Keegan Theatre

Review: ‘When We Were Young and Unafraid’ at The Keegan Theatre

In 1972, there was no Roe v. Wade or Violence Against Women Act. Battered women had little legal recourse, and many found shelter—if they were lucky—in safe houses run by good Samaritans. House of...

Magic Time!: ‘Outside Mullingar’ at The Keegan Theatre

How does a play that starts out about real estate for gosh sake—adjacent farms in rural Ireland—become a heart-wrenching story of adjacent lost souls who fall in love late in life? How does a play...

Review #1: ‘Outside Mullingar’ at The Keegan Theatre

Theatre-lovers searching for a sequel to Doubt—John Patrick Shanley’s prize-winning (and frequently revived) play about nuns and priests in an Irish-American enclave of New York—will be surprised to...

Review #2: ‘Parade’ at The Keegan Theatre

Arguments have been made that the theater is supposed to be a “safe place” where patrons can go to be entertained, away from the harshness of the world. Yet there is a large(r) number of people who...

Review #1: ‘Parade’ at The Keegan Theatre

An intriguing musical piece of consequential historical value, The Keegan Theatre’s production of the Award-winning musical Parade is unapologetically dark and honest. Based on actual events, the...

Review: ‘Hamlette’ at The Keegan Theatre

Being a teenager is never easy, especially if your mother has just married your uncle, who also happens to have murdered your father, and nobody can accept the fact that you’re a girl. Add in a visit...

Spine: ‘Mack, Beth’ a ‘Macbeth’ for the Cyber Age at Keegan Theatre

Mack, Beth by Chris Stezin, now playing at The Keegan Theatre, is a Macbeth for the Cyber Age. Set in a world where death by dagger is replaced by death by fake news, Mack, Beth makes a person’s brand...

Review: ‘Mack, Beth’ at The Keegan Theatre

Chris Stezin’s adaptation of Macbeth, presented by Director Matt Ripa at The Keegan Theatre, is a daring attempt to bring one of Shakespeare’s most famous tragedies into the modern day. In this...

Interview: Playwright Chris Stezin on ‘Mack, Beth,’ Playing Now at The Keegan Theatre

Chris Stezin is a playwright, actor, and director whose work—on and off the stage—has brightened the marquees of DC theatres for more than two decades. The author of roughly 25 plays in as many years,...

Review: ‘An Irish Carol’ at The Keegan Theatre

For the 6th year in a row, The Keegan Theatre is paying tribute to the Dickens classic A Christmas Carol, with their production of An Irish Carol. Reimagined by Keegan company member, Matthew Keenan,...

‘Take A Bow!’ Part 3: The Staff of DCMetroTheaterArts’ Favorite DC/MD/VA Fall 2016 Performances/Directors/Designers by DCMetroTheaterArts Staff: DC/MD/VA/PHILLY/NYC AREAS

Here is the staff of DCMetroTheaterArts’ 3rd series of ‘Take A Bow!’ Fall 2016 honorees: Caroline Clay as Florynce Kennedy in (Re)Acts: Where Do We Go From Here? at Forum Theatre. It was a...

In Context: ‘Six Degrees of Separation’ at The Keegan Theatre

John Guare’s Six Degrees of Separation was widely admired as an ingenious, penetrating look at contemporary society when it premiered in New York back in 1990. Based on a true story, it concerns a...

Magic Time: ‘Six Degrees of Separation’ at The Keegan Theatre

Having been watching a con man on the national stage for too long now, I found myself last night watching a con man on a local theater stage from an unusually timely point of view. To put it simply:...

Review #2: ‘Six Degrees of Separation’ at The Keegan Theatre

In John Guare’s wonderfully enigmatic and slightly precocious play, Six Degrees of Separation, now playing at The Keegan Theatre—the ripples of interconnection run rampant as the author intended. This...

Review: ‘Six Degrees of Separation’ at The Keegan Theatre

We’ve all heard of this idea before—that there are six degrees of separation between everyone in the universe, from the president of the U.S. to a “gondolier in Venice.” John Guare’s play, named after...

Take A Bow Part 2: The Staff of DCMetroTheaterArts’ Favorite Spring/Summer 2016 Performances

Here’s Part 2 of the staff of DCMetroTheaterArts’ favorite Spring/Summer 2016 performances. To our honorees: TAKE A BOW! ____ Stori Ayers as Alma (and others), in Yellowman at Anacostia Playhouse....

Magic Time! ‘The Lonesome West’ at The Keegan Theatre

In real life, when we are spectators to two grown men facing off in dead-serious combat—right in front of us; with words, fists, lethal weapons, whatnot; unmediated by movies and such—our natural...

Spine: ‘The Lonesome West’ and Other Motherless Places at Keegan Theatre

Not long ago, Washington was the Murder-Capital of the USA. Crack Wars. Drive-Bys. Domestic Violence. Police Brutality. And all on a daily basis. The Murder-Capital of Europe in 1993 was apparently...

Review: ‘The Lonesome West’ at The Keegan Theatre

The Keegan Theatre’s current and provocatively darkly comic production of Martin McDonagh’s The Lonesome West, written by the brilliant, raffish and audacious Irish playwright (The Beauty Queen of...

Review: ’99 – A Rock Opera’ by DC Dogs

Musical theater and the country could use a good renegade rock musical inspired by the Occupy Movement. The demonstrations that spread across America spurred by Occupy Wall Street shared a kindred...

‘Very Well-Connected’: Meet Cast Members of Montgomery College Summer Dinner Theatre’s ‘Side Show’: Part 2: Jehan Silva

In Part 2 of a series of interviews with the cast of Montgomery College Summer Dinner Theatre’s production of Side Show, meet Jehan Silva. Joel: Please introduce yourself and tell us what other shows...

‘Very Well-Connected’: Meet Cast Members of Montgomery College Summer Dinner Theatre’s ‘Side Show’: Part 1: Anna Phillips-Brown

In Part 1 of a series of interviews with the cast of Montgomery College Summer Dinner Theatre’s production of Side Show, meet Anna Phillips-Brown. Joel: Please introduce yourself and tell us what...

Post-Play Palaver: ‘Next to Normal’ at The Keegan Theatre

Post-Play Palaver is an occasional series of conversations between DCMetroTheater Arts writers who saw the same performance, got really into talking about it, and decided to continue their exchange in...

Review: ‘Next to Normal’ at The Keegan Theatre

‘Next to Normal’ Confronts Depression, and Anxiety Depression hurts. It deadens and dulls the edge of life and can even kill. With a Tony Award-winning score composed by Tom Kitt with lyrics and book...

Review #2 ‘An American Daughter’ at The Keegan Theatre Company

Lyssa is sitting in her living room with her father, Senator Alan Hughes. He reads to her a letter from their ancestor, General Ulysses S. Grant, to his own daughter Ellen Wrenshell. In the midst of...

Review #1: ‘An American Daughter’ at The Keegan Theatre

We can thank the fickle fates who determine the fluky destinies of local theater programming for Keegan Theatre’s inspired late addition of Wendy Wasserstein’s An American Daughter to its spring...

Review: ‘The Wizard of Oz’ at The National Theatre

The National Theatre beamed with bright, bold colors and sheer spectacle last night, capping its season with a new production of The Wizard of Oz in an enthralling adaptation of the all-time popular...

Sarah Lasko is ‘Over the Rainbow’ Coming Home and Playing Dorothy in ‘The Wizard of Oz’ at The National Theatre

You may have seen Sarah Lasko perform on our local DC area stages, but now you can see her in Oz when she returns home to appear as Dorothy on the National Theatre stage in the eye-popping tour of...

Spine: One ‘American Idiot’ to Another, at The Keegan Theatre

Let me admit this right from the start. I’m 60 years old. I don’t go to concerts much. I had heard of Green Day (I’ve worked with teenagers for decades), but had not listened intentionally to their...

Review: ‘American Idiot’ at The Keegan Theatre

The Keegan Theatre’s American Idiot speaks to collective genius. Hardly a no-brainer to mount this explosive, war-weary work, weaned in the Bush II era, at the height of today’s media-hijacked,...

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...

DCMetroTheaterArts’ Best of 2015 #6: Best Children’s/Family Productions

Here are the DCMetroTheaterArts Staff’s honorees for Best Children’s Theatre Productions in 2015. Congrats to all our honorees. A Christmas Carol at Hope Garden Children’s Ballet Theatre. A Christmas...

‘An Irish Carol’ at The Keegan Theatre

An Irish Carol is an Irish twist on the holiday classic A Christmas Carol, written by one of Keegan’s own company members, Irish-born Matthew Keenan, and directed by Mark Rhea. The play premiered in...

‘How to Catch a Leprechaun’ at The Keegan Theatre

This being a show meant for kids, I defer to a critical opinion I overheard right afterward, voiced by a child not yet 5: “That was really cool! Really funny too!” Coauthored by Mario Baldessari and...

Meet the Cast of ‘George is Dead’ at The Klunch: Part 3: Kerri Rambow

In Part 3 of a series of interviews with the cast of George is Dead, meet Kerri Rambow: Joel: Please tell our readers where they may have seen you perform on our local stages? Kerri Rambow: I am a...

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...

The Women’s Voices Theater Festival: ‘The Magic Tree’ at The Keegan Theatre

Four lost young people in a deserted beach house, in Dublin, late at night. There is a thunderstorm beating down. This is the evocative opening scene of The Magic Tree, in its American premiere at The...

Magic Time!: ‘Dogfight’ & ‘Dear Evan Hansen’: Pasek & Paul Transforming the Course of American Musical Theater

Last season The Keegan Theatre mounted a Vietnam War–era musical called Hair. In a column I described that production as “radiant and thrilling,” “an exuberant love fest as timeless as human hope.”...

‘Dogfight’ at The Keegan Theatre

A trip to the Keegan Theatre is a must for they are now presenting the first collaboration of the dynamic songwriting team of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul—namely, the musical Dogfight (based on the...

Meet the Cast of ‘Spamalot’ at the Port Tobacco Players‏: Part 3: Carmel Ferrer

In Part 3 of a series of interviews with the cast of The Port Tobacco Players’ Spamalot, meet Carmel Ferrer. Tell our readers where they may have seen you on local stages. I’ve done shows in the area...

‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’ at The Keegan Theatre

The “hothouse,” loquacious and “southern-fried” appeal of Tennessee Williams’ classic Cat On A Hot Tin Roof is very evident in the scorching, white-hot production now inaugurating the new season of...

Meet the Cast of ‘Once on This Island’ at Creative Cauldron: Part 6: Jade Jones

In Part 6 of a series of interviews with the cast of Once on This Island, meet Jade Jones. Please introduce yourself and tell our readers where they may have seen you perform before on our local...

Meet the Cast of ‘Once on This Island’ at Creative Cauldron: Part 2: Ian Anthony Coleman

In Part 2 of a series of interviews with the cast of Once on This Island, meet Ian Anthony Coleman. Please introduce yourself and tell our readers where they may have seen you perform before on our...

Monumental Theatre Company Presents ‘Sex Swap: A Gender Bender Cabaret’ at Cobalt on March 6, 2015 at 7 PM by Michael Windsor

Monumental Theatre Company is a new professional nonprofit theatre company in the DC area run by Jimmy Mavrikes, Michael Windsor, and Beth Amann. In their senior year at Catholic University Beth and...

LA-TI-DO Opens A New Era at James Hoban’s Irish Restaurant & Bar Tonight From 8-11 PM

TONIGHT FROM 8-11 PM IN ITS NEW HOME: James Hoban’s Irish Restaurant & Bar 1 Dupont Circle, NW (202) 223-8440 It’s that time of week again for La-Ti-Do TONIGHT JANUARY 12, 2015 FROM 8-11 PM We kick...

DCMetroTheaterArts: Best of 2014: Best Performances in a Musical in Professional Theatres

The staff of DCMetroTheaterArts is honored to announce that their 2014 Best Performances in Musicals in Professional Theatres honors go to: Best Actor in a Musical Danny Bertaux as Agis in Triumph of...

Here is La-Ti-Do’s New Home! An Interview with Don Michael Mendoza and Regie Cabico

La-Ti-Do has found a new home and this is where it is…. Joel: OK Don Mike: I hear you have found a new home and are about to announce it to tonight’s La-Ti-Do attendees…. Drum Roll…. Where is it and...

‘Some Kind of Wonderful: Bayla Whitten Sings Carole King’ at the Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia

Just this past weekend, a sunny, very talented Bayla Whitten held the audience enthralled making her solo cabaret debut covering singer, song writer Carole King’s many hit tunes. She performed Some...

Jacques Brel is Alive and Well at Creative Cauldron: Meet John Loughney

In Part 4 of a series of interviews with the Co-Directors and the cast of Creative Cauldron’s Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, we meet cast member John Loughney. Joel: Where have...

An Interview With Director Laurie Nelson on ‘Some Enchanted Evening’ at George Mason University on Saturday, August 9, 2014 at 7:30 p.m

DCMetroTheaterArts (“DCMTA”) is interested in highlighting community performing arts events that focus on emerging musical theater talent and fresh voices. With well over 100 professional and...