Virginia

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...

Preview: ‘Mamma Mia’ Opens Tomorrow at Riverside Center for the Performing Arts

The Riverside Center for the Performing Arts in Fredericksburg, Virginia is excited to be the first regional theater in the D.C. metropolitan area to present Mamma Mia, starring Betsy Padamonsky as...

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...

Review: ‘Holiday Cheer!’ at National Chamber Ensemble

The National Chamber Ensemble’s Holiday Cheer! on December 16 was a celebration of great music. The charming and witty Artistic Director and leading violinist, Leonid Sushansky, sees each performance...

In the Moment: ‘Christmas at the Old Bull and Bush’ at MetroStage

Brimming with heart, musical numbers to elicit smiles, a unique wit, some audience sing-alongs, and moments that disrupt theatrical norms, MetroStage’s Christmas at the Old Bull and Bush is a charmer....

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...

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: ‘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: ‘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,...

Review: ‘Holiday Follies’ at Signature Theatre

It’s that time of year again. Signature Theatre opened their annual Holiday Follies this week. The seasonal cabaret is packed with a set of over twenty songs including Christmas classics, tunes from...

Report: Reflections on ‘A Master Class with Denyce Graves’ at the Kennedy Center

Denyce Graves is an absolute force of nature. This is apparent any time she takes the stage, whether it is in a role or as an instructor. She has a strength of presence that radiates when she is...

Review: ‘The Last Night of Ballyhoo’ at Theater J

Tinsel and garlands are festooned about a beautiful 10 foot tall Christmas tree. Easy to be captivated with such an exquisite Christmas touch. But, wait, the tree is standing tall on the Edlavitch...

Review: ‘In Conversation with Samantha Bee…A Moderated Q&A’ at The Kennedy Center Concert Hall

It was a match made in heaven: Rebecca Traister, author and commentator on feminism and politics; and Samantha Bee, Canadian-American writer, comedian, producer, and (according to TIME) one of the top...

Review: ‘A Christmas Carol’ at The Little Theatre of Alexandria

Holidays can bring out the blues, but A Christmas Carol will get you in the Christmas spirit of gratitude and love. The Little Theatre of Alexandria transforms you to the Dickensian time of Victorian...

Review: ‘Snow Day’ at Arts on the Horizon

Arts on the Horizon makes the most of a sparse, simple stage for their entertaining production of Rex Daugherty’s “Snow Day.” The performance starts with nothing more than a sheet spread across a...

Review: ‘ink’ at The Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater

In ink, choreographer/dancer Camille A. Brown’s final installment in her trilogy examining African-American identity, an entire history of a people is written indelibly on the bodies of her six...

Review: ‘Madeline’s Christmas’ at Creative Cauldron

The twelve little girls in two straight lines of Ludwig Bemelmans’ beloved children’s series have taken the stage this holiday season in Creative Cauldron’s Madeline’s Christmas. With book and lyrics...

Review: ‘Hansel and Gretel’ at Synetic Theater

Synetic Theater presents a imaginative re-telling of a beloved classic with their wordless production of Hansel and Gretel. Directed and choreographed by co-adaptors Tori Bertocci and Elena Velasco,...

Review: ‘The Girl of the Golden West’ at the Virginia Opera

Giacomo Puccini never met a foreign culture that he didn’t try to set to music. His operas set in Japan (Madama Butterfly) and China (Turandot) are celebrated as masterpieces. Less celebrated is his...

Review: ‘Peekaboo! A Nativity Play’ at the Hub Theatre

Want to wish yourself a Merry Little Christmas and a Happy New Year in a new way? Then for those with a bent for the uncommon, consider taking in a contemporary retelling of the Biblical Nativity...

Review: ‘Black Girl: Linguistic Play’ at The Kennedy Center

A lone bass guitar player, Electric Bassist Tracy Wormworth, is highlighted in a stream of light. He is seen at a distance and the sound is like a fluttering thought, familiar but quickly dissolving...

News: The West Wing’s Allison Janney Named Honorary Chair of 2018 Women’s Voices Theater Festival

Allison Janney (The West Wing, and the Broadway revival of Six Degrees of Separation) is returning to Washington to lend her voice to support the 2018 Women’s Voices Theater Festival as Honorary...

Review: ‘My Name is Asher Lev’ at 1st Stage

From the beginning of the 1st Stage production of My Name is Asher Lev, we are told that the young Asher is an amazingly gifted artist. Asher, who is played by Lucas Beck, narrates the play, and every...

Review: ‘Christmas at the Old Bull & Bush’ at Metro Stage

One of the best parts of the holiday season is being transported to another time and place, putting our worries on hold, and enjoying the moment with friends and family. Christmas at the Old Bull &...

In the Moment: ‘Crazy for You’ at Signature Theatre

What a giddy, joyful afterimage of mouthwatering kinetic alchemy. Under the confident direction of chemistry-setter Mathew Gardiner, Signature Theatre has produced an irresistible Crazy for You. It is...

Review: ‘Crazy for You’ at Signature Theatre

I have a perpetual soft spot for Crazy for You, which was the first show I ever saw on Broadway. What with George and Ira Gershwin songs, Tony-winning choreography by Susan Stroman, and the wonderful...

Review: ‘Hamlet’ at Aquila Theatre Company

Straight Outta Denmark Hamlet has a storied history, and the title role is one of the greatest in Shakespeare. It is also universally parodied: the BBC’s 60 Second Shakespeare tabloid reports:...

In the Moment: Arena Stage and USO “Annual Military Thanksgiving”

It is a season of thanksgiving and spending time with family and friends. But, untold numbers of D.C. and Baltimore area military families spend the Thanksgiving holiday away from loved ones serving...

Review: ‘It Takes Two…’ at Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington D.C.

The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC has just offered the DC Metro Theatre Region an alternately wistful, romantic, and humorous cabaret review entitled It Takes Two…. Presented at the Atlas...

Review: ‘The Real Americans’ at Mosaic Theater Company

“Why am I a stranger in my own land?” the preternaturally talented actor-writer Dan Hoyle asks during his solo excursion into the heartland of America. Having set forth several years ago by van from...

In the Moment: Interview with Theater Photographer Teresa Castracane

Often, images of a theatrical production help establish the initial interest and expectations for a potential audience. Photographs can draw an audience into a production even before reviews or...

Review: ‘A Little Princess’ at Creative Cauldron’s Learning Theatre

Creative Cauldron’s Learning Theatre has put on an original version of Francis Hodgson Burnett’s A Little Princess. Ellen Selby, who co-directed the show, wrote the book, with music by Matt Conner and...

News: Mount Vernon Community Children’s Theatre Stages its 100th Production ‘Grease: School Version’

Thirty-seven years and more than 550 performances stand between Mount Vernon Community Children’s Theatre’s (MVCCT) first foray onto the stage with Winnie the Pooh in 1979 and their 100th production...

A Tribute to Joel Markowitz, Founder and Editor Emeritus of DC Theater Arts

We in the theater community lost a great friend with the passing of Joel Markowitz. As many know, Joel was diagnosed with ALS in March of this year. Since then, he dedicated himself to continuing his...

Members of the Theater Community Reflect on What Joel Markowitz Meant to Them

Tributes and expressions of affection and appreciation for Joel have been pouring in. This is a space for us to celebrate and remember our friend, Joel Markowitz. Use the comments to share feelings,...

DC Theater Arts Sadly Announces the Passing of Founder and Editor Emeritus Joel Markowitz

The DC Theater Arts family is devastated to announce the loss of our Founder and Editor Emeritus, Joel Markowitz. Joel passed away at 2:40 pm this afternoon from the effects of ALS. A fighter until...

Review: ‘A Short Series of Disagreements Presented Here in Chronological Order’ at Studio Theatre

Daniel Kitson is an acquired taste. In the premiere of his newest one-actor creation, A Short Series of Disagreements Presented Here in Chronological Order at Studio’s Metheny Theatre, Kitson’s stage...

In the Moment: Interview with Desiree Sanchez, Executive Artistic Director, Aquila Theatre

Shedding new light on Hamlet by William Shakespeare is what Aquila Theatre aims to do with its upcoming production at Fairfax’s Center for the Arts. Hamlet has been recognized for centuries as one of...

Review: ‘Jacques Brel: Songs From His World’ at Source Theatre

Time has not dimmed the impact or abundant love for the musical works of Jacques Brel; even now, nearly 40 years since his untimely death. That is apparent from the audience response and my own...

Review: ‘Alcina’ at The Washington National Opera

The Washington National Opera is now offering opera lovers the rare treat of a disarming and whimsical baroque opera, Alcina, by Composer George Frideric Handel. An opera, by default, is often a...

Review: ‘19’ at Through The 4th Wall

The road to freedom is never easy. Often that road is fraught with several steps forward and several steps back. Marginalized groups must face pressures from without and within. The in-workshop,...

Review: ‘Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike’ at Little Theatre of Alexandria

The Little Theatre of Alexandria’s most recent production, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike by Christopher Durang, is an interesting look at family dynamics and the lingering effects that being a...

In the Moment: Billie Krishawn and ‘Emilie’ at Avant Bard

Avant Bard’s Emilie: La Marquise Du Châtelet Defends Her Life Tonight with Sara Barker in the role of the whip-smart 18th century very real Emilie is a clear knock-out for critics and audiences alike....

Review: ‘The Book of Mormon’ at The Kennedy Center

Just as Fiddler On The Roof, Cabaret, Porgy and Bess, and Hello Dolly! defined their generations, The Book of Mormon mirrors the zeitgeist of the Millennial Generation. It is often vulgar, smarmy,...