Studio Theatre

‘Wilde Tales’: An Interview with Director Jeremy Bloom, on the Quintessence Production

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), famous and controversial Irish playwright, novelist, essayist, and poet, also authored thought provoking fairy stories for children that appeared in various magazines. Married...

Review: ‘A Christmas Carol: A Live Radio Play’ at Howard Community College’s Arts Collective

We all could use a bit of good tidings during this winter of our discontent. Fortunately for Howard County theatergoers, this weekend is filled with holiday cheer with four productions of The...

Review # 2: ‘The Comedy of Errors . . . at Colonus’ at Lumina Studio Theatre (Green Cast)

If you’re a lover of impossible opposites, or have ever wondered what it would be like to wander into a mirthful merge—or, in the company’s assuredly less elegant, but admittedly (and amusingly) more...

Review: ‘The Comedy of Errors…at Colonus’ at Lumina Studio Theatre (Blue Cast)

The Comedy of Errors at Colonus: Uauthorized by William Shakespeare and Sophocles, adapted and directed by David Minton on December 3, 2016, at 7 PM, performed by the blue cast. I wonder if there’s...

‘A Christmas Carol: A Live Radio Play’ Opens Thursday, December 8th at 7:30 PM and Plays Through Sunday, December 11th at Howard Community College’s Arts Collective

HCC’s Arts Collective Presents A Christmas Carol: A Live Radio Play December 8–11, 2016 SHOW DATES AND TIMES: Thursday, December 8 at 7:30 PM Friday, December 9 at 7:30 PM Saturday, December 10 at...

Review: ‘The Merchant of Venice’ at Faction of Fools

Audiences can usually expect something distinct, and full of chutzpah, from the folk at DC’s scrappy Faction of Fools theater troupe with its Comedia dell’Arte mission. The recipient of the 2012 Helen...

Magic Time! ‘Straight White Men’ at The Studio Theatre

Playwright Young Jean Lee’s audacious title refers to the particular—the white widowed father (Ed) and his three grown sons (Drew, Jake, and Matt) who are on stage for most of this naturalistic...

Review #2: ‘Straight White Men’ at The Studio Theatre

If your empathy for straight white men was strained by last week’s elections, go see Young Jean Lee’s 2014 play at The Studio Theatre. You’ll be privy to a rare, funny and poignant look under the fig...

In the Moment: A Report on The Edge of the Universe Players 2’s Workshop Production of Young Jean Lee’s ‘Pullman, WA’

The Edge of the Universe Players 2‘s workshop production of Young Jean Lee’s Pullman, WA was an evening that defies easy categorization. It was charming one moment, annoying the next. It was a...

Review: ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ at Gallaudet University’s Theater and Dance Program

Like a gift that keeps on giving, Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream keeps on rekindling. Dreamer after dreamer reconceives it as if anew. And last night that classic spark reignited at Gallaudet...

Why ‘TAME.’ Enraged Me—And Why We Need Its New Shrew by Angela Kay Pirko

The first time I read through TAME., I had to walk away from my computer. TAME. had been described to me not as a reinterpretation but rather as a reimagining of The Taming of the Shrew—a play I have...

Review: ‘Wonder of the World’ at Howard Community College Theatre Program

Wonder of the World by David Lindsay-Abaire, directed by Bill Gillett and presented by Howard Community College Theatre Program, opened last night. The thundering Niagara Falls serves as a perfect...

Meet the Cast of ‘Ruthless! The Musical’ at Creative Cauldron: Part 4: Alan Naylor

Meet the Cast of ‘Ruthless! The Musical’ at Creative Cauldron: Part 4: Meet Alan Naylor. Joel: Please introduce yourself and tell our readers where they may have seen you appear on local stages and...

Review: ‘MotherStruck’ at The Studio Theatre

I happen to like solo performance pieces a lot and I’ve seen many. There’s something I love about the immediacy of a single performer claiming my attention—and maybe stirring my emotions or...

SPINE: Theresa Rebeck’s ‘What We’re Up Against’ at Keegan Theatre

Theresa Rebeck’s sharp-knuckled comedy, What We’re Up Against, received its regional premiere at Keegan Theatre this week, and the laughs abound. An architectural firm hires a young talented architect...

Review: ‘What We’re Up Against’ at The Keegan Theatre

Near the end of What We’re Up Against, Theresa Rebeck’s incisive comedy about workplace sexism—just opened in a kick-ass production at The Keegan Theatre—a question is posed by Eliza, a very talented...

Magic Time! ‘Cloud Nine’ at The Studio Theatre

Caryl Churchill’s Cloud Nine, which premiered in London in 1979, is rightly considered a landmark play. It is pivotal for me personally as well, ever since I saw the legendary Tommy Tune production...

Review: ‘Cloud 9’ at The Studio Theatre

Caryl Churchill’s Cloud 9, now playing at Studio Theatre, is a fabulous, funny, smart, and ever more relevant vision of a world in the midst of upheaval. Director Michael Kahn, always the exquisite...

2016 Philadelphia Fringe Festival Review: ‘Exile 2588’ at Almanac Dance Circus Theatre

Inspired by the ancient Greek myth of Io, the principles of existential risk and human enhancement ethics considered by Swedish philosopher Nick Bostrum, and the popular genre of science fiction,...

Magic Time! ‘Notes on My Theatergoing in London’

My four days in London last weekend offered time slots to see six plays—four evenings and two matinees. My strategy was to seek intriguing, fresh writing in a mix of West End, Off West End, and Fringe...

Magic Time! The Studio Theatre’s ‘Hand to God’: A Puppet Chat

So this strange thing happened. I was sitting at a table in a church basement that happened to be on the fourth floor of The Studio Theatre, and I was waiting to see a show called Hand to God. And...

Review: ‘Hand to God’ at The Studio Theatre

Hand to God at Studio is truly outlandish; a joyfully “blasphemous” production just as The Studio Theatre marketing material shouts out in a bold headline. With immersion staging in its intimate...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Prison Break, Incorporated’

Nathan (Andrew Flurer) is a 30-year-old, washed-up druggie who lives in a boarding house. Ellie (Karen Elle) is a life coach just trying to help Nathan out. And now they’re both in jail thanks to...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Better A Witty Fool’

This short political farce by Louis James Brenner is reminiscent of the comedy of SNL with the irreverence of South Park. Better A Witty Fool is a timely comedy reflecting the present presidential...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘H5x7’

Did you miss the Henriad this past spring at BAM? Or the Hollow Crown? Do you find Shakespeare inaccessible? Barabbas Theatre can help. Taking a cue from the play’s Chorus, urging the audience to...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Saudade; the one where I miss you’

‘Saudade; the one where I miss you‘ is a heartwarming play that deals with not only personal loss, but complex family relationships. It underscores the need for family ties and the bonds we feel to...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Macbeth in the Basement’

William Shakespeare serves as playwright Annie Bryan’s inspiration for Dodgeball Theatre’s Macbeth in the Basement, directed by Talley Murphy. The show features only five actors and a limited set, and...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Let Trump Be Trump’

Imagine, if you can, that it is July 2017 and Donald J. Trump has been elected as the 45th President of the United States. While some of you might find that prospect wonderful and others horrifying,...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Rapists and Drug Dealers’

This surreal drama, by Tim Chamberlain, is a combination of modern dance and theater. The play opens with the attempted murder of WOMAN by MAN. She is able to thwart his attempt with the help of two...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Hello|Brother’

Edgy, experimental, and often uncomfortable, Annexus Theatre’s production of Hello|Brother is the quintessential Fringe experience. Written and directed by Solomon HaileSelassie, the companion plays...

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘JUICED’

JUICED, directed by and staring the three members of Tia Nina (Leah Curran Moon, Ilana Silverstein, and Lisi Stoessel) is weird. It is ridiculous. It ignores all theatrical and performative...

Capital Fringe Preview #50: ‘H5x7’ by William Shakespeare, Adapted and Directed by Kevin O’Connell

Capital Fringe Preview: H5x7 by William Shakespeare, adapted and directed by Kevin O’Connell “Suppose within the girdles of these walls,” begins Shakespeare’s Henry V, “Are now confined two mighty...

2016 Capital Fringe Preview #45: ‘Let Trump Be Trump’ by Kendall Helblig

Trump’s Theatrics Play Out On The Fringe Festival Stage Believe it or not, John Krizel had the idea and title for his play Let Trump Be Trump months before the slogan, a wink to The West Wing wonks,...

2016 Capital Fringe Preview #34: ‘Macbeth in the Basement’ by Annie Bryan

181 school shootings have occurred in the United States since the Columbine shooting on April 20, 1999. 231 young people died from gun violence in their place of education. High school students...

2016 Capital Fringe Preview #33 ‘Prison Break Incorporated’ by Derek Hills

You’ve run marathons in Kuala Lumpur, did the half Ironman in Hawaii, and proved your mettle on the now-quaint Tough Mudder race course as well as its clones. But where to go for your next adrenaline...

Magic Time! Left-Handed Complement: Liam Forde on Acting With a Puppet in ‘Hand to God’ at Studio Theatre

Studio Theatre’s fourth floor has been turned into an amazing facsimile of a Lutheran church basement, complete with inspirational posters on the walls and seating at folding tables as if for a...

Review: ‘Silk Road Stories’ at The Columbia Festival of the Arts

The Columbia Festival of the Arts under Executive Director, Todd Olson has created a wonderful idea for cultural immersion. They incorporated food and a musical theme night as part of their venue. The...

2016 Capital Fringe Preview #15: ‘BRYCE: Hydrogen Blonde’ by Tabitha Odom

The rumors are true. After months of speculation, BRYCE confirmed he will be gracing the 2016 Capital Fringe stage with a brand new show BRYCE: Hydrogen Blonde. After a successful debut at The Studio...

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...

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...

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: ‘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...

Magic Time! ‘Hedda Gabler’ at Studio Theatre

Watching Julia Coffey’s feline and feral performance in the title role of Studio Theatre’s sleek and stark staging of Hedda Gabler is to witness the trainwreck that is Ibsen’s enigmatic character in a...

Review: ‘Hedda Gabler’ at Studio Theatre

Hedda Tesman, aka., Hedda Gabler, has it all: beauty, grace, status, ambition, wit, and feminine mystique. And, per usual, it’s the mystique that does her in. Studio Theatre’s Hedda Gabler, in a new...

Review: ‘The Tempest’ at Lumina Studio Theatre

The Tempest which played at The Silver Spring Black Box Theatre through May 8th was a delightful tour-de-force of sound, fury, fanfare and color. Directed and adapted by David Minton for Lumina Studio...

Review: ‘All Lady Macbeth’ at Theatre Prometheus

The Northwest and Southwest sides of DC are filled with theatre and art. From the Shakespeare Theatre Company and Woolly Mammoth to Arena Stage and Studio Theatre, one never needs to look too far to...

Review: ‘As You Like It’ at Howard County Community College

“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players” is among Shakespeare’s most famous lines. When it was penned, the Bard probably did not imagine it delivered by a girl dressed like...

Arts Collective @HCC Presents ‘The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee’ May 19 – June 5, 2016

HCC’s Arts Collective presents the Tony Award-Winning Musical: THE 25th ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE May 19 – June 5, 2016 Howard Community College’s Arts Collective proudly wraps up its 21st...

Review: Kristine Fraelich at the Arden Cabaret Series at the Arden Theatre Company in Philadelphia

“It is terrifying.” More often than not, the actor’s relationship to their audience involves three parties; the audience, the actor, and their character. Guarded by learned lines and blocking, an...

Review: ‘Middletown’ at Lumina Studio Theatre

Middletown is a series of vignettes powered by a strong ensemble Middletown, which played at The Silver Spring Black Box Theater through April 17th was a glorious, energetic crowd pleaser. Directed by...