Washington DC

Broadway’s Michael Urie To Return to Shakespeare Theatre Company for Free For All Hamlet

Free For All, one of the capital’s cherished annual traditions, will return for its 29th annual summer to Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC), offering two weeks of free performances of the Company’s...

Opening Night Photos: ‘FAME’ at GALA Fires Up Columbia Heights

Tony Award-winning director and Nuyorican choreographer Luis Salgado brings his New York creds to Columbia Heights with the power of a New York City subway platform Flash Dance as over 20 dancers and...

Saxophonist Trey Sorrells, Artist-in-Residence at Strathmore

I had the pleasure to speak with saxophonist Trey Sorrells about his participation in the residency program at the Mansion at Strathmore and about his unique blend of jazz, gospel, and R&B. Sorrell is...

Review: ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ by NextStop Theatre Company

How do you replicate perfection—especially when it involves dumping gallons of water onstage? Any theater company that undertakes a production of Singin’ in the Rain, the beloved movie musical about...

Review: ‘Pride and Prejudice’ at the Maryland Ensemble Theatre

All the familiar characters are there: Lizzy Bennet, her sisters and parents; suitors Darcy, Bingley, Collins, and Wickham; the de Bourghs and Charlotte. The basic plot lines and period setting are...

Review: ‘Antigonick’ and ‘The Fragments of Sappho’ by Taffety Punk Theatre Company

Antiquity is in the house and what’s old is new again. Taffety Punk is presenting two short theater pieces featuring its signature integration of dance, drama, and music based on voices from Ancient...

Review: ‘Ghost Light’ by Parlor Room Theater

A play is ephemeral. The written words momentarily dance off the page as they are given body and voice, transformed into experience, and witnessed by an audience. The conclusion arrives, the play is...

Review: ‘Crazy for You’ at Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre

Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre’s production of Crazy for You is a fabulous celebration of song, music, and dancing. The 1992 musical, with a Book by Ken Ludwig and Music and Lyrics by George Gershwin...

Review: ‘Klytmnestra: An Epic Slam Poem’ at Theater Alliance

Dane Figueroa Edidi is one of DC’s most original and multitalented theater artists. A dancer, actor, poet, playwright, and choreographer, she is also a teacher, novelist, political commentator as well...

Best Medicine Rep Theater Company Announces 2019-2020 Season

Best Medicine Rep, Gaithersburg’s professional theater company, is proud to announce the lineup for its third season: Helen on Wheels by Cricket Daniel, The Crater Sisters’ Christmas Special by John...

Interview: Sean-Maurice Lynch of ‘Jubilee’ at Arena Stage

The reviews are in: Jubilee is being praised for honoring and preserving the impact of the Negro Spiritual upon the American Songbook. In the Arena Stage production, Director Tazewell Thompson gives...

In the Moment: ‘Richard iii’ at Synetic Theater

Synetic Theater’s Richard iii is a potent conspiratorial theatrical experience for an anxious age such as ours. It is the ultimate in theatrical paranoia, set in a time out of joint. It’s as if...

Review: ‘Sooner/Later’ at Mosaic Theater Company

A rom-com about manhunting…at Mosaic? That’s probably not the sort of fare you’d expect from DC’s preeminent theatrical platform for social-justice programming. But who is to say that fair should have...

Review: ‘Hand to God’ by Fredericksburg Theatre Ensemble

Fredericksburg Theatre Ensemble (fte) was established in the Spring of 2011. They’re a nonprofit organization, focusing on guilty pleasures and “celebrating the art of the uncomfortable through...

Review: ‘Richard iii’ at Synetic Theater

“The future is already here—it’s just not very evenly distributed.” –William Gibson, author of Neuromancer. Synetic Theater, a beloved DC-area institution, has come up with a luxuriantly detailed...

Staging an Epic: A Four-Part Documentary Series from Shakespeare Theatre Company

After 33 years as Artistic Director, Michael Kahn has directed nearly all the world’s greatest classical plays, worked with some of the biggest actors in the world and built the Shakespeare Theatre...

Review: ‘Oliver!’ at Kensington Arts Theatre

The question when reviving a classic musical is always how much to preserve and how much to adapt. Audiences can often have fond memories of famous original productions, but times change, and...

Review: ‘NOC-tURNE’ by NFT Dance & Company at Atlas Performing Arts Center

The airy-fairy world of contemporary ballet takes a turn toward the macabre in Nancy Flores-Tirado’s darkly romantic NOC-tURNE, performed by NFT Dance & Company in follow-up to Atlas’ INTERSECTIONS...

Review: ‘I Am What I Am: The Music of Jerry Herman’ by The American Pops Orchestra

The American Pops Orchestra’s presentation of I Am What I Am: The Music of Jerry Herman was nothing short of spectacular. Maestro Luke Frazier created an uplifting and thrilling show, with a fresh...

Review: ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ at Silver Spring Stage

For a play so interested in the parameters of boredom endured by English high society, Silver Spring Stage’s rollicking production of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest is anything but...

Review: ‘Jubilee’ at Arena Stage

In 1871, Fisk University – an all-Black institution of higher learning in Nashville, Tennessee – was in dire financial straits. To raise money for the institution, Treasurer and Music Professor George...

WNO Gala Demonstrates America’s Solid Standing on Opera’s World Stage

From the nexus of divas, dollars, and diplomats at this year’s Washington National Opera Gala, there arose a thrilling truth: The finely frocked foreigners in attendance might question America’s role...

Monumental Theatre Announces Host and Performers for ‘Flip Flop’ Cabaret

Monumental Theatre Company will present its fifth annual Flip Flop cabaret, hosted by local actress Dani Stoller, on June 1, 2019, at Pitchers Bar in D.C. Stoller’s previous theatre credits include...

Photo Highlights from the 2019 Helen Hayes Ceremony!

Visual highlights from the 35th Annual Helen Hayes Awards Ceremony. A complete list of recipients can be found here. Photos of the before and after parties can be found here. All photos by Mukul...

Photos: Behind the Scenes at the 2019 Helen Hayes Awards!

Visual highlights from the 35th Annual Helen Hayes Awards! Party guests brought their glam selves to The Anthem on a lovely spring night to mingle and greet friends before the ceremony. After the...

Imagination Stage Announces 2019-2020 Season

Imagination Stage celebrates its 40th anniversary season in 2019-2020 with an exciting lineup of shows for children of all ages. The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show September 28-October 27, 2019 Eric...

Review: ‘Mary Stuart’ at Olney Theatre Center

What does a 200-year-old literary classic have to do with the chaos of the US Congress today? A lot, according to Jason Loewith, Olney Theatre Center’s Artistic Director, who has adapted Friedrich...

Review: ‘Fame’ Is Full of Heart at GALA Hispanic Theatre

There is something very “meta” about Gala Hispanic Theatre’s production of Fame. See, you’ve got this group of scrappy young artists with talent, so much talent. And they are determined to show the...

Review: ‘The Member of the Wedding’ at 1st Stage

It was nearly 70 years ago that Carson McCullers adapted her beloved 1946 novel The Member of the Wedding into a prizewinning Broadway play. Set in a small Southern town, the story centers on two...

Review: ‘Oliver!’ at Annapolis Shakespeare Company

Annapolis Shakespeare Company’s production of Oliver! is a fun, colorful treat. The 1960 musical by Lionel Bart, based on Oliver Twist, here directed by Donald Hicken and Sally Boyett, with...

Review: ‘On Air’ at Creative Cauldron

Dancing and singing over the wireless airways–how might it have happened? What might have been a dry history lesson is given delightfully appealing musical charm in Creative Cauldron’s world premiere...

2019 Helen Hayes Award Winners

Outstanding Choreography in a Musical – Hayes Parker Esse Anything Goes Arena Stage Outstanding Choreography in a Musical – Helen Rachel Leigh Dolan Chicago The Keegan Theatre Outstanding Choreography...

Take Ten With The Creator of the ‘Take Ten’: theatreWashington’s Michael Kyrioglou

We’ve all read his columns, now get to know the person behind them! In the midst of last week’s Helen Hayes Awards-fever, I asked theatreWashington’s Michael Kyrioglou to answer some questions...

WNO’s ‘Tosca’ Serves Up Classic Opera Comfort Food Done Right

The Washington National Opera’s (WNO) fine opening night performance of Puccini’s Tosca provided an opportunity for catharsis and reflection, two things our overwrought city needs right now. My...

Review: ‘Pride & Joy: The Marvin Gaye Musical’ at The National Theatre

Spectacular. Amazing. Unforgettable. Pride & Joy is a musical that tells the little known love story of Anna Gordy Gaye (January 28, 1922 – January 31, 2014) and the legendary and iconic R&B singer,...

Review: ‘You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown’ By Other Voices Theatre

“Happiness is anyone and anything at all that’s loved by you.” This line from the final song of You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown completely sums up why the Peanuts Gang has remained such a popular...

Synetic Theater Announces 2019/20 Season

Synetic Theater is proud to announce their 19th Season, beginning with a remount of the popular, water-filled adaptation of The Tempest September 25 through October 20, 2019. A new family-friendly...

Review: Ben Platt’s ‘Sing to Me Instead’ Tour Lights Up The Anthem

Undampened by the rain outside, the DC stop on the Ben Platt’s Sing to Me Instead tour brought three serious talents to the Anthem stage with thunderous applause. Passionate, creative, and...

Review: ‘The Heidi Chronicles’ at The Clarice

The University of Maryland’s Production of The Heidi Chronicles, by playwright Wendy Wasserstein and directed by Scot Reese, leads the audience through the productive life of protagonist Heidi...

Review: ‘The Tarot Reading (V)’ at Anacostia Arts Center

The circusy-party vibe begins before showtime. The place is festooned with streamers, furnished with comfy sofas, bedecked in colored light, and stocked with bags of popcorn to share. A friendly Fool...

Review: ‘Sherlock’s Veiled Secret’ at Rockville Little Theatre

A day marked by soaking rains lent a fitting atmosphere to Sherlock’s Veiled Secret, set between Sussex and London, England. K.C. Brown crafted the play around the legendary sleuth Sherlock Holmes in...

Magic Time!: ‘The Chibok Girls: Our Story’ at Georgetown University

One night five years ago, a horror happened in Chibok, North Eastern Nigeria. The Boko Haram—Islamicist terrorists who believe that Western education is evil—abducted 276 girls from the school where...

Review: ‘Spunk’ at Signature Theatre

Since 1990 when New York’s Public Theater first staged George C. Wolfe’s adaptation of three short stories by Zora Neale Hurston into the play Spunk, audiences have gleaned the creative mind of one of...

Review: ‘God of Carnage’ at Keegan Theatre

Yasmina Reza’s Tony Award-winning God of Carnage is a cautionary tale for modern times. Written in French and translated into English by Christopher Hampton, Reza’s razor-sharp black comedy has...

Helen Hayes Videos: Get To Know Your Hosts!

The 35th Annual Helen Hayes Awards are just around the corner and we couldn’t be more excited! All of DC theater in one room together, wearing fancy duds and celebrating another year of hard work and...

The Lab at Georgetown Brings Together Global Artists for ‘The Gathering’

The Lab program at Georgetown University occupies an interesting space in the DC performing arts world, existing at the intersection between art and international affairs. Georgetown’s Laboratory for...

Magic Time!: ‘God of Carnage’ at Keegan Theatre

The set foreshadows the coming fracas. There’s a fault line down the middle where this living room seems sliced in two. And something’s out of whack. The halves do not align. Like two stressed...

Keegan Theatre Announces 2019-2020 Season

The Keegan Theatre is proud to announce its 2019-2020 season, featuring a groundbreaking collection of plays and musicals, including one world premiere, three Washington DC premieres, and its...

Review: ‘The Full Monty’ at Workhouse Arts Center

The Full Monty, a musical about a group of unemployed, average Joes who decide to put on a one-night-only strip show to make big money fast, is currently playing at the Workhouse Arts Center in...

Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton To Join The Honorable Sarah Bloom Raskin In Conversation On Opening Night Of ‘Mary Stuart’

Freshman member of the 116th Congress, Jennifer Wexton (VA – 10th), and former Federal Reserve Governor and Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, Sarah Bloom Raskin, sit down for a conversation about...