Washington DC

Three Truths I Took Away From Second City’s ‘Generation Gap’

Are we brave enough to laugh at ourselves? That’s a question The Second City explores in it’s latest comedy show Generation Gap, playing now through August 12th at the Kennedy Center. The show blends...

Review: ‘A Chorus Line’ at Riverside Center for the Performing Arts

A Broadway musical about Broadway musicals—what could be better for theatre-lovers of all stripes? The iconic A Chorus Line truly fits the bill! It features music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Edward...

Magic Time!: ‘Dave’ at Arena Stage

You know those big live TV versions of blockbuster musicals that get broadcast decades after the show was a hit on the stage? Like, not until generations have come and gone? Well in the case of Dave,...

Review: ‘Macbeth’ at 4615 Theatre Company

Why do people commit evil, and once they have started, why can’t they stop? Now, as always, it is a question worth asking. Macbeth, one of Shakespeare’s greatest plays, is an exploration of this...

Past is Prologue at 4615 Theatre Company

Artistic Director Jordan Friend had a clear vision when 4615 Theatre Company began producing full seasons last year. Each 4615 season would kick off with a pair of shows – one classic, one...

Magic Time!: A Report on ‘The Trans-Atlantic Time Traveling Company’

The prodigiously imaginative performance artist Holly Bass belongs to the first generation of her family not to pick cotton for a living. I learned that startling fact as I passed through an art...

Review: ‘Little Women (The Musical)’ by Wildwood Summer Theatre at the Arts Barn

Wow! Wildwood Summer Theatre’s production of Little Women (The Musical) was both dazzling and polished; its shine reflected the animated energy of its all-youth (ages 14-25) cast and crew, while...

Review: ‘Bernstein at 100: A Celebration’ at Wolf Trap

What could bring luminaries from the worlds of opera, musical theatre, a cappella, jazz, dance, choral music, and symphonic music together for one night of heavenly tunes? Perhaps nothing short of...

Review: ‘Dave’ at Arena Stage

The real news getting you down? Do you have a plentitude of cares and woes hanging over your head? Are you an addicted MSNBC watcher who wants to get off the couch and away from the cell for a few...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Sucks to be a Grownup’

In Sucks to be a Grownup, you’ll see every side of CJ. Her funny side, her angry side, and even her emotional side. You’ll see CJ laughing and interacting with her audience, and you’ll see her crying...

Review: ‘Barnum’ at Prince William Little Theatre

By Leandra Lynn Step right up! Feast your eyes on PWLT’s current production, Barnum! The fun started even before I walked into the Hylton Performing Arts Center, with clowns waving at me from the...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: ‘The Country Co-ed’

If you’re a fan of double entendres and early-2000s raunchy teen movies, then chances are you’ll like The Country Co-ed, a modern re-imagining of William Wycherley’s 17th-century Restoration comedy,...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: ‘up your aesthetic’

Although it is aesthetically pleasing—beautifully designed and performed—up your aesthetic has nothing to do with aesthetics, per se. Instead, the production—which opened at the Blind Whino SW Arts...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: ‘A View From My Backyard’

Fringe is filled with stories, but few are as comfortably charming as the memories presented in A View From My Backyard. Sara Herrera presents her memories through a series of stories and dances,...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: ’52:15′

The melody may be unfamiliar, but the music that opens The 100th Monkey Theatre Ensemble’s 52:15 is immediately recognizable as a television news show open. A reporter, speaking to the news anchor...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Perfecting the Kiss’

This comedy about bad theater and inappropriate backstage behavior is just gobsmacking good. Laugh-a-minute is an underestimation. Don’t miss it. Perfecting the Kiss, a production from New York...

Holly Bass Celebrates Black Sisterhood in ‘The Trans-Atlantic Time Traveling Company’

District-based solo performer Holly Bass creates in so many media and art forms I can’t keep up with her—and I’ve been covering her for nearly a decade. Her latest devised work, a dance-theater piece,...

Review: ‘The Theory of Theories’ at District of Columbia Arts Center

An unnamed academic (Cristen Stephansky), in town for a conference, lounges on a sofa taking notes for her presentation. Her host, (Karoline Troger) a similarly unnamed Austrian scholar now teaching...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Ghosts’

A promising but flawed dive into the way we deal with death, Ghosts creates an interesting premise and delivers touching moments of emotion. Written by Elford Alley and directed by Kathleen Barth,...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Burn Out Blessings’

Imagine a classroom decorated for a birthday party. On the table is a cake, party hats, paper napkins, and plates; a banner is tacked on the wall. Ambling back and forth in this classroom is Al Baker,...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Chlamydia dell’Arte: MORE Sex-Ed Burlesque’

by Jill Kyle-Keith Two unconventional beauties take us on a wild ride through sex, politics, and the politics of sex. As the title implies, Chlamydia dell’Arte is a sort-of burlesque, with a sort-of...

2018 Capital Fringe Festival: ‘Show Business 201’

The XY Players have a delightful option at this year’s Capital Fringe: a farce on show business titled Show Business 201. It’s essentially a romp through the training, rehearsal, and performance work...

Magic Time!: Mike Daisey Takes Aim at ‘The Story of the Gun’ in America

Masterful monologuist Mike Daisey returns to DC to skewer with humor another burning issue of the day. This time it’s America’s thing about guns. What’s that all about, anyway? How did guns get to be...

Review: ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’ at Synetic Theater

Synetic Theater’s admirable, family-friendly production of L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) is the premiere mainstage production of Synetic’s New Voice Series. For those familiar with...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: ‘A Two Woman Hamlet’

English majors, linguists, and Shakespeare lovers (and fearers) rejoice: the creative team behind Fringe’s A Two Woman Hamlet have broken one of theatre’s great masterpieces down to a comfortable...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Mesa, Arizona or Something Like It’

By Becca Kurtz Raina Greifer’s new play, Mesa, Arizona, or Something Like It, produced by Purple Crayon Productions, is a tale of abandonment, friendship, and the teenage mind. It’s fitting for an...

Review: ‘No Time’ by Timeless Entertainment at Bowie Center for the Performing Arts

It’s been said that family is a foundation—the one area in which failure can cause permanent heartache. Director and writer Gill Nelson’s amazing stage play No Time, the tagline of which is “When...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Flight of the Xenophobe’

Iamaman Productions, a start-up company focused on telling stories pertinent to African Americans, has chosen to present as its inaugural production, a tale of the recently-paroled 578 returning to...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Riot Brrrain’

By Hannah Sternberg Riot Brrrain is a punk-fueled, nonlinear tour through the life of Teddy as they revisit their past relationships after being diagnosed with neurosyphilis. Teddy is bisexual and...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Hold The Tomato’

By Shawn Reilly Simmons Hold The Tomato is a comedy variety show featuring sketches, songs, and improv, written by Nancy Safavi and David Stauffer, and composed by Wesley Fox. We’re introduced to the...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Unscripted’

By Shawn Reilly Simmons “I don’t want to sit in front. I don’t want to get picked on,” a woman said to me nervously as we chose our seats, about to experience Unscripted, a two-man improvisational...

Review: ‘RIOT!: A Celebration of Women in Comedy’ at the Kennedy Center District of Comedy Festival

Riot!: A Celebration of Women in Comedy was part of the District of Comedy Festival at the Kennedy Center, featuring a weekend of comedy including stand-up, improv, sketch, variety, podcasts, and even...

Review: ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ at the Little Theatre of Alexandria

Lightning has struck in the form of Jesus Christ Superstar at the Little Theatre of Alexandria (LTA) this past Saturday night. Taking on the epic, and challenging, rock opera, Director Jim Howard...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Meet the Glory Wholes’

By Rebecca Kurtz If there is one thing to be said for Meet the Glory Wholes, it’s that the creatively minded Joey Maranto has contagious confidence. Sixty minutes alone onstage is no small feat, and...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: ‘The Truth*’

An ancient professor (Mikey Hays) ambles into the lecture hall, his collapsed posture and bowlegged, turned-out stance recalling Pantalone of the commedia dell’arte (he even wears the mask). He is a...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Heartbreak Hitman’

Capital Fringe Festival presents Heartbreak Hitman, an original rom-com by Leigh Giangreco. This DC-based piece follows the story of Jon (Walter Riddle), a man who makes a career out of outsourcing...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Movie Magic Live!’

You Win! presents Movie Magic Live!, an evening of silly, competitive fun for movie lovers! Hosted by Jason Fraley and Ally Jenkins, this is perhaps the most interactive show at the Fringe this year....

Review: ‘Margherita’ presented by Seventh Street Playhouse at Greenbelt Arts Center

Margherita by Anthony E. Gallo, presented by the Seventh Street Playhouse at the Greenbelt Arts Center under the direction of Beatrix Whitehall, is a drama about the long extramarital relationship...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Almost Full: A Young Woman’s Guide to Growing Up’

On July 6, 2018, six girls ages 13 to 17 came together and began composing poetry and choreography and a little music about their just-starting-out lives. Two weeks later they performed the 29 short...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Draupadi’s Arranged Marriage’

Drawn from an episode in the Sanskrit epic The Mahabharata, Draupadi’s Arranged Marriage imagines the protagonist as a woman of modern feminist views faced with a polyandrous arranged marriage to five...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Beauty and the Beat’

ORT Productions’ Beauty and the Beat begins with a trio of dancers (Kelly Hogan, Carrie Monger, and Amy Scaringe) entering in formation into the graffitied performance space of the Blind Whino,...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: ‘How to Fall in Love on a Warming Planet’

Rivers Wilder Green presents, How to Fall in Love on a Warming Planet for Capital Fringe 2018. Christopher B. Cox performs his original songs for this production, which can be described as a creative...

Review: ‘Harry Shearer: Up To Eleven’ at The Kennedy Center

My father first showed me This Is Spinal Tap when I was about fifteen. It was immediately one of my absolute favorite films. I’ve seen it at least a dozen times since then, tried and failed to learn...

Review: ‘The Pirates of Penzance’ by The Hypocrites at Olney Theatre Center

Once upon a time, Gilbert and Sullivan staging was – there is no other word for it – stodgy. The D’Oyly Carte opera company dominated G&S performance from the late 19th century until its 1982 death...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Coronado’

What’s worse than murder? What would God say? All the characters are “peddled out,” i.e. in dead-end jobs, down-on-their-luck, or near that, drinking Buds and doing shots at the bar, pulling guns at...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Through the Wall’

By Garinè Isassi Through the Wall is a dance story that sprang from an art experiment put together by Source Festival called the Artistic Blind Date Program. Artists from different disciplines were...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: “50 Ways…”

A woman (IO Browne) climbs out of bed, her lover still fast asleep, unmoved. She lays out on the floor, limber and sensual as she dances like a flower budding through a crack in the pavement. Another...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: ‘How’s That Workin’ Out For Ya?’

By Ellie Milewski Four intelligent and gifted female playwrights/directors, three bold female actors and their marvelous male partner in crime, and a wonderful crew, walk into Arena Stage to perform...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: “14”

By Ellie Milewski Columbine, Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech, Parkland. These are only a few names from a list of mass shooting in the United States. A list that is painfully and heartbreakingly long. Emma...

Review: ‘Where Did We Sit On The Bus?’ at 1st Stage Tysons

Where Did We Sit On The Bus? is a solo performance that examines identity in America through the eyes and observations of a Brown young man named Brian Quijada. With his charismatic smile, playwright...