2020

Playwright Matthew Kelly on queering power in ‘We Victorians,’ online Sunday from Spooky Action Theater

Interview by Roberta Alves Spooky Action Theater’s New Works in Action play-reading series continues livestreaming Sunday, May 31, at 3 pm with We Victorians by out queer playwright Matthew Kelly. In...

An Equity press call with Dr. David Michaels on what’s needed for a safe reopening of theaters

On April 21, the Council of Actors’ Equity Association (the national union for professional actors and stage managers in live theater) unanimously passed a new internal membership rule that members...

Rehearsals in PPE and other big changes to expect when theaters reopen in DC

We will open again. The COVID-19 virus will neither darken nor silence us even with the many scary unknowns before us. We know reopening for DMV theater will happen. The date may be uncertain, but...

The vision and resurrection of Studio Acting Conservatory

When Joy Zinoman—the doyenne of DC theater and founder of Studio Acting Conservatory—describes the training center’s new home as a “sacred place,” she’s not exaggerating. “Theater is my religion,” she...

National Memorial Day Concert preview

Every Memorial Day PBS throws a beautiful show to honor our military who gave the ultimate sacrifice. This year is no different, despite its not being live in front of a patriotic audience in front of...

‘My Heart Goes Zoom’ tells a funny, relatable story of a COVID-era crush

Siobhan O’Loughlin is no stranger to unconventional performing arts spaces. For the past few years, her theaters have been neither proscenium nor black box. Instead, the venue for her interactive...

Studio Theatre welcomes ten new commissioned artists

Building on over 40 years of producing powerful contemporary theater, Studio Theatre is embarking on the largest round of commissioning in its history. They are awarding grants to ten...

Applications now open for $500 microgrants to emerging writers and composers

A new arts program—Emergent Seed—is offering $500 microgrants and the opportunity for emerging writers and composers in the DC Metro area to have their work broadcast in virtual events. Committed to...

Washington Performing Arts does pandemic planning with patron feedback

Better days may be coming. Some restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic may be easing. But there is not yet a definitive date when DMV performing arts venues might reopen across three different...

Signature Theatre postpones ‘Mamma Mia!’ at The Anthem until 2021

Mamma Mia! at The Anthem DC will not run June 25 – July 5, 2020 as previously scheduled. Signature Theatre has worked with our sponsors Amazon and Max Productions and our partners at The Anthem and...

‘Henry IV, Parts I and II’ were stellar at American Shakespeare Center

The Shakespeare scene in and near Washington, DC, in the months prior to the virus’s intervention, was truly rich in character and ideas; so much so that even a certain fat braggart managed to strut...

What’s streaming this weekend

There’s something for everyone this weekend, with online viewing of everything from play readings to theater-based films and cabaret. So if you’re a New York theater-lover looking for some suggestions...

Young Artists of America at Strathmore announces virtual summer camp program

Young Artists of America at Strathmore (YAA) is thrilled to announce Virtual Summer Performing Arts Intensives, an online version of their award-winning summer musical theater program. While COVID-19...

DMV-area organizations continue to cancel and postpone events due to COVID-19 pandemic

After a month of cancelations, DMV area organizations continue to postpone or cancel shows and events, as well as make changes for their 2020-2021 season. The following list reflects those...

Major-media reviewers voice worries about returning to the theater

Twice a month, Terry Teachout of the Wall Street Journal; Elisabeth Vincentelli, contributor to The New York Times and The New Yorker; and Peter Marks of The Washington Post get together on “3 on the...

Winners of the 10th annual Off Broadway Alliance Awards

In a livestream announcement this morning on Crowdcast.com by the Off Broadway Alliance (OBA), President Peter Breger introduced Charles Busch and Julie Halston (both recipients of the organization’s...

Five great films about theater (to help you survive staying home)

Karen Richards (Celeste Holm) the playwright’s wife: A part in a play. You’d do all that for a part in a play? Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter) conniving actress: I’d do much more for a part that good....

‘A King and No King’ was a goodly one at American Shakespeare Center

Looking back on the last few months, each of us has our “Shoulda seen it/Shoulda been there” moments, events that we would have given anything to see live. So at the moment, imagine if you will that...

New music videos in the time of coronavirus from The Boy Band Project and Baba Brinkman

Two recently released music videos by New York favorites The Boy Band Project and Baba Brinkman, both masterfully produced while at home in quarantine, deal in their own unique styles with the impact...

Faction of Fools Theatre Company announces new Co-Directors

At a time when theater companies around the country must push back production schedules, their missions are amplified to plan future productions that will uplift, transform, and heal. At Faction of...

Record-breaking assistance for the entertainment community from The Actors Fund

The Actors Fund – a national human services organization founded in 1882, to foster stability and resiliency, and to provide a safety net for professionals in the performing arts and entertainment...

Spooky Action shifts new play readings to YouTube

Due to the COVID-19 epidemic, Spooky Action Theater’s New Works in Action play-reading series has been shifted to a virtual meeting space on the company’s YouTube channel. “We are excited to explore...

IN Series to build a digital opera house without walls

If the COVID-19 pandemic has a lesson for the arts community, it’s that what’s small can still be mighty. Without a house to fill and lavish sets and costumes to maintain, Washington’s tiny itinerant...

Adventure Theatre honors API Heritage Month with streaming special events

Though the sea of online content is deep at the moment, that’s not stopping Adventure Theatre MTC. They are diving right in with a full lineup of API Heritage Month storytimes, interviews, and digital...

The Al Hirschfeld Foundation’s ‘Socially Distant Theater’ offers a digital exhibition of the artist’s iconic caricatures of solo performances

In keeping with our period of self-isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic, the The Al Hirschfeld Foundation presents Socially Distant Theater – a virtual exhibition of 25 works by the master...

Refunds and exchanges on Broadway tickets: Performances suspended through September 6

With the ongoing shutdown of Broadway theaters and suspension of shows due to the coronavirus until further notice, The Broadway League – the national trade association for the Broadway industry,...

Gwydion Suilebhan: “Now is the time for artists to ask The Deep Why”

By Gwydion Suilebhan In 1960, a Turkish immigrant named Erol Onaran arrived in the United States with a whopping $32 in his pocket and a fair bit of skill as a television repair person. Erol was a man...

A gripping new audio performance of ‘Bleeding Love’ on the Broadway Podcast Network

Following its successful world-premiere run in 2015, live on stage in Denmark’s Fredericia Teater, Bleeding Love is now available on digital platforms to a worldwide audience in a new three-part audio...

When shows go on again, audiences across America will be slow to show up, says new survey.

Shugoll Research, a national marketing research company in Bethesda, Maryland, is releasing a Phase III study of theatergoers and their intent to return to the theater when it reopens after the...

Honorees for the 70th Anniversary Outer Critics Circle Awards of 2020

In a video feed this afternoon featuring presentations by past award recipients Lin-Manuel Miranda, Patti LuPone, Bryan Cranston, Kristin Chenoweth, and Patrick Stewart, The Outer Critics Circle (OCC)...

Washington Performing Arts, looking ahead, sets town halls for input

With so much still unknown about the lasting effects of COVID-19 on the performing arts, the singular Washington Performing Arts (WPA) has delayed announcing its 2020–21 season until June 15, 2020....

Theater artists to envision the future in Saturday chats online from Olney

In a time when connection is more important than ever, Olney Theatre Center is revamping its Streaming Saturdays, a live online discussion series featuring the perspectives of a wide range of theater...

Brave Spirits Theatre kicks off festival of playreadings from the early English stage

Brave Spirits Theatre announces a virtual summer staged reading festival celebrating the history plays of the English early modern stage. A supplement to BST’s two-year Shakespeare’s Histories...

Theaters are closed but the music plays on in Ghostlight Records’ original cast albums

Though audiences aren’t able to enjoy live on-stage performances during the ongoing coronavirus shutdown, Ghostlight Records offers cast recordings from a selection of popular musicals for digital...

National Theatre of London streams an epic ‘Antony and Cleopatra’

As we ease into an impromptu season of watching live theater captured on video, it’s helpful to remember that there are challenges of scale. This is especially true in the case of webcasts from the...

Pandemic Theatre launches ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ as 5-part web series

Amongst the chaos of COVID-19, another brand-new theater company has sprung up in the DC area. Pandemic Theatre, founded by local actor and theater maker Acacia Danielson, is turning to digital...

Lessons in creative coping during COVID-19: Bowie State University theater and dance faculty tell how it’s going

With university campuses closed because of COVID-19, how is student education continuing forward? This is a critical question, especially for higher education theater and dance departments—where...

Many theatergoers in no hurry to go back to Broadway, new survey finds

Shugoll Research, a national marketing research company in Bethesda, Maryland, is releasing a new study of theatergoers and their intent to return to the theater when it reopens after the coronavirus...

Actors’ Equity President Kate Shindle is acting as an advocate for the theater community

Known for her acting on stage and screen in such notable productions as Jekyll & Hyde, Cabaret, and Legally Blonde on Broadway, the national tour of Fun Home, and the 2004 movie thriller The Stepford...

IN Series produces first ever fully digital opera performance season

As performing arts organizations worldwide struggle to schedule live performance seasons in the midst of a global pandemic, DC’s IN Series leads the charge onto the digital stage by programming an...

Michael R. Jackson’s ‘A Strange Loop’ wins the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Drama

Pulitzer Prize Administrator Dana Canedy, former senior editor at The New York Times, announced the finalists and winners of the 2020 Pulitzer Prizes via video stream this afternoon at 3:00. The...

‘Hamilton’ and other shows postponed as Kennedy Center delays re-opening through August 9

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced today the postponement of all scheduled ticketed performances through August 9, 2020, due to the ongoing effects of COVID–19. The Center’s...

A new video reunites the closing-night cast of ‘Altar Boyz’ for its 10th anniversary

January 10, 2020, marked a decade since the closing-night cast members of the Off-Broadway mega-hit Altar Boyz, who worked together for almost two years, took their final bows at New World Stages,...

Mosaic Theater Company promises provocative 2020–2021 season

In the face of global crisis and economic uncertainty, Mosaic Theater Company of DC draws inspiration for its new season from a nucleus of towering yet under-appreciated figures in history. These...

Announcing the winners of the 35th Annual Lucille Lortel Awards for Off-Broadway

Winners of the 35th annual Lucille Lortel Awards for Outstanding Achievement Off-Broadway were announced tonight in a virtual ceremony beginning at 7 pm. Produced by the League of Off-Broadway...

Artists Who Inspire! #5: Patrick Flynn

Playwright Patrick Flynn was on a roll before Coronavirus brought American theater to a standstill. His adaptation of The Velveteen Rabbit, produced by Adventure Theatre MTC, earned him a 2019 Helen...

In virtual ‘Borders,’ the radical realism of a gay meetup on Grindr

Borders, a play by Nimrod Danishman, tells the story of two young men—Boaz (Eli Schoenfeld), an Israeli, and George (Adrian Rifat), who is Lebanese—who meet on Grindr and fall in love despite their...

‘The Grapes of Wrath’ at The American Shakespeare Center strikes a haunting note

“It’s need that makes all the trouble” says (ex-) preacher Jim Casy in John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath. That, in a nutshell, is the ordeal of our times, as millions live without paychecks and...

The Drama League announces nominations for its 86th annual awards while expressing gratitude to the theater community

During tonight’s streaming of The Gratitude Awards Spring 2020 – a special pre-recorded online fundraiser celebrating hope, positivity, and acts of kindness by members of the New York theater...

Local playwrights write short scripts you can download for free

In the wake of COVID-19 theater closures, DC’s Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Baltimore Center Stage, Connecticut’s Long Wharf Theatre, The Public Theater of NYC, and The Repertory Theatre of St....