Washington DC

Daniel J. Watts, only child of a single mother, grows up proud in ‘The Jam’

Daniel J. Watts’s The Jam: Only Child—the second feature production in Signature Theatre’s 2021 season—is now streaming on demand. Written and performed by 2020 Tony Award–nominated Daniel J. Watts...

STC’s ‘A Winter’s Tale’ mock trial submits evidence that spring is coming

Critic Marjorie Garber suggests that A Winter’s Tale is “a hall of mirrors” and that the main character, King Leontes, lives in a solipsistic universe. The beloved tradition of STC’s Mock Trial, which...

Washington Stage Guild revives Shaw’s ‘Devil’s Disciple’ with simplicity and skill

Many well-made and renowned plays are rarely seen onstage. Extensive staging requirements, such as multiple locations or an expansive cast of characters, often give theater companies pause when...

The Bengsons create new indie-folk musical for Arena Stage

Shaun and Abigail Bengson met in New York City at a party and after talking, decided to start a band together. Their first rehearsal turned into their first date, and three weeks later, they were...

Roaring back: Noseda returns to lead NSO in four filmed concerts

Gianandrea Noseda has returned to the podium of his beloved National Symphony Orchestra, awakening the sleeping giant that is the sound he has crafted as the ensemble’s music director since the...

On toxic artistic leadership (part three): Manifesto for theater ethics

Back in the 1980s, the Harvard University Business School dismissed offers to create a curriculum in ethics—free of charge, if I remember correctly; an alumnus even offered to pay for it. The Business...

My search for Black women’s unsung voices, or, Why theater needs a ‘Reset’

Questions of “canon” have haunted me throughout my theatrical education and subsequent professional career. As a precocious young child obsessed with the performing arts, I searched and searched for...

‘Genderosity’ by Gay Men’s Chorus is a lovely many-gendered sing

By now, you have likely seen a song performed by a “virtual choir,” a group of singers who recorded his/her/their part as a solo video, then a technical person edited the sound and video together to...

On toxic artistic leadership (part two): Training actors to be abused

The departure of Ethan McSweeny from the American Shakespeare Center was only one among many over the past year. Taken as a whole, the protests and departures/firings raise issues that all of us must...

Tom Barylski on directing female-centric and gay fantasy ‘She Kills Monsters’

By Laura W. Andruski, theater program coordinator, The Arts Barn The Montgomery Playhouse in cooperation with Arts on the Green is presenting a virtual performance of She Kills Monsters by Qui...

Reston Community Players restarts with Cold War drama ‘A Walk in the Woods’

After being dark since last March due to COVID-19, Reston Community Players comes back to life with A Walk in the Woods, a Cold War–era drama by Lee Blessing that examines the relationship between a...

On toxic artistic leadership (part one): When workers unite in protest

News of Ethan McSweeny’s departure as artistic director of the American Shakespeare Center has prompted a variety of responses—and the mainstream theater critics seem divided on how to handle it. A...

Art, ritual, and connection to meet up at ‘Shrines’ by the Arcanists

The Arcanists, creators of the cult-hit interactive variety show The Tarot Reading, have devised a new site-specific experience called Shrines, led by multi-award-winning scenic and costume designer...

Black women reimagine artistic programming in ‘Reset’ at Woolly

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company has launched Reset, a new, free digital assemblage of Black artistry featuring historical resources, excerpts, and video performances. Curated by six Black cisgender...

How Imagination Stage is making sure the kids are okay during COVID

A new guard is stepping in at Imagination Stage, led by longtime Artistic Director, now Producing Artistic Director Janet Stanford. Rounding out the leadership trifecta are Meghann Babo-Shroyer as...

Washington wonks and Bard buffs to meet in mock trial Thursday

Shakespeare Theatre Company’s annual Mock Trial—“the funniest, most entertaining event in Washington” (Roll Call) and “a Washington wonk’s dream (The New York Times)—will be in session virtually March...

How do we love in the time of COVID? Rep Stage counts ten ways.

For its first production since shutdown, Rep Stage explores how love can help us connect and heal in a time of isolation and unrest. The fully produced, filmed theater event of ten original...

The relevance of ‘The Mountaintop,’ beautifully played at the Arts Barn

Eddie S. Glaude Jr., author of Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own (2020) and a Princeton professor, writes in The New Yorker about an encounter at a fundraiser...

In Matthew Bourne’s ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ the lovers are teens in juvey

“For never was there a tale of more woe, than this of Juliet and her Romeo.” Who doesn’t know the tragic ending of star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet? Yet we continue to be besotted by the...

A riveting E. Faye Butler lifts up Black history as Fannie Lou Hamer

Sarasota, Florida’s Asolo Rep continues its 2021 outdoor season with the Rolling World Premiere of Mississippi native Cheryl L. West’s Fannie: The Music and Life of Fannie Lou Hamer. Originally...

Three lauded local actors to go solo in spring season from Round House

Round House Theatre plans a spring 2021 season with virtual productions of three moving one-person performances: Colman Domingo’s A Boy and His Soul, directed by Craig Wallace; Lucy Alibar’s Throw Me...

Imagination Stage strikes gold with ‘Spy Academy & the Lost Treasure of Atlantis’

There are jumping dogs, ninja fights, and double crosses. The story is fast-paced and offers many moments for kids to chime in on how the story should advance (remember Choose Your Own Adventure...

Avant Bard Theatre regroups with new leadership team

After the double blow of the pandemic and the death of Artistic Director Tom Prewitt in November, Arlington’s Avant Bard Theatre is moving ahead under a new model of artistic partnership. The Avant...

#WeSeeYou antiracist accountability report includes 11 DMV theaters

An accountability report released by the We See You, White American Theater collective (WSYWAT) points to more than 100 theater institutions nationwide that have responded to the group’s BIPOC Demands...

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra to play composers silenced by Nazis

Four composers who died in Nazi concentration camps are known to have written entire compositions while imprisoned there, and the Washington–Baltimore region deserves its share of credit in bringing...

Ken Ludwig on his parents’ love story and the lost art of letter-writing

When I interviewed Ken Ludwig about his latest play, Dear Jack, Dear Louise, which opened at Arena Stage more than a year ago, I was curious about his parents—the Jack and Louise of the title—and the...

Meet the talented teens who won Mosaic’s playwriting contest

Mosaic Theater Company announces and celebrates the talented winners of its inaugural Playwriting Contest for high school students. Each winning play will receive a reading by professional actors as...

Theatre Prometheus to center asylum seekers and marginalized playwrights

Theatre Prometheus—following its “arresting, provocative, and hauntingly relevant” production of 14, José Casas’s play about immigration—has announced two new projects in 2021 highlighting its mission...

‘Loveday Brooke’ audio play from We Happy Few is an entertaining gem

Loveday Brooke is generally referred to as “the female Sherlock Holmes.” Author Catherine Louisa Pirkis first published her lady detective story in 1893 and, aside from having created the first female...

O villainy! Patrick Page slays in ‘All the Devils Are Here’ from STC

“This rough magic I here abjure.” This phrase, from Prospero’s farewell in The Tempest, is among the most exquisite in Shakespeare. In All the Devils Are Here: How Shakespeare Invented the Villain,...

Four views from ‘The Mountaintop,’ streaming live from the Arts Barn

By Laura W. Andruski, theater program coordinator, The Arts Barn Rockville Little Theatre – in cooperation with Arts on the Green – will livestream The Mountaintop, Katori Hall’s gripping reimagining...

Signature Theatre’s lovely ‘Simply Sondheim’ feels like a live performance

Signature Theatre’s production of Simply Sondheim is a lovely tribute to one of America’s best composers and lyricists for the stage. Co-conceived by David Loud and Eric Schaeffer, and directed by...

‘Hi, Are You Single?’ at Woolly Mammoth is hugely moving and entertaining

Ryan J. Haddad’s incredible one-person show, Hi, Are You Single?, is the first time any performer has set foot on the Woolly Mammoth stage since March 2020. This gem of a show, presented by Woolly...

Haunting last words from a Black cop on death row in Meshaun Labrone’s ‘Spook’

“It’s not what you are, it’s what you don’t become that hurts.” This quote by musician Oscar Levant is what opens the film Spook. Based on a solo stage piece by the same name, written and performed by...

For lovers of sleuthing, a Sherlock Holmes audio drama from We Happy Few

In this ever evolving age of the coronavirus, theaters have been experimenting in ways to keep the arts alive and thriving. We Happy Few has recently been producing audio recordings with extras. Their...

Synetic Theater to produce original art films and stream on custom app

Synetic Theater has announced the launch of a new digital streaming app as well as the creation of a film production arm, Synetic Motion Pictures. The streaming service, dubbed “Synetic Streaming,”...

Metro update: Without Biden bailout, slashed service still likely

We at DCMTA continue to track the WMATA budget and any service-cut issues, given Metro’s critical importance to the survival of live performing arts. Based upon our reach-out to arts leadership, Metro...

Patrick Page to bare the Bard’s bad guys, onstage at Shakespeare Theatre Company

Shakespeare Theatre Company’s first-ever online-only production, All the Devils Are Here: How Shakespeare Invented the Villain, a performance written by and starring STC Affiliated Artist Patrick...

New biography of Tom Stoppard, prolific playwright of ideas

Hermione Lee’s biography of Tom Stoppard is a comprehensive look at the life and work of one of the English language’s most accomplished playwrights. Lee, a prolific biographer of 20th-century...

Stepping to Go-Go, Step Afrika! takes on COVID prevention

“We have a shared responsibility to keep our communities safe,” Step Afrika! founder C. Brian Williams told me at the top of our phone conversation. With the pandemic continuing to ravage the DC area...

Excitement of discovery drives ‘Ada and the Engine’ at Silver Spring Stage

Silver Spring Stage’s streaming production of Ada and the Engine is an exciting mixture of history, science, and poetry. Written by Lauren Gunderson, it tells the story of Ada Byron, a mathematician...

Ditch the “Is this theater?” debate, by Jordan Friend and Gregory Keng Strasser

Gregory Keng Strasser (producing director): Hey, Jordan. Jordan Friend (artistic director): Hey, Greg. I guess we have to pretend like we don’t talk to each other every day. Greg: So. 4615 GO — where...

Signature Theatre announces cast and dates for ‘Simply Sondheim’ review

Signature Theatre announces the full cast and streaming dates for Simply Sondheim, the first production in the Signature Features 2021 Season. Starring 12 singers and an orchestra of 16, Simply...

Studio Theatre goes all-digital, sets streaming dates through July

Given the ongoing pandemic and challenges to safely presenting live performances, Studio Theatre has taken its five-play season entirely digital. Productions will be filmed in Studio’s intimate spaces...

Lauren Gunderson’s inventive ‘Ada and the Engine’ to go live online

Silver Spring Stage proudly presents the area community theater premiere of Lauren Gunderson’s Ada and the Engine, directed by Jon Jon Johnson and produced by Alika Codispoti and Maura Suilebhan. Ada...

Two rival sisters feud in intense and surreal Adrienne Kennedy drama

Round House Theatre, in association with McCarter Theater Center, concludes its festival of works by celebrated playwright Adrienne Kennedy with the world premiere of Etta and Ella on the Upper West...

Essential Theatre to mark MLK Jr. Day with Rosa Parks play

In celebration of the Martin Luther King Jr. national holiday, The Essential Theatre Performances in Cyberspace will present Rosa Parks: Such a Time. Written and performed by Gwendolyn Briley-Strand,...

Studio’s free new audio plays— ‘Kings’ and ‘I Hate It Here’—available now

Studio Theatre looks back at the politics and precariousness of 2020 through two intimate and immediate Studio in Your Ears audio plays available for free now on its website. Studio’s first-ever audio...

MetroStage to stream ‘Mothers and Sons’ in tribute to Terrence McNally

What does a gay man call another gay man to whom he is committed? The character Cal in Terrence McNally’s Mothers and Sons gropes for the right word: Andre and I were what people called “boyfriends”...

Before there was COVID, Lauren Gunderson married a virus hunter. ‘The Catastrophist’ is her play about him.

In The Catastrophist, Lauren Gunderson has written a story for this moment in time about Dr. Nathan Wolfe, the award-winning virologist who years before the COVID-19 outbreak proposed a plan to...