Virginia

Review: ‘The Pavilion’ at The Hub Theatre

Aching and raw, sweet and lamenting, Hub Theatre’s production of The Pavilion is a master class of three DC-area actors in command of playwright Craig Wright’s lyrical, melodic language about love,...

Review: ‘The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail’ at George Mason University

Despite period costumes, The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail feels current, primarily because it is so topical. Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee wrote the play in 1969, but George Mason’s production,...

Review: ‘Brooklyn the Musical’ at Monumental Theatre Company

From the moment you step into the graffiti-laced environment and make yourself comfortable among the sofas, lawn chairs, and lounge seats, you are surrounded by the aesthetics of a post-modern fairy...

Review: ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’ at Riverside Center for the Performing Arts

Riverside Center for the Performing Arts presents The Hunchback of Notre Dame, with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, and book by Peter Parnell. Based on the Victor Hugo novel and...

Review: ‘Tuesdays With Morrie’ at Prince William Little Theatre

As the play starts, Morrie Schwartz is dying from ALS. That such a heart-warming, honest, and funny play would begin with such a premise is startling. In Tuesdays with Morrie, produced by the Prince...

News: Traveling Players Ensemble to Perform ‘The Trojan Women’ March 17 and 18

Traveling Players Ensemble will present two public performances of The Trojan Women on March 17, and 18. The Trojan Women explores the consequences of war and women’s relationship to war. The...

Review: ‘The Snow Queen’ at Creative Cauldron

Creative Cauldron’s Learning Theater Ensemble presents The Snow Queen, an original adaptation based on the tale by Hans Christian Andersen. Written by Ellen Selby, this production joins a long list of...

Review: ‘George – Don’t Do That!: The Music and Magic of Joyce Grenfell’ at MetroStage

George! Go see this! George – Don’t Do That!: The Music and Magic of Joyce Grenfell is part two of MetroStage’s three-part Spring Solo Series featuring three artists telling stories of the remarkable...

Review: ‘Complete Dogness’ at The Athenaeum

Doggone it! This is a fun show! (And, Arf-fully family-friendly). Complete Dogness is about a dog with bad habits, who has the ability to learn new tricks and win hearts. This was a one-time...

Review: ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’ at Reston Community Players

Reston Community Players present Tennessee Williams’ classic, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Sharon Veselic directs a talented cast for this insightful production. While a lot has changed in the nearly 65...

Review: ‘Death by Design’ at Aldersgate Church Community Theater

“There is nothing whatever beneath my exterior.” So proclaims a character in Death by Design, now playing at the Aldersgate Church Community Theater (ACCT) in Alexandria. How right he is, not only for...

Review: ‘Harvey’ by the McLean Community Players

Things are getting a little wacky with the McLean Community Players these days, and this time it’s in the form of Harvey by Mary Chase. This challenging and earnest production—directed by Eleanore...

News: ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’ Coming to Riverside Center for the Performing Arts in Fredericksburg

Riverside Center for the Performing Arts in Fredericksburg, Virginia is excited to be the first regional theater in the metropolitan area to present The Hunchback of Notre Dame, starring Justin...

Review: ‘Godspell’ at NextStop Theatre Company

NextStop Theatre is reaching the end of their July 2017 to June 2018 “Point and Counterpoint” season. Their third and final show pairing explores the contrasting effects that religious teachings can...

Review: ‘Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery’ at Center for the Arts/George Mason University

In turbulent times, escaping into a yarn that is as light and high-flying as a helium-filled balloon can be a welcome respite. So, the Great Performance Series at the Center for the Arts/George Mason...

In the Moment: Interview with Joe Calarco about ’12 Million Footsteps’

For nearly two decades, the inventive Signature in the Schools education program has exposed Arlington County public high school student actors to highly-charged, real-world issues well beyond the...

Review: ‘The Imaginary Invalid’ by the Mason Players at George Mason University School of Theater

Satire is a comic form I have always loved. Among the greatest geniuses of the genre is Molière, whose comedies from 3.5 centuries ago still evoke howls of laughter when done well. Directed by...

In the Moment: Interview with Sound Designer Justin Schmitz

All too often the work of a theater sound designer can go unnoticed. In fact, not long ago the Tony Awards decided not to even provide an award category for sound design (now reinstated). Thankfully,...

Review: ‘The Gospel at Colonus’ by Avant Bard

The Gospel at Colonus, Avant Bard’s production of the gospel-infused Oedipus story, opened on February 27 with a sweet, bright salvo of a song. Members of the Women’s Ecumenical Choir (headed by Becky...

Review: ‘Becoming Dr. Ruth’ at Theater J

Helmed by a trio of DC’s creative talent royalty, Theater J’s production of Becoming Dr. Ruth, penned by Mark St. Germain, goes beyond just facts and dates to become an engaging exploration of how Dr....

Review: ‘The Audience’ at Little Theatre of Alexandria

Attention Anglophiles: If you loved The Queen, and if you avidly follow The Crown on Netflix, then by all means, join the audience for The Audience at the Little Theatre of Alexandria (LTA). All three...

Review: ‘Speech and Debate’ at Peter’s Alley

Peter’s Alley is offering a very funny production of Speech and Debate by Stephen Karam at Theatre on the Run. Karam, whose play, The Humans, won the 2016 Tony award for Best Play, has twice been a...

In the Moment: DIAVOLO ‘The Veterans Project: A Long Journey Home’ at The Kennedy Center

“We all move, we all walk, we all run, we all fall, we all can even dance.” said Artistic Director Jacques Heim of DIAVOLO. With a motto of “architecture in motion” DIAVOLO will be bringing its highly...

Review: ‘The Farnsworth Invention’ at 1st Stage

In 1920, a fourteen-year-old boy in Idaho, named Philo Farnsworth, asked his science teacher for advice on a design he was working on for an electronic television system. Seven years later, that kid...

Review: ‘The Boys Next Door’ at the Port City Playhouse

Review by Betsy Lizotte The Port City Playhouse production of The Boys Next Door is playful, yet provocative. This community theater, operating out of the Sleepy Hollow United Methodist Church in...

Review: ’35mm: A Musical Exhibition’ at George Mason University School of Theatre

35mm: A Musical Exhibition is referred to as a musical by the directors, but it is different from the way many think about the standard musical. The George Mason University School of Theatre and the...

Review: ‘U-Street, The Musical’ at Momentum Collective

U-Street, The Musical, directed by Alexandria, Virginia-based playwright Jason A. Ellis, explores the tribulations of the homeless in an engaging story punctuated with humor, song, dance, and a touch...

Review: ‘Light Years’ at Signature Theatre

How does someone pay honor to a deceased parent whom they loved dearly? How does a son give thanks to his father? And when does a son really come to learn what a father went through, in those many...

Review: ‘NSO Pops: West Side Story in Concert’ at The Kennedy Center

West Side Story remains glorious from its opening notes to its incredibly powerful final curtain. The National Symphony Orchestra’s (NSO) Pops concert version adds its own distinctive, intelligent...

In the Moment: ‘Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill’ at Creative Cauldron

“Don’t threaten me with love, baby. Let’s just go walking in the rain,” is a quote attributed to the late, and lost-too-soon, singer Billie Holiday (1915-1959). Creative Cauldron’s production of Lady...

Review: ‘Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill’ at Creative Cauldron

No one sinks her hook in you like Billie Holiday. You listen to her, following her voice as it quavers like a flickering torch and, when you recover, you’re bound to her forever. She’s the fellow...

Review: ‘The Romantic Violin for Two’ by the National Chamber Ensemble

The Romantic Violin for Two by the National Chamber Ensemble was a tour of the different types of love, the sorrows and joys love brings, and most importantly the power it possesses to move the heart....

In the Moment: Interview with Patrick Lord, Projection Designer

For regular theater-goers, we have seen that projection design is not a fad or an eye-popping, one-time visual effect. Projection design has become an integral part of many a production’s overall...

Review: ‘Handbagged’ by Round House Theatre (Women’s Voices Theater Festival)

Two powerful, verbally skilled women come together weekly for tea and talk for over a decade. They are locked in a power struggle about politics and cultural norms that affect a nation and the world....

Review: ‘The Trojan Women Project’ at Brave Spirits (Women’s Voices Theater Festival)

Brave Spirits Theatre adds its distinctive style to the Women’s Voices Theatre Festival with The Trojan Women Project. It is a singular event. The Trojan Women Project is packed with moments of...

In the Moment Part 2: Interviews with Playwrights Dominique Cieri, Wendy Graf and Hope Villanueva (Women’s Voices Theater Festival)

This is the second part of a two-part series of interviews with Women’s Voices Theatre Festival playwrights. In this series, I asked the same questions to a number of Women’s Voices Theatre Festival...

In the Moment: Interview with Director Stevie Zimmerman on Special ‘Romeo and Juliet’ Performance

Inspiring generations of theater-goers and music lovers alike is one of the aims of Director Stevie Zimmerman by connecting the talents of the professional Fairfax Symphony Orchestra (FSO) with the...

Review: ‘Anne of Green Gables’ at Little Theatre of Alexandria

In the first decade of the 20th century, on a farm in the tiny village of Avonlea, in Canada’s smallest province, Prince Edward Island, a brother and sister realize they need help to sustain their...

Review: ‘All The Things You Are: Jerome Kern’ at The In Series

As the Great American Songbook continues to recede from its long-held prominence, productions such as the In Series All the Things You Are: Jerome Kern are priceless for those who want to hear the...

Magic Time!: ‘The Trial’ at Synetic Theater

Kafka’s nightmare novel about a man named Joseph K—who is arrested, detained, and tried but never told what he has done wrong—would seem perfect for Synetic Theater’s magic touch. A promising...

Review: ‘The Trial’ at Synetic Theater

The creative, resourceful folk from Synetic Theater have made another date with an old friend and literary powerhouse, well beyond the “silent” Shakespeare for which it is justly known. The author is...

Review: ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’ at Zemfira Stage

As you’re spending January shivering against these sub-freezing wind-chills and bracing yourselves for the next bombogenesis, I strongly urge you to seek refuge in Falls Church with Tennessee...

WATCH Award Nominees: And the Nominees Are…!

The annual 18th annual Washington Area Theatre Community Honors (WATCH Awards) nominees were just announced. Here are the nominees…. In each of the thirty-eight categories, five nominees were selected...

Review: ‘Peter and the Starcatcher’ by Reston Community Players

Based on the 2005 book by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, Peter and the Starcatcher is a Tony Award-winning play by Rick Elice, with music by Wayne Barker. A lively production opened Friday, January...

DC Theater Arts Announces New Collaboration Initiatives with TodayTix

As DC Theater Arts continues to grow in its mission to provide theater fans with the best critically-engaging coverage, we are happy to announce that we will be exploring additional affiliate...

Enter the TodayTix 5 for 5 Preview Lottery for ‘The Wolves’ at Studio Theatre

What is the TodayTix 5 for 5 Lottery? Studio Theatre and TodayTix are offering a mobile Lottery for $5 preview tickets! Enter the 5 for 5 Lottery for a chance to win exclusive tickets to The Wolves‘...

Review: ‘Seussical Jr.’ at ACCT

Having grown up on Dr. Seuss and having seen the 2008 Horton Hears a Who movie a dozen times, I feared Seussical Jr. (book by Leslie Aherns and Stephen Flaherty, based on the works of Dr. Seuss) might...

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: ‘Mamma Mia!’ at Riverside Center for the Performing Arts

Riverside Center for the Performing Arts presents Mamma Mia!, with music and lyrics by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus and book by Catherine Johnson, with some songs by Stig Andersson. Riverside...

Review: ’45 Plays for 45 Presidents’ at NextStop Theatre Company

Throughout American history, the office of the president has served as the living embodiment of the American dream. The central tenet of our democracy, it demonstrates that any person can rise up and...