2020

GALA Hispanic Theatre announces 2020–2021 season and plans to reopen

November 23, 2020, UPDATE: FUEGO FLAMENCO XVI, originally scheduled for December 4–6, 2020, has been cancelled. November 3, 2020, UPDATE: The Department of Homeland Security of the District of...

Loudon Arts Film Festival opens with a wrenching script by Chisa Hutchinson

It’s a relatively short drive—a few miles beyond the beltway on I-66, and then on to Route 50 for some 16 miles or so, past the charming town of Aldie, Virginia—to get to Drive-In Heaven. For the next...

Olney Theatre Center takes ‘The Humans’ from stage to stream

The Humans—Stephen Karam’s Tony Award–winning family dramedy—was slated for a run at Olney Theatre Center this season, but that physical production was shelved this summer when the COVID would not...

The annual ‘Broadway Flea Market & Grand Auction’ goes virtual for 2020

For the first time in its history (beginning in Shubert Alley in 1987), the annual Broadway Flea Market & Grand Auction, produced by and benefitting Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, goes virtual...

A top-notch storyteller tells ‘Stories I May Not Tell’ at Best Medicine Rep

Theaters have gone dark during the pandemic, with little certainty about when or whether actors and audiences can again gather in the same space to tell and listen to stories that illuminate our...

Meshaun Labrone’s two Capital Fringe hits to be filmed for streaming

Meshaun Labrone—the actor, writer, musician, and former DC Police officer whose solo stage plays Spook and Power! Stokely Carmichael were Capital Fringe hits—recently signed a production deal with...

Legendary Bread and Puppet Theater to perform on the Mall September 19 and 20

Against the backdrop of COVID-19, racial injustice, and the upcoming election, CulturalDC is staging one of the first large-scale productions in the Washington, DC, area since the pandemic began. The...

Healing with the ‘Table of Silence Project 9/11’ from Buglisi Dance Theatre and Lincoln Center

This year marks the nineteenth anniversary of the tragedy of 9/11. To continue their dedication to the difficult healing process, Buglisi Dance Theatre and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, in...

Labor Day demonstration of ‘Arts Workers Unite’ in Times Square

On Monday’s “Labor Day of Action,” Be An #ArtsHero organized a nationwide movement of Arts Workers Unite, with theater professionals urging all US Senators to legislate a proportionate relief package...

15 Questions in 15 Minutes with Broadway’s Laura Benanti

After taking Broadway by storm at the age of eighteen as Maria in The Sound of Music, the super-talented multi-nominated multiple award-winning star Laura Benanti has appeared in such notable Broadway...

A critic at play

During the past seven-odd years that I’ve contributed to DC Theater Arts, I’ve written about upwards of 600 shows—sometimes as the designated reviewer (when I followed criticism conventions) and...

A bipartisan romance casts a play on both houses in ‘Will on the Hill’ at STC

Who says a theater performance can’t make a difference in politics? With all the ongoing political and cultural conflict, is there a way to simmer things down for at least one brief shining moment....

Arts Workers Unite on Labor Day to call for emergency relief

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, 62% of arts workers report that they are fully unemployed, 94% have reported an income loss, 41% of arts and culture institutions are not confident that they will...

Anti-racist theater and the #WeSeeYou movement: A Q&A with Nicole Brewer

I had the chance to attend Nicole Brewer’s Anti-Racist Theatre workshop at the National Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, last year, and it was an eyeopener. So when I thought...

A rich and expansive look at ‘All the Sonnets of Shakespeare’ from Cambridge University Press

Two prolific scholars and writers on Shakespeare, and colleagues at Stratford-upon-Avon’s Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Paul Edmondson (Head of Research and Knowledge and Director of the...

Latest info on the 2020 Tony Awards

After the postponement of this year’s 74th annual Tony Awards from its traditional date in early June, it has been announced that the show will go on, virtually, in the Fall. Presented by The Broadway...

Jessika D. Williams as Othello at ASC is a marvel to behold

By far one of the most exciting theatrical discoveries for me has been the work of the remarkable Jessika D. Williams. Those of us lucky enough to have seen her in the the American Shakespeare...

Alden Theatre’s new Drive-Thru is a family-friendly mystery

With the sold-out success of Small Change, their first Drive-Thru theater experience, the creative folk at the Alden Theatre in McLean have developed a totally new live event. It is the Alden’s second...

Whitney White and Soyica Colbert join Shakespeare Theatre Company

Shakespeare Theatre Company Artistic Director Simon Godwin has announced that Whitney White and Soyica Colbert—the director and the dramaturg for The Amen Corner—are joining STC as associate...

Derrick Cobey and Telly Leung star in the ‘Broadway Summer Spectacular’ at Bristol Riverside Theatre

While Broadway itself is still dark, Bristol Riverside Theatre, in Bucks County, PA, brings Broadway into your home for this year’s virtual Broadway Summer Spectacular. The all-new pre-recorded online...

Picturing racial justice at the 2020 Commitment March on Washington

The Commitment March on Washington Friday, August 28, capped off a summer of social justice protest and marked the 57th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream“ speech on the steps...

Theater J revives a 1910 hit comedy-melodrama

Sit back to indulge in a comedy-melodrama. A streaming Zoom reading of a rediscovered play first produced in 1910. It is a love letter, with sharp edges, to a bygone time. A time of tintype slides and...

Young Playwrights’ Theater names first Young Playwrights in Progress

Young Playwrights’ Theater (YPT) has announced that Savannah Miller and Adanna Paul are its first two participants in the 2020-2021 Young Playwrights in Progress (YPIP) new play development program....

A sneak peek at ‘Escape from Camp Eerie’ by ‘Broadway Whodunit?’ with Andrew Barth Feldman and Will Roland

The second installment of Broadway Whodunit?, Escape from Camp Eerie makes its livestream debut on Sunday, August 30, at 6 pm ET. So get out your notepad and pencil, sharpen your sleuthing skills, and...

Studio Theatre enlists Black artists for March and The Breath Project

Studio Theatre has commissioned seven Black artists who are attending the 57th anniversary March on Washington Friday, August 28, to create artistic responses that bear witness to their experience at...

Three ways to catch ‘Twelfth Night’ at The American Shakespeare Center

Theater is changing. It has to; and, as ever, to survive we need to respond creatively to one of the greatest threats it has faced in centuries. But hey, we’ve been here before—and if Shakespeare can...

Why I am an activist artist, by JChris

As a Latino gay millennial singer-songwriter, I believe I can make a difference. I’m here because I can become one of the reasons why things get better. We will fight and we won’t stop. The powers...

Listen to this! New releases and livestreams from The Boy Band Project, Broadway Buskers, and Playbill

Though the coronavirus pandemic has brought a temporary halt to large public gatherings, it hasn’t stopped artists and organizations from celebrating big events while entertaining audiences and...

Get out the vote. Share this vid.

Elections have consequences. Some elections more than others. With voting participation trending downward over the years, what can be done to awaken folk to the critical importance of voting? What can...

2020 Helen Hayes Awards to be revealed over four weeks on 21 Zooms

theatreWashington has announced updated plans for the 36th annual Helen Hayes Awards—originally scheduled to take place at The Anthem on May 18, 2020, but postponed because of COVID. Celebrated as a...

First live local theater since COVID is a new-normal ‘Next to Normal’

By Steve Quintilian and Julie Lloyd, Encore Theater Company Co-founders As artistic directors and theater managers all over the DMV wrestle with how and when to stage live theater indoors, the...

The power of a pause, by Patrick W. Lord

Lights out. Beat. Beat. When the lights go and I’m plunged into darkness, sitting in a theater, my heart always skips a beat, because I know that moment of pause exists to move me—either into the...

A course at Theater J for theater lovers looks ahead to post-COVID change

Change is coming. As the DMV theater community is reeling and reckoning with the effects of the coming post-COVID-19 world and as artists of color are speaking their minds freely, what awaits? What...

Archived performances from The Cabaret released today for free streaming

Starting today, a selection of more than 200 videos, culled from eleven years of live acts by a roster of top Broadway stars and acclaimed global artists at The Cabaret, will go digital on the...

Sheldon Epps Joins Ford’s Theatre Leadership Team

Sheldon Epps will join the Ford’s Theatre leadership team as Senior Artistic Advisor. He steps into the new role as the theater reevaluates its 2020–2021 season amid the national reckoning for racial...

Ignorance of the Black theatrical canon is no excuse, by Courtney Baker-Oliver and Steven A. Butler, Jr.

The authors of the following two op-eds are cofounders of DC’s acclaimed Restoration Stage, Inc., whose focus is “restoring the Black family—one story at a time.” Collaborating as director (Courtney...

A conversation with Tony Award-winning producer Ron Simons

With over 20 years of experience and a running count of five nominations and four Tony Awards to his credit – more than any other Black Broadway producer in history – Ron Simons, CEO and President of...

Black Artist Coalition begins in the DMV

Announced today, the Black Artist Coalition (BAC) has formed in response to the increasing awareness of both macro- and microaggressions that have more often than not tainted Black artists’ experience...

New album releases of ‘The Michael Friedman Collection’ and ‘In the Heights’ from Ghostlight Records

Ghostlight Records, an independent leader in original cast recordings of Broadway musicals and solo albums by its stars, has announced two new releases in the world-premiere series of The Michael...

American Shakespeare Center to livestream performances via Marquee TV

American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, Virginia, has announced that their Summer 2020 SafeStart Season will be available for online viewing in partnership with Marquee TV. Dubbed “BlkFrs LIVE,” live...

Venues continue to extend shutdown with delayed seasons

As the current public safety situation with COVID-19 continues to be unpredictable, DMV-area theaters and other venues are being forced to make decisions regarding their upcoming fall seasons. Many...

Can white arts leaders become anti-racist “accomplices”?

Recently, during an interview with Nicole Brewer, founder of Anti-Racist Theatre, I learned about the Arts Administrators of Color Network’s Accomplices Leadership Institute (ALI). As a member of...

Enjoy a wild night (or two) with Club Cumming

On Thursday, August 13, Club Cumming – the hot queer intimate cabaret space in the East Village, co-founded by the multi-award-winning Scottish-born actor and LGBTQIA+ activist Alan Cumming – launches...

Playwright Ian August zeros in on ‘Zero,’ from Spooky Action

Interview by Roberta Alves Spooky Action Theater’s New Works in Action play-reading series continues Sunday, August 16, with Ian August’s Zero, a dark comedy about three miscreant teens—Nil, Julia,...

New season of ‘Shakespeare Hour LIVE’ returns in September

Shakespeare Theatre Company will continue its online program Shakespeare Hour LIVE! in September with episodes devoted to Shakespeare and the Law (September 9), Shakespeare & Film (September 16),...

Theater and the risk of breath, by Kari Ginsburg

There is a moment in theater that I live for. I’m onstage, responding truthfully in the moment as if for the first time, embodying my skin as another person and existing in a brilliant...

New York celebrates the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment

August 26, 2020, marks the centennial of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution, giving women the right to vote. To commemorate the momentous anniversary, special events and...

Irish Repertory Theatre’s ‘Love, Noël’ pays tribute to ‘The Master’ Noël Coward

After the sold-out run of the Irish Repertory Theatre’s world-premiere Off-Broadway production of Love, Noël in the summer of 2019, the show has returned in a re-imagined digital reprise for the final...

New musical offerings to watch this week

Among this week’s top livestreams from New York are three different genres of new musical offerings – a short musical narrative, a thematic song cycle, and a cabaret-style concert – that make their...

A dynamic ‘Tears of the Soul’ dramatizes 1968’s BLM awakening

Racial unrest and violent protests in the streets. Social division and a nation on the verge of collapse. A nascent social movement confronting racial injustice and police brutality. Internal family...