DC

An Interview with Richard Glazier, Host of ‘From Broadway to Hollywood,’ This Weekend on WETA

If you want to call Richard Glazier a throwback, go right ahead. He loves it. For Glazier, there’s nothing better than sitting at a piano telling stories about George and Ira Gershwin and their...

‘Finally Quiet in My Head’ at DC Black Theatre Festival 2015 at Anacostia Arts Center on June 20-21st by Cristina A. Bejan

Two humans in St. Elizabeth’s psychiatric hospital in SE Washington DC who deny that their existence is defined solely by the label ‘crazy.’ One Washingtonian family who grapples with what their dear...

Extra! Extra! An Interview with Ben Cook: He’s Home and He’s in ‘Newsies’ at The National Theatre

Ben Cook is returning home and will be dancing his heart out in Newsies at The National Theatre. I had a chance to catch up with Ben. Joel: Please introduce yourself to our readers and tell them where...

Adam Wesley Brown on Playing Guildenstern in Folger Theatre’s ‘Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead’

In Part 1 of two interviews with the actors who play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in Folger Theatre’s production of Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, meet Adam Wesley Brown. Please...

Meet the Director and Cast of of Spooky Action Theater’s ‘Jarry Inside Out’: Part 1: Ian LeValley

In Part 1 of a series of interviews with the Director and cast of Spooky Action Theater’s Jarry Inside Out, meet Ian LeValley. Why did you want to become a member of the cast of Jarry Inside Out? I...

‘Their Metal Will Be More Than Tested’: Landless Theatre Company Announces Development of ‘The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Symphonic Metal Version)’

The Landless Theatre Company announces development of its second work of “Metal Theatre” for production in Summer, 2016: The Mystery of Edwin Drood – Symphonic Metal Version. The production follows...

UPDATED 6/1/15: Magic Time!: ‘I’m an Improviser by Trade’: A Q&A With Matthew R. Wilson, Director of Faction of Fools’ ‘Our Town’

Updated 6/1/5: Before seeing Faction of Fools’ Commedia dell’arte interpretation of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town in full production (I’d previously seen it in a workshop), I was skeptical whether the...

‘happiness (and other reasons to die)’ at The Welders

You might think a suicide pact among losers who meet on line would not be a terribly good premise for a warmhearted comedy—much less a noir one à la Martin McDonaugh. You might assume there’s not a...

‘Adriana Lecouvreur’ at Riverbend Opera Company at the Casa Italiana Sociocultural Center

Big things do come in small packages. This old adage was proven correctly with the Riverbend Opera Company’s performance of Adriana Lecouvreur at the Casa Italiana Sociocultural Center. The opera,...

‘Jarry Inside Out’ at Spooky Action Theater

The author of the infamous Ubu Roi, the play which proudly proclaims high culture as but “pshit” sculpted into attractive façades, Alfred Jarry is now the subject of a new script playing at Spooky...

‘Our Town’ at Faction of Fools

Faction of Fools does it again with an innovative production of Thornton Wilder’s revolutionary and Pulitzer Prize-winning play Our Town, which originally debuted in 1938 about a New Hampshire town at...

‘The Trap’ at Ambassador Theater

The gaunt and haunted figure of Franz Kafka obsessed the renowned Polish poet, novelist, and dramatist Tadeusz Różewicz (1921-2014). His two-act play The Trap—part expressionistic, part...

‘Zombie: The American’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company (Review #2)

Last night, I found myself transported to 2063, a world in which Africa is one large united nation, the United States is welcoming the first gay president to the oval office, and the White House, now...

SPINE: ‘Zombie: The American’ — the Citizen, the Government Official, the Theatre-goer — at Woolly Mammoth (Review)

“Only dead men tell the truth,” said Mark Twain. And Zombies. Robert O’Hara’s Zombie: The American opened last night at Woolly Mammoth and, save for one errant scene–saved perhaps for a love of sex...

Ardani Artists Presents: Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg: ‘Rodin’ at The Kennedy Center

Boris Eifman is a choreographer critics love to hate and audiences simply love. In fact, in his 2011 opus, Rodin, detailing the loves of the great French sculptor who chiseled the art form into the...

Author Chuck Palahniuk at Sixth & I Historic Synagogue

Chuck Palahniuk knows how to make an entrance. This slim and fit figure in his casual outfit and grey glasses, strode into the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue confidently with his coffee cup to loud...

Magic Time! ‘Theater from the Heart’: A Q&A with ‘Jumpers for Goalposts’ Playwright Tom Wells

The morning after Jumpers for Goalposts opened at Studio Theatre, I sat down to talk with its very talented playwright, Tom Wells. He had been in town watching the last few weeks of rehearsals,...

‘Under Kafka’s Spell – Różewicz and The Trap’ at Ambassador Theater

The Ambassador Theater is back with its biggest production to date, showcasing a work of one of the greatest post-war poets and playwrights of the 20th century – Polish-born Tadeusz Różewicz. Produced...

Magic Time! ‘Good Hope Road’ (Staged Reading)

For decades theatergoers have warmed to plays set in rooming houses. Playwrights have been fond of the form too, because it permits an otherwise random mix of boarders to become an engrossing cast of...

Next Day Theater’s Matt Spangler Recaps Their May 16, 2015 Performance at Tropicalia

When you go to one-night-only theater, you never know what you’ll get. There’s no word of mouth, no buzz, no yelping from critics. It’s like speed blind-dating And if the one-night-stand in question,...

‘Major Barbara’ at Pallas Theater Collective

Money Talks The Pallas Theatre Collective’s Major Barbara is a captivating, thought-provoking comedy. The themes of class disparity, the necessity to compromise one’s values to survive, and the...

‘If All the Sky Were Paper’ at The Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater

Fitting that If All the Sky Were Paper — a dramatization of war correspondence lovingly presented by archivist Andrew Carroll — would unfold at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, a...

In the Moment: A Chat with Director Aaron Posner and Scenic/Properties Designer Paige Hathaway at ‘Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead’ at the Folger Theatre

Walking into the Folger Theatre, I did a double-take. This clearly was going to be a different visual experience for Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead as directed by Aaron Posner....

Magic Time!: ‘I’m an Improviser by Trade’: A Q&A With Matthew R. Wilson, Director of Faction of Fools’ ‘Our Town’

It’s kind of a tossup these days whether Matthew R. Wilson is more newsworthy because he’s leaving as artistic director of Faction of Fools, the Commedia dell’arte company he founded, to teach...

Magic Time! ‘Unpacking Racism’: A Q&A with Psalmayene 24, Director of Forum Theatre’s ‘The Shipment’

Before I spoke with Psalmayne 24 about his direction of The Shipment—which plays through June 13, 2015, at Forum Theatre—I read the play by Young Jean Lee. John: I found the script powerful and deep....

‘Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead’ at Folger Theatre (Review)

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead at the Folger Theatre is a sumptuously original production of the breakthrough play of one of England’s greatest living playwrights. “I write plays” Tom Stoppard...

Spine: ‘Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead’ at Folger Theatre (Article)

I first read Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead back in 1974. It was but one of many plays I devoured as part of my thirst for the absurdist perspective. It’s now playing at Folger...

Spine: ‘Jumpers for Goalposts’ at The Studio Theatre

Life’s endless struggles — from the daily variety, like getting your mates to behave appropriately, to the emotionally cataclysmic, like the death of a loved one — such is the subject of Tom Wells’...

‘Jumpers for Goalposts’ at The Studio Theatre

There have been some great plays set in locker rooms that lay bare the anxieties underlying men’s lives. After all, the sports locker room is the archetypical site of respite from the male-male combat...

‘Born This Way’ at The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC

Like a torrential, cleansing rain washing away intolerance and hate, the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington (GMCW) immersed the audience in flowing torrents of song in their current production Born This...

‘Major Barbara’ at Pallas Theatre Collective

It’s not always easy to figure out what view of life George Bernard Shaw is trying to express in Major Barbara. Though he was a freethinker, he gives us a witty, tolerant, idealistic heroine, Barbara,...

Toby Mulford Named the New Producing Artistic Director of Faction of Fools

I am a huge fan of Matthew R. Wilson and Toby Mulford‘s work. They have brought so much joy to my life and to the lives of our theatre community. When I found out that Matthew and his wife Sarah were...

‘Tour-de-Force: Serenade’ at The Washington Ballet at The Kennedy Center

The dancers, dusted in long, white tulle, reflect—shells on a dark beach. It is an opening, a closing, a commencement, an ending. Arms raise. Hands flex. Heads turn, diagonally, toward a common...

‘Fiddler on the Roof’ at St. Mark’s Players

St. Mark’s Players production of Fiddler on the Roof is a must-see. Those in the theater industry (and even those who’ve been around for the past 40 years), have heard of this Tony Award-winning show...

Meet the Cast of ‘Once on This Island’ at Creative Cauldron: Part 5: Avia Fields

In Part 5 of a series of interviews with the cast of Once on This Island, meet Avia Fields. Please introduce yourself and tell our readers where they may have seen you perform before on our local...

‘Cinderella’ (‘La Cenerentola’) at Washington National Opera #2 (Tara Erraught)

“The best laid plans of mice and men, often go awry.” In this case, to the great enjoyment of all in the Washington National Opera’s dazzling, fun production of Gioachino Rossini’s Cinderella (La...

Meet the Performers of GMCW of DC’s ‘Born this Way’: Part 2: Michael “Cabbie” Caban

Joel: Please introduce yourself to our readers and tell us how long you have been in GMCW and where we may have seen perform on our local stages? Michael: My name is Michael “Cabbie” Caban. I was born...

‘The Call’ at Theater J

Tanya Barfield’s play The Call seeks to give dramatic expression to the stark chasm between first world problems and third world problems. In so doing it tackles a topic with vast global consequence...

Next Day Theater: ‘Hitting Like a Truck’ on May 16th by Matt Spangler

Next Day Theater: Hitting Like a Truck on May 16th For years, I’ve been thinking, man, I’ve got to get into this theater scene in DC. Then it hit me: 24 hour theater. That’s right, 1,440 minutes to...

‘Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea’ at Theater Alliance

A bright 18-year-old named Dontrell has had a dream. He saw a man with the face of his father who is captive on a slave ship crossing the Atlantic. In the dark hold of the vessel he saw that man and a...

‘Cinderella’ (‘La Cenerentola’) at Washington National Opera #1 (Isabel Leonard)

Every spring, the Washington National Opera launches a family friendly show in time for their M&M’S® Opera in the Outfield, and this year they tackle Rossini’s wickedly funny Cinderella. I love what...

Ari Roth’s Mosaic Theater Company’s Inaugural 2015-2016 Season Lineup is Announced

Ari Roth’s Mosaic Theater Company’s Inaugural Season Lineup is Announced The inaugural season of Ari Roth’s new Mosaic Theater Company has been announced: Unexplored Interior (This is Rwanda: The...

‘The Great Lieutenant Sprinkle Didn’t Save Me’ at Field Trip Theatre

“Every ghost story is kind of like a history lesson,” says the young woman identified as A History Major in The Great Lieutenant Sprinkle Didn’t Save Me, an intriguing new play by Jack Novak now...

‘Tramp’s New World’ at Mead Theatre Lab at Flashpoint

In 1949, Pulitzer Prize winning author and film critic James Agee wrote a screenplay treatment for Charlie Chaplin, that has since been titled Tramp’s New World. Four years following the horrific mass...

ALICE (in wonderland) at The Washington Ballet at The Kennedy Center

The Washington Ballet‘s performance of ALICE (in wonderland) is delightful for someone like me who is not a connosseur of ballet. Here, sets and costumes change frequently, the performances are...

‘The Blood Quilt’ at Arena Stage at The Mead Center for American Theater

America used to be defined by its communities. Communities of ethnic and national identity, of urban migration, of rural affiliation, of blood and toil. Today, America is defined by its latest pop...

National Symphony Orchestra, ‘Mahler Explored’ With Christoph Eschenbach, Conductor and Leonidas Kavakos, Violin

Last night at The Kennedy Center Concert Hall marked a special evening for all – conductor, players, and audience alike. The audience, foremost, was treated to the special talents of violin virtuoso...

Meet the Performers of GMCW of DC’s ‘Born this Way’: Part 1: JJ Vera and Marcus Brown

In a series of interviews with members of The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC who are performing in their upcoming concert Born This Way on May 15 and 16, 2015, meet JJ Vera and Marcus Brown. Joel:...

Kafka’s ‘Metamorphosis’ by Alliance for New Music-Theatre at Trinidad Theatre (Capital Fringe)

Lovers of 20th century literature know Kafka and his darkly dangerous worlds of angst and hopelessness. And they know Metamorphosis, it’s tale of the demise of the man-turned-bug frequently acts as a...

Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC to Host Dialogue on Equality Following The 3 PM Performance of ‘Born This Way’ on Saturday, May 16th

Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC to Host Dialogue on Equality DC Event Takes Place in Conjunction with Born This Way Concerts and Debut of LGBTQA Youth Chorus Demonstrating the power of music to...