DC

Review: ‘The Happiest Place on Earth’ at The Hub Theatre

Set in a fictionalized American magical kingdom, The Happiest Place on Earth, now playing at Hub Theatre, is a wonderfully bittersweet family saga that actor Tia Shearer crushes in her solo...

2017 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Ghouls’

There is a moment in Sean Surla’s one-woman piece, Ghouls, where Emel Haddad – Surla’s stand-in for herself, and an extraordinarily generous actress – describes driving to the top of Pike’s Peak with...

2017 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Hexagon 2017: Let Freedom Zing’

Described as “D.C.’s only all-original political satirical musical comedy troupe,” Hexagon gives a musical zing to the political madness of the past year. Now in its 62nd year, Hexagon brings its...

2017 Capital Fringe Review: ‘The Words She Gave Me’

The Words She Gave Me, Solia Bickersteth’s ambitious multimedia project, is a bighearted and moving exploration of how African-American women have shaped one another’s concept of womanhood. Sisterhood...

2017 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Life, Death & Everything In-Between’

Large swatches of fabric move time forward or weave through space. The bold colors catch the eye. Confrontational dialogue sets characters in opposition while bodies remain static or surge forward...

2017 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Caveat’

Caveat (written and directed by Ben Lockshin and playing at Gallaudet University’s Eastman Studio Theater) is a “One’s-a” show, where each character is an idea of a person more than an actual person....

2017 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Four Broke Guys: LIVE!’

Four Broke Guys: LIVE! is classified as a comedy, but don’t expect mere fluff or pratfalls from this one-man show. Actor and playwright J. Shawn Durham’s sequence of four monologues from four separate...

2017 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Quantum Suicide: A Talk by Professor Sophie Miller’

You don’t have to understand quantum mechanics – or even elementary physics – to follow Quantum Suicide: A Talk by Professor Sophie Miller, the one woman show now enjoying its first Fringe production...

2017 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Morningstar’

Morningstar is a small chamber drama playing in the basement of Shopkeeper’s on Florida Ave, (a venue whose old wooden floors add quite a bit of natural folly to the performance, some useful, though...

2017 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Wit & Wrath: The Life and Times of Dorothy Parker’

Dorothy Parker claimed, famously, that she was “just a little Jewish girl, trying to be cute.” In fact, she was a legendary wit; the first female drama critic in America; and a successful writer of...

2017 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Thomas Jefferson Hoochie-Coochie Man’

With a breezy “Hi, y’all!” Clyde Ensslin welcomes us to the complicated story of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, as told by none other than Big Bill Clinton himself. It’s a chance to relax, enjoy,...

2017 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Poetry Cabaret’

This isn’t your normal poetry reading. Those words, spoken by Creator and Director Caleb Beissert as he introduced the Asheville-based Poetry Cabaret Collective, could serve as the tagline for the...

Capital Fringe Preview: Mike Bartlett’s ‘Contractions’ by Julia M. Hurley

Mike Bartlett’s Contractions, directed by Julia M. Hurley, comes to DC this summer and will be performed at the Logan Fringe Arts Space. This production is presented as a part of the 2017 Capital...

DC Theatre Scene and DCMetroTheaterArts’ Joint Capital Fringe Coverage Begins Tonight

The two media companies combine writing strength to review 70 openings in 6 days The editors and publishers of DC’s two major theater websites—DC Theatre Scene and DCMetroTheaterArts—today announced...

Capital Fringe Preview: ‘J-Swizzle’s (and D-Man’s) Epic Awesome Swaggy Broventure for Sweet Rhymes’ by Emma Choi

Between Hebrew classes and surviving middle school, best friends Jared “J-Swizzle” and Daniel “D-Man” dream of becoming the biggest rap stars in the universe. It will take a magical quest that...

Review: PBS Presents ‘A Capitol Fourth’

Every year PBS puts on a spectacular show with A Capitol Fourth and has the most talented people involved performing and behind the scenes. This year features The Blues Brothers with Dan Aykroyd, Jim...

Magic Time!: Report on a Staged Reading of ‘Olityelwe (The Forgotten)’ at Theater J

When Jonathan David Martin came from New York to DC to be Theater J’s new associate producer in March of last year, he brought with him a backstory as co-artistic director and producer of the Smoke &...

Capital Fringe Preview: ‘HOWL’ in the Time of Trump’ at Sanctuary Theatre’s Performing Knowledge Project

I am not a specialist. I’ve never wanted to be a specialist. In fact, I’ve always wanted to be a non-specialist: someone who encounters life across many disciplines and many loves. As a result, I am a...

In the Moment: Report on ‘Declassified’ at The Kennedy Center

A hearty bro-hug to The Kennedy Center and to the National Symphony Orchestra’s (NSO) new Artistic Advisor, Ben Folds, for having the joint jumping at the recent late night Declassified event. It was...

Capital Fringe Preview: ‘I’m Margaret Thatcher, I Is!’ at AnyStage Theater

AnyStage Theater presents I’m Margaret Thatcher, I Is! After premiering their sci-fi comedy Amelia Earhart In Space at last year’s Capital Fringe Festival, AnyStage is thrilled to bring their latest...

Capital Fringe Preview: ‘ClickB@it’ at Naked Theatre Company by Rachael Murray

NTC goes viral. What happens next will Blow. Your. Mind. We’re baa-aack! Naked Theatre Company returns to the Capital Fringe Festival with a world premiere production, ClickB@it. Inspired by The...

Capital Fringe Preview: ‘Lancer & Lace’ by James F. Bruns

First of all, I don’t remember where I was on November 22, 1963 at 12:40 pm, CST when CBS News interrupted, As the World Turns to announce “In Dallas, Texas, three shots were fired at President...

Capital Fringe Preview: ‘The Kind of Thing That Would Happen’ by Agora Dance

Choreographed by Olivia Sabee with original sound design by DeLesslin George-Warren. Performed by Hannah Joo, Melissa Lineburg, Catherine Roth, Robert Rubama, and Meredith Stapleton. In a post-truth...

Capital Fringe Preview: ‘ECHOES’ by N. Richard Nash by Manoel Amado

A young man and woman build a low-keyed paradise of happiness within an asylum, only to have it shattered by the intrusion of the outside world. The two characters search, at times agonizingly, to...

Capital Fringe Preview: ‘Paper’ by John Feffer

A teacher and a student argue over a remark in class. Or was it a remark about class? Or was it really about race? Or gender? My new play Paper brings the explosive confrontations on campus around...

Capital Fringe Preview: ‘Lazarus’ by Evan Crump

“I sell life, secondhand”: Unstrung Harpist Productions’ Lazarus at the 2017 Capital Fringe Festival What does immortality mean to you? Is it the hope that modern medicine will discover cures for the...

In the Moment: Interview with Theatrical Designer Deb Sivigny Part II

Continuing the conversation we started in Part I of this interview with costume and scenic designer Deb Sivigny, we delve a bit more into Deb’s work as a designer. Maybe even with some reveals and...

Capital Fringe Preview: ‘Mr. Taken’ by Ward Kay

Mr. Taken — it’s a sex comedy with an emotional heart. The sex comedies of late 20th century – such as Joe Orton’s What the Butler Saw or Foote and Marriott’s No Sex Please, We’re British had basic...

Capital Finge Preview: ‘WIT & WRATH: The Life & Times of Dorothy Parker’ by Claudia Baumgarten

Listen, I can’t even get my dog to stay down. Do I look to you like someone who could overthrow the government?—During an FBI interrogation at her apartment in 1952. Claudia Baumgarten’s one-woman...

Capital Fringe Preview: A Guided Tour of ‘Last Ditch Playlist’ by Brad Baron

Last Ditch Playlist is about two men, Aaron and Wes. They’re probably just broken up. So we flash backwards and forwards in a whirlwind of Aaron’s memories to figure out exactly where he stands. While...

Capital Fringe Preview: ‘Ready to Serve’: A Story for the WWI Centennial by Ellouise Schoettler, Storyteller

Ready to Serve is written and performed by Ellouise Schoettler. The Capital Fringe is a great venue for a performer to premiere or to season work. This July marks my eighth consecutive year performing...

Review: Source Festival 2017: ‘Through the Wall’: Artistic Blind Date

A Source Festival Artistic Blind Date brings together three area artists of different disciplines for an adventure in performance art. In five months they need to create and perform a performance that...

Capital Fringe Preview: ‘Caveat’ by Ben Lockshin

Unless you’re an heiress or robber baron, a room of one’s own in DC is hard to come by. Enter the group house scene – where the young, cash-strapped, and slightly desperate commit to living with...

Theater Alliance Announces Its 2017-2018 Theater Season, Including Return of ‘Word Becomes Flesh’

Theater Alliance announces its 15th Season with an impressive lineup, including the return of its Helen Hayes Award–winning production Word Becomes Flesh, presented with two regional premieres by...

Capital Fringe Preview: ‘Boobs, Balloons, Babies, & Buffoons’: The Origin Story of ‘Tiresias’ Tits’ By Rebecca Rose Vassy, aka Diva Darling

The night I went to see the opera Les Mamelles de Tiresias, I was not expecting to hear a duet about bacon. I’d gone to the dress rehearsal of the Wolf Trap Opera Company’s production knowing nothing...

Capital Fringe Preview: ‘The Blind’ by The Wheel Theatre Company

Imagine you are lost and alone in the forest. You have never been here before and you cannot see to find your way out. You don’t know if anyone knows you are missing or if they will be able to find...

Capital Fringe Preview: ‘Exit Carolyn’ by Jennie Eng by Nu Sass Productions

Exit Carolyn “Best Friends Forever?” Written by Jennie Eng Directed by Bridget Grace Sheaff Featuring Alison Donnelly, Hilary Kelly, Jasmine Jones, and Torin Lusebrink. About Exit Carolyn After the...

Capital Fringe Preview: ‘8 Bit Circus S*it’ by Peculiarity Productions

Have you ever wanted to be inside a video game? Now is your chance. 8 Bit Circus S*it will bring video games to life through two games of fire and circus art. In Game I, our cast will use a unique...

Review: ‘Ballet, Brass & Song: Chamber Dance Project’ at Sidney Harman Hall

Baseball players take the winter off. Football players do the same in the summer. Ballet dancers are of a different breed. When their companies go on hiatus, typically in early June, they find other...

Tantalizing Tastes from a Boffo Buffet: A Report on the 2017 Capital Fringe Festival Preview Night

Fifteen of the 80-plus shows in the 12th Annual Captial Fringe Festival presented five-minute teaser scenes to a packed house Thursday night at Logan Fringe Arts Space. Act after act, the house was...

Capital Fringe Preview: ‘It’s What We Do: A Play about the Occupation’ by Pamela Nice

What is it like for a young Israeli soldier to have to enforce the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza? What is life like for Palestinians living under that occupation, subject to martial law, for 50...

Report: ‘Justice for Shylock’ at the Library of Congress

The verdict is in: Shylock–the Jewish moneylender whose trial is detailed in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice–has been exonerated. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg presided over the...

Spine: ‘When We Were Young and Unafraid’ at The Keegan Theatre

Stepping back 45 years, America is in the midst of a social revolution, and feminist consciousness-raising sessions are underway. Radical feminists, cultural feminists, and political feminists are all...

In the Moment: Interview with Theatrical Designer Deb Sivigny Part I

Deb Sivigny is one busy scenic and costume designer in the DC theater community. Just recently, she developed design elements for the Rorschach Theatre production of Forgotten Kingdoms. The 1st Stage...

Magic Time!: ‘When We Were Young and Unafraid’ at The Keegan Theatre

On the top floor of The Keegan Theatre is a cork board labeled “What Does Feminism Mean to You?” Pushpins, pens, and slips of paper are provided so that patrons can have their say, and they do. Lots...

Review: ‘Broken Glass’ at Theater J

Shards of unseen, but sharply-felt shattered glass, both of a collapsing marriage and the infamous Kristallnacht (Night of Crystal), are fused together in Arthur Miller’s Broken Glass, now playing at...

Review: ‘Rent’ at the National Theatre

Okay, twenty years ago I was more concerned with raising kids than living rough on the street, but that’s what the current tour of Rent celebrates. Where to live, how to love, finding work, survival,...

Review: ‘When We Were Young and Unafraid’ at The Keegan Theatre

In 1972, there was no Roe v. Wade or Violence Against Women Act. Battered women had little legal recourse, and many found shelter—if they were lucky—in safe houses run by good Samaritans. House of...

Magic Time!: ‘The Return’ at Mosaic Theater Company of DC

Inside this taut and provocative two-character play—which vividly evokes the political tension between the Israeli state and its Palestinian citizens—there is a startling sex scene, one that vividly...

Review: ‘Oberon, or The Elf King’s Oath’ at The In Series

“I’m stuck with writer’s block!” Who among us—be we beginners, practitioners or professionals, list makers, blog posters, PhD thesis or diary writers—has not been visited by that alarming thought?...