Washington DC

Local Playwright Audrey Cefaly’s ‘Alabaster’ to receive record breaking ten-city rolling world premiere

National New Play Network, the country’s alliance of nonprofit theaters that collaborate in innovative ways to develop, produce, and extend the life of new plays, announces its 91st Rolling World...

Rainbow Theatre Project’s ‘Blue Camp’ shows its lavender heart

This world premiere comic drama about gays in the military takes us back to July and August of 1964 when LBJ was ordering American ground troops into Vietnam in response to the Gulf of Tonkin incident...

A seamless ‘Magic Flute’ at Washington National Opera

The opening night performance of Washington National Opera’s production of Wolfgang A. Mozart’s The Magic Flute was perfectly pleasing, even if the show as written is just too long. Tradition holds...

‘E2’ – Whipping up a royal froth of glitz and tragedy at Rep Stage

At Rep Stage in Howard County, Bob Bartlett’s new play E2 certainly proves it can make a head-turning entrance. This bold and sensuous take on the oft-told tale of King Edward II unfolds against a...

Signature Theatre to present ‘Mamma Mia!’ at DC’s Anthem

Signature Theatre announced today that it will produce Mamma Mia! this summer at The Wharf, Washington, DC’s newest concert venue. Mamma Mia! will run for two weeks from June 25 to July 5, 2020. With...

‘The American Soldier’ to illuminate the impact of military service at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage

Next week, The Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage will present a performance keyed to Veteran’s Day–The American Soldier, conceived, written and performed by Douglas Taurel. The November 13 performance...

From these ‘Rags,’ riches at George Mason University

Congratulations DC-area theatergoers! A new version of a major musical is being performed at George Mason University this weekend. It has legs and there are still tickets available. Rags is the...

Wolf Pack’s ‘Rocky Horror Show’ seduces Brentwood

If you are into corsets, fishnets, glitter, high heels, bold makeup, sexual innuendo and cussing as art, Wolf Pack Theatre Company’s (WPTC) rendition of Richard O’Brien’s cult classic Rocky Horror...

‘Port Authority,’ Conor McPherson’s tale of lust and loss, returns to Quotidian

Storytelling is a gift. And Conor McPherson—the Irish playwright, screenwriter and long-time ‘bad boy’ of the British stage–is one of the most gifted tale-tellers ever known. His Port Authority, now...

A tragic ‘Otello’ at Washington National Opera

The crowd cheered. We were on the Kennedy Center jitney to the Foggy Bottom Metro stop. I had just read aloud a text from my husband that said Howie Kendrick had hit a two-run homer to put the Nats up...

On tour in DC with ‘What to Send Up When It Goes Down’ by Aleshea Harris

Editor’s note: Woolly Mammoth Theatre, in conjunction with its staging of Jackie Sibblies Drury’s Fairview, has brought to DC a show produced by the Harlem-based Movement Theatre Company that is...

Spektral Quartet lets audiences explore the space ‘in-between’

There was a time when I needed the cash, so I substitute taught high school. Turns out I had a knack for helping resistant young minds to focus. The key to getting my students where they needed to go...

Mosaic’s brazenly brainy ‘Theory’ is both a treatise and a treat (Magic Time!)

Academia has inspired several thematically penetrating plays featuring female protagonists—the two teachers falsely accused of being lesbian lovers, for instance, in Lillian Hellman’s 1934 The...

Local stars to shine in Mo Willems world premiere at Kennedy Center

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announces the full cast and creative team for Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! (The Musical!), a Kennedy Center-commissioned world premiere from...

Mosaic’s ‘Theory:’ an embodiment of ‘wokeness’ besieged

Canadian playwright Norman Yeung’s Theory, in its American premiere at Mosaic Theater, seeks to be, in the words of Mosaic’s press release, “a hot button play for our digital moment.” Yeung packs a...

‘Stirring the Waters Across America’ at The REACH is a powerful musical exploration of resistance to racism

Electrifying. Awakening. These are words to describe the heart-rending workshop presentation of Stirring the Waters Across America performed at Studio K at The REACH. To call it anything less would be...

Hometown hero Dave Chappelle honored with the Mark Twain Prize for American humor

On Sunday night Dave Chappelle experienced the most epic of homecomings as the DC native received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The...

‘Little Red’s Most Unusual Day’ entertains at Kentlands Arts Barn

Offenbach and Rossini are not names that roll easily off most children’s tongues. Luckily for parents who are looking for a fun way to introduce their children to classical music, the work of these...

Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Simon Godwin on conscience in ‘Everybody’ and himself

On the day after opening night of Everybody, the first show in Simon Godwin’s much-heralded first season as artistic director of Shakespeare Theatre Company, I visited him in his office to ask him...

A colorful ‘Seussical’ at Rockville Musical Theatre

Imagine how excited I was. For the first time in my life, the baseball World Series was being played in Washington DC. On top of that, it is rookie left fielder Juan Soto’s 21st birthday. But, best of...

Michael Burgos’s ‘Tiramisù’ is one hilarious trip

Tiramisù—the caffeinated confection from Italy—translates as “pick me up” or “cheer me up,” which makes it the perfect name for the hilarious new solo show Michael Burgos brought to DC Arts Center...

Murder most melodic in Reston’s ‘Gentleman’s Guide’

Getting killed multiple times in a single production can be great fun (my personal best is three). In Reston Community Players’ (RCP) A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, Patrick Graham – playing...

Solas Nua’s ‘The Smuggler’ by Ronán Noone is Moving to Round House Theatre November 1-13

Following a completely sold-out run at Allegory/Eaton DC, Solas Nua’s immersive cocktail theatre production will move to the dramatically renovated bar at award-winning Round House Theatre in...

‘Afflicted: Daughters Of Salem’ at Laurel Mill Playhouse is a haunting story of witch hunt origins

The peer pressure of in-groups, man. Is there anything more toxic? Turns out, there is. This is the central theme of Afflicted: Daughters Of Salem, which is set before the infamous Salem Witch Trials...

What’s magnificent and what’s muddled in ‘Right to Be Forgotten’ at Arena Stage (Magic Time!)

Right to Be Forgotten is a play written from the outside in. By that I mean, its intention is to illustrate a legal issue: the tension in U.S. law between privacy and freedom of speech, a tension...

‘Matilda’ at Other Voices Theatre Company is a delightful take on a new favorite

Based on the 1988 children’s novel by Roald Dahl, Other Voices Theatre Company brings to life the endearing story of Matilda Wormwood, a precocious young girl who is misunderstood and abused by her...

Experience an unforgettable adventure with Rorschach Theatre’s “She Kills Monsters”

Through uncommon uses of environment and intimate passionate performances, Rorschach Theatre seeks to lure its audiences beyond the limits of ordinary theatrical experience. They go above and beyond...

Colonial Players’ magnificent ‘White Rose’ is a prophetic must-see

What do you do when your country has taken a wrong turn? With a corrupt government, racist policies, oppression of the marginalized, suppression of the truth and attacks on the media being commonplace...

Thoughtful ‘Right to Be Forgotten’ at Arena Stage

How do you put a human face on a difficult, complex subject the natural habitat of which may more likely be a law review article than a stage? Such is playwright Sharyn Rothstein’s task in Right to be...

‘Protest/Vaněk Unleashed’ heads underground in upcoming Alliance for New Music-Theatre production

In partnership with the Embassy of the Czech Republic’s Mutual Inspirations Festival, and in celebration of the thirtieth anniversary of Czechoslovakia’s Velvet Revolution, the Alliance for New...

A theater buff auditions the GalaPro app (updated)

How does that new GalaPro app work? How well does it work? And what’s it like to watch a show with it? This inquiring theatergoer wanted to know. Many Deaf and hard of hearing people are already...

Strathmore: Growing a vibrant arts community that welcomes everyone

As DC-area demographics have evolved over the recent decades, so have the missions of some of the area’s nimble performing arts venues so that they are welcoming to those they serve and reach out to....

Dangereuse: An interview with Nigel Rowe, a cabaret star as Ariel in IN Series’ ‘Stormy Weather’

IN Series’ Stormy Weather, inspired by Shakespeare’s The Tempest, features the music of Billie Holiday and a stunning cabaret performance by Nigel Rowe as Ariel. In the new Sybil Williams play,...

Shakespeare Theater Company’s ‘Everybody’ flirts with death, but falls short of greatness

There’s really only one thing that all of us – that everybody – has in common. Death, whether we’re ready or not, will come for us. All our failures and triumphs, our relationships and desires, can...

Constellation’s ‘Little Shop’ puts the horror back in horticulture

From its beginnings as a very low-budget 1960 Roger Corman B-picture horror flick (a young Jack Nicholson had a minor role), Little Shop of Horrors has been an irresistible salad of corrupted...

Slapstick is served with ‘One Man, Two Guvnors’ by Vienna Theatre Company

One Man, Two Guvnors, written by Richard Bean and directed at Vienna Theatre Company by Eric Storck, is aggressively funny stuff. Played as big as possible, each character pays homage to Commedia...

Teatro de la Luna highlights the soul of Tango music and dance

If you’re not ready to give in to an autumnal chill in the air, one of the hottest places to be right now is decidedly Teatro de la Luna. In its Friday night series, Noche de Luna: Tango Show, the...

‘The Haunting of Hill House’ delivers insidious, subtle terror this Halloween

The Little Theatre of Alexandria presents The Haunting of Hill House, inspired by the novel by Shirley Jackson and adapted for the stage by F. Andrew Leslie. Maggie Mumford directs a talented ensemble...

IN Series’ ‘Stormy Weather’ provides an original take on Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’ with Billie Holiday as musical fuel

Ingenious. Shakespeare’s venerable, often un-provocatively produced The Tempest has been reconstructed into theater with an invigorating musical arc and an awakening narrative bite. It has been...

‘Mozart Celebration’ Opens Season at the National Chamber Ensemble

The National Chamber Ensemble’s 2019 – 2020 season launched this past Saturday with Mozart Celebration, which featured several of the composer’s beloved works. Mozart is one of those composers who was...

‘The Last Night of Ballyhoo’ educates and entertains at Bowie Community Theatre

Who is a Jew? Will you go with me to the Ballyhoo ball? Those are two questions the Jewish upper-middle-class Freitag family kvetch about during the happenings of playwright Alfred Uhry’s The Last...

Review: ‘Nat King Cole at 100’ at the Kennedy Center

A panoply of performers graced the stage last night to honor the extraordinary musician, composer, and civil rights activist Nat King Cole, who would have been 100 years old this past March 17....

‘Mystery Science Theater 3000 Live: The Great Cheesy Movie Circus Tour’ Makes One-Weekend Stop at The National Theatre

A cult favorite TV show created in the ’80s, Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3) has left your screens and found its way to the DC stage for one weekend and one weekend only. The weird (I mean that as...

ARTSFAIRFAX presents 2019 Emerging Arts Award to NextStop Theatre Company

ARTSFAIRFAX presented its 2019 Emerging Arts Award at its eighth Arts Awards event on October 18, 2019. The award was given to the professional, black box NextStop Theatre Company. The ARTSFAIRFAX...

Prince William Little Theatre brings difficult history and ethical questions to the stage in ‘Judgment at Nuremberg’

Prince William Little Theatre has chosen some heavy material for their recent show. Judgment at Nuremberg, directed by Harry Kantrovich, focuses on the international military tribunals that were a...

Mischief and depth: Professor Gerald C. Wood on Conor McPherson and ‘Port Authority’

Gerald C. Wood is an author and expert on the brilliant Irish playwright and filmmaker Conor McPherson. Wood is Professor and Chair of English at Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City, Tennessee. In...

Rorschach Theatre remounts and reimagines ‘She Kills Monsters’ at the Atlas

A much-needed rabbit hole to explore is opening in the DMV. Let us rejoice. It is the return of She Kills Monsters some five years after making its first appearance, thanks to Rorschach Theatre....

The power of subversive design in ‘Day of Absence’ at Theater Alliance (Magic Time!)

To realize how much white America loved minstrelsy is a reckoning painful or shameful, depending on one’s ancestry. Minstrel shows were never meant for people of African descent to see; they were...

A Dramatic ‘Tosca’ Mesmerizes, Enchants at the Virginia Opera

The dawn of the 1800s saw a Rome in turmoil. Napoleon Bonaparte spun a soured campaign in Egypt into a public relations success story, securing his legacy as a folk hero and launching a coup d’etat...

Tickets for ‘The Last Ship’ starring Sting at the National Theatre go on sale this Friday

Tickets for Sting’s acclaimed musical THE LAST SHIP, starring and featuring original music and lyrics by 17-time Grammy Award®-winner Sting, will go on sale Friday, October 18 at 10am for its...