Washington DC

‘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...

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra: ‘A Tribute to John Williams’ at The Music Center at Strathmore

At the atmospheric Strathmore complex in North Bethesda on a hot Thursday evening, on May 28, 2015, the musical presentation entitled The Music of John Williams was a modest delight with many...

‘The Glass Mendacity” at Providence Players of Fairfax

For a good time, call (703) 425-6782. That gets you the Providence Players of Fairfax’s reservations line, and this bedrock company of major-league players never disappoints. The Glass Mendacity,...

‘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...

‘On the Razzle’ at Silver Spring Stage

In Tom Stoppard‘s wonderful farce, On the Razzle, the humor relies on mistaken identities, lots of puns and malapropos, pratfalls, sex, and pomposity. Silver Spring Stage’s hilarious production, which...

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...

‘The Two Gentlemen of Verona’ at Annapolis Shakespeare Company

What’s not to like about Annapolis Shakespeare Company’s presentation of The Two Gentlemen of Verona? The playwright has had some good reviews. So, too, has the show’s director/choreographer Sally...

Rockville Little Theatre Hosting ‘Murder at the TonyLou Awards’ Tomorrow, May 30th at 7 PM at The Arts Barn by Ken Kemp

THERE’S MURDER (AND FUN) AFOOT AT THE ARTS BARN! Rockville Little Theatre is hosting the 2015 TonyLou Awards at The Gaithersburg Arts Barn on Saturday, May 30th at 7:00 PM – but don’t be surprised if...

A Love of the Bard is Passed to Another Generation: Meet the Young Cast of ‘The Tempest’ at Laurel Mill Playhouse

Tonight, Laurel Mill Playhouse will be presenting one of Shakespeare’s later comedies, The Tempest. Unlike the Bard’s earlier comedies, The Tempest does not rely on some of his more traditional plot...

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,...

Meet the Cast of Providence Players of Fairfax’s ‘The Glass Mendacity’ by Chip Gertzog

Tonight, The Providence Players open The Glass Mendacity, a hilarious comedy parody of some of Tennessee Williams’ most celebrated works: The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot...

‘The Glass Mendacity’ opens at The Providence Players of Fairfax Tomorrow Night, May 29th at The James Lee Community Center Theater by Chip Gertzog

The Providence Players of Fairfax’s production of The Glass Mendacity opens tomorrow night at The James Lee Community Center Theater – 2855 Annandale Road, in Falls Church, VA. The Glass Mendacity is...

Silver Spring Stage’s Production of Tom Stoppard’s ‘On the Razzle’ Opens This Friday, May 29th

Silver Spring Stage presents On the Razzle by Tom Stoppard, directed by Erin Bone Steele and produced by Jim Robertson, a frantic farce of slapstick shenanigans, mistaken identities, unremitting...

A Chat with Mark Nadler on his Show ‘Runnin’ Wild: Songs and Scandals of the Roaring ’20s’ This Friday, May 29th at 8 PM at Strathmore’s New AMP

Mark Nadler will be performing Runnin’ Wild at Strathmore’s new AMP this Friday, May 29th at 8 PM. I asked Mark to fill us in on what we will hear and see. For those DC area theater and music lovers...

‘The Shipment’ at Forum Theatre

If there were a Richter Scale for risk-taking in theater, Forum Theatre’s production ofThe Shipment would register right up at the top. In brazenly challenging assumptions about how we perceive race...

‘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...

Win a Pair of Tickets to WSC Avant Bard’s ‘The Madwoman of Chaillot’ for Performances The Weekend of June 11th-14th

WSC Avant Bard is giving away two tickets to The Madwoman of Chaillot for performances the weekend of June 11th-14th. TO ENTER: FILL OUT THIS FORM AND Tell us: What worries you about the world? Then...

Recap of ‘The GI Film Festival’ – May 18-24, 2015

The GI Film Festival is in its ninth year and has grown so big. It ended yesterday at the huge and swanky Angelika Film Center in the Mosaic District in Fairfax, VA. They showed a record number of...

An Interview with Gloria DuGan on Directing ‘A Man for All Seasons’ at NextStop Theatre Company

She is one of my favorite directors in the DC Metro area and I am so thrilled that veteran director Gloria DuGan is at the helm of A Man for All Seasons for NextStop Theatre Company. Gloria knows the...

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,...

‘dry bones rising’ at Venus Theatre Company

In her program note, director (and founder of Venus Theatre Company) Deborah Randall has this to say about her company’s newest play, dry bones rising: “The style… could be described as ee cummings...

‘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...

‘A Prairie Home Companion’ with Garrison Keillor and Special Guests Sara Watkins, Sarah Jarosz, and Aoife O’Donovan at the Filene Center at Wolf Trap

The Filene Center launched the summer season at Wolf Trap with another visit by Garrison Keillor and the news from . The United States Navy Band joined Keillor and the usual suspects onstage along...

‘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....

‘The Servant of Two Masters’ at Annapolis Shakespeare Company

There is nothing more enjoyable than a pleasant summer evening, unless, you happen to be at Annapolis Shakespeare Company’s ‘Comedy in the Courtyard’ at Reynold’s Tavern. The patio behind Reynold’s...

‘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...

‘A Tale of Two Cities’ at Synetic Theater

If only Alex Mills was available to tell stories to my now 31 year old daughter when she was a baby. While I read to her aplenty, she would have marveled and communicating happily through gurgles at...

Magic Time! ‘Cabaret’ at Signature Theatre

By the end of Act One, I was stunned and shaken. By the end of Act Two, I was speechless, not wanting to move. And I had seen this show before. The movie too. I already knew that it has a dark...

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’...

‘The Letters’ at MetroStage

MetroStage’s Producing Artistic Director Carolyn Griffin, has found yet another extraordinary ‘gem of play’ – The Letters by John W. Lowell – and gave it a setting worthy of a diamond. Expertly...

‘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...

‘Cabaret’ at Signature Theatre

Signature Theatre’s Cabaret is a formidable musical that abundantly succeeds in taking the audience by its collective throat and jolting it into alertness to the rise of evil and terror. Under Matthew...

‘The Price’ at Olney Theatre Center

Arthur Miller’s The Price, now playing at Olney Theatre Center, is brilliantly directed by Michael Bloom. The play, which opened in 1968 on Broadway, takes place in the late 1940s. Like Arthur...

Talkback Today Following 3 PM Matinee of ‘The Letters’ with Playwright John W. Lowell at MetroStage by Carolyn Griffin

THEATRE-GOING PLAY LOVERS: We had a great, informative, engaging talk back with playwright John W. Lowell after the matinee performance of The Letters yesterday and will have another talkback with...

‘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...

In the Moment: Hylton Performance Center Presents Rosanne Cash on 6/26 and The Castleton Festival on 6/28

It’s never too early to begin thinking about summer entertainment plans, both venues and entertainment. Early this summer, the Hylton Center for the Performing Arts, entering its sixth season on...

‘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...

Aretha Franklin at The Music Center at Strathmore

Diamond-studded diva dazzles at The Strathmore The house was packed Wednesday night at Strathmore Hall in North Bethesda, MD. It was crammed with a diverse, ready to rock audience of seniors, Boomers...

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...