Washington DC

Review: ‘Calendar Girls’ at Colonial Players of Annapolis

The Colonial Players’ production of Calendar Girls is a screamingly funny, yet poignant comedy. Written by Tim Firth, who co-wrote the 2003 movie, and directed by Debbie Barber-Eaton, it’s an...

In the Moment: Atlas Intersections Festival 2017: Four Dance Troupes: Company Danzante, Jane Franklin Dance, Gin Dance Company, and Rebollar Dance.

This year’s Atlas Intersections Festival has a theme of “where the art world and the real world intersect. The Festival aims to “engage audiences and artists alike by sparking conversation, deeper...

In the Moment: A Talk with the Pipeline Playwrights: Part One: Ann Timmons and Soo-Jin Lee

Northern Virginia is very much alive and supporting original play development by local playwrights. The diversity of the Northern Virginia demographic provides for fresh experiences to base a play on....

Review: ‘The Trojan Women’ at Taffety Punk Theatre Company

The feminist movement has been on the rise for decades, but with our current political and social climate, saturated with patriarchal overreach into women’s lives (and even their bodies), years of...

Review: ‘God of Carnage’ at Compass Rose Theater

Compass Rose Theater does it again with another smart and dramatic production. God of Carnage is remarkable, this time with Director Steven Carpenter at the helm. Lucinda Merry-Browne is the Producer...

News: Howard County to See Two New Musicals: ‘The Hot New Deal’ at Glenelg Country School and ‘Dorian’s Closet’ at Rep Stage

Howard County is about to enjoy the debuts of no less than two original musicals in the coming weeks. First up this week is The Hot New Deal at Glenelg Country School’s Mulitz Theater, this Wednesday,...

Review: ‘Vive la France: The Magic of Saint-Saens’ at The National Chamber Ensemble

Love was in the air as The National Chamber Ensemble presented their Valentine’s Day performance called Vive la France: The Magic of Saint-Saens. The concert was described as: Celebrate Valentine’s...

Review: Ahamefule J. Oluo’s ‘Now I’m Fine’ at The Clarice

It takes bravery to decide that your story is worth telling. It’s even more admirable to have the courage to tell your story onstage with a 16-piece orchestra. That’s what Ahamefule J. Oluo did at The...

Review: ‘No Solemn Silence: A Gilbert & Sullivan Review’ at George Mason University’s Center For the Arts

George Mason University (GMU) launched its Year of Gilbert and Sullivan Celebration with a clever, bright, joyfully sung musical homage to the masterful Gilbert and Sullivan team and its invented...

Review: ‘H20’ at Rep Stage

Not everyone who attends Jane Martin’s H20 at Rep Stage will necessarily agree, but the case could be made for its taking place in one of Dante’s outer circles of Hell. As the play opens, a cynical...

Review: ‘The Very Last Days of the First Colored Circus’ at Restoration Stage

A long-ago love story inspired this richly textured play with 1920s music. When Playwright Steven A. Butler Jr. was growing up, he heard family stories about how his great-great grandparents, Ruby...

Review: ‘Laughter on the 23rd Floor’ at Laurel Mill Playhouse

Politics, laughter, and lunacy come together in this lesser known Neil Simon comedy, Laughter on the 23rd Floor which opened last night at Laurel Mill Playhouse. Directed by John D’Amato and produced...

Review: Regina Carter: ‘Simply Ella’ at The Kennedy Center

Regina Carter and her violin: a human voice has never sounded so true. If you get a chance to experience Regina Carter: Simply Ella, the jazz quintet composed of Regina Carter (violin), Marvin Sewell...

Review: ‘Two Rooms’ at Kensington Arts Theatre

International diplomacy is like a game of chess, full of strategy, maneuvering and calculation. You take risks you hope won’t prove fatal and you never want to be the pawn. Two Rooms, by playwright...

Review: ‘Little Women’ at The Catholic University’s Benjamin T. Rome School of Music

Catholic University’s Benjamin T. Rome School of Music’s production of Little Women is nearly three hours of spectacular musical merriment. Directed by faculty member Jay D. Brock and with a book by...

Review: ‘All My Sons’ at The George Washington University’s Department of Theatre and Dance

Some plays survive the test of time. Arthur Miller’s All My Sons is such a play. And the production mounted by The George Washington University’s Department of Theatre and Dance makes that point...

Review: ‘Dracula’ at American University

The famous novel Dracula, by Bram Stoker, has been adapted for countless film and stage productions, thrilling audiences since 1897. With a cinematic look and feel, some stand out performances, and...

Interview: Meet ‘The Duskwhales’

I first ran across the Duskwhales when they performed at the 9:30 Club on the Circus Life Podcast 3rd Anniversary Show in the Fall of 2016. I was mesmerized by their psychedelic dress, sound and...

Meet the Cast of Olney Theatre Center’s ‘Sweeney Todd’: Part Two: E. Faye Butler (Mrs. Lovett)

In Part Two of series of interviews with the cast of Sweeney Todd at Olney Theatre Center, meet E. Faye Butler. Joel: Please introduce yourself and tell our readers where they may have seen you on the...

In the Moment: ‘King Charles III’ at Shakespeare Theatre Company

Shakespeare Theatre Company’s (STC) production of Mike Bartlett’s King Charles III is a stunner. It is a clever look into a usually unseen political hall-of-mirrors. It is also a most telling tale of...

Spine: ‘King Charles III’ at The Shakespeare Theatre Company

They sure don’t make kings like they used to. And maybe that’s a good thing. Mike Bartlett’s historical fantasy, King Charles III, based loosely (very loosely) on the current royal family of England,...

Interview: Meet the Cast of ‘Two Rooms’ at Kensington Arts Theatre: Part 2: Sandra Cox True.

In part two of a series of interviews with the cast of Kensington Arts Theatre’s Two Rooms, meet Sandra Cox True. Please introduce yourself and tell our readers where they may have seen you perform on...

Review: ‘Eclipsed’ at Howard University’s Department of Theatre Arts

Howard University presented the powerful new play, Eclipsed, in their black box theater this past weekend. Eclipsed was written in 2015 by Danai Gurira (well-known for her role as Michonne on AMC’s...

Review: ‘Top Girls’ at Maryland Ensemble Theatre

The adage, “more things change, the more they stay the same” comes to mind when weighing British playwright Caryl Churchill’s seminal Obie-winning classic, Top Girls, which was first produced in 1982...

Review: ‘Last of the Red Hot Lovers’ at George Mason University’s Center for the Arts

Neil Simon writes terrific comedy. Tonight, Last of the Red Hot Lovers, directed by Theater J’s Artistic Director Adam Immerwahr, performed by Walnut Street Theatre at George Mason University’s Center...

Michael Kahn Will Retire as Artistic Director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) in July 2019

Michael Kahn will retire as Artistic Director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) in July 2019. A national search for Mr. Kahn’s successor will begin in 2017. His successor will be announced in...

Review: Jazzmeia Horn at the Kennedy Center Jazz Club

To understand the voice of Jazzmeia Horn — whether it’s embodying her own ballad, the cleverly romantic, soft “Legs and Arms,” or taking on the role of an instrumentalist — is to understand what it...

Review: ‘King Charles III’ at Shakespeare Theatre Company

The Ghost in the Machine Mike Bartlett’s King Charles III premiered in 2014, at London’s Almeida Theatre. Both the original production and the Broadway production won numerous awards. This new...

Review: ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ at the University of Maryland School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies at The Clarice

Oscar Wilde’s final show is subtitled “a trivial comedy for serious people,” and when it premiered in 1895, it was comparatively trivial. Two men, each pretending to be a man named Ernest, two women...

Review: ‘Peter and the Starcatcher’ at Constellation Theatre Company

Black Stache is bringing his pirate ship to Source Theatre, in Constellation Theatre Company’s fantastic production of the 2012 Tony Award-winning play Peter and the Starcatcher. Equipped with lost...

Review: ‘Blues in the Night’ at Creative Cauldron

Ready for top-notch singing talent that brings the “blues” to vibrant, spicy full life? Then high tail-it to Creative Cauldron (Falls Church) to take-in a cabaret-like revue called Blues in the Night....

Review: ‘The Freshest Snow Whyte’ at Imagination Stage

Far off the radar of most grownup theatergoers, the writer/director Psalmayene 24 has been creating an extraordinary body of work for children. I’ve been an admirer of the trenchant work he has...

Review #2: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at The Kennedy Center

The beloved Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is back at The Kennedy Center for a week-long run. Now 57 years old, the company pulls from a repertoire dating back to 1960. Using a combination of...

NSO: An Evening with Joshua Bell at The Kennedy Center

It has been said that Joshua Bell may be the greatest violinist active today. After listening to him play, as well as conduct, at The Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall with the National Symphony Orchestra...

Review: ‘Willy Wonka’ at Other Voices Theatre

From the opening moments of the Other Voices Theatre’s production of Willy Wonka, the audience is swept away into a “world of pure imagination.” The show is based on s classic children’s novel, with...

Review: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at The Kennedy Center

The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is looking as strong and beautiful as ever in its annual February visit to The Kennedy Center Opera House. Now in his sixth year as artistic director of the...

Review: ‘I Love You, Because’ at Damascus Theatre Company

Pop-rock musicals are having a moment. With Dear Evan Hanson ruling on Broadway and Freaky Friday recently debuting at Signature Theatre, fun, upbeat musicals are all the rage. While lesser known than...

In the Moment: The Soundscape of MetroStage’s ‘The Gin Game’ Rocks!

I love being surprised when I go to theater. Recently, I went to a play, MetroStage’s comely The Gin Game, and became totally smitten with the textures of its music design. It was a soundscape that...

Review: ‘Watch on the Rhine’ at Arena Stage

Lillian Hellman’s Watch on the Rhine came to DC for a command performance on January 25, 1942. The occasion: Franklin Roosevelt’s 60th birthday. America had just entered World War II and the fight...

Magic Time! ‘Watch on the Rhine’ at Arena Stage

Whatever this play meant to Broadway audiences when it debuted in 1941, just prior to America’s entry into a war of resistance to fascism abroad, what matters now is what it means to audiences just as...

Meet the Cast of ‘Two Rooms’ at Kensington Arts Theatre: Part One: Sean Dynan

In Part One of a series of interviews with the cast of Two Rooms at Kensington Arts Theatre, meet Sean Dynan. Please introduce yourself and tell our readers where they may have seen you perform on the...

Meet the Cast of ‘The Miracle Worker’ at Rockville Little Theatre. Part 5: Heather Andrews

In a series of interviews with the cast of The Miracle Worker at Rockville Little Theatre, meet Heather Andrews. Joel: Please introduce yourself and tell our readers where they may have seen you...

Interview: Musician Rachel Levitin

Musician Rachel Levitin embodies passion. She is passionate about her music, life, and friends and is grateful for everything. When she sings, her whole body is enraptured in the music. It is a...

Shakespeare Theatre Company Unveils its 2017-2018 Season Lineup

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR MICHAEL KAHN ANNOUNCES THE SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY’S 2017-2018 SEASON Othello The Collection and The Lover Twelfth Night Hamlet Waiting for Godot Camelot Final production to be...

Best Medicine Rep, A New Professional Theater Company, Is Coming to Gaithersburg, MD; Free Reading of Jennifer Faletto’s ‘Bathroom Hate’ This Sunday, 2/12@3 PM

A new professional theater company is coming to Montgomery County, Maryland. Best Medicine Rep, helmed by playwright John Morogiello, will focus on new comedies and judging from my conversation with...

In the Moment: ‘Trevor’ at 1st Stage

Under the crafty direction of Alex Levy, 1st Stage’s production of Trevor, penned by Nick Jones, had me in agreement with a recent American Theatre headline calling Jones the “Deadpan Puppet Master of...

Review: ‘I Too Speak of the Rose’ (‘Yo También Hablo de la Rosa’) at GALA Hispanic Theatre

US Premiere of Mexican Classic Now Playing at GALA Hispanic Theatre Some might think of it as a Mexican version of Rashomon—Akira Kurosawa’s classic 1950 film in which each of the characters describes...

Review: ‘Company’ at McLean Community Players

Stephen Sondheim’s gloriously urbane, stylistic and sophisticated musical Company was groundbreaking when it first arrived on Broadway in the Seventies and it still remains relevant today. McLean...

Review: ‘RIN: Tales From the Life of a Troubadour’ Starring Rinde Eckert at The Kennedy Center

The acclaimed writer, composer, librettist, physician, performer, and director Rinde Eckert delighted and amazed the crowd on Friday evening at the Kennedy Center’s Family Theater. Eckert allowed the...

Here are the 2017 Helen Hayes Award Nominations

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