2012

Capital Fringe Review: ‘In This Economy’ by Jessica Vaughan

If you have ever known or happen to be either a 20-something searching for a job in DC or employed in a perpetual entry-level position, In this Economy will be both funny and severely painful. It is...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘Breaking Up With Ed’ by Jessica Vaughan

Breaking up with Ed was not written so much as collected by Angela Pitko but from survivors of eating disorders. Five actors – Caroline O’Grady, Rebecca Philips, Anika Harden, Stefanie Garcia, and...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘Girls Who Think They’re Hot’ by Julia L. Exline

“What you have just seen may be called by the easily-shocked, ‘shocking.’” Ritchie Porter directs this madcap mockumentary where 1950’s princess Poppy Topp (Clare Lefebure) finds herself intrigued by...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘Donna Has A Boyfriend’ by Jessica Vaughan

Hayley Cutler is the choreographer behind this memorable hour of dance called Donna Has a Boyfriend. Her background is in the postmodern style. I was unaware that we have moved on from modern, but was...

National Symphony Orchestra at Wolf Trap: ‘Hamlisch Goes Gershwin ‘ by Jane Coyne

’S always wonderful and marvelous to spend an evening at Wolf Trap, especially when the most wonderful and marvelous Marvin Hamlisch shows up and devotes the entire evening to George Gershwin....

Capital Fringe Review: ‘Why So Serious?’ By Derek Mong

Fringe Review: Why So Serious? Comedy Exposes Society’s Stern Outlook on Life Why So Serious?: Comedy Exposes Society’s Stern Outlook on Life features Trevor Joyner in his debut performance at the...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘The Diamond Star Project’ By Derek Mong

The Diamond Star Project may have been the most confusing experience I have had yet at the Capital Fringe. The 45-minute performance is based on Catherine Asaro’s sci-fi book of the same name,...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘The Underdeveloped and Overexposed Life and Death of Deena Domino’ By Derek Mong

The Underdeveloped and Overexposed Life and Death of Deena Domino follows the life (and, well, death) of child star Deena Domino as her stardom waxes and wanes (mostly wanes) over the course of her...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘Mitzi’s Abortion’ by Julia L. Exline

“Downer subject, don’t you think?” When 22 year-old Mitzi (Natalie Cutcher) becomes pregnant, she welcomes the adventure despite some unsettling doubts. While things are hard enough with a tight...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘SINGLEMARRIEDGIRL’ by Andrew L. Baughman

There’s a little gem of a solo-show buried in the great gallery of Capital Fringe, don’t let it slip under your radar! SINGLEMARRIEDGIRL is a production by one of DC’s newest companies, Tasty Monster...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘The Interview’ by Anne Tsang

“I didn’t make these decisions, they were made by people much smarter than you or I” says James Shannon in Peter Swet’s The Interview, currently playing at the Capital Fringe Festival. That’s the way...

‘Dr. Science’s Science Time Science-va-ganza!’ by Andrew L. Baughman

What is the secret formula for an exquisite fringe production? Well, author/comedian/molecular biologist Adam Ruben and his team decisively prove that it doesn’t take production budget (any!) or even...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘Nevermind the Bollocks, Here’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ by Erica Laxson

The Capital Fringe offers local artists the opportunity to practice their craft and bring unique visions to life. Nevermind the Bollocks, Here’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is an off the wall, punk rock...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘Occupy This! Tales of an Accidental Activist ‘ by Amanda Vicari

A mix between stand up comedy, motivational speaking, and traditional story telling, Occupy This! Tales of an Accidental Activist is a simple yet interesting journey from the entertaining and likable...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘The Revolution Will Not Be Televised’ by Amanda Vicari

Faruq Hussein- Bey’s The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, directed by Camille Kashaka, is a series of small stories that address the roles of perception and perspective on race, class, sexual...

Capital Fringe Preview: ‘Stopgap’ by Joel Markowitz

It’s amazing how many fantastic young actors appear in Fringe shows who you just hope would be ‘discovered,’ and that’s the way I felt with the exceptional cast of Stopgap. This hardworking cast...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘The Outcasts of Poker Flat’ by Joel Markowitz

At last year’s Page-To-Stage I was introduced to some of the songs/arias that composer/librettist Dr. Andrew Earle Simpson had composed for his adaptation of Bret Harte’s 1869 short story The Outcasts...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘Mein Kampf’ by Tzvi Kahn

According to a press release and other advertising, Scena Theatre’s production of George Tabori’s Mein Kampf constitutes a “daring,” “savagely funny,” and “in-your-face dark comedy,” not to mention a...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘The New and Improved Stages of Grief’ by Pat Davis

The famed Italian novelist Italo Calvino during a 1968 visit to the US noted the following: Americans laugh at death. He had seen a comedy routine at a jazz club and wrote home about it, somewhat...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘Right to Remain…The Life and Mind of Tupac Shakur’ by Pat Davis

Even on a cool night, the heat of the Fort Fringe Bedroom is stifling. You will forget about it within two minutes as you enter Tupac Shakur’s world, shaped and portrayed by Meshaun Labrone in his...

‘Hairspray’ at Montgomery College’s Summer Dinner Theatre by Derek Mong

Montgomery College continues its 35th consecutive year of Summer Dinner Theatre with a show-stopping performance of Hairspray, directed and choreographed by Pauline Grossman. Set in 1960’s Baltimore,...

‘I Am (Not) My Mother’ at Maryland Ensemble Theatre by Mike Spain

A local playwright Suzanne Beal is having a World Premiere run of I Am (Not) My Mother at Maryland Ensemble Theatre. Proceeds go to help The Woman’s Giving Circle. It is a great story of putting...

‘The Addams Family’ at The Kennedy Center by Doug Poms

The Addams Family, the kooky clan that was first the subject of Charles Addams cartoons in the New Yorker, then featured on a popular television sitcom, and more recently a couple of Hollywood films,...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘AARP the Musical and Harriet 2.0’ by Doug Poms

The Capital Fringe Festival constantly reminds us that art and theater have no boundaries. AARP the Musical and Harriet 2.0 is another fine example of this. Part-performance art and part- speech class...

Capital Fringe Review: R.U.X. (Rockwell’s Universal SeXbots) by Ally Jenkins

Originally produced as a serial play as part of the 2011 Hope Operas, an annual charity event, R.U.X. has remounted for this year’s Fringe Festival. Taking place in the “not so distant future” in a...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘Hamlet’ by Lauren Katz

When I accepted the program for We Happy Few Productions’ experimental approach to Hamlet, I have to admit I felt a little apprehensive. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the brilliant...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘Madwoman in the Attic: An Evening of Short Plays’ by Grace Kim

Madwoman in the Attic: An Evening of Short Plays by Theresa Rebeck and directed by Aniko Olah unfold through six short skits that amusingly portray the theme of the how whacky the darker side of human...

Fringe Review: ‘Cabaret XXX: Love the One You’re With’ by Grace Kim

Cabaret XXX: Love The One You’re With are the four ladies of Pinky Swear Productions, Toni Rae Brotons (director), Christina Frank, Allyson Harkey, and Karen Lange and backed by the excellent band,...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘Dreams in the Arms of the Binding Lady’ by Grace Kim

Dreams In The Arms of The Binding Lady is a deliciously dark and weird (in a good way!) performance by Izumi Ashizawa and her performers, Izumi production members Nick Horan, Raechel Nolan, Vanessa...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘Gorgeous Raptors’ by Jessica Vaughan

The Disreputables is a theater company dedicated, as they say, to “giving voice to those people deemed unfit by society.” Lee Mikeska Gardner directs this production about a few teenagers on the,...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘Tight Assets’ by Jessica Vaughan

Amelia Adams, Michael Cavanaugh, and Alex Corby are all well-trained, incredibly gifted performers in the ancient Italian art of Commedia Dell’Arte. They call themselves AlulA, a group they founded...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘Barter (Or, Stealing Other People’s Credit Cards)’ by Jessica Vaughan

The first thing to know about Barter is that it has very little to do with bartering. In 75 fascinating, touching, and amusing minutes, the characters spent roughly 5 minutes bartering. Nor does the...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘The Confines of Flattery’ by Jennifer Georgia

It is no mere flattery to say that Triptych Productions’ The Confines of Flattery provides a delightful and intriguing hour at the theater. A trio of short plays from three quite different eras, with...

‘The Last Five Years’ at The Heritage Players by Amanda Gunther

It’s the Off-Broadway sensation; the love story told from beginning to end and from the end backward to the beginning, join in the amazement as The Heritage Players presents Jason Robert Brown’s The...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘Children in the Mist’ by Anne Tsang

Children in the Mist, written by and starring Sean Pflueger and directed by Gregory Stuart, is an adaptation of Steven King’s The Mist in which a father (Pflueger as David Drayton) and son (Henry...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘Colony’ by Cyle Durkee

Enter a room with no chairs. There are two women in striped leotards running in place (Kelly Bond and Melissa Krodman {Melissa has the curly hair}). You mill about looking for a place to sit and...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘The Circle’ by Cyle Durkee

The Circle is a walking tour of an area surrounding the Fringe office. You first download an audio file onto your IPOD or other handheld electronic device. Then you get into a group and your “tour...

Part 4: ‘Finding Big Love’ By Kristen Kelly

“Things happen so suddenly sometimes.” In Charles Mee’s Big Love, Nikos says this to Lydia. And sometimes that’s the only thing you can say. In the theatre, your family becomes the people who are...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘Domino’s Pizza Saved My Life’ by Sydney- Chanele Dawkins

The art of oral storytelling is a dying one. The natural grace and easy that monologist Dylan Fresco has sharing the intimate details of his personal life, and the heartaches and triumphs of his...

‘Buddy Guy With Special Guest John Mayall’ at Wolf Trap by Mike Spain

It is not often you get to see two living legends on one night. However, that is what happened on July 12, 2012 at Wolf Trap. British blues legend John Mayall opening up for blues legend Buddy Guy....

Capital Fringe Review: ‘Wild Night: A Choose Your Own Burlesque Adventure Show’ by Carolyn Kelemen

Make it a wild night at the burlesque Here’s a suggestion before you take on a late night “Tilted Torch” show at the Warehouse. Spend some time (and definitely imbibe some bubbly) at the outside...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘Trial by Jury’ by Francine Schwartz

Gilbert and Sullivan’s Trial by Jury is a satire of the British legal system. It is a fun little farce, an appertif only 45 minutes long that was their first major hit. Plaintiff brings a suit against...

Capital Fringe Festival Review: ‘The Nita and Zita Show’ by Joel Markowitz

‘Please Sir, I want some more!!” That’s how I felt when abruptly The Nita and Zita Show’ ended after only 27 minutes of fun and gorgeous playing by three superb musicians. Frankly, I was dumbfounded....

‘Will Gartshorez: Underappreciated & Overexposed’ at ‘Sizzlin’ Summer Cabaret’ at Signature Theatre by Eric Denver

Last night, Signature Theatre continued the second day of its sixth annual ‘Sizzlin’ Summer Cabaret’ series with an outstanding solo performance by Will Gartshore (with a surprise). Will performed...

Capital Fringe Review: “Dead Man’s Mambo’ by Carolyn Kelemen

Who would have thought Dead Man’s Mambo would have come from such a lofty art form as commedia dell’arte. But John Bellomo, a Philadelphia comedian/Italian traveler/funny guy, provided the Fringe...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘Young Republicans’ by Sydney-Chanele Dawkins

Young Republicans is 65 entertaining minutes of fresh, insightful humor, and heart. You certainly don’t have to be young or Republican to enjoy this Capital Fringe show! Frankly, when I saw that Helen...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘Beertown’ by Grace Kim

Beertown is a very enjoyable play where you, the audience member, becomes part of the experience. I love this kind of play where you can be as active a participant as you want or you can sit back and...

Capital Fringe Review: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern by Jennifer Georgia

The aptly named Infinite Jest presents an amusing, engaging and ultimately even touching production of Tom Stoppard’s absurdist peek behind the scenes of Hamlet – Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘Dizzy Miss Lizzie’s Roadside Revue: The Brontes’ by Andrew L. Baughman

The latest rock-lit-fusion by Dizzy Miss Lizzie’s Roadside Revue, The Brontes, is a hell of a lot of fun. It’s easy to understand how the troupe earned the buzz of being one of the best fringe tickets...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘Where in the World? The Untold Story of Camilla Sanfrancisco’ by Jessica Vaughan

Where in the world is Camilla Sanfrancisco? is pure, well-produced fun. Jeff Vonch is both co-writer and producer, with fellow writers Patrick English and J. Adrian Verkourteren. Under the sure...