DC

In the Moment: Helen Murray, Artistic Director of The Hub Theatre Discusses Her Departure

The DC performing arts scene will be losing one of its visionary artistic directors this summer. Hub Theatre’s artistic director Helen Murray will be moving on to become the Executive Director of the...

Review: ‘Everything Is Illuminated’ at Theater J

A young Jewish American writer named Jonathan arrives by train in the Ukraine on a quest to find a woman named Augustine who helped his grandfather Safran escape the Nazis. He has only a faded...

Review: ‘The Way of the World’ at Folger Theatre (Women’s Voices Theater Festival)

The Way of the World, a deft satire of the mating habits and financial vicissitudes of the 1%, arrived at the Folger Theatre last night. It was a hilarious evening. Theresa Rebeck’s comedy, very...

Review: ‘Love is a Blue Tick Hound’ at Rapid Lemon Productions (Women’s Voices Theater Festival)

No garden gnomes were injured in the writing of this review As part of the 2018 Women’s Voices Theater Festival, Rapid Lemon Productions is presenting the regional premiere of Love is a Blue Tick...

Review: ‘The Skin of Our Teeth’ at Constellation Theatre Company

Thornton Wilder’s allegorical paean to humanity’s survival “by the skin of our teeth” has itself become a marvel of endurance. First staged in 1942, when times were decidedly dire, the determinedly...

Magic Time!: ‘Guilt’ at Scena Theatre

Sex and guilt were linked in superstition before institutional Christianity came on the scene, but thanks to the medieval Catholic Church they got hooked up with theology too. It was in the runup to...

Erika Rose Lights Up the Stage in ‘Queens Girl in Africa’ (Women’s Voices Theater Festival)

It’s no coincidence that Queens Girl in Africa—Caleen Sinnette Jennings’ semi-autobiographical one-woman play now at Mosaic Theater Company of DC—was chosen to kick off the Women’s Voices Theater...

In the Moment: Report on ‘Declassified’ with Ben Folds and Sara Bareilles at The Kennedy Center

Under the masterful, musical code-switching curation of National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) Artistic Advisor Ben Folds, the future for new audiences finding their way to the usually buttoned-up, High...

Review: ‘The Humans’ National Tour at the Kennedy Center

Lights rise on The Humans and there, center stage, is Erik Blake (Richard Thomas), a fish out of water Pennsylvanian Dad in a New York apartment. What is he doing there? And why is he in an apartment...

Interview: La-Ti-Do Co-Founder Don Mike Mendoza Reflects on 6 Years of Cabaret

DC Theater Arts had a chance to sit down with local producer Don Mike Mendoza to discuss the upcoming 6th anniversary of his company La-Ti-Do Productions. La-Ti-Do gives the DC scene a cutting-edge...

Magic Time!: “Claim All of Your Selves”: Caleen Sinnette Jennings on Her ‘Queens Girl’ Plays (Womens’ Voices Theater Festival Productions)

Erika Rose’s performance in Queens Girl in Africa is awesome to behold. She plays the playwright’s teenage self, named Jackie, plus her parents, school friends, and others, with an incandescence that...

Review: ‘On Your Feet!’ National Tour at the Kennedy Center

The rhythm is gonna get you! Expect to find yourself dancing in your seat, because the energy from this show is infectious. On Your Feet! at the Kennedy Center is electric, and audience members...

Preview: Washington Improv Theater’s ‘Wintry Mix’ at DC Arts Center

Now through February 4, Washington Improv Theater (WIT), the District’s oldest and only nonprofit long-form improv theater, presents Wintry Mix, a four-week medley of improv shows at the DC Arts...

In the Moment: ‘Passport to the World Festival’ at The Creative Cauldron

In the midst of its ninth year producing and presenting live theater and music at its ArtSpace Fall Church venue, the Creative Cauldron has just opened its annual, mid-winter Passport to the World...

Diverse City: Interview with Artistic Director and Activist Elena Velasco

Welcome to the very first Diverse City column on DC Theater Arts. My name is Darby DeJarnette and I created this column to highlight, through interviews, the different experiences of individuals from...

Review: ‘Guilt, an opera without music’ at Scena Theatre

With its teasing, click-bait provocative subtitling, “an opera without music,” John Shand’s Guilt, having its world premiere by DC’s Scena Theatre, is a meaty, passionately provoking tale. Overall,...

Review: ‘Queens Girl in Africa’ at Mosaic Theater Company (Women’s Voices Theater Festival Production)

Playwright Caleen Sinnette Jennings serves up an ace with the world premiere of Queens Girl in Africa – a riveting, semi-autobiographical account of her experience living in Ibadan, Nigeria in the...

Review: ‘Around the World in 80 Days’ at The American Pops Orchestra

Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days is a classic novel that has stood the test of time–one hundred and forty-five years, to be exact–and been adapted into multiple media forms since its original...

DC Theater Arts Kicks Off ‘Women’s Voices Theater Festival’ Coverage

The Women’s Voices Theater Festival kicks off this week, and DC Theater Arts is excited to cover this important event. For the Women’s Voices Theater Festival, 24 plays penned by female playwrights...

In the Moment: Arts Council of Fairfax County Announces 2018 grant awards

As we well know, funding for the arts from all levels of government sources are under assault. Government funding is either static, or in worse cases has been reduced. As government revenue has still...

In the Moment: The National Symphony Orchestra at The Hamilton Live This Thursday, January 4th, 2018

Ready to un-compartmentalize your music tastes? Open to thinking differently about what some may call stodgy “High Art” for the well-fixed? Ready to have some new musical experiences that fuse classic...

Review: Comedy at The Kennedy Center Millennium Stage with Gary Vider and Sara Armour

Now in its 21st year, the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage is the Center’s gift to everyone in the Washington area, offering live entertainment at no cost every single day. It’s also a great way to...

In the Moment: Interview with Stage Manager Paul D. Michnewicz

One of the questions I often receive from theater-goers surrounds the mystery of what a stage manager does for a live theater production. The stage manager is rarely seen, and doesn’t seem to have a...

Report: Keegan Theatre’s ‘An Irish Carol’ Performance on December 29 to Benefit Nonprofit Shatterproof

The holidays are a difficult time for those with loved ones fighting with the effects of addiction. The Keegan Theatre will be holding a benefit performance of An Irish Carol this Friday, December 29,...

Review: ‘Foolish Fairytales’ at Faction of Fools Theatre Company

If you have yet to experience a Faction of Fools Theatre Company production, then you are missing out on something truly brilliant and one-of-a-kind. With a Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Emerging...

Review: ‘Les Misérables’ at the National Theatre

One does not simply review Les Mis—at least, not when it’s this stunning revival of the epic that took the world by storm when the novel debuted in 1862 and again when the musical premiered in London...

Report: La-Ti-Do’s Cabaret and Spoken Word Shows Will Be DC’s Hot Ticket in 2018

Imagine a company that blends the drama of Broadway with the talent of spoken word artists: this is just scratching the surface of what to expect at a La-Ti-Do show. The brainchild of Don Michael...

Magic Time!: Inside ‘Amazing Grace’ at the Museum of the Bible: A Q&A with Performer Joshua Simon

When I saw the musical Amazing Grace I praised it to the skies. A blurb being used to promote the show is lifted from my review: “A gorgeous production of a glorious musical! Heart-stopping,...

News: Exclusive La-Ti-Do 2018 Season Feature Announcement

Curated and hosted by co-founders Don Michael Mendoza and Regie Cabico, La-Ti-Do is DC’s premiere musical theatre cabaret and spoken word series. Cabaret and spoken word performances appear in New...

Review: ‘An American in Paris’ at the Kennedy Center

Glistening The Kennedy Center’s lush Opera House with feted Hollywood glitz and glamour, the national tour of the 2015 multi-Tony-winning musical, An American in Paris, debuted Tuesday for a...

Review: ‘An Irish Carol’ at Keegan Theatre

Now in its seventh year, the Keegan Theatre’s annual production of Matthew J. Keenan’s An Irish Carol has become a favorite Washington DC holiday tradition. It’s easy to see why. A quintessentially...

Magic Time!: ‘The Birds and the Bees: Unabridged’ at Mosaic Theater Company

“Let’s rethink sex” has suddenly become a thing. Well, not suddenly maybe. But it certainly has new pertinence in this era of full-frontal disclosure. Which made the themes of The Birds and the Bees:...

Magic Time!: Life Lessons of ‘The Real Americans’: A Q&A with Playwright-Performer Dan Hoyle

Dan Hoyle’s extraordinary solo show The Real Americans is based on his travels through small-town America and the folks he met, many of them part of Trump’s so-called base. When I reviewed the show, I...

Review: ‘A Tuna Christmas’ at Parlor Room Theater

Classic holiday productions, like Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, always show up around the theater circuit this time of year. But there are also many modern...

Report: Arena Stage’s Molly Smith and Playwright Mary Kathryn Nagle Discuss ‘Sovereignty’ and Why Plays by Native American Women Are More Vital Than Ever

In 1839, Mary Kathryn Nagle’s great-great-great grandfather, Cherokee statesman John Ridge, was assassinated for signing the Treaty of New Echota. In 2017, Nagle wrote a play about her family’s...

Report: Violinist Tessa Lark in the Phillips Collection’s Sunday Music Concert Series

Nothing is quite as draining as endless discussions in the classical music world about how concerts “should” work to recapture their prominence in the cultural fabric. So nothing is quite as...

Interview: Jazz Singer Sara Jones

“I don’t perform ‘You Don’t Know What Love Is’ that often,” jazz singer Sara Jones admits. “I mean, the song’s a real downer. You have lyrics in that song like ‘lips that taste like tears’ or ‘lose...

Review: ‘An Operetta Holiday’ at The In Series

The In Series’ An Operetta Holiday, written and directed by Nick Olcott, is a charming aural journey through the era between opera and musicals. Four male and four female singers delivered a wonderful...

Review: ‘Duke Ellington’s Neighborhood’ from The In Series performing at Gala Hispanic Theatre

Engaging, sophisticated entertainment and education that didn’t talk down to the intended audience; children who may not have been familiar with the grand musical and cultural figure, DC’s very own...

Interview: ‘You and My Mother Can Purchase Sweaters for Obese People to Your Heart’s Content’ – A Conversation with Cameron Folmar

David, the character Cameron Folmar plays in The Santaland Diaries (now at Drafthouse Comedy Theater in DC through December 23), struggles with compartmentalizing his identity as a Macy’s Elf with...

Who’s in Town?: ‘The Piano Guys’ Performing at The National Theatre December 13th through 16th

The Piano Guys might just be one of the 21st century’s most notable social media success stories. Now a successful musical group known for their lush videos of classical and contemporary compositions...

Review: ‘The Phantom Tollbooth’ at Providence Players of Fairfax and The Young Hearts

Need a break from Christmas music? Providence Players of Fairfax and The Young Hearts’s production of The Phantom Tollbooth delivers all the joy of the holiday season without the jingle. Based on the...

Review: ‘Beauty and the Beast’ at The British Players

Director Robert Leembruggen and The British Players have created a delightfully funny and energizing interactive theater experience that is a not-miss this holiday season. Get thy backside to this...

Review: ‘The Best Christmas Pageant Ever’ at Silver Spring Stage

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever is not your typical holiday story. Adapted from the best-selling book by Barbara Robinson, this rendition is laced with hilarity, mischief, and wonder. Andrea Spitz...

News: This Monday Don’t Miss ‘Holidays, Hearts, and Home,’ a One-Night Benefit Concert for Puerto Rico at Arena Stage Starring Ed Gero and Natascia Diaz

This Monday, December 11th, a one-night-only concert to benefit the victims of Hurricane Maria entitled Holidays, Hearts, and Home brings a not-to-be-missed roster of whos-who performers to Arena...

Review: ‘Twist Your Dickens’ at Second City

If you’re yearning to kick off your holiday season with goodnatured hilarity, get thee to the Kennedy Center and grab a seat at the Theater Lab, where The Second City’s Twist Your Dickens is holding...

Review: ‘Forever Balanchine Farewell Performances’ at The Kennedy Center

It was bittersweet last evening when The Suzanne Farrell Ballet performed the Forever Balanchine Farewell at the Kennedy Center’s Opera House. Sweet because the muse of dance master George Balanchine...

Review: ‘Lookingglass Alice’ at Baltimore Center Stage

Throughout December, visitors entering the Baltimore Center Stage lobby will immediately notice the strange goings-on and the Wonderland-like atmosphere bestowed upon the venue. Over to the left is...

Review: ‘The SantaLand Diaries’ at Drafthouse Comedy Theater in DC

If you are barely in the mood to do something Christmassy, if Tiny Tim gives you hives, and learning lessons is anathema, The SantaLand Diaries is the bracing Christmas cocktail for you. The one-man...

Review: ‘Private Confessions’ at The Kennedy Center

How might one react to finding and reading their mother’s diary after her death? Did she purposely leave the diary so it would be found and read, rather than destroy it? And, how in Heaven’s name,...