2019

Review: ‘All Our Children’ at The Sheen Center

Among the unimaginable atrocities perpetrated under Adolf Hitler’s command was Aktion T4 (or the “Euthanasia Decree”) – the systematic murder of an estimated 200,000 people with disabilities,...

Interview: JaBen Early in Arena Stage’s ‘Junk’

JaBen Early is a Washingtonian through and through. His father worked at the Smithsonian, and his mother was a teacher in DC. He went to Morehouse College and Sarah Lawrence University, and studied...

Review: ‘Junk’ at Arena Stage

“When did money become the thing—the only thing?” asks an ambitious young financial journalist in her opening monologue. She then answers her own question: “The mid-eighties. 1985 to be exact…. It was...

An Interview with Keith Rubin: Celebrating Harry Potter in ‘Puffs’ at New World Stages

Now playing at New World Stages as “the famously handsome wizard boy Cedric” in the long-running Off-Broadway hit Puffs – a critically-acclaimed laugh-out-loud comedy inspired by the Harry Potter...

Review: Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s ‘Porgy and Bess’ a Crowd-Pleaser

Let’s get the persnickety stuff out of the way first. Then we can get to why the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s second Porgy and Bess in concert at the Strathmore Music Center in three years is...

Director Laura Giannarelli Muses About ‘Ghost-Writer,’ Michael Hollinger’s Tale of Mystery and Love at Quotidian

Laura Giannarelli is a woman of many roles. A founder of Washington Stage Guild, she’s been a fixture of the DC stage for almost four decades. She’s been the mother-in-law from hell in Gulf View...

Michael Kahn & Friends Off the Record: The Folger Years: A Celebration in Pictures

“I think you have to define who you are–and that definition can change–but you have to be as uncompromising as you possibly can about who you think you are, and to fight for that, in bad times and...

Signature Theatre Announces 2019-2020 Season

Signature Theatre Announces 30th Anniversary Season, including new and inventive stagings of: ASSASSINS A CHORUS LINE HAIR NIJINSKY’S LAST DANCE The DC Premiere of: CARYL CHURCHILL’S PLAY ESCAPED...

Review: ‘Grand Hotel’ at Signature Theatre

Time may be running out for the denizens of Berlin’s swanky Weimar era Grand Hotel who wonder if life has passed them by. But Signature Theatre’s roaring, non-stop rendering of the musical Grand Hotel...

Review: ‘Appropriate’ at Silver Spring Stage

Silver Spring Stage is known for producing professional-level community theater, garnering more WATCH nominations and awards than any other company in Maryland. The Obie-award winner Appropriate by...

Review: ‘Play Date’ at Best Medicine Rep

Farce is a classic form of comedy, based on ludicrous characters, silly situations, mistaken identities, sex, slapstick, and many slamming doors. After centuries of development (refinement would be...

Review: Kristin Chenoweth at Strathmore

If you happened to see something akin to celestial beings descending on North Bethesda on Monday evening, don’t worry – that wasn’t actually Heaven coming down, it was just the sound of Kristin...

Review: ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’ at Toby’s Dinner Theatre

Tucked inside the new live musical retelling of Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame at Toby’s Dinner Theatre is an altogether wonderful concert staging that should not be missed. The show itself...

‘Two Wings’ Celebrates the Music of Black America in Migration

“Pick a chord and I’ll be there,” Alicia Hall Moran told husband Jason Moran from the stage of a packed performance hall at Georgetown University. Moran, accompanying on piano, nodded in agreement....

Review: ‘Pinter Rep’ by Scena Theatre

When Pinter is performed with precision, with exacting attention to the text—as is the case with Scena Theatre’s razor-sharp Pinter Rep—the effect can be both unnerving and exhilarating. The tension...

Studio Theatre Announces 2019-2020 Season

Studio Theatre’s 2019-2020 Main Series Season: Doubt: A Parable by John Patrick Shanley White Pearl by Anchuli Felicia King Pipeline by Dominique Morrisseau Pass Over by Antoinette Nwandu Fun Home by...

Hit the Bars (of Music) For Lunch: Free Midday Concerts in the DC Area

Food trucks are a fun and a convenient way to sample something tasty and new, but don’t forget to check out the bars – of music that is. Several DC area venues offer bite-sized classical music...

Review: ‘Beehive’ at Spotlighters Theatre

There are times when the theater takes daring artistic risks, asks uncomfortable questions, and exposes the darkest truths about our institutions and ourselves. We love the medium for that. We also...

Review: ‘P.Y.G. or The Mis-Edumacation of Dorian Belle’ at Studio Theatre

Don’t be put off by the deliberately opaque, long title of the current world premiere at Studio Theatre’s experimental space. P.Y.G. or The Mis-Edumacation of Dorian Belle is a very slick,...

Review: ‘Godspell (2012 Revised Version)’ by Rooftop Productions

Rooftop Productions has wowed me yet again, this time with its current production, Godspell. I have a hard time describing Godspell because there isn’t exactly a plot; there are several incredibly...

Review: ‘The Peculiar Patriot’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

A klaxon sounds. A video montage of “Betsy” LaQuanda Ross (actor and playwright Liza Jessie Peterson) passing through the visitor entrance at a correctional facility plays in black and white on the...

Amanda Gookin’s Forward Music Project at Kennedy Center’s Direct Current Festival

Amanda Gookin is a cellist, a founding member of the acclaimed music group PUBLIQuartet, and, since 2015, the founder of the Forward Music Project, which commissions new multimedia works for solo...

Review: ‘Girlfriend from Hell: The Musical’ at The Green Room 42

When Maggie Miller just can’t take any more abuse from the popular clique of mean girls, dream guys, and high-school bullies, her cries for help are answered by the Devil himself. At the cost of her...

Review: ‘Ghost-Writer’ by Quotidian Theatre Company

There is a mystery at the heart of Ghost-Writer, currently being presented by the Quotidian Theatre Company at The Writer’s Center in Bethesda. Not that Michael Hollinger’s drama is a lighthearted...

Review: ‘Clothes for a Summer Hotel’ by Rainbow Theatre Project

Rainbow Theatre Project has presented a trenchant and exciting production of the rarely produced Clothes for a Summer Hotel. The dualistic themes of the great playwright Tennessee Williams are found...

Review: Curse of the Starving Class at Maryland Ensemble Theatre

When we first see the Tate family in Sam Shepard’s Curse of the Starving Class, now playing at Frederick’s Maryland Ensemble Theatre (MET), they are already doomed, they just don’t fully know it yet....

Review: ‘King Lear’ at the Cort Theatre

“’Tis the times’ plague when madmen lead the blind” (King Lear, Act IV, Scene 1) Based on the legendary Leir – ancient Celtic King of the Britons, whose story was recounted in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s...

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...

Folger Shakespeare Library Celebrates Shakespeare’s Birthday with Annual Open House Celebration

The Folger Shakespeare Library will host its annual open house and Shakespeare birthday celebration on Sunday, April 14 beginning at 12 pm. This free, family-friendly event throws open the doors of...

Review: ‘New York City Ballet: New Works and New Productions’ at the Kennedy Center

It’s been a challenging few years for New York City Ballet, the nation’s preeminent ballet company. What with the misconduct and resignation of its ballet master in chief, subsequent misconduct...

An Evening with The Bard: Celebrating The Poetic Works of Dr. Maya Angelou by Fulfillment Theatre Company

Fulfillment Theatre Company (FTC) presents An Evening with The Bard celebrating the poetic works of Dr. Maya Angelou. This show will be performed at the Silver Spring Black Box Theatre on Wednesday,...

Review: ‘Sincerely, Oscar’ at Theatre Row

Oscar Hammerstein (1895-1960) – half of the legendary team of Rodgers and Hammerstein (with composer Richard Rodgers), recipient of eight Tony Awards and two Oscars, and writer of the words to an...

Review: The Kennedy Center’s ‘Celebrating the Human Spirit Awards’ Gala featuring Idina Menzel

The Kennedy Center’s annual party with a purpose on Wednesday night, the Celebrating the Human Spirit Awards Gala, honored Distinguished Philanthropists Patrick G. Ryan and Shirley W. Ryan and Citizen...

George Mason University Center for the Arts Announces its 2019-2020 Season

The Center for the Arts at George Mason University has announced the 2019/2020 season of Great Performances at Mason, its annual series featuring leading national and international artists in the...

Review: ‘Siwayul (Heart of a Womxn)’ by Nelwat Ishkamewe Two-Spirit Theatre

American theater blows off a lot of folx. Leaves out their voices. Doesn’t cast them. Isn’t interested in their stories. Two-Spirit indigenous transpeople, for conspicuous instance, are among the...

Review: ‘The Book of Mormon’ at the Hippodrome Theatre

Ticket holders for The Book of Mormon national tour had better be prepared to exercise a muscle that doesn’t get much of a workout these days — the one that controls the “personally offended” gag...

Review: ‘Analogy Trilogy’ by Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company at the Kennedy Center

It’s too simplistic to call Bill T. Jones a choreographer, although that’s been his stock and trade for more than 40 years. This past week his Analogy unfolded as a trilogy, over three nights at the...

Review: ‘New York City Ballet: Works by Balanchine, Robbins, and Reisen’ at the Kennedy Center

Spring is in the air with not only the blooming cherry blossoms but also the bursting energy of the New York City Ballet’s exciting spring concert at the Kennedy Center. Something old and something...

Magic Time!: ‘Native Son’ at Mosaic Theater Company

When one has an overwhelming experience in the theater—as I did watching Native Son at Mosaic—it can take some time to process. This is especially so if the work is unlike anything one thought...

Review: ‘Amazing Grace’ at the Museum of the Bible

In 2017, the Broadway musical Amazing Grace opened its national tour with a stint at the World Stage Theater at Washington, D.C.’s Museum of the Bible. (DC Metro Theatre Arts’ review of that...

Washington Bach Consort’s Noontime Cantata Series: A DC Tradition in the Making

For thirty years, the Washington Bach Consort has offered its Noontime Cantata Series to Washingtonians seeking a free musical escape in the middle of the workday, something District officials have...

Playwright Michael Hollinger to Visit Quotidian Theatre for ‘Ghost-Writer’ Talkback

Quotidian Theatre Company will have VIP guests, “Ghost-Writer” playwright Michael Hollinger and his wife, Megan Bellwoar (who originated the role of Myra), in house for a performance and after-show...

Director and Playwright Psalmayene 24 Discusses ‘Native Son’ and ‘Les Deux Noirs’

DC Theater Arts caught up with Director and Playwright Psalmayene 24 to discuss Native Son and Les Deux Noirs: Notes on Notes of a Native Son, which play in rep at the Mosaic Theater this month....

Review: ‘Do You Feel Anger?’ at Vineyard Theatre

Absurdist dark comedy meets the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements in the Vineyard Theatre’s New York premiere of Mara Nelson-Greenberg’s Do You Feel Anger? Directed by Margot Bordelon, the biting send-up...

Chilling with Will Roland

From Dear Evan Hansen to Be More Chill, Will Roland has played a major role in two of the biggest hits on Broadway, both focused on teenage characters and relevant themes that appeal to a new...

DCMTA Exclusive: Helen Hayes Award Winner Iyona Blake Announces Upcoming EP ‘Timeless’

On a recent warm Monday evening, Helen Hayes Award recipient Iyona Blake announced her next musical venture, an EP (extended play) of some of her favorite songs. The album will be called “Timeless.”...

Artistic Director Matt Bassett Discusses Hub Theatre’s DC Premiere of ‘The Burn’

In the Hub Theatre’s first full production under Artistic Director Matt Bassett, the company will be producing The Burn by playwright Philip Dawkins. The Burn will be the first Hub production in its...

Review: ‘Bus Stop’ at Aldersgate Church Community Theater

Aldersgate Church Community Theater presents Bus Stop, by William Inge. Written in 1955, this production follows a group of strangers who find themselves stranded together overnight after being hit by...

Review: ‘Native Son’ at Mosaic Theater

We usually think of a rat as a detestable lowlife animal that we dread. It slinks in dark corners of the floor, hiding itself from being seen. It nervously darts and runs when spotted and can fit...

Review: ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ by Aquila Theatre at George Mason University

Last night, Aquila Theatre performed a wonderful version of the classic comedy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream at George Mason University’s Center for Visual and Performing Arts. All of the actors (of whom...