Washington DC

Spine: Mosaic Theater Company’s ‘Unexplored Interior’: A ‘Theatre of Conscience’

The Mosaic Theater Company has arrived, and Washington’s dense theatrical geography has a different colored star on the horizon. Its inaugural production, the world premiere of Unexplored Interior by...

‘The Children’s Hour’ at Howard University

If you have never seen or heard of The Children’s Hour by Lillian Hellman, then you are missing out on a masterful piece of social commentary. Written in 1934, the play was highly controversial with...

Meet the Cast of ‘Painting Churches’ at Montgomery Playhouse: Part 3: Jane Squier Bruns

In Part 3 of a series of interviews with the cast of Montgomery Playhouse’s Painting Churches, meet Jane Squier Bruns. Joel: Where have local audiences seen you perform recently on stage? Jane: I just...

Magic Time! ‘World Builders’ at Forum Theatre

To judge by social media, love and madness are a thing. Here are a few choice examples now making the rounds in the meme-osphere: “Love is merely a madness….” (William Shakespeare) “There is always...

Meet the Cast of ‘Painting Churches’ at Montgomery Playhouse: Part 2: Shanna Ridenour

In Part 2 of a series of interviews with the cast of Montgomery Playhouse’s Painting Churches, meet Shanna Ridenour. Joel: Where have local audiences seen you perform recently on stage? Shanna:...

Meet the Cast of Laurel Mill Playhouse’s ‘Sweeney Todd’: Part 6: Lauren Lowell

In Part 6 of a series of interviews with the director and cast of Laurel Mill Playhouse’s Sweeney Todd meet Lauren Lowell. Joel: Please introduce yourself and tell our readers where they may have seen...

Meet the Cast of ‘Painting Churches’ at Montgomery Playhouse: Part 1: David Jones

In Part 1 of a series of interviews with the cast of Montgomery Playhouse’s Painting Churches, meet David Jones. Joel: Where have local audiences seen you perform recently on the stage? David: I was...

‘Unexplored Interior (This Is Rwanda: The Beginning and End of the Earth)’ at Mosaic Theater of DC

There comes a moment early in Act One when Raymond, a young man who left his family in Rwanda to learn film making at NYU, returns to his homeland, which has become a devastation. The 100-day Hutu...

Montgomery Playhouse and The City of Gaithersburg Presents ‘Painting Churches’ 11/6-22nd at The Arts Barn

Montgomery Playhouse in partnership with the City of Gaithersburg Presents PAINTING CHURCHES by Tina Howe Directed by Mary Beth Levrio With: Jane Bruns, David Jones, Shanna Ridenour November 6 – 22,...

The Women’s Voices Theatre Festival: ‘Duir-wyyd: The Dreamer’s Doorway’ at Spooky Action Theater

It is intriguing to see a work in progress that has real merit. Sandra Kamman’s Duir-wyyd: The Dreamer’s Doorway, a play with music, straddles time and space to metaphysically interconnect the stories...

‘In the Moment’: ‘Unexplored Interior (This is Rwanda: The Beginning and End of the Earth)’

Unexplored Interior (This is Rwanda: The Beginning and End of the Earth), the production launching the inaugural season of Mosaic Theater Company of DC, met Founding Artistic Director Ari Roth’s...

‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ at Kensington Arts Theatre

What’s the buzz you ask? Well Jesus Christ Superstar now playing at the Kensington Arts Theatre of course! Arising out of the tumultuous 1960’s the era of the Rock Opera gave to way for artists...

Violinist Ji Young Lim at the Phillips Collection

Somebody must have rung a bell and instructed judges at all international music competitions to start awarding prizes to young classical musicians who already demonstrate daring and panache, even at...

‘Pinocchio’ at Creative Cauldron

Creative Cauldron’s Learning Theater Workshop is an excellent program for children interested in exploring the art of live theater. The program is recommended for kids, third grade through high...

‘World Builders’ by Forum Theatre at Woolly Mammoth

I first saw Johnna Adams’s World Builders this summer, when it premiered at the Contemporary American Theatre Festival in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. I was immediately struck by the ingenuity of its...

‘Deathtrap’ At NextStop Theatre Company

NextStop Theatre Company’s current production of Deathtrap does an incredible job of honoring the play’s highly successful history. Deathtrap was nominated for a Tony in 1978 for Best Play and holds...

Magic Time! ‘Winners and Losers’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

I left Winners and Losers thinking, Wow, there’s more here than meets the eye. Or, as one of the performers said in an interview, “The show really bangs around in your head….” On the face of it,...

Women’s Voices Theater Festival: ‘For the Love of Oscar, A Dramedy’ at The New Milennium Howard Players

The New Millennium Howard Players‘ mission is to present “Compelling, cathartic theater from the African American cultural perspective that will touch spirits, challenge thought, move, inspire, evoke...

‘The Metal Children’ at Silver Spring Stage

Silver Spring Stage does it again. With Adam Rapp’s The Metal Children, now playing at the Stage through November 21, they once again venture outside DC’s theatrical “safe space” and offer Washington...

Barbara Cook’s Spotlight: Randy Graff at The Kennedy Center

Tony Award-winning (City of Angels) Broadway, concert, and cabaret artist Randy Graff dazzled the crowd Friday night at the Kennedy Center’s intimate Terrace Theater. Graff is utterly unique and...

‘Henri IV Part I’: The Re-Gendered Henry IV Repertory at Brave Spirits Theatre

With the Women’s Voices Theater Festival in DC still going strong, Brave Spirits Theatre asks its audiences to consider the role women have in theatre beyond the reach of the festival. With the first...

Magic Time! The Women’s Voices Theater Festival: Darius & Twig’ at The Kennedy Center

I cannot help but think that if W.E.B. DuBois were alive, he would absolutely love Darius & Twig, the passionately purposeful play by Caleen Sinnette Jennings adapted from Walter Dean Myers’s popular...

‘The Cripple of Inishmaan’ at Scena Theatre

Scena Theatre’s comedy through the lens of small-town folk in a small Aran Islands community named Inishmaan, off the coast of Ireland. The year is 1934, and we catch a glimpse of all the archetypal...

‘Winners and Losers’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

According to their mission statement, part of Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company’s objective is to “ignite an explosive engagement between threatre artists and the community by developing new plays that...

‘Cabaret Noir’ at Happenstance Theater at Baltimore Theatre Project

Femme fatales and fedoras, trench coats and torch songs, intrigue and suspense… such is the tagline for Happenstance Theater’s Cabaret Noir, and it offers a tantalizing glimpse of what lies in store...

Meet the Cast of Laurel Mill Playhouse’s ‘Sweeney Todd’: Part 5: Garrett Matthews

In Part 5 of a series of interviews with the director and cast of Laurel Mill Playhouse’s Sweeney Todd meet Garrett Matthew. Joel: Please introduce yourself and tell our readers where they may have...

Women’s Voices Theater Festival: ‘Darius & Twig’ at The Kennedy Center

Darius & Twig, now playing at The Kennedy Center’s Family Theater, tackles issues confronted by inner city kids throughout the country. And it does so with a mixture of hope and hard truth that is as...

The Suzanne Farrell Ballet: ‘Balanchine, Béjart, and the Bard’ at The Kennedy Center

Suzanne Farrell – still fairest of them all From the early 1960s until the late 1980s (except for a five-year escape to Belgium), Suzanne Farrell reigned as George Balanchine’s muse at the New York...

‘Top Girls’ at George Washington University

I may have missed it, but to my knowledge no playwright in the current Women’s Voices Theater Festival set out to write a feminist-socialist play and explicitly said so. (Not that there’s anything...

Nu Sass Brings the Second Installment of the Small Batch Audience Series to DC: Sartre’s ‘No Exit’

For those of you who didn’t witness it, something beautiful happened in the tiny gallery at Caos on F Street last spring. Nu Sass Productions (a theatre company founded on the ideals of creating...

Meet the Kids of ‘Shrek The Musical’ at Reston Community Players: Allie Lytle, Ella Schnoor, Erik Peyton, Mhairi Cameron, and Brayden DiBacco

In Part 5 of our series of interviews with the cast of Shrek The Musical at Reston Community Players, we meet the girls of RCP’s Shrek: Allie Lytle, Ella Schnoor, Erik Peyton, Mhairi Cameron, and...

Meet the Cast of Laurel Mill Playhouse’s ‘Sweeney Todd’ Part 4: Carolyn Freel

In Part 4 of a series of interviews with the director and cast of Laurel Mill Playhouse’s Sweeney Todd meet Carolyn Freel. Joel: Please introduce yourself and tell our readers where they may have seen...

Science Fiction ‘Double D-TURE’: ‘The Rocky Horror T*tty Show’ This Friday at 8 PM at Bier Baron Tavern

Hello my name is Lucrezia and I am a Rocky Horror-aholic. Like I’ve got “Don’t Dream It, Be It” tattooed on my left bicep. Growing up it helped so many of us, who felt outside and unworthy, to feel...

Meet the Cast of ‘Songs for a New World’: Part 1: Jordan Sledd

In Part 1 of a series of interviews with the cast of Songs for a New World at Metropolitan Youth Theatre (‘MYT’), meet Jordan Sledd. Joel: Introduce yourself and tell our readers where they may have...

Spine: Is ‘Avenue Q’ Just What the Doctor Ordered? Constellation Theatre’s Marvelous Production

Let me be absolutely clear. I loved Constellation Theatre Company’s production of Avenue Q, which opened last night to a packed, laughing audience. Fast paced, precisely choreographed and executed,...

‘The Night Alive’ at Round House Theatre

Last night, Round House Theatre premiered their second play of the season, The Night Alive. As always, I read up on the play before attending, but no amount of research could have prepared me for the...

Magic Time! ‘Avenue Q’ at Constellation Theatre Company

The intriguing tagline for Constellation Theatre Company’s 2015/16 season is “Playtime for Grownups,” which could not have been more appropriate on opening night of its Avenue Q—the wholly humable...

‘Carrie the Musical’ at Dominion Stage

Just in time for Halloween, Dominion Stage presents Carrie the Musical, with music by Michael Gore, lyrics by Dean Pitchford, and book by Lawrence D. Cohen. Based off Stephen King’s horror novel,...

‘See Between the Lines’ by Jane Franklin Dance Comes to Dance Place November 14th & 15th by Joanne Burke

Jane Franklin Dance has a way of looking at things that is not quite…right. Or left. Or, wait, where are we going? You don’t know where you’ll end up, but when we get there, you’ll be exactly where...

‘Avenue Q’ at Constellation Theatre Company

Avenue Q is that rarest of Broadway hits that captivates everyone, theatre geek or casual fan, who has blushed at its racy tunes or busted a gut seeing the hilarity firsthand. I am pleased to report...

Meet the Cast of Laurel Mill Playhouse’s ‘Sweeney Todd’ Part 3: Kay-Megan Washington

In Part 3 of a series of interviews with the director and cast of Laurel Mill Playhouse’s Sweeney Todd, meet Kay-Megan Washington. Joel: Please introduce yourself and tell our readers where they may...

HCC’s Arts Collective Announces Open Auditions for ‘House’ on 11/16@17/15 for its March Workshop Production

HCC’s Arts Collective Announces Open Auditions for HOUSE. NOVEMBER 16 and 17th for its March Workshop Production! Howard Community College’s (HCC) Arts Collective proudly announces open auditions on...

‘Girlstar’ at Signature Theatre

Ha! Ready to visit a Coney Island fun-house with plenty of resounding rock show ambiance? Ready to open up to plenty of utterly blazing showbiz; “tricks and treats”? Well, step right up and enter the...

Bowen McCauley Dance 20th Anniversary Celebration at Dance Place

Bowen McCauley Dance is currently celebrating its 20th anniversary season with a four-piece retrospective. All choreographed by Lucy Bowen McCauley, the opening number takes the audience back to the...

Meet the Cast of ‘The Most Happy Fella’ at Catholic University: Part 5: Bobby Cook Gallagher

In Part 4 of a series of interviews with the cast of Catholic University’s The Most Happy Fella, meet Bobby Cook Gallagher. Joel: Introduce yourself to our readers and tell them where they may have...

Spine: ‘Raw’ and Revolution at Venus Theatre and Women’s Voices Theater Festival

Revolution is in the air. As Arab Spring lies bloodied beneath military dictatorships in Egypt and religious extremists in Libya and the same ol’ same ol’ dictatorship in Syria (plus Islamic State,...

The Women’s Voices Theater Festival: ‘Raw’ at Venus Theatre Company

Among other notable experiences I’ve had during the Women’s Voices Theatre Festival, I can now say I’ve been admonished by a cow. Please don’t think I’m being derogatory. Because in Venus Theatre’s...

‘Smartphones–a pocket-size farce’ at Ambassador Theater

saw this show last nite. LMAO. 2 funny. OMG. u G2G. So might read a hasty text from a self-absorbed hipster about Smartphones, the ridiculously delightful farce now playing at Mead Lab Flashpoint....

‘The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife’ at The Little Theatre of Alexandria

Herman Hesse was once – and for all I know still is – highbrow chic. Marjory Taub (Karen Jadlos Shotts) – heroine of Charles Busch’s The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife, directed by Michael Kharfen — is...

Meet the Cast of ‘The Most Happy Fella’ at The Catholic University of America: Part 4: Harrison Smith

In Part 4 of a series of interviews with the cast of Catholic University’s The Most Happy Fella, meet Harrison Smith. Joel: Introduce yourself to our readers and tell them where they may have seen you...