2020

Jade Jones as rapper “Litty Official” debuts hip-hop mixtape

DMV rapper “Litty Official” releases their mixtape He Could Never on Spotify, Soundcloud, and iTunes. Jade Jones, the artist behind Litty, has crafted a standout lo-fi trap mixtape for the moment with...

15 Questions in 15 Minutes with ‘A Strange Loop’ star James Jackson, Jr.

The one and “onliest” James Jackson, Jr. is a New York City-based actor, performance artist, Kabarettist, vocal coach, producer, and everything else a fabulous entertainer should be. From the downtown...

Update: Psalm’s Salon to feature women of color, Studio Theatre extends series

Studio Theatre‘s series of digital salons—Psalm‘s Salons at Studio—continues its exploration of equity in theater on August 20 at 5 pm with Natalie Graves Tucker, Farah Lawal Harris, and Lady Dane...

Touring artists to take CenterStage at Reston Community Center

Even as it faces the challenges of COVID-19, the Reston Community Center CenterStage has programmed a Professional Touring Artists Series that aims “to help our community reflect on how structural...

A wonderfully manic ‘#txtshow’ from performance artist Brian Feldman

Brian Feldman puts a lot of faith in his virtual audience. His production #txtshow (on the internet), which he creates and performs, is based on the texts he receives in real time from his audience....

Off-Broadway top picks: Feminist hits ‘Gloria: A Life’ and ‘Bella Bella’ in accessible at-home formats

If you missed seeing them live at the theater, Gloria: A Life and Bella Bella, two popular Off-Broadway shows from the 2018 and 2019 seasons, are now available to everyone at home, in the respective...

Coming to you online this week!

A conversation with New York’s most lauded playwright of the past season and an all-star digital world-premiere musical are among the offerings streaming early this week, so be sure to reserve your...

Woolly Mammoth announces next season of live shows with dates TBD

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company announces its 2020–2021 season featuring the return of a postponed production, new partnerships, a digital season, an evolution of Woolly’s subscription plan, and...

‘Black Trans Women’ online event affirms #BlackTransLivesMatter

Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut, announces Black Trans Women at the Center: An Evening of Short Plays, a celebration of Black trans talent and experience coproduced by Lady Dane Figueroa...

A quick guide to going live online

By Violet Brookes The term “new normal” gets thrown around a lot nowadays. And indeed, things are going to be vastly different due to the effects of the global pandemic. Since mid-March, conversations...

Camp Arena Stage—DC’s longest-running daycamp for the arts—goes online

When COVID-19 first struck last winter, most of us in the theater world—audiences as well as those on or off stage—thought the crisis would end in a couple of weeks. No such luck. Theaters, along with...

Celebrating the 2020 awards of the Dramatists Guild Foundation, Dramatists Guild, and The Lillys

Last night, the Dramatists Guild Foundation (DGF – a national charity that supports playwrights, composers, lyricists, and book writers at all stages of their careers, sponsors educational programs,...

The New Group and #WhileWeBreathe present must-see shows to watch this week

Two compelling mid-week offerings with weighty themes take different approaches – one profoundly dramatic, one bitingly comic – to deliver their timely messages of the need for socio-political change...

Alt-cabaret artist and actor Kim David Smith talks about his new live album and his musical inspirations

Cabaret sensation Kim David Smith just released his first concert album Live at Joe’s Pub earlier this month, recorded during one of his recurrent sold-out performance at the iconic downtown nightclub...

For BIPOC women in theater who have had enuf: A roundtable on resistance

By Thembi Duncan DC Theater Arts has committed to offer our communications channel to help amplify the BIPOC voices (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) that are now pointing the path to American...

Andrew Goren discusses the growing value of ‘Harmony Helper’ in light of the coronavirus pandemic

In 2017, when Andrew Goren, CEO and Founder of Harmony Helper, developed the new digital app to help vocalists with singing, rehearsing, and perfecting their harmonizing skills from the comfort of...

Top picks for a streaming hot Saturday

It’s not just the weather that’s steaming; there are some sizzling shows streaming this Saturday to keep you entertained and engaged, with a choreographed concert of pop favorites from the ‘90s, a...

Update: Synetic Theater’s wonderfully inventive ‘Decameron’ is now all online

With all videos in The Decameron available through July, Amy Kotkin completes her original review with yellow-highlighted additions below. History always has lessons to teach during times of enormous...

15 Questions in 15 Minutes with Broadway’s Jennifer Sánchez

Actress, singer/songwriter, and Albuquerque, New Mexico native Jennifer Sánchez made her Broadway debut in the 2009 revival West Side Story, singing the iconic “America” by Leonard Bernstein and...

Irish Repertory Theatre revisits ‘The Weir’ in a haunting new digital presentation

For the second installment of its online 2020 summer season, Off-Broadway’s Irish Repertory Theatre is presenting an all-new third-time revival of Dublin-born playwright Conor McPherson’s...

Arena Stage announces new season to begin in January 2021

In a swift pivot, Arena Stage has recently announced an upcoming season that reflects their commitment to compelling, dynamic work packed with drama, humor, music, and first-class storytellers. The...

Wrapping up and rating Round House Theatre’s ‘Homebound’

Well, here we are. The end of 10 episodes over 11 weeks. The first episode of Homebound, which revolved around Craig’s inability to turn back from a potato on Zoom, seems like it took place a long...

How Only Make Believe brings theater to kids in hospitals even during COVID

In these days of medically necessary masks and prudent social distancing, let us not forget children in hospitals and care facilities living with chronic illnesses and disabilities unrelated to...

New study: Theatergoers are averse to returning but woke to racism

Shugoll Research, a national marketing research company in Bethesda, Maryland, has released findings from a Wave 2 online survey it conducted with 743 DC-area theatergoers about three pressing areas...

Eric Whitacre’s new virtual choral work is testament to power of community

“Human beings will go to any length necessary to find and connect with each other.” —Eric Whitacre, in a 2011 TED Talk Even anti-maskers, I suppose, are dimly aware of the heightened risks of human...

Weekend update: New releases of songs and stories

This weekend’s top online offerings include a new album release of a cabaret concert from a favorite downtown nightclub, a virtual variety show featuring a roster of luminaries from the New York...

A telling and powerful serial podcast of ‘Richard II’ by The Public Theater

Although COVID-19 has caused the cancellation of this year’s outdoor summer performances of free Shakespeare in the Park, it hasn’t stopped The Public Theater from offering another installment of its...

Wolf Trap to stream a summer’s worth of gems from its archives

Wolf Trap’s Filene Center may be quieter than usual this summer of 2020, but it is far from dark. While there are no live performances in an abundance of caution because of COVID-19, Wolf Trap has...

Ricky Drummond opens up about love, death, and ‘Desiderium,’ his new musical from Monumental

On Monday, July 20, 2020, Monumental Theatre Company will present an online reading of a new musical, Desiderium, written by Ricky Drummond and featuring music by The Oh Hellos. Because of the...

The Kennedy Center introduces multiple social impact initiatives

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has recently revealed a plan for several ongoing and long-term social impact initiatives—and the urgency and importance of this work has only grown...

Recipients of the 65th annual Obie Awards

Following two postponements of its annual presentation, in May and June, in light of the coronavirus crisis and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, the 65th annual Obie Awards for the...

Mosaic Theater announces postponements and temporary leadership change

Mosaic Theater Company has canceled its plans to open Alexandra Petri’s Inherit the Wind in August and announced suspension of its on-stage season through 2020. At the same time, Mosaic announced,...

Three spectacular special events streaming this week

With the extension of the shutdown of live theater through at least January 3, 2021, the ever-creative New York theater community is continuing to go digital with an increasing number of online shows...

The #WeSeeYou White American Theatre movement is ready to end a battle it didn’t start

Boots are on the ground. Battle lines are drawn. A collaborative network of more than 300 BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) theatermakers are in garrisons and trenches across the nation,...

Big events streaming tonight

Despite the coronavirus shutdown of Broadway, theater-lovers can still enjoy new works and stellar performances by favorites from The Great White Way via the upswing in offerings on digital media....

A grassroots call for government assistance for the arts

Be An #ArtsHero – an intersectional grassroots social media campaign organized to mobilize a movement in support of emergency arts relief from the government – calls on the 5.1 million Americans...

Synetic Theater’s much-anticipated ‘The Decameron’ is now online

Paused a month ago out of respect for Black Lives Matter protests, Synetic Theatre’s much-anticipated original series The Decameron is back on the virtual boards. Each day through the end of July,...

Digital reissues of Broadway legend Carol Channing’s last two albums from Time Life

Musical theater icon Carol Channing (1921-2019) made her Broadway debut in 1941, then went on to become one of its biggest stars, after her famed appearance in the 1949 hit Gentlemen Prefer Blondes....

A heart-piercing tribute to frontline COVID responders in ‘The Line’ from The Public Theater

With the country hitting new daily highs as COVID-19 surges well beyond hot spots such as New York, New Jersey, and Connecituct, the Public Theater has produced a love letter to the medical community...

A Zoom critic takes a hard look at a BIPOC roundtable from Transformation Theatre

I want to carve out a new niche in the Bold New World of virtual online arts meetings. I want to become a Zoom critic! Why? Because I have been forced to hone my facilitator skills with this...

Expert artists from 1st Stage to offer classes online

Something new and engaging is coming our way. A singular opportunity for area theatergoers who want to learn more about how theater is made: 1st Stage in Tysons is offering a Virtual Classroom. The...

The Public Theater’s ‘The Line’ relays true pandemic stories from New York’s first-responders

As the coronavirus wreaks havoc on the world, and on live theater on and off Broadway, The Public Theater has responded with a virtual world premiere of The Line – an original Zoom docudrama with a...

Dark Horse Theatre to stream new comedy about amateur ghost hunters

As health and safety concerns continue to make live theater productions with a live audience dicey at best, the DMV’s Dark Horse Theatre decided to find its own way to produce new content and deliver...

Recent music releases by Ghostlight Records to help get through quarantine

Ghostlight Records, an independent leader in original Broadway cast albums and music by luminaries from the New York stage, continues to release new recordings during this extended pandemic shutdown...

Off-Broadway selections streaming this week from Red Bull, Mint, and The Public

From an expert conversation about a Shakespearean classic to a series of three rarely produced period-pieces to a documentary drama about NYC’s front-line workers in the current coronavirus pandemic,...

How the Signature board behaved badly, from a patron’s POV

By Dalissa Vargas As a lifelong live theater fan and a woman of Puerto Rican descent, I have spent the better portion of my adult life as an avid theatergoer wherever I have lived. On any given week I...

The Disney+ movie of ‘Hamilton’ prompts a comparison of stage versus screen

With the official announcement from The Broadway League earlier this week that all Broadway performances are now suspended through January 3, 2021 (at the earliest), theater-makers and theater-lovers...

In ‘Hamilton,’ Angelica Schuyler’s husband is called ‘not a lot of fun.’ Here’s his real story.

By Daryl Austin The hip-hop musical Hamilton is being released on Disney+ on Friday (July 3)—a full 15 months ahead of schedule—so you can watch the drama and all of its love stories and scandals...

‘Black Stories Matter’ live storytelling show to benefit Black Lives Matter DC

Black Stories Matter, a live online storytelling show benefiting Black Lives Matter DC, will be presented by the DMV’s Better Said Than Done on Zoom July 10, 2020. Black Stories Matter features eight...

How to join the ‘Hamilton’ revolution

Founding Father Alexander Hamilton (ca. 1757-1804) was a key figure in the American Revolution, so it’s only fitting that the stage musical Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda (book, music, and lyrics)...