Washington DC

Review #2: ‘Going to a Place Where You Already Are’ at Theater Alliance

The main reason I adore live theatre, in comparison to other art forms like cinema, is that the fiber and ligaments that make up this thing we call life – truth, in other words – is best experienced...

Review: ‘Good People’ at The Colonial Players of Annapolis

The Colonial Players’ Good People is a powerful, emotionally raw production that talks about class, poverty, and race in dramatic ways. Written by David Lindsay-Abaire and directed by Edd Miller, it...

Review: ‘The History Boys’ at The Little Theatre of Alexandria

The Little Theatre of Alexandria presents Alan Bennett’s Tony Award-winning The History Boys. Frank D. Shutts ll directs a talented cast in this rich production. Utilizing thousands of literary...

Review: ‘El Paso Blue’ at GALA Hispanic Theatre

‘El Paso Blue’ in long-awaited East Coast Premiere at GALA It took roughly 20 years for Octavio Solis’ El Paso Blue to make it to Washington, DC. But now that it has arrived, the play—written and...

Review: ‘Red Herring’ at the Providence Players Players of Fairfax

Red Herring at the Providence Players is a delightful mix of murder mystery, romance, and broad farce. A noir of the 1950s, it reminds us vividly of the joys, sorrows, and nightmares of that period....

Review #1: ‘Going to a Place Where You Already Are’ at Theater Alliance

Whatever your mental picture of heaven, the funny and beautifully moving production of Bekah Brunstetter’s Going to a Place Where You Already Are just opened at Theater Alliance may alter it....

Review: ‘The Wind in the Willows’ at Creative Cauldron

Creative Caldron presents The Wind in the Willows, an original reimagining of Kenneth Grahame’s beloved classic. Directors Ellen Selby and Denise Perrino adapted this production for the performers of...

Review: ‘Lost in Wonderland’ at Pallas Theatre Collective

‘Lost in Wonderland’: Journeys Through an Author’s Imagination Have you ever wanted to ask a famous, classic author, say a Mark Twain or an Edgar Allen Poe how and why they shaped their characters the...

Review: ‘Floyd Collins’ at 1st Stage

“No more plowing a hard-scrabble field, I just know it’s my lucky day!” Evan Casey’s voice rings through the 1st Stage Theater as he navigates the narrow confines of a deep underground cave. His...

Review: Ireland 100: ‘The Gloaming’ at The Kennedy Center

The Ireland 100 closes this weekend with new Irish sensation Ireland 100: The Gloaming who made their Kennedy Center debut with a lovely mix of traditional music, improvisation, and new classics....

A Celebration of Life for Vincent Hill is on Monday, June 27th at 7:30 PM in The Fichandler Stage at Arena Stage

A CELEBRATION OF LIFE FOR VINCENT HILL MONDAY, JUNE 27, 2016 AT 7:30 P.M. IN THE FICHANDLER STAGE AT ARENA STAGE AT THE MEAD CENTER FOR AMERICAN THEATER From Arena Stage: The greater D.C. area lost a...

Magic Time! ‘An Octoroon’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins’s An Octoroon wears irony on its sleeve with the same effrontery that three of its characters wear red, white, and black greasepaint to dissemble “race.” Just opened at Woolly...

Spine: ‘An Octoroon,’ ‘The Octoroon’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

An Octoroon, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ re-imagining of Dion Boucicault’s pre-Civil War classic The Octoroon, opened last night at Woolly Mammoth. Postmodern, hip, sardonic, farcical–An Octoroon deals...

Review: ‘An Octoroon’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

Welcome to playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ world. You’re just living in it. Or, is it, welcome to 19th Century playwright Dion Boucicault’s world and Branden Jacobs- Jenkins is living in it? Or, is...

Review: ‘The Miser’ at Faction of Fools

Faction of Fools is delightfully back with a well-concocted, refreshing, street-fair fare of Moliere’s The Miser. This happy show is one with a pointed, underscored, right-on-the-surface message about...

Playwright Octavio Solis on His Play ‘El Paso Blue’ Now Playing at GALA Hispanic Theatre

Texas-born Octavio Solis is one of America’s leading contemporary playwrights, yet he is relatively unknown in the DC area. Now El Paso Blue—one of his most powerful plays—introduces his work to the...

Director Nick Olcott on Directing ‘Floyd Collins’ at 1st Stage

It’s one of my favorite musicals and I am thrilled that Nick Olcott is directing 1st Stage’s production of Floyd Collins, which plays through June 26th. Joel: Floyd Collins is rarely produced and is...

Review: Ireland 100: ‘The Hunger’ at The Kennedy Center

The East Coast concert premiere of The Hunger begins with a harsh, discordant note, immediately conveying that this will be a performance about pain. The short opera, from modern Irish composer...

Review: ‘Juliet and Romeo’ by the Royal Swedish Ballet

The Swedes take on an old classic and make it relevant. Mats Ek’s Juliet and Romeo for the Royal Swedish Ballet, at The Kennedy Center for only four more shows, is a bold retelling of Shakespeare’s...

Providence Players Open Michael Hollinger’s Noir Comedy “Red Herring” This Weekend in Falls Church

The Providence Players close their 2015-2016 season with a number of belly laughs from Michael Hollinger’s comedy Red Herring. The production opens Friday, June 3rd and runs through the 18th at the...

In the Moment: ‘The Who & the What’ at Round House Theatre

So here we are in a world class city with ever changing demographics that represent all the world. Those include refugees, immigrants and people who may practice a different faith. Thanks to Arena...

Review: ‘The Who & the What’ at Round House Theatre

As I was leaving Round House Theatre on opening night of Ayad Akhtar’s The Who & the What, I heard one patron say to another, “Wasn’t that fabulous?” And the response was, “Yes.” I’m not sure what I...

Magic Time! Theater Against Type: A Q&A With Actors Jeremy Keith Hunter and Shravan Amin About Performing ‘When January Feels Like Summer’

After I saw When January Feels Like Summer—Cori Thomas’s counter-stereotypical romantic comedy at Mosaic Theater Company—I found myself thinking back to what happens between two particular characters....

Final 4 Performances for ‘The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee’ at Arts Collective @ HCC

There’s only F-O-U-R performances left for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at Arts Collective@HCC. Don’t miss it. Here’s what DCMTA’s Ilene Chalmers had to say about this wonderful...

Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF) Playwrights Interviews: Part 1: Susan Miller and “20th Century Blues”

Here is Part 1 of 5 interviews by Sharon J. Anderson, Contemporary American Theater Festival Trustee/Professional Story Listener and Creative Director. Meet Playwright Susan Miller and learn about her...

Magic Time! A Report on ’24/7′ at African-American Collective Theater

For the 24th year, the African-American Collective Theater marked DC Black Pride Weekend with readings of seven short plays, collectively titled 24/7, all written and directed by Alan Sharpe, whose...

Review: ‘The Wedding Singer’ at Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre

This charming musical is an entertaining way to kick off Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre’s 50th anniversary season. With a book by Chad Beguelin, who also wrote the lyrics and Tim Herlihy, music by...

In the Moment: Synetic Theater’s ‘The Man in the Iron Mask’

Synetic Theater’s The Man in the Iron Mask is a good yarn, well told. With the production Synetic continues to expand beyond its original Shakespeare roots and singular “silent” physical theater...

Review: Bach’s ‘Mass in B Minor’ with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Baltimore Choral Arts Society

Here’s an idea: Let’s change the name of Bach’s Mass in B Minor to the Mass in D Major. Just because convention calls for a piece to be named after its beginning key doesn’t mean that the ending key...

Review: Paul Taylor Dance Company at The Kennedy Center

The last living – and working – link to the founding generation of modern dance choreographers, Paul Taylor remains true to his values as a consummate dancemaker imbuing his works with impeccable...

Review: Ireland 100: ‘riverrun’ at The Kennedy Center

DC audiences last saw Olwen Fouéré in Yaël Farber’s Salomé at the Shakespeare Theatre Company playing the narrator character Nameless Woman. With her striking long white hair, deep vocal register, and...

Review: ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ at Shakespeare Theatre Company

Roman Holiday: The Taming of the Shrew at Shakespeare Theatre Company According to scholar Jonathan Bate, “‘Shakespeare’ may be thought of as a vast collection of games…[some] games are resolved by...

Review: Ireland 100: ‘Tiny Plays for Ireland and America’ by Fishamble: The New Play Company

Fishamble: The New Play Company opened its “Tiny Plays for Ireland and America” last night as part of Ireland 100. Act I consisted of 20 short, Irish plays in 90 minutes, and each play shed some light...

Review: ‘When January Feels Like Summer’ at Mosaic Theater Company of DC

The weather, like the five characters in Cori Thomas’ tender romantic comedy When January Feels Like Summer, is in crisis. Attribute the unpredictable climate to global warming, but it’s nothing a...

Review: ‘Garbage Kids’ at Venus Theatre Company

The new play Garbage Kids by Baltimore-based playwright Jayme Kilburn, now receiving its world premiere at Venus Theatre Company, is a cleverly plotted emotional booby trap. The first act is a series...

Review: ‘Blackberry Winter’ at Forum Theatre

Does a play about an incurable progressive disease not sound like something you’d care to see? Does a character’s long, lone monologue about her mother’s memory loss to Alzheimer’s not seem appealing?...

Here Are The 2016 Helen Hayes Award Recipients

Here are the 2016 Helen Hayes Award Recipients. We are updating the list of winners as they are being announced, starting tonight at 7:30 PM. The Winners Are In RED. ____ Outstanding Supporting...

Review: ‘The Merry Death of Robin Hood’ at LiveArtDC

The Merry Death of Robin Hood, written by Paul Resiman, (based on the stories by Howard Pyle), is my first experience of LiveArtDC and it was choice. I hadn’t thought of Robin Hood since the mid-70s...

Magic Time! ‘When January Feels Like Summer’ at Mosaic Theater Company of DC

Mosaic Theater Company of DC tops off its prodigious first season with an improbably romantic comedy by Liberian-American playwright Cori Thomas. It’s about people from different cultures who you...

Review: Ireland 100: ‘The Girl Who Forgot To Sing Badly’ at The Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center is currently presenting IRELAND 100: Celebrating a Century of Irish Arts & Culture, through June 5, 2016. The festival includes a wide range of events focused on Irish Culture, as a...

Review: ‘Oleanna’ at Persiphere Theater

David Mamet’s Oleanna is a play that has split many people over the years. What is it about exactly? Is it about power balance or sexual assault? Who is the villain? The sexist, pedantic teacher or...

Review: ‘Sultans of String’ at AMP at Strathmore

The Sultans of String delight and excite. This is World Music as you’ve never heard it before. The music is, quite simply, a soul satisfying mash-up of European gypsy, classical, punjabi, jazz, and...

Review: ‘kinK’ at Greenbelt Arts Center

‘kinK’ explores murder, revenge and justice Director\Writer William Dean Leary produces unsettling, lapel-grabbing work that addresses topical issues. In his previously written and directed, Forsaken...

Review: ‘Boyz II Men’ at The Kennedy Center with the National Symphony Orchestra

Motown Philly came to DC full-blast as the best-selling R&B group of all time, Boyz II Men graced the Concert Hall stage of The Kennedy Center on Friday, May 20, 2016, accompanied by the dynamic...

Review: ‘The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged’ at Annapolis Shakespeare Company

Annapolis Shakespeare Company has done an excellent job with their production of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged, written by Adam Long, Daniel Singer, and Jess Winfield. Directed...

The 2016 Helen Hayes Awards To Be Awarded Tonight

The 2016 Helen Hayes Award recipients will be announced TONIGHT at The Lincoln Theatre beginning at 7:30 PM. There are nominations in 47 categories for Excellence in Theatre, and there will also be...

Review: ‘The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee’ at Arts Collective @ HCC

HCC Arts Collective’s production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is hilariously F-U-N-N-Y (enjoyment, amusement or lighthearted pleasure) and delightfully Q-U-I-R-K-Y (characterized by...

Review: Ireland 100: ‘All That Fall’ by Pan Pan Theatre

All That Fall is quite the most quite unique, powerful, and delightful experiences I’ve had at the theatre. Director Gavin Quinn, the Co-Artistic Director of Pan Pan Theatre, brings this radio play by...

Review: Brian Regan at The Warner Theatre

With the nonstop laughter tonight coming from the Warner Theatre in DC, it was easy to tell that Brian Regan had brought his comedy tour to town! Playing through Saturday, May 21, 2016, Brian Regan’s...

Review: ‘The Object Lesson’ at The Studio Theatre

The Object Lesson—a highly acclaimed one-man performance piece, set in a warehouse of the mind that is stacked with memories and the objects that evoke them—has finally arrived in DC, where it is...