Washington DC

For one singular celebration, Helen Hayes Awards glam goes multiplatform

Culminating the 2020 Helen Hayes Awards recognizing outstanding work on Washington-area stages in 2019, the theater community will gather for one singular celebration in three successive digital...

Pols and players perk up ‘Will on the Hill’ for Shakespeare Theatre Company

For one brief shining moment, there was bipartisanship in Washington. It occurred with the 2020 online edition of STC’s 18th annual Will on the Hill, broadcast on Monday, September 14, 2020. The...

IN Series digital opera season lifts off this weekend with a festival of premieres

IN Series launches its groundbreaking 2020–2021 digital opera season with a Festival Weekend of world premieres September 17 to 19, 2020. The season, characterized by genre-defying collaborations with...

A tribute to Brave Spirits as it calls off Shakespeare’s histories due to COVID

There are certain theater experiences that you look forward to with extraordinary excitement. Brave Spirits Theatre’s Shakespeare’s Histories 2020 was one of them. To their credit, Brave Spirits,...

Olney’s virtual ‘The Humans’ shines with fine performances

Olney Theatre Center’s virtual production of The Humans offers proof positive of the old adage: Necessity is the mother of invention. Just see how they have turned the pandemic’s crushing blow into a...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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....

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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....

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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,...

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...

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...

Capital-area community theaters plan fundraising telethon

As COVID-19 continues to ravage the country, its effects on the arts have been devastating. Many organizations have turned to creative ways to raise funds in an effort to offset losses from canceled...

Rorschach Theatre to stream ‘Magic in Rough Spaces’ this weekend

Four pieces developed by Rorschach Theatre artists will be showcased in online readings this weekend, June 27 and 28, 2020, as “Magic in Rough Spaces.” Three works are brand new; one is a “bonus...