Washington DC

Review: ‘Memoirs of a Forgotten Man’ at the Contemporary American Theater Festival

Let’s stop for a moment to consider how much of the grey matter we’ve got upstairs, between those infernal ears, is dedicated to memory. Even as you read this review your mind is stocking up on words...

The Ultimate Guide to Shepherdstown for the Contemporary American Theater Festival

by Allison Considine Ready for your next summer adventure or weekend getaway? Each July, the Contemporary American Theater Festival in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, presents new plays in the state’s...

Review: ‘Thirst’ at The Contemporary American Theater Festival

Dystopias can be off-putting places, for those in search of more traditional fictional locales. Why would you want to begin your story in a wasteland, where everything we associate with civilization...

Review: ‘A Late Morning (In America) With Ronald Reagan’ at the Contemporary American Theater Festival

Truth be known, there is much about Ronald Reagan that is eminently unlikeable: his shameless embrace of the southern, “State’s Rights” strategy, his contempt for social welfare programs, his blind...

Review: ‘Berta, Berta’ at the Contemporary American Theater Festival

“The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” –William Faulkner, Requiem for a Nun. Of the many great moments in the late August Wilson’s Twentieth Century cycle, the most powerful one for me comes in...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Sobriety of Fear’

Count Shaun Michael Johnson among the stunning new talents to be discovered at Capital Fringe. His solo show, Sobriety of Fear, is a tour-de-force of empathic acting. With breathtaking emotional...

Review: ‘The Cake’ at the Contemporary American Theater Festival

The Contemporary American Theatre Festival is off to a rocking start, and with the local premiere of Bekah Brunstetter’s ripped-from-the-Supreme-Court-blotter comedy The Cake, the Festival makes a...

How I Became A Jewish Mother of Fascism (Show Preview)

by Emily Canavan Opinion Since the 2016 election, I am sure you have noticed the term Fascist is being dusted off and nervously applied to our current president. I have banged my head against...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Painted Ladies: Bosses of the Wild West’

Who run the world? Painted ladies. And this year’s Fringe production of the same name by Too Much Damn (TMD) Theater rode that point home, in more ways than one. Set in a nameless one-horse town,...

2018 Capital Fringe Festival Review: Lesbians and the Men Who Love Them

For one brief minute at the opening of Lesbians and the Men Who Love Them, written by M. Cristina García and directed by Mediombo Singo Fofano at the Christ United Methodist Church, one could believe...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Barococo’

Happenstance Theater, the much-lauded purveyors of cheekily sophisticated whimsy, have brought another original devised work to Fringe, and if it doesn’t tickle your funny bone, you might want to have...

With Community Theatre Project, GALA Theatre Brings Immigrant Voices ‘Out of the Shadows’

They are likely the unseen in our midst; that is until a particular, probably short-term job needs the informal employment market as the source of a worker. They have their own personal stories to...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: ‘O Monsters’

Against a background of black timber walls, a beautiful dark-haired woman stretches out languorously on a table. Dressed in a skimpy black nightgown, she moves like a dancer. On the floor, three...

Review: ‘Guerrilla Theater Works 3: A New Nation’ by Convergence Theatre

Sunday morning, before I drove from my home in Western Maryland to see Convergence Theatre’s production of A New Nation, I noted the following in a letter to the editor of my local newspaper: “There...

Review: ‘Enchanted April’ at Aldersgate Church Community Theater

Aldersgate Church Community Theater presents Matthew Barber’s Enchanted April. Directed by Marzanne Claiborne, Enchanted April follows a group of disillusioned women who embark on a life-changing...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: ‘The City Of…’

By Beatrice Loayza Directed by Patrick Pearson and written by Matthew Capodicasa, The City Of . . . is an ambitious work self-described as inspired by the metaphysical wrestlings of Jorge Luis Borges,...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: ‘The Vandal’

The Vandal, which opened to a sold-out audience on the first weekend of the 2018 Capital Fringe, is a comedy about loss. It’s also a bittersweet riff on death, performed by a trio of talented DC-area...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: ‘America’s Wives’

A main point of Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow is that the oppression of people of color in the U.S. cannot be explained as a matter of mean-spirited bigots lashing out at African-Americans or...

Review: ‘Why is Eartha Kitt Trying to Kill Me? A Love Story’ by UrbanArias

Getting audience attention these days with a title few likely know is no easy task. So know that once again UrbanArias has found a terrific little musical gem: a chamber opera called Why is Eartha...

Monumental Theatre Company Styles ‘Pippin’ for a New Generation

Fresh off its 2018 Helen Hayes Award win for Outstanding Emerging Theater Company, Monumental Theatre Company will close out its season with Pippin (July 13-30). Monumental describes itself as a...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: ‘The Accidental Pilgrim’

Theatre Du Jour’s The Accidental Pilgrim is an ensemble-devised work, directed by company co-founder B. Stanley. The ensemble’s style is heavily indebted to such twentieth-century theater innovators...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Andromeda Breaks’

Andromeda Breaks, written by Stephen Spotswood and directed by Nick Martin, takes the initial form of a police interrogation. At the outset, Andromeda (Billie Krishawn) sits handcuffed to a metal...

2018 Capital Fringe Review: ‘50 Ways to Date Your Aubrey’

Aubri O’Connor lights up the tiny stage at Caos on F, drawing us into this quirky, funny, and poignant play within a play starring her alter ego, Aubrey. During a 70-minute romp through Aubrey’s...

Review: ‘Secrets of the Universe (And Other Songs)’ at the Hub Theatre

Secrets of the Universe (And Other Songs), a new play by Marc Acito having its world premiere at the Hub Theatre in Fairfax, explores the friendship between two 20th century greats in very different...

Review: ‘Laughing Stock’ at Laurel Mill Playhouse

Laughing Stock, a farce, written by Charles Morey, directed by Daniel Johnston, and produced by Maureen Rogers is at Laurel Mill Playhouse, until Sunday, July 15, 2018. Laughing Stock is perfect...

Review: ‘People for Whom the World Spins and Turns’ at The Essential Theatre

The boarding house play is a staple in theater. Assorted folks who might otherwise never cross paths are thrown together by a playwright who then grips us with their backstories, intertwined character...

Get Ready, DC: The 2018 Capital Fringe Festival Opens This Weekend

Get ready Washington, DC: July is hot and about to get even hotter. The always spicy Capital Fringe Festival opens this weekend, delivering 80-some experimental, mostly self-produced shows to the...

Attention Local Theater Companies: The Theatre Consortium is Currently Accepting Applications for Membership

by Doug Krentzlin The Theatre Consortium of Silver Spring recently announced on their website that they are currently accepting membership applications. The consortium consists of companies that...

Can a Community Theater Go Professional?

With NextStop Theatre Company celebrating its 30th anniversary, I chatted with Evan Hoffmann, NextStop’s producing artistic director, to learn about the company’s journey. Founded in 1988 as the...

Magic Time!: ‘East of the River’ at Anacostia Musical Theatre Lab

Community engagement is a noble aspiration for a lot of theaters around town. The challenge is to make theater matter to folks who live in the nabe. To connect the institution to the community, to be...

Preview: ‘50 Ways…,’ a New Play Inspired by Paul Simon’s #1 Hit

By Tammy Enright 50 break-ups. 14 playwrights. 6 actors. 1 common theme. Directors Samir Bitar and Yana Landowne, longtime collaborators, engaged 14 playwrights to submit stories around a common...

Review: Sarah McLachlan at the Strathmore

Attending one of Sarah McLachlan’s concerts is like attending a spiritual mass where your inner being is serenely centered, uplifted, and renewed. McLachlan has a uniquely impactful way of making...

Prepare for the Unexpected: An Interview with Christopher Bell, Artistic Director and Conductor of The Washington Chorus

Even in Washington, DC, a town unofficially known as the choral capital of the United States, Christopher Bell stands out as a milestone hire for The Washington Chorus (TWC). Bell, who just finished...

Preview: ‘Painted Ladies: Bosses of the Wild West’ at Capital Fringe

by Dara Gold Indulge in the vices of the Wild West and find out that these painted ladies are far more than meet the eye! Welcome to the tale of the unsung and unexpected lives of the women that were...

With ‘A New Nation,’ Convergence Theatre’s Elena Velasco Aims To Make Theater Visceral

Art and activism are long-time partners. What better place than the DC area to meld the two in an effort to stimulate social justice and discover humanity from a progressive perspective. Or should I...

Magic Time!: ‘The Till Trilogy’ at Mosaic Theater Company

The murderous race hate that killed young Emmett Till in 1955 is alive and well. The impunity with which white assailants get away with it is still much with us. And the irony is that the iconic...

Capital Gazette Shooting Victim Was Also A ‘Humorous, Witty’ D.C. Theater Reviewer

By Rachel Kurzius Wendi Winters was one of five staff members murdered while working at the Capital Gazette newsroom on June 28. But in addition to her thrice-weekly columns as a staff writer for the...

Review: ‘Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations’ at The Kennedy Center

Ain’t too many surprises in Ain’t Too Proud, the new jukebox musical about the supergroup The Temptations and their rise to meteoric heights. Their music defined a generation and gave voice to the...

Review: ‘Motown the Musical’ at Wolf Trap

Motown the Musical is one irresistible playlist of infectious chart-topping music performed by a bevy of fine singers and dancers who have plenty of acting chops as well. While too-sweet nostalgia...

Love and Friendship IRL: A Q&A With Brandon McCoy and Brianna Letourneau About ‘Other Life Forms’ at Keegan Theatre

I went to see Other Life Forms, the new comedy at Keegan Theatre, not expecting to write about it. But the play changed my mind. I wasn’t even home yet when on an impulse I tweeted that Other Life...

Review: ‘You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown’ at Imagination Stage

Imagination Stage presents You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, based on the comic strip “Peanuts” by Charles M. Schulz. Clark M. Gesner provides book, music, and lyrics, with additional dialogue by...

Review: ‘Tinker Bell’ at Adventure Theatre MTC

As a parent, it’s hard to watch yet another adaptation of Peter Pan without fixating on the fact that he essentially kidnaps children and leaves grieving parents (specifically mothers, constantly...

Synetic’s New Voice Series production of ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’

With the announcement of its New Voice Series, Synetic Theater is taking its own unique approach to the development of the richly talented pool of emerging theater-makers and budding theater...

Review: ‘On the Town’ at Olney Theatre Center

D.C.–area audiences are notorious for their too-free-and-easy awarding of standing ovations. But last night’s prolonged, enthusiastic, standing, whooping, hollering, response to Olney Theatre’s...

‘Hamlet Project: A Rock ‘N’ Roll Mixtape’ by We Happy Few

In 2012, Hannah Todd and Raven Bonniwell founded a small theater company, We Happy Few, with the desire to revive classic texts and find new ways to interpret and present the material. While We Happy...

Review: The Second City’s ‘Generation Gap…Or, How Many Millennials Does It Take to Teach a Baby Boomer to Text Generation X?’

The Second City’s Generation Gap is everything you’ve ever mocked your parents, grandparents, recent grad intern and tween niece for, but wittier and with better lighting. Generation Gap has you...

Avant Bard Responds to Immigrant Family Crisis

Avant Bard today announces its “Welcome Tempest-Tossed Campaign”: For the final weekends of its production of The Tempest, Avant Bard commits to donating one-half of all full-price ticket proceeds to...

Is DC Theater Getting Addicted to Trump?

Post-Play Palaver is an occasional series of conversations between DC Theater Arts writers. In this one, Senior Writers and Columnists John Stoltenberg (Magic Time!) and David Siegel (In the Moment)...

Review: ‘Other Life Forms’ at the Keegan Theatre

When asked recently what he hoped audiences will get from watching Other Life Forms, playwright Brandon McCoy answered, “I hope they laugh, and I hope they have a really good time.” Mission...

Review: ‘The Emperor of Atlantis or Death Goes on Strike’ and ‘The Soldier’s Tale’ by The In Series

“In the dark times Will there also be singing? Yes, there will also be singing. About the dark times.” ― Bertolt Brecht With unsettling powers of persuasion, compelling is the watchword for patrons at...