2021

‘A Boy and His Soul,’ heartwarming and buoyant, from Round House

Playwright Colman Domingo has no time for stereotypes. A Boy and His Soul, his one-man, autobiographical play, is a living, breathing example of real life, real love, and real Black experience. In an...

Woolly’s nifty ‘Rich Kids’ twits excess, whizzes by

You got a fast car I want a ticket to anywhere Maybe we make a deal Maybe together we can get somewhere Any place is better… Is it fast enough so we can fly away?… Leave tonight or live and die this...

Poignant ‘Dear Elizabeth’ at Vienna Theatre pens a true friendship

Dear Elizabeth, performed by a two-person cast and streamed online by Vienna Theatre Company, is a feast for fans of 20th-century literature, or even just those interested in stories of friendship....

The reopening long shot

It’s been quite the terrifying year for us connected to the performing arts. An absolute scary time that began in mid-March 2020 as theaters went dark, lit only by their ghost lights. And now it seems...

How Asolo Rep has weathered COVID and committed to BIPOC representation

As the run of Fannie: The Music and Life of Fannie Lou Hamer came to a rousing close on March 3, 2021, Artistic Director Michael Donald Edwards and Managing Director Linda DiGabriele made themselves...

New audio series and app from the Broadway Podcast Network

Today is the day that a variety of NYC shows and venues following all COVID-19 safety protocol have been given the official go-ahead to begin reopening. And, as always, if you’d like an engaging...

Young CityDance Conservatory Dancers win highest honors

CityDance School & Conservatory received the Outstanding School Award at the Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP) Boston Regional Semi-finals March 19 – 21, 2021, at the Hanover Theatre in Worcester, MA....

Despite vaccination, theatergoers won’t fill seats soon, says new study

Despite a significant increase in vaccinations, DC-area theatergoers will be slow to return to local theaters, according to a new study by Limelight Insights by Shugoll, a national marketing research...

An upcoming auction of ‘Stage & Screen’ memorabilia to benefit The Actors Fund

In partnership with two-time Tony Award-winning actress Christine Baranski and Doyle Auctioneers & Appraisers, The Actors Fund – providing human services for the performing arts and entertainment...

Woolly Mammoth begins digital spring with a social-media show

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company announces its digital spring line-up that features an interactive and innovative play that repurposes social media; the return of two Woolly on Demand productions; an...

Nominations are in for the 87th annual Drama League Awards

The Drama League Awards, first presented in 1922, and formalized in 1935, have the distinction of being the oldest national theatrical honors, in addition to being the only major awards chosen by the...

‘Cry It Out’ at Everyman Theatre airs real-life new-mom pressures

Award-winning playwright Molly Smith Metzler’s Cry It Out is a beautiful commentary on real life. The struggles of parenting in an age of never enough. An homage to working parents and stay-at-homers...

Trans Lives and Theater as Change Agent: A Q&A with Dane Figueroa Edidi and Natsu Onoda Power

In observance of the the 12th annual International Transgender Day of Visibility (March 31, 2021), we republish this in-depth conversation with two leading lights in DC-area theater. —John...

Reopening of The Green Room 42 and return of the ‘Boy Band Brunch’ this weekend

Among the first of the NYC venues to reopen on April 2, in accordance with Mayor Bill de Blasio’s safety guidelines for the return of live performances, is The Green Room 42. Located on the 4th floor...

Studio Theatre’s raw, audacious ‘Cock’ is one big deal

Set me free why don’t cha babe Get out my life why don’t cha babe ‘Cause you don’t really love me You just keep me hangin’ on These unflinching lyrics floated through my brain as I took in Studio...

One-woman ‘Children of Medea’ to power Electric Impulses at Constellation

Constellation Theatre Company kicks off Season 14: Electric Impulses with Sue Jin Song’s powerful one-woman show, Children of Medea. The production will be fully staged and filmed at CulturalDC’s...

New survey shows young talent are staying hopeful despite pandemic

Despite the ongoing pandemic, high school and college arts students are cautiously optimistic and still committed to pursuing their dreams of being a part of the arts community, according to a new...

Celebrate and support ‘Pajama Cast Party’ and ‘Broadway Backwards’ this week

Start your week with a bang on Monday and Tuesday with two free events that celebrate the stars and shows of Broadway and also raise funds for important charitable causes through your voluntary...

Online now from Florencia Cuenca, the Al Hirschfeld Foundation, and The Tank

Among the range of current theater-based online offerings are a new interpretation of a familiar song from a hit Broadway musical, an exhibition of a legendary artist’s drawings of an iconic American...

Four Korean girls defy the male gaze in feminist thriller ‘Man of God’

The Strand Theater Company proudly partners with Asian Pasifika Arts Collective to present Man of God by Anna Moench. The virtual production is directed by Elizabeth Ung. About the play: During a...

Daniel J. Watts, only child of a single mother, grows up proud in ‘The Jam’

Daniel J. Watts’s The Jam: Only Child—the second feature production in Signature Theatre’s 2021 season—is now streaming on demand. Written and performed by 2020 Tony Award–nominated Daniel J. Watts...

Weekend streaming selections from Keen Company and Dzieci Theatre

The debut of a new audio play for our times and the virtual revival of an annual Eastertime event are among the compelling offerings of New York City theater to check out this weekend. Keen Company,...

Feeling the love for ‘Amour’ with Jennifer Sánchez

Set in the picturesque Parisian district of Montmartre shortly after World War II, Amour is a musical fantasy adapted from the 1943 short story Le Passe-Muraille by Marcel Aymé, with music by Michel...

A year into COVID, how theater is changing maybe forever

At first, the shutdown of live theater came as a shock. Then, once artists were left to think quick on their feet, an extraordinary evolution began to happen. At the beginning of the coronavirus...

STC’s ‘A Winter’s Tale’ mock trial submits evidence that spring is coming

Critic Marjorie Garber suggests that A Winter’s Tale is “a hall of mirrors” and that the main character, King Leontes, lives in a solipsistic universe. The beloved tradition of STC’s Mock Trial, which...

Classics from Miles Malleson and Tennessee Williams streaming this week

If you’re an aficionado of theatrical classics and period pieces, you can connect online this week with an all-star reading of a world-renowned drama by a Pulitzer Prize-winning American icon and a...

15 Questions in 15 Minutes with stage and screen star Adrienne Barbeau

From her Broadway debut in Fiddler on the Roof and her award-winning performance as Rizzo in the original Broadway production of Grease, to her legendary roles on the hit TV sit-com Maude (as Bea...

Washington Stage Guild revives Shaw’s ‘Devil’s Disciple’ with simplicity and skill

Many well-made and renowned plays are rarely seen onstage. Extensive staging requirements, such as multiple locations or an expansive cast of characters, often give theater companies pause when...

The Bengsons create new indie-folk musical for Arena Stage

Shaun and Abigail Bengson met in New York City at a party and after talking, decided to start a band together. Their first rehearsal turned into their first date, and three weeks later, they were...

A global community celebrates Passover with ‘The Third Seder’ concert on Sunday

In the 1960s, young survivors of the Holocaust, striving to express their communal resilience and that of their mother-tongue, began the tradition of The Third Seder, with a unique stage performance...

Roaring back: Noseda returns to lead NSO in four filmed concerts

Gianandrea Noseda has returned to the podium of his beloved National Symphony Orchestra, awakening the sleeping giant that is the sound he has crafted as the ensemble’s music director since the...

Throughout the Broadway shutdown, ‘Hamilton’ continues to inspire

Although, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, live performances with an in-person audience at Broadway’s Richard Rodgers Theatre have been shut down for more than a year, since March 12, 2020,...

Weekend watching with SoHo Playhouse and Lincoln Center Theater

If you’re wondering what to watch this weekend, SoHo Playhouse and Lincoln Center Theater are streaming two options for your virtual viewing pleasure, both inspired by literary classics, in their...

On toxic artistic leadership (part three): Manifesto for theater ethics

Back in the 1980s, the Harvard University Business School dismissed offers to create a curriculum in ethics—free of charge, if I remember correctly; an alumnus even offered to pay for it. The Business...

My search for Black women’s unsung voices, or, Why theater needs a ‘Reset’

Questions of “canon” have haunted me throughout my theatrical education and subsequent professional career. As a precocious young child obsessed with the performing arts, I searched and searched for...

Live events return to The Invisible Dog Art Center and Daryl Roth Theatre

In the move to begin the reopening of NYC venues and performances to live audiences, Off-Broadway companies are presenting compelling in-person shows that speak to our current times, with limited...

The Public’s bilingual podcast of ‘Romeo y Julieta’ to star Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o

Director Saheem Ali continues his audio exploration of William Shakespeare’s canon with Romeo y Julieta – a new bilingual podcast of The Bard’s beloved classic Romeo and Juliet – collaborating with...

Broadway’s J. Breckenridge debuts the music video of his new single ‘Y.O.U.’ with Red Card Records

As an actor, Southern California native Josh Breckenridge is known for his standout roles on Broadway in the revival of Terrence McNally’s play The Ritz at Studio 54, Kander and Ebb’s Tony-nominated...

‘Genderosity’ by Gay Men’s Chorus is a lovely many-gendered sing

By now, you have likely seen a song performed by a “virtual choir,” a group of singers who recorded his/her/their part as a solo video, then a technical person edited the sound and video together to...

Gingold’s ‘Irish Poetry Slam’ celebrates St. Patrick’s Day with a star-studded line-up

In lieu of its usual Golden Shamrock Gala, Off-Broadway’s Gingold Theatrical Group – home of the comprehensive Project Shaw and the first company ever to present performances of every one of Irish...

On toxic artistic leadership (part two): Training actors to be abused

The departure of Ethan McSweeny from the American Shakespeare Center was only one among many over the past year. Taken as a whole, the protests and departures/firings raise issues that all of us must...

Red Bull explores the gender themes of ‘Gallathea’ in two live online readings

John Lyly’s Elizabethan pastoral comedy Gallathea, first performed for the Queen and her court at Greenwich Palace on New Year’s Day, 1588, provides the theme for two live online pay-what-you-can...

Tom Barylski on directing female-centric and gay fantasy ‘She Kills Monsters’

By Laura W. Andruski, theater program coordinator, The Arts Barn The Montgomery Playhouse in cooperation with Arts on the Green is presenting a virtual performance of She Kills Monsters by Qui...

Reston Community Players restarts with Cold War drama ‘A Walk in the Woods’

After being dark since last March due to COVID-19, Reston Community Players comes back to life with A Walk in the Woods, a Cold War–era drama by Lee Blessing that examines the relationship between a...

Innovative shorts from Hunger & Thirst Theatre based on the game of telephone

Throughout the twelve-month pandemic shutdown of live theater, beginning with the closure of all Broadway performances a year ago today, artists have been creating innovative and experimental work...

On toxic artistic leadership (part one): When workers unite in protest

News of Ethan McSweeny’s departure as artistic director of the American Shakespeare Center has prompted a variety of responses—and the mainstream theater critics seem divided on how to handle it. A...

Hear Steven Banks on classical sax in exceptional free virtual concert

Every musical theater actor in town is familiar with the sight of some of the pit musicians lugging multiple instruments into the theater. Especially if the “pit” isn’t really a pit but a concocted...

Art, ritual, and connection to meet up at ‘Shrines’ by the Arcanists

The Arcanists, creators of the cult-hit interactive variety show The Tarot Reading, have devised a new site-specific experience called Shrines, led by multi-award-winning scenic and costume designer...

Streaming soon from MTC, SoHo Playhouse, and Keen

Three mainstay Off-Broadway companies are closing out the week with debuts of their next online offerings this Thursday-Saturday, March 11-13. One is a reunion reading by the original cast of a...

Stars deliver ‘A Love Letter to Liza’ on her 75th birthday

Friday, March 12, 2021, marks the one-year anniversary of the COVID-19 shutdown of Broadway theaters, but it’s also the 75th birthday of living legend Liza Minnelli. To honor the actress, singer,...