Washington DC

In the Moment: Conversation about Diversity with Laveen Naidu, Artistic Director, BalletNova

It started with a conversation with Laveen Naidu, artistic director for Northern Virginia’s BalletNova. Naidu said he wanted to change this observation: “ballet is often perceived as being for and...

Someone’s Got To Be the Bad Guy: An Interview with Waitress’ Nick Bailey

To be honest, and I know this may sound strange, my favorite characters are usually the bad guys. The antagonists. The seemingly irredeemably flawed. I’ve always thought that they were the most...

Who’s in Town? Michael Feinstein Talks Music and His Upcoming Strathmore Performance

Spring is here and with it gala season: that time-honored tradition wherein arts organizations close out their season with a celebrity affair intended to highlight their work and refill their coffers....

Review: ‘Kiss Me, Kate’ at Annapolis Shakespeare Company

Annapolis Shakespeare Company’s production of Kiss Me, Kate is a treat for the eyes and ears. Directed by Sally Boyett, this version of the 1948 musical with a book by Sam and Bella Spewack and music...

Review: ‘Candide’ by the Washington National Opera

Washington National Opera concludes its 2017-2018 season with a fresh production of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide directed by Washington National Opera’s Artistic Director Francesca Zambello. If it’s...

Review: ‘How I learned to Drive’ at Dominion Stage

Dominion Stage presents Paula Vogel’s How I Learned to Drive. This raw, piercing piece won Vogel the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1998, and after experiencing it at Dominion Stage, I understand why. An...

Review: ‘The Rite of Spring’ by Pointless Theatre Company

When The Rite of Spring, a ballet with a score by Igor Stravinsky, premiered in 1913, theater-goers were so shocked by Stravinsky’s relentless, stabbing music and Vaslav Nijinsky’s avant-garde...

Review: ‘Iron & Coal’ at Strathmore

The sheer magnitude of the concert event was enough to inspire wonder and awe. More than 200 musicians packed the Strathmore stage and a balcony above—two orchestras, three choirs, a rock band—plus...

Review: ‘Hamlet’ by the Royal Shakespeare Company

The fabled Royal Shakespeare Company brought its Hamlet to the Kennedy Center this week, in a production fully worthy of its glittering reputation. The RSC Hamlet is lavish, bursting with freshness,...

Review: ‘The Barber of Seville’ at the Kennedy Center

The current production of the Washington National Opera –Gioachino Rossini’s The Barber of Seville plays like a frenetically captivating musical dreamscape of schemers, clowns, and romantic lovers....

News: Gaithersburg Book Festival Returns May 19 with Books, Poetry and Music

Singer-Songwriters and Poets Take the Stage at 9th Annual Gaithersburg Book Festival Gaithersburg, Md. – May 4, 2018 – Singer-songwriters and poets will share their talents at the 9th Annual...

In the Moment: Meet the 2018 John Aniello Award for Outstanding Emerging Theatre eligible companies

For over three decades, Helen Hayes nominations and awards have represented the pinnacle of professional excellence in Washington, DC area theater. What began as public recognition of a small...

News: Riverside Center for the Performing Arts in Fredericksburg, VA, Presents ‘Always…Patsy Cline’

Emmy Award-winning actress Sally Struthers returns for her fifth engagement at the Riverside Center for the Performing Arts in Fredericksburg, Virginia, as Louise Seger in Always…Patsy Cline opening...

Review: ‘Derek Jeter Makes the Play’ by Best Medicine Rep

The resources of upstart Best Medicine Rep are optimized in this charming production of Robin Rothstein’s new work, Derek Jeter Makes the Play. Tucked in a corner of Lakeforest Mall, Best Medicine’s...

In the Moment: Interview with Shakespeare Theatre Company Wig Master Dori Beau Seigneur

How important can a wig be to a theater production and an actor’s performance? What better way to answer that question then with a section from the recent book, The Ascent of Angels in America: The...

Review: ‘1984’ by Scena Theatre

Big Brother. Newspeak. Thoughtcrime. Doublethink. Orwellian. Those words have floated around the public lexicon for years, and at a time when the political zeitgeist contains phrases like “alternative...

Review: ‘Titus Andronicus’ at Synetic Theater

“A work of art has value only if tremors of the future run through it…” — André Breton (1896–1966) French writer, poet, and founder of Surrealism. Artistic Director Paata Tsikurishvili likened...

Hosting the 2018 Helen Hayes Awards: Michael J. Bobbitt and Alyssa Wilmoth Keegan Talk About their Lives On and Off the Stage as They Prepare for DC Theater’s Big Night Out

Forget the Oscars, the Emmys, and the Tonys. Here in the nation’s capital, there is only one award worth talking about. And that’s the Helen Hayes, honoring the best of DC’s theater professionals for...

Review: ‘Vietgone’ at Studio Theatre

There is so much in this show to flip over, you could be dizzied by its delights. The fantastical story and kooky characters, the wicked humor and badass music, the frisky cast and musicians, the...

In the Moment: ‘Iron & Coal’ Creator Calls His Work an Ode to a Ravaged Soul (at Strathmore)

How does anyone cope with the unthinkable: Whether the unthinkable is The Holocaust, The Killing Fields, chemical bombs dropped on children, slavery or lynchings. How does one survive even somewhat...

Review: ‘Radium Girls’ at Rockville Little Theatre

Throughout history, the term ‘Cover-up’ has evoked feelings of frustration, sadness and often horror once the truth is brought to light. Public perception changed drastically about products like...

Review: ‘True West’ by Rep Stage

America lost its most distinctive theater voice of the 1980s with the passing of Sam Shepard. But that voice still resonates through works like True West, getting a welcome return by Rep Stage at...

Review: ‘Twelfth Night’ at Imagination Stage Acting Conservatory

Imagination Stage’s production of Twelfth Night is an inventive update of Shakespeare’s classic play. Adapted and directed by Randy Baker, the show features the teenage actors from the Acting...

Review: ‘Goldberg Variations – ternary patterns for insomnia’ with Andersson Dance and Scottish Ensemble

Making the extraordinary ordinary appears to be a notion we can’t shake. If it isn’t dumbing down, it’s taking down, mashing up or just plain copying. Thursday, April 26 at the Kennedy Center’s...

In the Moment: ‘Girlfriend’ at Signature Theatre

Girlfriend is a sensitively constructed and gracefully performed coming of age musical about two late teen boys having an unexpected first crush that turns into love between them. Girlfriend’s arc is...

Review: ‘Snow Child’ at Arena Stage

The Russians have a folktale called Snegurochka (The Snow Maiden). Prominent in the 19th Century, many versions of the Snow Maiden folktale centered around the appearance of a young girl who served as...

Review: ‘Girlfriend’ at Signature Theatre

The rock musical Girlfriend celebrates the tentativeness and exuberance of a budding romance between two gay teens in a small town Nebraska in the 1990s. Just after graduating from high school, Will,...

Review: ‘Outside the Lines’ at Arts on the Horizon

Arts on the Horizon is a non-profit theater company that provides a professional, safe, and interactive theater experience for children ages six and under. Known for their vibrant nonverbal...

In the Moment: ‘Waiting for Godot’ Interviews with Creative Production Staff

Bleak? Nope, not at all. Galway, Ireland-based theater company Druid’s touring production of Samuel Beckett’s warhorse of postwar failure and ennui, Waiting for Godot, at Shakespeare Theatre Company...

Review: Druid’s ‘Waiting for Godot’ at the Shakespeare Theatre Company

“Nothing is funnier than unhappiness,” says Nell in Samuel Beckett’s Endgame. Druid’s production of Waiting for Godot at the Shakespeare Theatre Company proves the truth of this statement again and...

Review: ‘Thoroughly Modern Millie’ by Reston Community Players

Reston Community Players is currently showing the amusing and energetic Thoroughly Modern Millie, with original book by Richard Morris and Dick Scanlon, new music by Jeanine Tesori, and new lyrics...

Review: ‘Judy Moody & Stink: The Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Treasure Hunt’ at Adventure Theatre MTC

Adventure Theatre MTC’s production of Judy Moody & Stink: The Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Treasure Hunt is sure to please both children and parents. The play, a first-of-its-kind, collaborative creation in...

Interview: Composer Gregory Spears Unpacks Thoreau in Upcoming DC World Premiere

On Saturday, April 28th at The Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater, Vocal Arts DC will present their newly commissioned, world premiere of composer Gregory Spears’ song cycle, WALDEN (based on Henry...

In the Moment: ‘Witch’ at Creative Cauldron

With an astute, quality production of Witch, its latest Bold New Works for Intimate Stages creation, the Creative Cauldron continues to show what a nimble, un-fossilized theater company can do, even...

Review: Tracy Morgan at The Kennedy Center

Following up his nationwide tour, Picking Up the Pieces, and Netflix special, Staying Alive, actor, writer, producer and comedian Tracy Morgan, celebrated for in his roles in Saturday Night Live and...

Review: ‘Harvey’ at The Little Theatre of Alexandria

The imaginary friend is a staple of childhood play. In Harvey, currently playing at The Little Theatre of Alexandria, the adult version of the childhood friend emerges when the “oh so pleasant” Elwood...

Review: ‘The Crucible’ at Olney Theatre Center

Fanaticism grows in a society fractured along fault lines of political and religious authority, property, status, gender, generational change, and belief, creating a fertile climate for persecution....

Review: ‘Witch’ at Creative Cauldron

Creative Cauldron presents the world premiere of Witch, the fourth installment in their Bold New Works for Intimate Stages commissioning project. Written by Co-Directors Matt Conner (Music and Lyrics)...

Review: ‘Love, Loss, and What I Wore’ at the Montgomery Playhouse

The Montgomery Playhouse presents an intimate, funny, and moving night of theater through its production of Love, Loss, and What I Wore. The award-winning play, first produced in 2009 and the second...

Review: ‘Amanuensis’ at Georgetown University

Time has not been kind to Great Dead White Male Artists, poor things. Nosey feminist historians have been poking around in these guys lives and digging up dirt about how they treated women! And now...

Review: ‘The Little Mermaid, Jr.’ at Ovations Theatre

Ovations Theatre closed out their 2017-2018 junior season with a rousing and colorful production of The Little Mermaid, Jr. Featuring truly impressive set design and sparkling costumes, the Ovations...

Review: ‘After the Rehearsal’ and ‘Persona’ at The Kennedy Center

Back in college in Minnesota, I was so into the forlorn films of Ingmar Bergman that I think he affected my mental health. I could relate to his bleak Nordic worldview, which I associated with long...

Best Medicine Rep Presents ‘New Plays/New Voices’: A Festival of Plays by Students, (Gaithersburg, MD, April 21)

Join Best Medicine Rep this Saturday at 1 pm for a free and funny celebration of arts education! New Plays/ New Voices, a second annual festival of work written by Montgomery County Public School...

Living Dolls: A Conversation With the Five Actors Who Breathe Life Into ‘Paper Dolls’ at Mosaic

Paper Dolls, the bittersweet new musical that opened at Mosaic Theater Company two weeks ago, has produced standing ovations—and laughter and tears—at every production so far. Yet the show, which...

Review: ‘Altar Boyz’ by Rockville Musical Theatre

Promoted as a hilarious send-up of Christian boy bands, Altar Boyz, with music and lyrics by Gary Adler and Michael Patrick Walker, delivers witty lyrics sprinkled among twelve songs. The storyline...

Magic Time!: ‘ “Master Harold”…and the Boys’ at Round House Theatre

One of the most quietly profound moments in Athol Fugard’s anti-apartheid play “Master Harold”…and the Boys—just opened in a powerfully moving production at Round House Theatre—happens in a simple...

Interview: Actor Sara Barker Discusses Upcoming Performance of Lauren Gunderson’s New Play Against Gun Violence (1st Stage April 23)

On February 14, 2018, a gunman entered Stoneman Douglas High School and killed 17 students and teachers. On April 3, Playwright Lauren Gunderson made her new play involving gun violence, Natural...

News: Adventure Theatre Rallies and Rebuilds After Devastating Fire

It was 6:45 am on March 2nd when Managing Director Leon Seemann received the call informing him that a fire had broken out at Adventure Theatre MTC. Artistic Director Michael Bobbitt was on the other...

Review: ‘Master Harold…and the Boys’ at Round House Theatre

On a rainy afternoon in 1950, two middle-aged black servants slowly scrub the floor and wipe tables in an empty South African tea room. They banter about an upcoming ballroom dance competition and the...

Review: ‘I Did It My Way In Yiddish (In English)’ by Deb Filler at MetroStage

Deb Filler’s love note to the world wends through near-universal musical touchstones, bawdy humor, the joys (or not) of Yiddish, coincidental connections, and the impact of one important musical...