2019

Review: ‘columbinus’ at 1st Stage

There’s a lot that’s shocking and disturbing in this show, as well there should be—it’s based on the April 20, 1999, shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. That massacre—during...

Review: ‘August: Osage County’ by Providence Players of Fairfax

Providence Players of Fairfax presents Tracy Letts’ August: Osage County, winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best New Play. Michael Donahue directs a strong, searing...

‘Book of Mormon’ at Baltimore’s Hippodrome Announces Discount Ticket Lottery

Producers of the national tour of The Book of Mormon at Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theater have announced a special ticket discount for seats to each upcoming performance, April 2 through April 7. Seats...

Review: ‘DEMO: Now’ at the Kennedy Center

As Director and Curator of DEMO: Now, Damian Woetzel brings together artists of different disciplines. The idea is simple: put artists together in a room and see what develops, what is created that is...

Review: ‘The White Devil’ at the Lucille Lortel Theatre

John Webster’s bloody Jacobean revenge tragedy of 1612, filled with infidelity, deceit, greed, and corruption, is brilliantly re-envisioned for our times in Red Bull Theater’s current production of...

Review: ‘My Fair Lady’ at Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre

“She sweeps out,” says George Bernard Shaw of Eliza in a stage direction at the end of Pygmalion, leaving Henry Higgins alone and feeling self-satisfied. As Shaw said emphatically in his postscript to...

Review: ‘Women’s Works’ at George Washington University

Director and playwright Leslie Jacobson concludes her final year as a full-time professor at George Washington University with excerpts from plays she has written, directed or adapted. The works draw...

The Kennedy Center Announces Its 2019-2020 Theater Season

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts today announced its 2019–2020 theater season, with more than 15 productions from New York, London, and across the globe, plus original Kennedy Center...

DC Theater Arts Partners with CultureCapital

DC Theater Arts (DCMTA) and CultureCapital are pleased to announce that DCMTA is the latest publication in the DC region to implement a CultureCapital arts feed. In displaying the CultureCapital...

Cynthia Erivo Brings ‘Legendary Women’s Voices’ to the Kennedy Center

Cynthia Erivo may as well call the Kennedy Center home. Having previously performed with the National Symphony Orchestra, the intimacy between Erivo and the musicians is strong. For her upcoming...

Review: ‘A Bronx Tale’ at the National Theatre

Chazz Palminteri is one cool dude. Imagine having your own life story play to sold-out houses on and off Broadway, and be made into a classic film directed by none other than Robert De Niro. And De...

Annapolis Shakespeare Company Artistic Director Sally Boyett Discusses ‘Pride and Prejudice’ and ASC’s Current Season

Sally Boyett is the Artistic Director of Annapolis Shakespeare Company, which is making a name for itself with its clever productions of Shakespeare and the classics. She has directed many ASC shows,...

Review: ‘Broadway by the Year: Broadway Musicals of 1943 & 1951’ at The Town Hall

In the nineteenth season’s second installment of Broadway by the Year: Broadway Musicals of 1943 & 1951, director and host Scott Siegel took audiences on a retrospective journey along the Great White...

Review: ‘Alice in Wonderland’ at Creative Cauldron

Full of high-spirited playfulness, flights of adorable fancy and some verbal gymnastics that children and adults can savor, Creative Cauldron’s Alice in Wonderland is family entertainment that will...

Review: ‘Resolving Hedda’ by Washington Stage Guild

What if your favorite dramatic heroine could – just for once – alter her tragic fate? That’s the question posed by playwright Jon Klein in the Washington Stage Guild’s production of Resolving Hedda....

15 Questions in 15 Minutes with Tiffany Mann from ‘Be More Chill’

Fifteen minutes of fame don’t even come close to the phenomenal success and widespread renown of Be More Chill and its cast, from the show’s origins in New Jersey in 2015, through its wildfire...

Synetic Theater Hires Jason Najjoum as Managing Director

Synetic Theater is pleased to announce the hiring of Jason Najjoum as Managing Director. Mr. Najjoum comes to Synetic with over a decade of experience in the arts and culture space and valuable...

Review: ‘La Paloma at the Wall’ by The In Series

The In Series at GALA Theatre has succeeded in brilliantly breathing life into a treasured zarzuela – a blend of song and dance – which was written in 1894 and originally titled La Verbena de la...

Review: ‘The Viennese Classics’ by the National Chamber Ensemble

By Ross Heath Of the National Chamber Ensemble’s roster of exceptional musicians, three artists, Leonid Sushansky (violin and artistic director), Sean Neidlinger (cello), and Carlos Cesar Rodriguez...

Review: ‘Dead Dog’s Bone: A Birthday Play’ by Nu Sass Productions

There is indeed a dog in this play, aptly named Dog, wryly performed by Karen Lange wearing a plaid shirt, jeans, and neck bandana. At the top of Act One, Dog sings a country-westernish song, “[Taking...

Review: ‘Leave It to Psmith’ at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s Music and Drama Club (MAD Productions)

He’s charming, he’s debonair, he’s sophisticated, and when you’ve got a problem, you better call Psmith – that’s Ronald Eustace Psmith (“the P is silent, like pterodactyl”). You could feel the fun...

Review: ‘Pride and Prejudice’ at Annapolis Shakespeare Company

Annapolis Shakespeare Company’s Pride and Prejudice is an impeccable dance, an elegant minuet from start to finish. Every element works gracefully with every other, producing a pleasing, harmonious...

Review: ‘Spills’ by Who What Where Theater Collective

We are seated on folding chairs in the living room of an actual house where two women and a man in their mid-twenties have agreed to meet up for a three-way. There’s a modest playing area for them and...

Adventure Theatre MTC Announces Departure of Artistic Director Michael J. Bobbitt

Adventure Theatre MTC (ATMTC) today announced that Michael J. Bobbitt, who has served as the organization’s artistic director since 2007, will be stepping down on July 1, 2019. Bobbitt, an...

“The Puppets Help Tell the Story”: World Puppetry Day Interview with ‘Vanity Fair’ Creative Team

In honor of World Puppetry Day celebrated on March 21st, it was time to learn more about the puppetry used in the Shakespeare Theatre Company production of Kate Hamill’s adaptation of Vanity Fair, now...

Review: ‘Ain’t Too Proud’ at the Imperial Theatre

One of the all-time greatest vocal groups from the golden age of Motown in the 1960s, The Temptations topped the charts with such iconic R&B and crossover hits as “The Way You Do The Things You Do,”...

Review: ‘Topdog/Underdog’ by Avant Bard

“Watch me close, watch me now!” As I watched Avant Bard’s production of Topdog/Underdog, I knew that it is a production for the ages. Under the visceral, athletic direction of DeMone Seraphin,...

Review: ‘Kiss Me, Kate’ at Studio 54

Winner of the first Tony Award for Best Musical when it made its debut in 1948, Kiss Me, Kate has a long history as one of the great Broadway classics by the legendary Cole Porter, who wrote the music...

Review: ‘It’s Not You, It’s Me’ by The Second City at Wolf Trap

By Andy Arnold The Second City: It’s Not You, It’s Me gets laughs. Sort of like the laughs an adult might give a naughty, inappropriate child. The show – a re-envisioning of sketches by the Canadian...

Review: ‘Into the Woods’ at Ford’s Theatre

I have loved Sondheim’s Into the Woods since seeing its original Broadway production. Three decades on, Ford’s Theatre’s current version carries the tradition forward proudly. For anyone unfamiliar...

Photo Feature: The Washington Chorus Celebrates St. Patrick’s Day

The Washington Chorus (TWC) celebrated St. Patrick’s Day 2019 with a concert at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, followed by its annual Gala dinner at the Watergate Hotel. The concert featured a...

Aquila Theatre Returns to George Mason with ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’

The critically acclaimed Aquila Theatre returns to George Mason University’s Center for the Arts on Sunday, March 31 at 7:00 p.m. for an enchanting performance of William Shakespeare’s beloved and...

Wolf Pack Theatre Company Has Found a Home

Wolf Pack Theatre Company has found a new home at the Cora B. Woods Center in Brentwood Maryland. After almost five years of being nomads, Wolf Pack Theatre Company will be moving into the Cora B....

Review: ‘Vilna’ at the Theatre at St. Clement’s

Based on actual events of World War II and sorely relevant today in light of the resurgence of hate-mongering and anti-Semitism in our current socio-political climate and widespread acts of terrorism...

Review: ‘The Jewish Queen Lear’ by Theater J

Valerie Leonard’s engrossing performance as a powerful matriarch lifts the Theater J premiere of the English-language The Jewish Queen Lear beyond a nostalgia-laden look back to a once highly...

Review: ‘The Comedy of Errors’ by Britches and Hose Theatre Company

By Daniel Rinehart Britches and Hose Theatre Company’s production of William Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors begins with a boisterous crowd scene. Then suddenly a great lord and a prisoner enter....

DC Playwright Collective The Welders Announce Third Generation Playwrights

A new generation of playwrights is taking over The Welders – Washington DC’s only playwrights’ collective devoted exclusively to developing and producing new work. Starting in January 2020, the Welder...

Theater J to Welcome Home Audiences for its 2019-2020 Season

Theater J Artistic Director Adam Immerwahr and Managing Director Jojo Ruf announce Theater J’s 2019-2020 season, welcoming home audiences to a beautiful and refreshed theater located in the newly...

Review: ‘The Color Purple’ at Riverside Center for the Performing Arts

Magic. Magnificent. Marvelous. There are only so many superlatives I can muster in such a small space, but The Color Purple, now running at Riverside Center for the Performing Arts, is phenomenal....

Review: ‘Fallen Angels’ at NextStop Theatre Company

If there could be a single word to describe NextStop Theatre Company’s production of Noel Coward’s 1925 comedy, Fallen Angels, it would be symmetry. Emily Lotz’s delightfully realized period set,...

Review: ‘Dinner with Friends’ at Everyman Theatre

Donald Margulies’ Pulitzer Prize-winning Dinner with Friends, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this season, opened to an enthusiastic full house at Everyman on Friday. The play gives Director...

Review: ‘Henry IV, Part II’ at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company

After a smashing opening of Henry IV, Part I, Chesapeake Shakespeare Company (CSC) has brought forth its terrific sequel, Henry IV, Part II. This play is wordier and less bloody than its predecessor...

Magic Time!: ‘Queen of Basel’ at Studio Theatre

Queen of Basel by Hilary Bettis, now on the boards at Studio, is scathingly brilliant. One walks out gobsmacked. (I completely concur with my colleague Bob Ashby’s astute review.) But watching Queen...

Review: ‘Thumbelina’ by Metropolitan Ballet Theatre and Academy

Thumbelina, the story of a miniature girl who grows from a seed, is kidnapped by a toad, tormented by beetles, and eventually marries the fairy prince, is not one of Hans Christian Andersen’s most...

Yiddish Translator Nahma Sandrow Talks About Bringing a 19th-Century Masterpiece to a Modern English-Speaking Audience

It took a little over 120 years. But—thanks to Theater J—Jacob Gordin’s wildly popular Yiddish drama, celebrated as The Jewish Queen Lear, has made it onto the English-language stage. The play, whose...

Report: ‘Les Misérables in Concert’ by Young Artists of America at Strathmore

Young Artists of America presented its annual concert on Saturday, March 16, performing a semi-staged concert version of Les Misérables that featured a large ensemble of performers, chorus members and...

Christian Sands Brings ‘Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour’ to Strathmore March 21

The East Coast has the Newport and DC jazz festivals. The Midwest claims the world’s largest free jazz extravaganza, the Detroit Jazz Festival. The South showcases jazz and R&B talent at the New...

Review: ‘The Explorers Club’ at Workhouse Arts Center

If you have not yet visited the intimate Workhouse Theatre in Lorton, Virginia, Frank Shutts is currently directing a screwball comedy full of inappropriate giggles. Attitudes are purposefully dated...

2019 WATCH Award Winners and Ceremony Recap

The 19th Annual WATCH Awards recipients were announced tonight at a ceremony at The Birchmere in Alexandria Virginia. The ceremony was notable for two touching moments. Charles Hall, father of Leta...

Review: ‘Carmen’ by Annapolis Opera

There was a moment in the first act of Annapolis Opera’s Carmen in which Director Fenlon Lamb assembled her cast in a colorful tableau that enthralled me and impressed itself on my mind. This Carmen...