Washington DC

Review: ‘(In)Security: Or, Jack and Nikki Do the Cold War Tango’ at The Kennedy Center

Memorial Day this year coincided to the day with the 100th anniversary of the birth of President John F. Kennedy. To commemorate the occasion, The Kennedy Center put on a full weekend of events,...

Review: ‘King Lear’ at Avant Bard

The tempest in my mind / Doth from my senses take all feeling else. King Lear, Act 3, scenes 4–5. Avant Bard’s King Lear is a bracing, piercing production of a family and realm in heightening...

Review: ‘All Shook Up’ at Act Two at Levine

Seeing All Shook Up at Act Two at Levine last weekend was like an adventure in time travel. The show, which played for one weekend only, offered a glimpse of a long-ago world—1955, when Elvis Presley...

Magic Time!: ‘Hir’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

The absurdity and grim reality of gender get a scathing going-over in this extraordinary play by Taylor Mac. Inside the hilarity of Hir (pronounced “here”) is a tragedy howling to get out. Taylor Mac,...

HCC’s Arts Collective Presents ‘INHERITORS: The Nature of Keys’ June 8 – 18, 2017

HCC’s Arts Collective Presents “INHERITORS: The Nature of Keys” June 8 – 18, 2017, An Original Play Devised by The Company. Howard Community College’s Arts Collective concludes its 22nd season with...

Review: ‘Hir’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

I recently came back from London, where I saw the National Theatre’s 25th anniversary production of Tony Kushner’s epic, Angels in America. I thought a lot about that play after seeing Woolly Mammoth...

Review: ‘Urinetown: The Musical’ at Nextstop Theatre Company

Imagine a musical about a revolution, where a few scrappy rebels fight for the dignity of their fellow man against a tyrannical few. Now add a score that satirizes every musical under the sun, a...

Review: Audra McDonald at Strathmore

Returning to the DC area, Audra McDonald gave a concert at Strathmore on May 26, 2017, full of her signature charm and joy. Her powerhouse soprano that transitions smoothly and easily between Broadway...

Film Review: ‘The Wedding Plan’

Near the beginning of The Wedding Plan, the latest from Israeli-American filmmaker Rama Burshtein, we find ourselves in an uncomfortable place. Michal, whom we first met at a fortune teller’s talking...

Magic Time!: ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ at Signature Theatre

There’s an extraordinarily tender and touching moment in Signature Theatre’s ebullient Jesus Christ Superstar when Mary Magdalene (Natascia Diaz), after singing her gorgeous ballad “I Don’t Know How...

In The Moment: A Report on ‘ReBirth of a Nation’ at The Kennedy Center

It was an evening like few others in the company of of hundreds at The Kennedy Center on a recent evening. What took place was a performance meant to strike a hot chord for cultural and political...

In The Moment: Interviews With the Creative Cauldron ‘Bold New Works in Intimate Space Artistic Teams: Laura Connors Hull, Matt Conner, and Stephen Gregory Smith

Creative Cauldron continues to dazzle critics and audiences with its “Bold New Works for Intimate Stages” – a series of premier musicals. It is certainly rare when a smaller professional theater...

Review: ‘Ulysses on Bottles’ at Mosaic Theater Company of DC

Near the beginning of this transporting play, the actor Sarah Marshall, wearing a man-tailored white suit, unrolls a map of Gaza and lays it on the floor. She then dumps onto it 200 tiny plastic toy...

Spine: ‘Ulysses on Bottles’ at Mosaic Theater Company of DC, Part of the 2017 Voice From a Changing Middle East Festival

Last night, Gilad Evron’s Ulysses on Bottles opened the Mosaic Theater Company’s 2017 Voices From a Changing Middle East Festival. Described as an allegory, Evron’s Ulysses challenges contemporary...

Review: ‘Richard III’ at Annapolis Shakespeare Company

Annapolis Shakespeare Company’s production of Richard III is a darkly compelling piece of theater. Directed by Donald Hicken, it strips the stage of all but a few props, allowing great acting and...

Review: ‘Silent Sky’ Reprised at Silver Spring Stage

Friday marked the reprisal at Silver Spring Stage of a very timely Silent Sky, by Laura Gunderson. Produced by Seth Ghitelman and directed by Bill Hurlbut, it is the fascinating story of Henrietta...

Review: ‘Sioux Falls’ at 10th Muse Productions at Mead Theatre Lab at Flashpoint

10th Muse Productions’ The Wedding Party was a huge hit in Capital Fringe 2015 (the DCMetroTheater Arts review called it a “delightful comedic romp”). It was a show that Maegan Dominy co-wrote (with...

Review: ‘Proof’ at Olney Theatre Center

Who wants to go see a play about math? That could be a typical dialogue when people are perusing the paper wondering how to spend their Saturday night. In the case of David Auburn’s Tony Award-winning...

Dangereuse: Shakespeare’s Most Badass Misanthrope: ‘Timon of Athens’ at Folger Theatre

Just when Canada starts to sound like a good idea, comes Timon of Athens at the Folger Theatre, confirming once again that first-rate Shakespeare is a cure for almost anything. The show’s brilliance...

Review: ‘Side Effects’ at Taffety Punk Theatre Company

In a simple bold setting, a man in a hurry is running late. He is answering his phone, head skewed at an angle to balance between shoulder and cheek. At the same time, he handles a slim file folder...

Review: ‘Mercy Killers’ at Taffety Punk Theatre Company

Joe in Michael Milligan’s one-man show Mercy Killers is, indeed, your average Joe: he listens to Rush Limbaugh, he works on cars as a mechanic, he has no college degree, and (yes) he probably would...

Review: ‘Tunnel Vision’ at Venus Theatre

Tunnel Vision, written by Andrea Lepcio and directed by Deborah Randall, at Venus Theatre is a powerful and a thought-provoking play. Venus Theatre, under the direction of Founder Deborah Randall, has...

Review: ‘Fear Eats the Soul’ at Scena Theatre

As part of its 30th anniversary season, Scena Theatre has offered a stage adaptation of late German film auteur Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s 1974 film Fear Eats the Soul, translated and adapted by...

Film Review: ‘Menashe’ Appearing at The Washington Jewish Film Festival

Fuelled by fantastic performances and effective cinematography, Joshua Z. Weinstein’s Menashe brings to light the world of Brooklyn’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish community through the story of a widowed...

Magic Time!: ‘The Father’ at The Studio Theatre

There are reasons aplenty not to miss The Father now playing at The Studio Theatre, and Ted van Griethuysen’s performance in the title role is foremost among them. Recently the recipient of a Helen...

Review: ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ at Signature Theatre

Signature Theatre’s production of Jesus Christ Superstar is an impressive beauty of a rock opera. It successfully takes a Biblical phrase such as, “Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in...

Review: the National Chamber Ensemble Mother’s Day Concert ‘Music of Our Time’ at the Spectrum Theatre

For their Mother’s Day theme and as a tribute to the conclusion of their 10th anniversary season at Rosslyn’s Spectrum Theatre, the National Chamber Ensemble (NCE) selected a program inspired by film...

In the Moment: Strauss Artist Grant Bestowed on Scenic, Costume, and Puppet Designer Margaret (Margie) Jervis

The Arts Council of Fairfax County announced a $5,000 Strauss Artist Grant award to Falls Church-based theater designer Margaret (Margie) Jervis. Jervis, a Falls Church native, is the resident Scenic,...

Report #2: “The 33rd Annual Helen Hayes Awards” at the Lincoln Theatre

The 33rd Annual Helen Hayes Awards, held at Washington’s Lincoln Theatre, was a fabulous celebration of the D.C. area’s wonderfully talented theater community. Hosts E. Faye Butler and Lawrence...

Review: ‘Kaleidoscope’ at Creative Cauldron

Creative Cauldron presents Kaleidoscope, a “Bold New Works” ​World Premiere Musical with Music and Lyrics by Matt Conner and Book and Lyrics by Stephen Gregory Smith, who also co-direct the...

Review: ‘Voices in the Rubble’ and ‘Endgame’ at Rapid Lemon Productions

Max Garner’s Rapid Lemon Productions (“Rapid Lemon”) is pairing two short Absurdist Theater gems to create an evening of darkly-humorous nihilism at the Motor House performance space. And, like me, it...

Review: Mason Bates’ KC Jukebox: ‘Thievery Corporation’ at The Kennedy Center

The ethereal and complex mixture of sounds that Thievery Corporation has produced over a 22-year career has given them lots of material and a dedicated following. Their show last night at The Kennedy...

Review #2: ‘The Father’ at The Studio Theatre

It’s taken five years for The Father—the highly-acclaimed drama by Florian Zeller that shook Paris in 2012—to arrive in the Washington area. But now that it’s here—following sold-out performances in...

Report: ‘The 33rd Annual Helen Hayes Awards’ at the Lincoln Theatre

The glammed-up, black tie crowd began arriving at the historic Lincoln Theatre in U Street, NW, 90 minutes before show time. Most of the men were in tuxedos or dark suits. Some of the suits were...

Review: ‘Timon of Athens’ at Folger Theatre

Undone by his own goodness? Ha! That is not what I took away as director Robert Richmond succeeded masterfully with his contemporary, blasting grenade of an interpretation for Shakespeare’s rarely...

Here Are The Recipients of the 2017 Helen Hayes Awards

Here are the 2017 Helen Hayes Recipients in RED. __ Outstanding Choreography, Musical-Hayes Christopher d’Amboise, Evita, Olney Theatre Center Kelly Devine, Come From Away, Ford’s Theatre Parker Esse,...

Review: ‘The Father’ at The Studio Theatre

Some plays are more difficult to watch than others; some plays activate your imagination and pull you into their stories whole-body: those plays pull you into the psychological realities they portray....

Review: ‘The Man Who’ at Spooky Action Theater

Curious questions tease the brain during this peculiarly provocative production. One is: Is this theater? Another is: What are we to make of it? The Man Who, just opened at the estimably idiosyncratic...

Review: ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’ at Synetic Theater

Haunting is the word that quickly came to mind as I sat, mesmerized, rediscovering a classic of literature I thought I knew from reading print on a page and from the movies. But, oh my, Synetic...

Review #2: ‘An American Daughter’ at Montgomery Playhouse and Arts on the Green

Just when you thought that scandalous political agendas were restricted to CNN’s 24-hour news cycle, along comes An American Daughter, Wendy Wasserstein’s 1997 play about a woman’s nomination as...

Spine: ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’ at Synetic Theater

The spectacle of movement has always been Synetic’s star attraction. When those primal, emotional moments fuse with a strong narrative throughline, Synetic’s brilliance shines brightest. Their newest...

The 2017 Helen Hayes Awards Recipients to be Announced Tonight

Nominations for the 2017 Helen Hayes Awards Outstanding Choreography, Musical-Hayes Christopher d’Amboise, “Evita,” Olney Theatre Center Kelly Devine, “Come From Away,” Ford’s Theatre Parker Esse,...

Review: ‘The Glass Menagerie’ at Parlor Room Theater

Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie is an American theater classic. At its center a story about a shattered family, the show is timeless in its themes. Parlor Room Theater (PRT) Director Dillon...

Review #1: ‘An American Daughter’ at Montgomery Playhouse and Arts on the Green

Humanity can never quite manage to get out of its own way. And that’s a good thing for the entertainment industry. Since “there is nothing new under the sun,” there is constant material for every next...

Magic Time!: ‘Outside Mullingar’ at The Keegan Theatre

How does a play that starts out about real estate for gosh sake—adjacent farms in rural Ireland—become a heart-wrenching story of adjacent lost souls who fall in love late in life? How does a play...

Dangereuse: Playing Gloucester Female: A Q&A With Cam Magee About Her Regendered Role in Avant Bard’s ‘King Lear’

Much of the publicity for the much-anticipated Avant Bard production of King Lear has focused on Rick Foucheux’s Lear. I recently saw Foucheux play Gloucester in a production at George Washington...

Report: The 2017 ‘Kennedy Center Arts Summit’

Two-hundred and fifty artist citizens, teachers, members of arts non-profits, business executives, scientists and technologists from around the world, came together for a full day at the fourth annual...

Review: ‘The Tempest’ at Encore Stage & Studio

Encore Stage & Studio closed their most recent production, Shakespeare’s comedy The Tempest, this past weekend. As the self-proclaimed “Theatre for kids, by kids,” Encore works with young local talent...

Review: ‘Protest’ at Alliance for New Music-Theatre

DC site-specific theater of resistance reached a new height last night—also a new low—as Alliance for New Music-Theatre’s arresting staging of Václav Havel’s Protest became the first play performed...

Review #1: ‘Outside Mullingar’ at The Keegan Theatre

Theatre-lovers searching for a sequel to Doubt—John Patrick Shanley’s prize-winning (and frequently revived) play about nuns and priests in an Irish-American enclave of New York—will be surprised to...