Brave Spirits Theatre

COVID claims another local theater: Brave Spirits to close

Brave Spirits Theatre announced in September that its acclaimed eight-play Shakespeare’s histories series would end (“A tribute to Brave Spirits as it calls off Shakespeare’s histories due to COVID”)....

A tribute to Brave Spirits as it calls off Shakespeare’s histories due to COVID

There are certain theater experiences that you look forward to with extraordinary excitement. Brave Spirits Theatre’s Shakespeare’s Histories 2020 was one of them. To their credit, Brave Spirits,...

Brave Spirits Theatre kicks off festival of playreadings from the early English stage

Brave Spirits Theatre announces a virtual summer staged reading festival celebrating the history plays of the English early modern stage. A supplement to BST’s two-year Shakespeare’s Histories...

DCMTA Spring 2020 Staff Favorites: Outstanding Design Elements in Professional Productions

Normally we who cover theater for DC Theater Arts collect our favorites as the year draws to a close, but this has not been a normal year. In mid-March, the 2020 season was interrupted by a pandemic...

The room where it happens: ‘Henry IV, Part 2’ at Brave Spirits Theatre

The HBO hit Succession centers around a wealthy media family reportedly based on the Rupert Murdoch dynasty. Its central dilemma: who will succeed the ruthless Logan Roy as the head of his...

Brave Spirits Theatre’s ‘Henry the Fourth, Part 1’ is a triumph of excellent characterization

If you like your Shakespeare characters to behave and react like flesh and blood people, and not esoteric abstractions, Brave Spirits Theatre’s Henry the Fourth, Part 1 is a play you’ll love. Director...

‘Richard the Second’ at Brave Spirits Theatre: a tale of two kings

Brave Spirits Theatre (BST), led by Artistic Director Charlene V. Smith, has taken on a spectacular challenge: Shakespeare’s eight history plays. Richard the Second, Henry the Fourth Parts I and II,...

The audacity of Brave Spirits Theatre: a conversation with Artistic Director Charlene V. Smith

Tumultuous times call out for audacity in the performing arts. And Brave Spirits Theatre (BST) has boldly marked its territory for the next two years. Over the 2020 and 2021 seasons, Brave Spirits...

Review: ‘As You Like It’ by Brave Spirits Theatre

Ah, Shakespeare’s As You Like It–the ultimate romantic comedy about people trying to find their way to love in a bewildering world; a world that seems to have no rules, or rules that are made as one...

“I Never Expected to See a Shakespearean Lover Like Me”: An Actor Declares

By Ezra Tozian Editor’s note: In Avant Bard’s production of Illyria, or What You Will—freely adapted from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night by Jonelle Walker and Mitchell Hébert—the character of Cesario...

Review: ‘The Duchess of Malfi’ at Brave Spirits Theater

Words have lethal consequences in the clear-eyed, unflinching production of The Duchess of Malfi from Brave Spirits Theatre. Under the sure-handed direction of Casey Kaleba, The Duchess of Malfi is...

Review: ‘The Changeling’ by Brave Spirits Theatre

Sex, sin, retribution, and vengeance are only starting points for the simmering cauldron that is Brave Spirit’s amped production of The Changeling, a four centuries old Jacobean drama by Thomas...

Ferocious, Compelling ‘Coriolanus’ Emerges at Brave Spirits Theatre

“Destroy’d his country, and his name remains to the ensuing age abhorr’d.” Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, as directed by Charlene V. Smith, takes the audience at Brave Spirits Theatre through the frenzied...

Review: ‘The Trojan Women Project’ at Brave Spirits (Women’s Voices Theater Festival)

Brave Spirits Theatre adds its distinctive style to the Women’s Voices Theatre Festival with The Trojan Women Project. It is a singular event. The Trojan Women Project is packed with moments of...

Review: ‘Doctor Faustus’ at Brave Spirits Theatre

Full disclosure: If your only exposure to the classics was Shakespeare in high school, then be ready to get out there and see what else there is. There’s much to be found from the period that’s...

Review: ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore’ at Brave Spirits Theatre

Brave Spirits Theatre (BST) has recently opened two productions, performing in tandem, to present what they refer to in their press release as “Theatre for the Game of Thrones fan.” Calling this combo...

Meet the Cast of Avant Bard’s ‘TAME.’ Part 2: Brendan Edward Kennedy

In Part 2 of a series of interviews with the cast of Avant Bard’s production of TAME., meet Brendan Edward Kennedy. Joel: Where have local audiences seen you perform recently on stage? Brendan: This...

Review: ‘Antony and Cleopatra’ at Brave Spirits Theatre

Love is a battlefield in the vivid, high heat of Brave Spirits Theatre’s striking, fencing-match take on Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra. Once again Brave Spirits (BST) is true to its mission;...

Review: ‘God: The One-Man Show’ at Greenbelt Arts Center

God: The One-Man Show is a comedic hurricane that leaves audiences pondering the mysteries of the universe between laughs. Written and performed by Rich Potter, the show takes the audience from the...

Review: ‘The Maid’s Tragedy’ at Brave Spirits Theatre

Death abounds in The Maid’s Tragedy. Be prepared for an avenging angel with a message and actions against the vicious power of a King and lascivious misogynist cultural values in Brave Spirits...

Magic Time! ‘Gender-Flipping the Bard: A Q&A with Brave Spirits Theatre’s Kevin Finkelstein’

Back in December 2014 I had a conversation with the Director Kevin Finkelstein that has stayed with me. I had just seen his staging of A Klingon Christmas Carol, a one-night-only seasonal novelty...

‘Henri IV Part 2’: The Re-Gendered Henry IV Repertory at Brave Spirits Theatre

After stifling a rebellion and slaying your opponents to the throne, what else is there to do? According to Shakespeare, you commiserate on themes of life and death while making a lot of sex and fart...

‘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...

2015 Capital Fringe Review: ‘The Bloody Banquet’

Hungry? Well, there’s a banquet waiting. In a tiny black box space just south of the river, Brave Spirits Theatre, known for staging intimate updates of early modern and Jacobean drama, presents a...

‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ at Brave Spirits Theatre

There is a cheerful insouciance to the Brave Spirits Theatre production of that war-horse of Shakespeare comedy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Chalk it up to youthful, well-rehearsed nonchalance, with an...

‘Lobster Alice’ at Flying V

Oh Frabjous Day!! I must say, the toves were slithy! And gyring and gimballing were happening all over the stage! And, this take on the creation of Alice in Wonderland really lived up to its promise....