DC

Review: ‘Flood City’ at Theater Alliance

I would not have thought that a play about dreadful disaster could be done as a droll and delightfully dark comedy, but Playwright Gabrielle Reisman did. Having lived through Hurricane Katrina in 2005...

Review: ‘The Cherry Orchard’ by Faction of Fools

Though it has commonly been staged as a tragedy or psychological drama since its Moscow premiere, Anton Chekhov always insisted that The Cherry Orchard was a comedy. A story about an aristocratic...

Review: ‘Let’s Misbehave: Cole Porter After Dark’ with The American Pops Orchestra at Arena Stage

What does the American songbook mean to you? For many, I’m sure it brings to mind those delightful tunes of old with their lilting melodies, simple lyrics, and squeaky clean imagery. If you are of...

Review: ‘Pericles’ by We Happy Few

Let’s be clear, Pericles is pretty much a first draft play that Shakespeare never quite finished. Now to be fair, the work is not wholly attributed to him, but with more than a few murderous plots,...

In the Moment: ‘Saint Joan’ by Bedlam Theater Company at Folger Theatre

Bedlam’s take on George Bernard Shaw’s Saint Joan will resonate with many Blue State denizens with its updated, coolness factors and fine acting. Under Eric Tucker’s direction, Bedlam has taken a...

Review: ‘Waitress’ at The National Theatre

Waitress at the National Theatre is sweet as “Sugar.” The word resonates during scene shifts, as an immensely talented piemaker, Jenna (Desi Oakley), lists the ingredients for the new pie she is...

Review: ‘The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant’ at The Kennedy Center

Obsessional unrequited love is what prompts Petra von Kant’s bitter tears in the 1972 German film by Rainier Werner Fassbinder. The movie is a languid immersion in the self-absorption of a...

Review: ‘Saint Joan’ by Bedlam Theater Company

Long before he wrote about her, George Bernard Shaw referred to Saint Joan as one of those “half-witted geniuses, enjoying the worship accorded by all races to certain forms of insanity.” He came to...

Profile: Chris Stezin Plays a Rock Music Diehard in the ‘Undeniable Sound of Right Now”

Chris Stezin is a prolific playwright whose last play—produced at The Keegan Theatre in January of 2017—was Mack,Beth, a contemporary take on Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Now he’s back at the Keegan, this...

Magic Time!: ‘The Frederick Douglass Project’ by Solas Nua

In a tent pitched on a pier overlooking the Anacostia River, there is a powerfully important work of theater being performed. The work is The Frederick Douglass Project, commissioned to commemorate...

Review: ‘The Frederick Douglass Project’ by Solas Nua

Imagine yourself sitting on a creaky ship as a passenger en route to the Emerald Isle of Ireland. Frederick Douglass, the great abolitionist, is on board with you. The year is 1845. The ship gently...

Review: ‘Burst’ at Parlor Room Theater

The sudden incapacity of their mother is the occasion for three siblings and their cousin to gather at a Boston hospital in Amy Leigh Horan’s touching and perceptive new family dramedy Burst, just...

Review: ‘Carol Burnett: An Evening of Laughter and Reflection’ at the Kennedy Center

In 2018, our list of living legends is dwindling. So to be in the same room with one of the greatest comediennes of all time– Emmy, Golden Globe, People’s Choice, Horatio Alger, Ace Award, Peabody,...

In the Moment: Interview with Emily Whitworth, Synetic Theater’s ‘Titus Andronicus’ Adaptor

Synetic Theater’s marvels of silent Shakespeare begin with a superstructure; the adaptation of one of The Bard’s works and his words into audacious silences of the human voice. Over the years those of...

Review: Malpaso Dance Company at the Kennedy Center’s “Artes de Cuba” Festival

Make no mistake about it, there were no missteps in the lusciously agile performance of the Malpaso Dance Company at the Kennedy Center on Friday night. The company has been growing strong since 2012...

Review: ‘The Undeniable Sound of Right Now’ at The Keegan Theatre

If KISS were starting out today, they’d be trying to get noticed on a streaming music site like Spotify. And followers would find their tour dates on apps like Bandsintown. Or maybe the masked marvels...

News: Avant Bard to Conjure a ‘Tempest’ for Our Changed Climate

Culminating its 28th season making theatre on the edge, Avant Bard proudly presents Shakespeare’s classic comedy The Tempest at Gunston Arts Center May 31 to July 1, 2018, directed by Artistic and...

Review: ‘Hooded, or Being Black for Dummies’ by Mosaic Theater Company

In today’s political climate, discussions of race and privilege between those with opposing views have become near to impossible. Our battles of conflicting perspectives, opinions, and impassioned...

Review: ‘Interplay: Poetic Resistance and In Lieu of Flowers’ by Washington Improv Theater

Washington Improv Theater’s productions of Poetic Resistance and In Lieu of Flowers at D.C. Arts Center are funny, yet thoughtful shows with incredibly talented performers. With two different shows...

Review: ‘South Pacific’ at St. Mark’s Players

By Andy Arnold You know the story. South Pacific brings a classic tale, outstanding voices, lively music, and a living set to Capitol Hill this month. Opening night offered plenty of energy for...

In the Moment: ‘An Evening with Mavis Staples’ at the Kennedy Center Spring Gala

The 2018 Kennedy Center Spring Gala was a dandy one, celebrating the recipients of the third annual Kennedy Center Award for the Human Spirit. The award recipients, Gary Sinise and Eli and Edythe...

Someone’s Got To Be the Bad Guy: An Interview with Waitress’ Nick Bailey

To be honest, and I know this may sound strange, my favorite characters are usually the bad guys. The antagonists. The seemingly irredeemably flawed. I’ve always thought that they were the most...

Review: ‘Candide’ by the Washington National Opera

Washington National Opera concludes its 2017-2018 season with a fresh production of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide directed by Washington National Opera’s Artistic Director Francesca Zambello. If it’s...

Review: ‘The Rite of Spring’ by Pointless Theatre Company

When The Rite of Spring, a ballet with a score by Igor Stravinsky, premiered in 1913, theater-goers were so shocked by Stravinsky’s relentless, stabbing music and Vaslav Nijinsky’s avant-garde...

Review: ‘Iron & Coal’ at Strathmore

The sheer magnitude of the concert event was enough to inspire wonder and awe. More than 200 musicians packed the Strathmore stage and a balcony above—two orchestras, three choirs, a rock band—plus...

Review: ‘Hamlet’ by the Royal Shakespeare Company

The fabled Royal Shakespeare Company brought its Hamlet to the Kennedy Center this week, in a production fully worthy of its glittering reputation. The RSC Hamlet is lavish, bursting with freshness,...

A Modern Classic Takes on Epic Proportions: Constellation Theatre Brightens Brecht’s Manifesto, Adds Musical Makeover to ‘Caucasian Chalk Circle’

Last week, I decided to venture off my usual path and check out the Constellation Theatre, which performs at Source in the lively 14th Street corridor. What lured me there was the chance to see a new...

In the Moment: Meet the 2018 John Aniello Award for Outstanding Emerging Theatre eligible companies

For over three decades, Helen Hayes nominations and awards have represented the pinnacle of professional excellence in Washington, DC area theater. What began as public recognition of a small...

On Her Own: Judy Kuhn’s Solo Cabaret at Dumbarton Concerts

Maybe you can go home again. Broadway’s original Cosette from Les Miserables, Bethesda native Judy Kuhn, returns for a solo concert, A Broadway Cabaret With Judy Kuhn, 8 PM May 5 at Dumbarton United...

In the Moment: Interview with Shakespeare Theatre Company Wig Master Dori Beau Seigneur

How important can a wig be to a theater production and an actor’s performance? What better way to answer that question then with a section from the recent book, The Ascent of Angels in America: The...

Review: ‘1984’ by Scena Theatre

Big Brother. Newspeak. Thoughtcrime. Doublethink. Orwellian. Those words have floated around the public lexicon for years, and at a time when the political zeitgeist contains phrases like “alternative...

Hosting the 2018 Helen Hayes Awards: Michael J. Bobbitt and Alyssa Wilmoth Keegan Talk About their Lives On and Off the Stage as They Prepare for DC Theater’s Big Night Out

Forget the Oscars, the Emmys, and the Tonys. Here in the nation’s capital, there is only one award worth talking about. And that’s the Helen Hayes, honoring the best of DC’s theater professionals for...

Review: ‘Vietgone’ at Studio Theatre

There is so much in this show to flip over, you could be dizzied by its delights. The fantastical story and kooky characters, the wicked humor and badass music, the frisky cast and musicians, the...

Review: ‘THE RESTLESS HEART: A program of Old Russian, Gypsy (Romani) and Folk Songs of Passion, Longing and Love’ at The Embassy of France

“This concert series is dedicated to Russian chamber vocal music, which is rarely heard in America,” states the program; a regrettably true state of affairs. The Russian Chamber Art Society (RCAS),...

Review: ‘Goldberg Variations – ternary patterns for insomnia’ with Andersson Dance and Scottish Ensemble

Making the extraordinary ordinary appears to be a notion we can’t shake. If it isn’t dumbing down, it’s taking down, mashing up or just plain copying. Thursday, April 26 at the Kennedy Center’s...

Review: ‘Snow Child’ at Arena Stage

The Russians have a folktale called Snegurochka (The Snow Maiden). Prominent in the 19th Century, many versions of the Snow Maiden folktale centered around the appearance of a young girl who served as...

Review: ‘Girlfriend’ at Signature Theatre

The rock musical Girlfriend celebrates the tentativeness and exuberance of a budding romance between two gay teens in a small town Nebraska in the 1990s. Just after graduating from high school, Will,...

Review: Druid’s ‘Waiting for Godot’ at the Shakespeare Theatre Company

“Nothing is funnier than unhappiness,” says Nell in Samuel Beckett’s Endgame. Druid’s production of Waiting for Godot at the Shakespeare Theatre Company proves the truth of this statement again and...

Interview: Composer Gregory Spears Unpacks Thoreau in Upcoming DC World Premiere

On Saturday, April 28th at The Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater, Vocal Arts DC will present their newly commissioned, world premiere of composer Gregory Spears’ song cycle, WALDEN (based on Henry...

Review: Tracy Morgan at The Kennedy Center

Following up his nationwide tour, Picking Up the Pieces, and Netflix special, Staying Alive, actor, writer, producer and comedian Tracy Morgan, celebrated for in his roles in Saturday Night Live and...

Review: ‘Amanuensis’ at Georgetown University

Time has not been kind to Great Dead White Male Artists, poor things. Nosey feminist historians have been poking around in these guys lives and digging up dirt about how they treated women! And now...

Review: ‘After the Rehearsal’ and ‘Persona’ at The Kennedy Center

Back in college in Minnesota, I was so into the forlorn films of Ingmar Bergman that I think he affected my mental health. I could relate to his bleak Nordic worldview, which I associated with long...

Living Dolls: A Conversation With the Five Actors Who Breathe Life Into ‘Paper Dolls’ at Mosaic

Paper Dolls, the bittersweet new musical that opened at Mosaic Theater Company two weeks ago, has produced standing ovations—and laughter and tears—at every production so far. Yet the show, which...

Magic Time!: ‘ “Master Harold”…and the Boys’ at Round House Theatre

One of the most quietly profound moments in Athol Fugard’s anti-apartheid play “Master Harold”…and the Boys—just opened in a powerfully moving production at Round House Theatre—happens in a simple...

Interview: Actor Sara Barker Discusses Upcoming Performance of Lauren Gunderson’s New Play Against Gun Violence (1st Stage April 23)

On February 14, 2018, a gunman entered Stoneman Douglas High School and killed 17 students and teachers. On April 3, Playwright Lauren Gunderson made her new play involving gun violence, Natural...

In the Moment: Report on The Kennedy Center’s 2018 Arts Summit

The time is most certainly right for the arts to be disruptive; to assert and insert itself in national discussions about social justice and inclusion. Turbulent times call out for the arts–not merely...

Washington Performing Arts Presents the Return of Kronos Quartet Featuring Pipa Virtuoso Wu Man in ‘A Chinese Home’

Collaborative multimedia work is a powerful reflection on tradition and transition. The Grammy-winning Kronos Quartet returns to D.C. on April 19, 2018, with longtime collaborator Wu Man to perform...

Review: ‘The Caucasian Chalk Circle’ at Constellation Theatre Company

With admirable nerve and imagination, Constellation Theatre Company has mounted an endlessly inventive production of a work by a playwright who dares us to enjoy him. Bertolt Brecht wrote plays to...

Review: ‘En el tiempo de las mariposas’ at GALA Hispanic Theatre

The play En el tiempo de las mariposas (In the Time of the Butterflies), making its D.C. debut at GALA Hispanic Theatre, tells one of the most inspiring and heart-wrenching stories to come out of the...

Review: ‘Shear Madness’ at The Kennedy Center’s Theatre Lab

Let’s face it: things have been a little stressful lately. Everywhere we turn we see violence, corruption, investigations, allegations. Shear Madness, a long-running (over 13,200 performances and...