart....

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘The Importance of Normal’

Walking into Atlas’s Sprenger Theatre before the Naked Stark’s The Importance of Normal is a surreal experience. The off kilter bare wood set, with slanting platforms and chairs set up not quite...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Reflecting Antigone’

On my way to see Reflecting Antigone performed by The Rude Mechanicals, I got stuck in a traffic jam caused by a Black Lives Matter protest. I could not have known then, how fitting a circumstance...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Oral Histories’

So, Oral Histories, written and directed by Ward Kay, turns out to be three oral histories about, um, seminal moments in oral sex in three people’s lives. A helpful postcard gives credit where it is...

Review: ‘Redder Blood’ at The Hub Theatre

Brimming with the naturalness of a contemporary family trying to withstand many a stressor, Redder Blood at The Hub Theatre, is an exceptionally rare tale to witness. Written by local playwright Helen...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Do Not Disturb’

Anyone looking for a respite from this summer’s sultry heat need look no further than the stage at the Atlas Performing Arts Center, where Do Not Disturb—a cross between comic opera and bedroom...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Poe, Times Two’

Poe, Times Two directed by DeLisa M. White and expertly written, adapted and acted by Playwright Greg Oliver Bodine, is a haunting double-dose of one-man plays based on two classic tales of horror by...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Cracked’

The director’s program note for Cracked (now playing upstairs at the Logan Fringe Arts Center) says that the play “asks what does it take to be a man?”, and this is the most cogent summary of the...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘A Romp Around Uranus with Special Agent Galactica’

A pink haired special agent singing covers of Jefferson Airplane, Beyoncé, and Four Non Blondes aboard her spaceship in the midst of intergalactic civil war. I can’t make this up. This is the premise...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Normal/Magic’

Normal/Magic is a diptych of two magical realism style stories, “Magic for Beginners”, written by Natalie Piegari and directed by Sam Mauceri and “Normal Sea,” where Sam Mauceri slides over to the...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Over Her Dead Body’

“All you fair and tender ladies – beware of how you court your men.” Returning Fringe-favorites Pinky Swear Productions have a lot to live up to at this year’s festival. After debuting at Fringe in...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘The Missing Peace’

It is rare that I start out a review with my closing assessment of a piece, but in this case, I will, assuming that word-of-mouth will quite rightly start spreading about this one and make tickets...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Love in Ruins’

Love in Ruins is the third Capital Fringe show written by playwright Paul Handy. Handy’s Cry for the Gods and and Carry a Big Stick appeared at the festival in 2011 and 2013 respectively. Handy would...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Concrete Devotion’

Fringe performances tend to fall into one of the following categories: shows that make you cringe, shows that make you feel, or shows that make you think. Concrete Devotion, from well-established...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Medieval Story Man’

In an ambitious undertaking by Red Knight Productions, Medieval Story Man takes you on a quest with elf-boy Todd and his rag-tag group of companions to save Medieval Story Land from the Dark Wizards...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘How To Be The Perfect Wingwoman: A New Musical’

Something joyously funny is happening at Tropicalia Lounge. How To Be The Perfect Wingwoman: A New Musical, produced by Golden Ginger Productions, is a romantic musical comedy with a fresh take on...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘And 1! a dansical parody

Usually, when someone can’t keep up in a dance, it’s seen as an error. In the ArasDance-produced performance, And 1! a dansical parody, the routines aren’t perfect, and that’s the point. In one...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘One Mutual Happiness’

As someone who has been crazy enough to produce new work (twice!) in a fringe festival (The New York International Fringe Festival), the amazing thing about these types of events is that they allow...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘H5x7’

Did you miss the Henriad this past spring at BAM? Or the Hollow Crown? Do you find Shakespeare inaccessible? Barabbas Theatre can help. Taking a cue from the play’s Chorus, urging the audience to...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Saudade; the one where I miss you’

‘Saudade; the one where I miss you‘ is a heartwarming play that deals with not only personal loss, but complex family relationships. It underscores the need for family ties and the bonds we feel to...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Coping’

Sometimes real life throws you tricky situations, your emotions kick in, and you don’t respond ideally. You can’t just rewind, take a breath, and start over. Unless you are Sarah and you are trapped...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘soft animal. hideous heart’

Motherhood is a difficult, complicated reality, whether it is as a new mother or comprehending your own mother. It is a special, and inexplicable relationship. Robin Neveu Brown and Kevin Alan Brown...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Confederates’

In Confederates, a new play by James F. Burns, Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson is a prescient military tactician who sees a clear path to Southern victory the day after the first Battle of Bull Run. It is...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Fractals’

As the dancers in Fractals glide, dip, and jump around the stage in the Elstad auditorium, they create a superb example of how entertaining dance for the sake of dance can be. Fractals is...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘An Indian Comedian: How Not To Fit In’

Comedy Hour at the Argonaut was nearly cut short, due to a block-long power outage. Folks lined up early on H Street, awaiting Krish Mohan and his FRINGE presentation when staffers invited guests to...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: “POWER!” Stokely Carmichael

I wish that recent events had not made this powerful theater experience so necessary. I wish that Capital Fringe would have come along again and this production would have warranted theatergoers’...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Waiting for Godot’

Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot is a play that has both fascinated and confused audiences since the play first premiered in 1953. A production of the first act of Godot, directed by H. Bruce Funk,...

Film Review: ‘Zero Days’

Zero Days begins with a mystery. In 2010, an anti-virus expert from Belarus was tapped to help clients figure out what was going on with virus that had shown up on their networks with alarming speed....

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Ready to Serve’

Ready to Serve is an engrossing monologue which captures its audience with the oft-neglected story of World War I army nurses. The show is the creation of Spoken Word Artist and veteran storyteller...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘In a Nutshell’

If you’re intrigued by In a Nutshell because you read the promo and you like your play-watching sprinkled with meta, this adroitly selected, astutely seasoned (by Director, Producer and “conceiver”...

Gershwin’s ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ With the National Symphony Orchestra with Pianist Yuja Wang, Conducted by Lionel Bringuier at Wolf Trap

It was a stifling hot, totally sticky humid July evening in the DC area. Cooling breezes under the glowing wooden open structure that is Wolf Trap’s Filene Center at first were few and far between...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘The Computer That Loved’

In his enigmatic but slight one-man show, entitled The Computer That Loved, written and performed by Erik Mueller (as part of the exciting Fringe Festival) a real-life story is presented in a...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Perception’

Helen Keller’s story has fascinated and inspired for years. People are intrigued by the woman that overcame her loss of the two most prominent human senses. In Perception, presented by MoCo Dance...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Barry Beaver’s Adventures in Happy Valley’

Sometimes, what you think you don’t want, is exactly what you need. And sometimes, comfort and joy are found in the unlikeliest of places. After a week which sent shockwaves through the country and...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Am I There Yet?’

Glade Dance Collective presented a beautiful and moving production, Am There I Yet?, at the Elstad Auditorium at Gallaudet University. The piece is described as “an exploration of #adulting in the...

Review: ‘Born for This: The BeBe Winans Story’ at Arena Stage

Family can be boon or bane for most of us. BeBe Winans’ bio musical, Born for This, raises common themes about family to extraordinary heights as it joyfully praises the power of kinship and the...

‘2016 Summer One-Act Bonanza’ at Old Academy Players in Philadelphia

If there’s one thing the Old Academy Players are known for, it’s traditions. The venerable troupe was founded in 1923, and has been performing for most of its existence in a building completed in...

Review: ‘Rent’ at Rockville Musical Theatre

Jonathan Larson’s sudden death the night before Rent’s off-Broadway premiere is one of theater’s most heart-breaking events. Larson never got to see his only show move to Broadway, win the 1996 Tony...

Review: ‘Charlotte’s Web’ at Laurel Mill Playhouse

Charlotte’s Web spins a charming tale at Laurel Mill Playhouse. This wonderful piece of Children’s Theatre was adapted by Joseph Robinette from E. B. White’s delightful children’s book and is directed...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Dark Times at Grimesville High’

Sex, drugs, and… rap! Prepare to sulk in a heavy dose of it at all at Gallaudet U’s Elstad Auditorium. Written by Conor Kyle, Dark Times at Grimesville High is an attempt to flush out the truthful...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Cake!’

Cake! Directed by Corin Andrade and created by burlesque impresario Ché Monique asks a profound, yet comical question: What happens when a 300 pound woman jumps out of an eight-foot birthday cake...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ’75 Lezbos, 2 Trannies, 1 Pannie, Me & Me Too!’

“The existential loss of adult everything.” A succinct, comprehensive phrase that encapsulates the purpose, prose, and poetics of “75 Lezbos, 2 Trannies, 1 Pannie, Me & Me Too!”, a one-woman monologue...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘As It Were and/or What(ever) Doesn’t Matter’

I went on a strange journey in the upstairs theater of the Logan Fringe Arts Space, where As It Were and/or What(ever) Doesn’t Matter, written and directed by Stephen Notes, was being presented. As I...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Crazy in America’

Ron Litman, accompanied by Tom Pile, has become renowned for his raving style of comedy at the Fringe with shows such as his 2014 hit Waiting for Armageddon. His current show, Crazy in America,...