Washington DC

A Report on ‘Sanctuary (An American Psalm)’ at Arena Stage

There is a moment when Director and performer John Moletress and Jocelyn Kuritsky are dancing on stage left. Caridad Svich is singing her original song “Low Valley” on stage right. As the dancers...

HCC’s Arts Collective Improv Group (W.I.G.) Presents a One-Night-Only Improv Show ‘A Valentine Fit for Queens’ on Friday, February 5, 2016

HCC’s Arts Collective Improv Group (W.I.G.) Presents a One-Night-Only Improv Show “A Valentine Fit for Queens” on Friday, February 5, 2016 Howard Community College’s (HCC) Arts Collective continues...

Review: ‘St. Nicholas’ at Washington Stage Guild

Theater critics can sometimes be vicious and bloodthirsty…… and that’s before one of them gets employed by a bloodsucking vampire in the Washington Stage Guild production of St. Nicholas. This...

Review: ‘Three Sisters’ at Annapolis Shakespeare Company

Chekhov is a challenge for even the most experienced and skilled artists of our profession. It is not merely that his characters are the most psychologically dense in drama (which they are), or that...

Review: ‘Leave it to Psmith!’ at Lumina Studio Theatre

Clomping into the Silver Spring Black Box Theatre, shivering from Snowzilla’s persistent chill and shaking caked snow and ice from our boots, we are greeted by the pleasant, ear-warming sounds of...

Magic Time! ‘The Glass Menagerie’ at Ford’s Theatre

What’s the best way to stage a modern classic that is both reverential and revelatory? How does one mount a production that is respectful of the author’s intent yet freshly insightful. How can a...

Review: ‘Zombie Prom’ at Greenbelt Arts Center

A Thriller! Grab your hoverboard and blast over to Greenbelt Arts Center to see its latest show, Zombie Prom. It’s totally nuclear, a tongue in chic fusion of Happy Days, Grease, and The Walking Dead....

Review: ‘Deathtrap’ at The Arlington Players

I could tell you about the play’s plot, but then you would have to kill me. Yes, you read that right and it’s the premise of Deathtrap, The Arlington Players’ latest production. The highly...

Review: ‘The Glass Menagerie’ at Ford’s Theatre

Possibly the most lyrical and sentimentally poignant of all the plays written by Tennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie still holds up as one of Williams’ most well-written plays....

Review: ‘Kristin Chenoweth: Coming Home Tour’ at Strathmore

To paraphrase an old expression, “big talent can come in small packages!” This observation was never truer than when the diminutive musical superstar, Kristin Chenoweth, took the stage at Strathmore...

Spine: “I Shall Not Hate” Mosaic Theater’s Journey to the Gaza Strip

Visit the Atlas Performing Arts Center’s Sprenger Lang Theatre over the next few weeks and you’ll find Gaza. “He who looks at the sea does not know the sea, He who sits on the shore does not know the...

WSC Avant Bard is Giving Away 2 tickets for the Extension Weekend of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’

WSC Avant Bard is giving away two tickets for the extension weekend of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. That’s a $70 value for free! The winning answer will also be tweeted from @AvantBard To enter, fill...

Meet the Cast of McLean Community Players’ ‘1776’: Part 3: Leslie Lewis

Please introduce yourself and tell our readers where they may have seen you perform on local stages and what roles you have played. My name is Leslie Lewis and I am originally from Georgia. I’ve been...

Review: ‘I Shall Not Hate’ at Mosaic Theater Company of DC

It was a record-setting blizzard, not prescient season planning, that resulted in Mosaic Theater Company’s rescheduling the opening of I Shall Not Hate to last night, International Holocaust Memorial...

Review: American Ballet Theatre’s ‘The Sleeping Beauty’ at The Kennedy Center

Alexei Ratmansky’s newest staging of the great classical ballet The Sleeping Beauty feels like that moment in the classic MGM film The Wizard of Oz when the scene goes from black and white to...

Molotov Theatre Group’s Alex Zavistovich’s Testimony To Be Presented Today In Support of ‘Made in DC Program Establishment Act of 2015’

Today, January 28, 2016, at the Wilson Building, Molotov Artistic Director Alex Zavistovich presents testiimony before the Council of the District of Columbia, in support of the “Made in DC Program...

Meet the Cast of McLean Community Players’ ‘1776’: Part 2: James Myers

n Part 2 of a series of interviews with the cast of McLean Community Players’ 1776, meet James Myers. Joel: Please introduce yourself and tell our readers where they may have seen you perform on local...

The Round World Presents ‘Avenue Burly Q’: An Evening of Puppets and Pasties at Bier Baron This Sunday, 1/31 at 8 PM

The Round World is proud to present Avenue Burly Q, an evening of puppets and pasties, at the Bier Baron on January 31, 2016. Five of the DMV’s finest (weirdest) burlesque/boylesque and variety...

Theatre Performance Updates: January 28th at 9:45 PM

HERE ARE SOME NEW UPDATES RE: THIS WEEK’S PERFORMANCES: UPDATED 9:45 PM on JANUARY 27, 2016 TONIGHT JANUARY 28TH AT 8 PM RESTON COMMUNITY THEATRE’S ‘MASTER CLASS’-SPECIAL PERFORMANCE TONIGHT!...

Meet the Cast of Avant Bard’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ Part 8: Jenna Berk

In Part 8 of a series of interviews with the cast of Avant Bard’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, meet Jenna Berk.. Joel: Where have local audiences seen you perform recently on stage? Jenna:...

Meet the Cast of McLean Community Players’ ‘1776’: Part 1: Brent Stone

In Part 1 of a series of interviews with the cast of McLean Community Players’ 1776, meet Brent Stone. Please introduce yourself and tell our readers where they may have seen you perform on local...

Magic Time! An Interview With Kieyontaye D. Johnson-Carter, Author of ‘Love in Time of HIV’

When I first saw Love in Time of HIV in May 2012, I was deeply impressed. Giving voice to a young generation’s encounter with the health crisis left them by their elders, the play by Kieyontaye D....

Meet The Cast of Britches and Hose Shakespeare Company’s ‘Henry IV’: Dave Joria, Sarah Pfanz, Stephanie Ramsey, and Jay Tilley

In our interview with the cast of Britches and Hose Shakespeare Company’s gender-blind production of Henry IV, Part 1, meet Dave Joria (Prince Hal), Sarah Pfanz (Hotspur), Stephanie Ramsey (King...

Interviews With the Cast and Director of Kensington Arts Theatre’s ‘The Laramie Project’: Part 4: Clancey Yovanovich

In Part 4 of a series of interviews with the Director and cast of Kensington Arts Theatre’s The Laramie Project, meet Clancey Yovanovich. Joel: Please introduce yourself and tell our readers where...

Meet the Cast of Avant Bard’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’: Part 7: Toni Rae Salmi

In Part 7 of a series of interviews with the cast of Avant Bard’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, meet Toni Rae Salmi. Joel: Where have local audiences seen you perform recently on stage?...

Meet the Cast of Avant Bard’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ Part 6: Christian R. Gibbs

In Part 6 of a series of interviews with the cast of Avant Bard’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, meet Christian R. Gibbs. Joel: Where have local audiences seen you perform recently on stage?...

‘U-Street, The Musical’ Plays at the Richard Kauffman Auditorium From January 29th-February 6th

U-Street, The Musical is a socio-political drama highlighting the issue of homelessness in America. While providing an empowering message to patrons, the show pushes the envelope in addressing a host...

In the Moment: Theater J’s ‘The Sisters Rosensweig’

What now, two decades after the lives depicted in The Sisters Rosensweig? Certainly Theater J has produced a polished, lovingly curated production of Wendy Wasserstein’s The Sisters Rosensweig. The...

Meet the Cast of Avant Bard’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’: Part 5: Daven Ralston

In Part 5 of a series of interviews with the cast of Avant Bard’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, meet Daven Ralston. Joel: Where have local audiences seen you perform recently on stage?...

Review: ‘SWEAT’ at Arena Stage

Permit me this before my actual review of Lynn Nottage’s bold, brave play SWEAT which is receiving a splendidly searing, raw, and real production at Arena (Co-commissioned with the Oregon Shakespeare...

Review: ‘Stone Tape Party’ at Nu Sass Productions

It was clear when I walked into the intimate theatre that the party had already started at this 2014 Capital Fringe Festival ‘Best Comedy and Best Overall Show.’ Music was blasting, drinks were...

Review: ‘American Idiot’ at Act Two @ Levine by Laura Marshall

Great punk music paired with edgy, mature performances and soaring orchestration rocked the house in the Kogod Cradle at Arena Stage last weekend. The pre-professional program from Act Two @ Levine,...

The Theatre Community Mourns the Passing of Nicholas Delaney

The theater community is saddened by the sudden passing of Nicholas Delaney, at age 34 two days ago. Our condolences to his family, to Alice, to his friends, actors, and fellow musicians who worked...

DCMetroTheaterArts’ Best of 2015 #23: Best Cabaret, Concerts, and Opera Productions in the DC Metro Area

The staff of DCMetroTheaterArts is honored to announce that their 2015 Best Cabaret, Concert, and Opera honors go to to: CABARETS Anonymous at Creative Cauldron’s Summer Cabaret Series by Rachel...

Review: ‘Picasso at the Lapin Agile’ at The Keegan Theatre

Like the popular E.L. Doctorow novel, Ragtime, the Keegan Theatre’s whimsical and bouncy new production of Steve Martin’s play Picasso at the Lapin Agile is an intricate, quasi-historical journey as...

Review: ‘The Winter’s Tale’ at The Kennedy Center

The Winter’s Tale: Warm Production for a Cold Winter’s Night Choreographer Christopher Wheeldon has taken a challenging late Shakespearean play – The Winter’s Tale from 1623 – and revitalized it into...

Review: ‘Let Freedom Ring! Featuring Yolanda Adams’ at The Kennedy Center

The spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was present this past Monday, January 18th, in the John F. Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall for the fourteenth annual Let Freedom Ring Celebration. This...

‘Take One Shot for the Pain: The Characters of ‘Stone Tape Party’ as Cocktails By Angela Pirko

One thing is true about the ladies of the Stone Tape Party house – they love their alcohol. A lot. A lot a lot. As we invite you onstage next week to party with us, why not try some of these fancy,...

Review: ‘The Sisters Rosensweig’ at Theater J

There’s a strange sound erupting from the JCC most nights. The source is not burlesque or stand-up comedy—although there are elements of both—but a brand new production of Wendy Wasserstein’s...

Review: ‘Into the Woods, Jr.’ at Aldersgate Church Community Theater

Aldersgate Church Community Theater presents Into the Woods Jr., a condensed version of the Broadway musical, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by James Lapine, and orchestrations by...

In the Moment: Virginia Opera’s Quest for The Youngest Audience in America

“Opera is officially dead.” So read the headline for Christopher Ingraham’s Washington Post Wonkblog. And in “one chart” yet. Ah, yes big data says it all neatly and with great certitude. Maybe. Then...

Review: ‘Between Riverside and Crazy’ at The Studio Theatre

Such a bubbling, darkly comic world in which to our abundant enlightenment, all that is solid melts into thin air. This is the Studio Theatre production of the vinegary urban domain devised by Stephen...

Review: ‘Equus’ at Constellation Theatre Company

Since Peter Shaffer’s Equus made its striking return to the Anglo-American imagination in 2007, when then-17 year old Daniel Radcliffe stirred international controversy by appearing nude in the West...

Review: ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ at WSC Avant Bard

Each year, Shakespeare is the most frequently produced playwright in America, and his A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of the Bard’s most frequently produced plays. So if you’re going to produce it,...

Meet the Cast of Reston Communty Players’ ‘Master Class’: Part 5: Richard Durkin

Here is Part 5 of a series of interviews with the director, producer, and cast of Reston Community Players’ production of Terrence McNally’s Master Class. Meet Richard Durkin. Maria Callas, one of the...

Review: ‘Chocolate Covered Ants’ at Restoration Stage

Chocolate Covered Ants, a new play by Steven A. Butler, Jr., and now on stage at the Anacostia Playhouse, is that rarity of theatrical experience in that it explores the psyche of the African American...

Here are the 2015 WATCH AWARD NOMINATIONS

Announcement of Nominations 16th Annual Washington Area Theatre Community Honors THE WATCH AWARDS Nominations Were Announced January 17, 2015 – 7:30 pm at The Birchmere, Alexandria, VA __ Nominations...

Review: ‘Master Class’ at Reston Community Players

Maria Callas is an opera icon. If you have never heard of her, think of the ultimate diva and that will give you a bare bones idea of the incredible talent, intense personality, and enduring influence...

Review: ‘Middletown’ at NextStop Theatre Company

Middletown, written by Will Eno, is a play with heft. It is not an easy play that you can relax and let wash over you. Timid souls who are out for an evening of light entertainment may struggle with...

Review: ‘Grey Gardens’ at The Little Theatre of Alexandria

Grey Gardens the musical (book by Dough Wright, lyrics by Michael Korie, music by Scott Frankel) is a faithful adaptation of the 1970’s cult classic documentary of the same name directed by Albert and...