Washington DC

DC Theatre Scene and DCMetroTheaterArts’ Joint Capital Fringe Coverage Begins Tonight

The two media companies combine writing strength to review 70 openings in 6 days The editors and publishers of DC’s two major theater websites—DC Theatre Scene and DCMetroTheaterArts—today announced...

Magic Time!: Report on a Staged Reading of ‘Olityelwe (The Forgotten)’ at Theater J

When Jonathan David Martin came from New York to DC to be Theater J’s new associate producer in March of last year, he brought with him a backstory as co-artistic director and producer of the Smoke &...

Capital Fringe Preview: ‘HOWL’ in the Time of Trump’ at Sanctuary Theatre’s Performing Knowledge Project

I am not a specialist. I’ve never wanted to be a specialist. In fact, I’ve always wanted to be a non-specialist: someone who encounters life across many disciplines and many loves. As a result, I am a...

Review: ‘One Man, Two Guvnors’ at Silver Spring Stage

One Man, Two Guvnors directed by William T. Fleming and produced by Karen Flemling is now playing at Silver Spring Stage. This play is a British farce by Richard Bean, based on The Servant of Two...

In the Moment: Report on ‘Declassified’ at The Kennedy Center

A hearty bro-hug to The Kennedy Center and to the National Symphony Orchestra’s (NSO) new Artistic Advisor, Ben Folds, for having the joint jumping at the recent late night Declassified event. It was...

Review: ‘Godspell’ at Infinity Theatre Company

The early 1970s gave us three Bible-themed musicals: Stephen Schwartz’s Godspell (currently in a production directed by Alan Ostroff at Infinity Theatre Company in Annapolis), as well as Andrew Lloyd...

Interview: Landis and Jennifer Smith Discuss ‘The Beast in the Bayou’ to play at Wolf Trap July 6-7th and Penn’s Landing July 11th

The great thing about fairy tales is their malleability. Fairy tales have been around for millennia and are often transported from country to country, morphing with each region and time that they...

Capital Fringe Preview: ‘I’m Margaret Thatcher, I Is!’ at AnyStage Theater

AnyStage Theater presents I’m Margaret Thatcher, I Is! After premiering their sci-fi comedy Amelia Earhart In Space at last year’s Capital Fringe Festival, AnyStage is thrilled to bring their latest...

Capital Fringe Preview: ‘ClickB@it’ at Naked Theatre Company by Rachael Murray

NTC goes viral. What happens next will Blow. Your. Mind. We’re baa-aack! Naked Theatre Company returns to the Capital Fringe Festival with a world premiere production, ClickB@it. Inspired by The...

Capital Fringe Preview: ‘Lancer & Lace’ by James F. Bruns

First of all, I don’t remember where I was on November 22, 1963 at 12:40 pm, CST when CBS News interrupted, As the World Turns to announce “In Dallas, Texas, three shots were fired at President...

Review: ‘The Full Monty’ at Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre

Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre’s production of The Fully Monty is a fun musical with a lot of heart. With book by Terrence McNally, music and lyrics by David Yazbek, and directed by Mason Catharini,...

Capital Fringe Preview: ‘The Kind of Thing That Would Happen’ by Agora Dance

Choreographed by Olivia Sabee with original sound design by DeLesslin George-Warren. Performed by Hannah Joo, Melissa Lineburg, Catherine Roth, Robert Rubama, and Meredith Stapleton. In a post-truth...

Capital Fringe Preview: ‘ECHOES’ by N. Richard Nash by Manoel Amado

A young man and woman build a low-keyed paradise of happiness within an asylum, only to have it shattered by the intrusion of the outside world. The two characters search, at times agonizingly, to...

Capital Fringe Preview: ‘Paper’ by John Feffer

A teacher and a student argue over a remark in class. Or was it a remark about class? Or was it really about race? Or gender? My new play Paper brings the explosive confrontations on campus around...

Capital Fringe Preview: ‘Lazarus’ by Evan Crump

“I sell life, secondhand”: Unstrung Harpist Productions’ Lazarus at the 2017 Capital Fringe Festival What does immortality mean to you? Is it the hope that modern medicine will discover cures for the...

In the Moment: Interview with Theatrical Designer Deb Sivigny Part II

Continuing the conversation we started in Part I of this interview with costume and scenic designer Deb Sivigny, we delve a bit more into Deb’s work as a designer. Maybe even with some reveals and...

Capital Fringe Preview: ‘Mr. Taken’ by Ward Kay

Mr. Taken — it’s a sex comedy with an emotional heart. The sex comedies of late 20th century – such as Joe Orton’s What the Butler Saw or Foote and Marriott’s No Sex Please, We’re British had basic...

In the Moment: Logan Festival of Solo Performance at 1st Stage

Under the leadership of Alex Levy, 1st Stage aims to be a cultural hub for the Northern Virginia community and beyond. Over the past year, 1st Stage has reached outside of theatrical productions to...

Capital Finge Preview: ‘WIT & WRATH: The Life & Times of Dorothy Parker’ by Claudia Baumgarten

Listen, I can’t even get my dog to stay down. Do I look to you like someone who could overthrow the government?—During an FBI interrogation at her apartment in 1952. Claudia Baumgarten’s one-woman...

Capital Fringe Preview: ‘Ready to Serve’: A Story for the WWI Centennial by Ellouise Schoettler, Storyteller

Ready to Serve is written and performed by Ellouise Schoettler. The Capital Fringe is a great venue for a performer to premiere or to season work. This July marks my eighth consecutive year performing...

Review: Source Festival 2017: ‘Through the Wall’: Artistic Blind Date

A Source Festival Artistic Blind Date brings together three area artists of different disciplines for an adventure in performance art. In five months they need to create and perform a performance that...

Capital Fringe Preview: ‘Caveat’ by Ben Lockshin

Unless you’re an heiress or robber baron, a room of one’s own in DC is hard to come by. Enter the group house scene – where the young, cash-strapped, and slightly desperate commit to living with...

Theater Alliance Announces Its 2017-2018 Theater Season, Including Return of ‘Word Becomes Flesh’

Theater Alliance announces its 15th Season with an impressive lineup, including the return of its Helen Hayes Award–winning production Word Becomes Flesh, presented with two regional premieres by...

Capital Fringe Preview: ‘Boobs, Balloons, Babies, & Buffoons’: The Origin Story of ‘Tiresias’ Tits’ By Rebecca Rose Vassy, aka Diva Darling

The night I went to see the opera Les Mamelles de Tiresias, I was not expecting to hear a duet about bacon. I’d gone to the dress rehearsal of the Wolf Trap Opera Company’s production knowing nothing...

Capital Fringe Preview: ‘The Blind’ by The Wheel Theatre Company

Imagine you are lost and alone in the forest. You have never been here before and you cannot see to find your way out. You don’t know if anyone knows you are missing or if they will be able to find...

Capital Fringe Preview: ‘Exit Carolyn’ by Jennie Eng by Nu Sass Productions

Exit Carolyn “Best Friends Forever?” Written by Jennie Eng Directed by Bridget Grace Sheaff Featuring Alison Donnelly, Hilary Kelly, Jasmine Jones, and Torin Lusebrink. About Exit Carolyn After the...

Review: ‘My Fair Lady’ at Olney Theatre Center

Not your grandparents’ My Fair Lady, Olney Theatre Center presents a brilliant reimagining of this classic musical. With book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe, it was adapted...

Review: Sheryl Crow at Wolf Trap

In support of her latest album, aptly entitled Be Myself, nine-time Grammy Award-winning, singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow returned to Wolf Trap. The sold-out crowd at the Filene Center eagerly embraced...

Magic Time!: ‘Broken Glass’ at Theater J

Arthur Miller’s 1994 Broken Glass does not rise to the stature of his greatest works (Death of a Salesman, The Crucible, The Price, and others). But even lesser Miller can be arresting, as the smart...

Review: ‘Wonderland: Alice’s Rock & Roll Adventure’ at Imagination Stage

Wonderland: Alice’s Rock & Roll Adventure follows the timeless Lewis Carroll tale, with all the memorable characters we know and love, but with a Rock ‘n’ Roll twist. Written by Rachel Rockwell and...

​Review: ‘Into the Woods’ at Summer Dinner Theatre at Montgomery College

Each time I’ve seen Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods, now playing at Montgomery College’s Summer Dinner Theatre through July 2nd, is the best time I’ve seen Into the Woods and this production,...

Review: ‘Ballet, Brass & Song: Chamber Dance Project’ at Sidney Harman Hall

Baseball players take the winter off. Football players do the same in the summer. Ballet dancers are of a different breed. When their companies go on hiatus, typically in early June, they find other...

Capital Fringe Preview: ‘In The Company of de Sade’ by Timothy R. King

It was 2012 when King’s Players was born. For our first show, we tackled an original piece called In the Company of de Sade. The premise was simple: a director attempts to stage the Marquis de Sade’s...

Review: ‘Murder on the Nile’ at Greenbelt Arts Center

Imagine this scene. You’re on a paddle steamer on the Nile River in Egypt. It’s the mid-60s. You find yourself surrounded by an off-kilter cast of characters: Miss Ffoliot-ffoulkes on holiday with her...

Tantalizing Tastes from a Boffo Buffet: A Report on the 2017 Capital Fringe Festival Preview Night

Fifteen of the 80-plus shows in the 12th Annual Captial Fringe Festival presented five-minute teaser scenes to a packed house Thursday night at Logan Fringe Arts Space. Act after act, the house was...

Capital Fringe Preview: ‘It’s What We Do: A Play about the Occupation’ by Pamela Nice

What is it like for a young Israeli soldier to have to enforce the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza? What is life like for Palestinians living under that occupation, subject to martial law, for 50...

In the Moment Interview: Jordan Friend, Artistic Director of 4615 Theatre

A new generation of theater-makers are beginning to assert themselves in the DC area. They are the Millennial generation who have made DC their home over the past decade. Many are natives of the area,...

Report: ‘Justice for Shylock’ at the Library of Congress

The verdict is in: Shylock–the Jewish moneylender whose trial is detailed in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice–has been exonerated. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg presided over the...

Spine: ‘When We Were Young and Unafraid’ at The Keegan Theatre

Stepping back 45 years, America is in the midst of a social revolution, and feminist consciousness-raising sessions are underway. Radical feminists, cultural feminists, and political feminists are all...

An Interview with the National Orchestral Institute and Festival (NOI+F) Director Richard Scerbo: Thirty Years After It Began, NOI+F is Breaking Ground and Stronger Than Ever by Robert Lintott

When the National Orchestral Institute and Festival (NOI+F) began in 1987, its first director appealed to student musicians across the country by telling them that “participants will have the...

In the Moment: Interview with Theatrical Designer Deb Sivigny Part I

Deb Sivigny is one busy scenic and costume designer in the DC theater community. Just recently, she developed design elements for the Rorschach Theatre production of Forgotten Kingdoms. The 1st Stage...

Magic Time!: ‘When We Were Young and Unafraid’ at The Keegan Theatre

On the top floor of The Keegan Theatre is a cork board labeled “What Does Feminism Mean to You?” Pushpins, pens, and slips of paper are provided so that patrons can have their say, and they do. Lots...

Review: ‘Broken Glass’ at Theater J

Shards of unseen, but sharply-felt shattered glass, both of a collapsing marriage and the infamous Kristallnacht (Night of Crystal), are fused together in Arthur Miller’s Broken Glass, now playing at...

Review: ‘Rent’ at the National Theatre

Okay, twenty years ago I was more concerned with raising kids than living rough on the street, but that’s what the current tour of Rent celebrates. Where to live, how to love, finding work, survival,...

Review: ‘When We Were Young and Unafraid’ at The Keegan Theatre

In 1972, there was no Roe v. Wade or Violence Against Women Act. Battered women had little legal recourse, and many found shelter—if they were lucky—in safe houses run by good Samaritans. House of...

Review: The Second City’s ‘Divided We Stand’ at The Kennedy Center

They’re back! Second City–the group that made Chicago the capital of comedy and that all but invented improv–has returned to DC, where it is part of The Kennedy Center’s month-long second annual...

Review: ‘Junie B. Jones is Not a Crook’ at Adventure Theatre MTC

When I was about eight-years-old, I saw an irresistible set of Hello, Kitty pencils while shopping with my mom. She told me I couldn’t have them, so I slipped them into my pocket. Once home, my mother...

In the Moment: A Report on ‘How I Learned What I Learned’ at Round House Theatre

Reflections of a hard-headed son on the Round House Theatre production of August Wilson’s How I Learned What I Learned. As a theatrical production, August Wilson’s How I Learned What I Learned,...

Magic Time!: ‘The Return’ at Mosaic Theater Company of DC

Inside this taut and provocative two-character play—which vividly evokes the political tension between the Israeli state and its Palestinian citizens—there is a startling sex scene, one that vividly...

Review: ‘Forsaken Angels’ at Wolf Pack Theatre Company

“Write what you know.” Attributed to Mark Twain, this advice is adhered to by many a playwright, including a local one, William Leary. His Forsaken Angels, a joint production of Wolf Pack Theatre...