Washington DC

Review: ‘Light Years’ at Signature Theatre

How does someone pay honor to a deceased parent whom they loved dearly? How does a son give thanks to his father? And when does a son really come to learn what a father went through, in those many...

Review: ‘Chess’ at the Kennedy Center

Who knew a game of chess could be so rock ’n roll? Or so sexy? Or set off rumblings of nuclear war? The semi-staged concert version of Chess, the 1984 rock opera playing a short run at the Kennedy...

Review: ‘Translations’ at The George Washington University

There’s a lovely scene just before intermission that is both heartwarming and heartbreaking. It is 1833 in agricultural County Donegal Ireland, and two star-crossed lovers—Maire (Samantha Gonzalez), a...

Review: ‘George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic’ Funk Up the Howard Theatre

George Clinton, legendary songwriter, bandleader, and record producer, at 76 years young, put on a rapturous, stunning, extraterrestrial funk fest at the Howard Theatre on a warm February night in...

Review: ‘NSO Pops: West Side Story in Concert’ at The Kennedy Center

West Side Story remains glorious from its opening notes to its incredibly powerful final curtain. The National Symphony Orchestra’s (NSO) Pops concert version adds its own distinctive, intelligent...

Interview: Julia Cho, ‘Aubergine’ Playwright (Women’s Voices Theater Festival)

In the world of #MeToo and the #TimesUp movement, how important is the playwright of color’s voice to theater and entertainment world? The Women’s Voices Theater Festival? Do you try more to be...

Michael Kahn Announces His Final Season as Artistic Director of Shakespeare Theatre Company

At a presentation in Lansburgh Theatre Wednesday morning, Michael Kahn announced Shakespeare Theatre Company’s 2018-2019 Season. With two world premieres from celebrated playwrights, a multiple Tony...

Review: ‘No Word in Guyanese For Me’ by the Rainbow Theatre Project (Women’s Voices Theater Festival)

No Word In Guyanese For Me challenges our social conditioning around gender norms, identity, immigration, religion, and sexuality. Rainbow Theatre Project remounts this award-winning play by Wendy...

Review: ‘Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day’ at Adventure Theatre MTC

Have you ever had a day where absolutely every little thing goes wrong? Well, Alexander has. In the musical version of Judith Viorst’s book, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad...

Review: ‘Noura’ at Shakespeare Theatre Company (Women’s Voices Theater Festival)

Imagine this: it is the night before Christmas. A silent snow blankets New York City, and inside a spare living room, a woman dozes in front of her Christmas tree. Her adolescent son snuggles into the...

Who’s in Town? Jamie Bernstein Reflects on Dad Leonard Bernstein’s Legacy in ‘The Bernstein Story’ at Strathmore

The first time music hit me – and it hit me hard – was when I was seven. My mom handed me Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story, a bright-red album whose rhythms were as hot as the album cover...

In the Moment: ‘Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill’ at Creative Cauldron

“Don’t threaten me with love, baby. Let’s just go walking in the rain,” is a quote attributed to the late, and lost-too-soon, singer Billie Holiday (1915-1959). Creative Cauldron’s production of Lady...

Breanna Sinclairé’s Revolution: On Being a Transwoman in Opera and Performing With the GMCW

Recently, the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC, announced that transgender opera singer Breanna Sinclairé will join the Chorus for two concerts in 2018— first for the world premiere of the...

Review: ‘The Princess and the Pauper – A Bollywood Tale’ at Imagination Stage

Imagination Stage proudly debuts The Princess and the Pauper- A Bollywood Tale, a musical adaptation of the classic Mark Twain novel. Written exclusively for Imagination Stage by Anu Yadav (read my...

Review: ‘Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill’ at Creative Cauldron

No one sinks her hook in you like Billie Holiday. You listen to her, following her voice as it quavers like a flickering torch and, when you recover, you’re bound to her forever. She’s the fellow...

Review: ‘Peepshow’ at dog & pony dc

“Who here is a feminist?” asked the Ring Announcer (Amelia Hensley). As she signed, wearing a bright red pantsuit and standing on a thick padded mat as used for a contact-sport match, a nearby hearing...

Review: ‘The Romantic Violin for Two’ by the National Chamber Ensemble

The Romantic Violin for Two by the National Chamber Ensemble was a tour of the different types of love, the sorrows and joys love brings, and most importantly the power it possesses to move the heart....

Review: ‘Michael Feinstein Presents Laura Osnes’ at AMP by Strathmore

DC-based Broadway lovers rejoice: Michael Feinstein, reigning king of the Great American Songbook, is bringing his signature cabaret-style show to the DC region. Feinstein has partnered with...

Review: ‘Cabaret Rising’ by TBD Immersive at Dupont Underground

“Let your joy be an act of resistance!” proclaims the woman who has seized the stage underneath Dupont Circle. She’s wearing a top hat, winged liner, and a stylish frock coat. A lineup of cabaret...

Review: ‘All She Must Possess’ at Rep Stage (Women’s Voices Theater Festival)

An evening of wordplay on the meanings and messages of Modern art awaits audiences at All She Must Possess. This is another worthy world premiere from the venturesome Rep Stage Company at Howard...

Review: ‘Familiar’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

When the 2018 Women’s Voices Theater Festival comes to a close and the hits to emerge from it are tallied, Danai Gurira’s comedy Familiar will surely be on the shortlist. Gurira’s play Eclipsed—a...

Ferocious, Compelling ‘Coriolanus’ Emerges at Brave Spirits Theatre

“Destroy’d his country, and his name remains to the ensuing age abhorr’d.” Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, as directed by Charlene V. Smith, takes the audience at Brave Spirits Theatre through the frenzied...

Review: ‘The Great Society’ at Arena Stage

Lyndon Johnson’s 1964 margin of victory – nearly 16 million popular votes and a lopsided total of 486 electoral votes – is almost unimaginable today. Armed as well with a 68-32 majority in the Senate,...

Preview: Howard Community College’s Arts Collective Presents ‘W.I.G. Valentine Affair’ at HCC

Underscoring the romance of the Valentine Holiday, W.I.G. Valentine Affair is presented by Howard Community College’s Arts Collective (AC) and its popular improv troupe, “What Improv Group?!?!”...

In the Moment: Interview with Patrick Lord, Projection Designer

For regular theater-goers, we have seen that projection design is not a fad or an eye-popping, one-time visual effect. Projection design has become an integral part of many a production’s overall...

Top 10 Things to Do Around DC for Valentine’s Day

Hearts, flowers, chocolates…love is in the air here in the DC area! While this part of the country may be more known for partisanship than romance, we’ve got plenty of awesome events to choose from...

Review: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at the Kennedy Center

For the sixth consecutive year, Alvin Ailey renewed its February tradition of hosting a gala evening of dance to raise funds for gifted young dancers in the DMV. The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater...

Review: ‘Something Rotten!’ at the National Theatre

Something Rotten! at the National Theatre reminds us of why we loved theater in the first place. The Broadway show received ten Tony nominations, and this national tour is pure joy. The cast sent out...

Who’s in Town? Adam Pascal Brings Rock Star Shakespeare to ‘Something Rotten!’ at the National Theatre

Adam Pascal is no stranger to iconic roles, having originated roles in Rent and Aida on Broadway, and stepped the role of the Emcee in Cabaret. He is now portraying an icon of a different sort:...

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra Prepare to Dazzle Washington DC

The words “Chicago” and “Philadelphia” conjure up immediate images across all the human senses. In theater and movies, the musical Chicago and the movie The Philadelphia Story (or maybe Rocky) all...

Review: ‘In Search of My Father…Walkin’ Talkin’ Bill Hawkins’ at Atlas Performing Arts Center

In Search of My Father…Walkin’ Talkin’ Bill Hawkins is an autobiographical exploration of identity and manhood packaged in a 90-minute one-man show written and performed by W. Allen Taylor. The play...

Review: ‘Handbagged’ by Round House Theatre (Women’s Voices Theater Festival)

Two powerful, verbally skilled women come together weekly for tea and talk for over a decade. They are locked in a power struggle about politics and cultural norms that affect a nation and the world....

In Their Own Words: Helen Hayes Nominees React to 2018 Nomination News

The 2018 Helen Hayes Awards nominations were announced last night at a festive and familial reception from Washington, D.C.’s National Theatre. As the night began, aspiring nominees, Helen Hayes...

Review: ‘Digging Up Dessa’ at The Kennedy Center (Women’s Voices Theater Festival)

Despite its off-putting (and overly-clever) title, Digging Up Dessa is a lively and often moving tale of two 12-year-olds who are lost in the middle of a strange new world and trying to find...

Review: ‘La Foto: A Selfie Affair’ at GALA Hispanic Theatre

“La Foto: A Selfie Affair is a simple story, both feminist and humorous, about how the intimacies of our daily lives can be exposed and exploited on social media.” ~ Gustavo Ott, playwright La Foto: A...

Interview: ‘Noura’ Playwright Heather Raffo, (Women’s Voices Theater Festival) at STC

Have you ever met someone who left you feeling as though there is nothing you can’t do? I got that feeling each time I sat down with four playwrights and a director who identify as women of color from...

Review: ‘The Trojan Women Project’ at Brave Spirits (Women’s Voices Theater Festival)

Brave Spirits Theatre adds its distinctive style to the Women’s Voices Theatre Festival with The Trojan Women Project. It is a singular event. The Trojan Women Project is packed with moments of...

Interview: Playwright Anu Yadav on ‘The Princess and the Pauper – A Bollywood Tale,’ Debuting at Imagination Stage

Playwright Anu Yadav’s first commissioned piece The Princess and the Pauper–A Bollywood Tale, debuts this February at Imagination Stage. This play is the perfect platform to introduce children to the...

Review: ‘Character Building’ at American Ensemble Theater

There is something heart-stirring and inspiring about this new one-man musical. In between excerpts from glorious hymns and spirituals, the great African American educator and orator Booker T....

Review: ‘The Underpants’ at Rockville Little Theatre

Review by Bob Ashby The Underpants, an intermittently amusing adaptation by Steve Martin of a 1911 script by German playwright Carl Sternheim, concluded its run at Rockville Little Theater on February...

Review: ‘Image China: Dragon Boat Racing’ a Dynamic and Inspiring Offering at the Kennedy Center

One of the most amazing things in this eye-popping production happened after the show ended. The audience at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts stood and applauded for more than ten...

Interview: Nataki Garrett, ‘Jefferson’s Garden’ Director (Women’s Voices Theater Festival)

Have you ever met someone who left you feeling as though there is nothing you can’t do? I got that feeling each time I sat down with four playwrights and a director who identify as women of color from...

Review: American Ballet Theatre’s ‘Whipped Cream’ at the Kennedy Center

Take a step away from the mundane. Shrug off your office separates, buff hose, and business professional thoughts, and riggle into a world more like a pop-up children’s book than the screaming...

Review: ‘Hairspray’ an Adventure Theatre ATMTC Academy Student Production

Adventure Theatre and ATMTC Academy presented their student production of Hairspray over the weekend. Young artists, ranging from grades four through twelve, hit the stage with all the energy and...

Report: ‘Yoga Play’ at Mosaic Theater Company Workshop Series

Yoga Play, a new work by Dipika Guha, was presented as part of Mosaic Theater Company’s 2018 Workshop Series at the Atlas Performing Arts Center on Monday, January 29th. The play was commissioned and...

Review: ‘Blithe Spirit’ at Annapolis Shakespeare Company

By Betsy Lizotte The Annapolis Shakespeare Company’s production of Noel Coward’s world-class comedy Blithe Spirit was an old-fashioned roller coaster of fun: an essentially delightful thrill-ride of...

Review: ‘American Ballet Theatre: Ratmansky, Robbins, Millepied and Wheeldon’ at the Kennedy Center

As parts of the nation settled in to hear 45 read the script of the State of the Union address, and other parts assiduously ignored the same, balletomanes and ballet goers in the Washington area...

In the Moment Part 2: Interviews with Playwrights Dominique Cieri, Wendy Graf and Hope Villanueva (Women’s Voices Theater Festival)

This is the second part of a two-part series of interviews with Women’s Voices Theatre Festival playwrights. In this series, I asked the same questions to a number of Women’s Voices Theatre Festival...

Interview: Anderson and Roe Piano Duo on Their Special Vibe and Upcoming Kennedy Center Performance

Greg Anderson and Elizabeth Joy Roe are both world-class pianists and they love to play together. And that’s all you can say about them that fits any model. Their artistry is not patterned after any...

Magic Time!: Katie Kleiger on Bonding and Being a Warrior in ‘The Wolves’ at Studio Theatre (Women’s Voices Theater Festival)

The reason I asked to interview Katie Kleiger is that after I saw her in Sarah DeLappe’s The Wolves at Studio Theatre, I realized I had seen her on the same fourth-floor stage in Lucy Prebble’s The...