Washington DC

Review: ‘Three Cheers to Grace’ at Young Playwrights’ Theater

“They call me a vegetable,” Grace tells us. “They call me a corpse.” In this nimbly comic and deeply moving new play by Josie Walyus, a 14-year-old named Grace is literally in a coma. That’s how all...

In the Moment: ‘Among the Dead’ at Spooky Action Theatre

Spooky Action Theatre continues to beguile with its distinctive play selections. Under Artistic Director Richard Henrich’s open mind, Spooky Action regularly produces the usually unexplored: women’s...

Review: ‘Ouroboros: Dawn of the Cabaret’ by TBD Immersive

Remember the choose-your-own-adventure books from grade school? Well, imagine that but in a live scenario where you are a character in the story, not just an observer guiding the action. This is the...

Arena Stage Announces Additional Playwrights to Join Power Plays Initiative

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater has announced that three additional commissioned playwrights will join Power Plays, an ambitious initiative that will commission and develop 25 new...

The D.C. Sideshow on ‘The Official DC Hootenanny Pie Show’ Fundraiser

I often view Sideshow peeping through my fingers. It’s an art form born of immense courage and skill, with a dose of high pain threshold thrown in for good measure. I had an opportunity to chat with...

Dangereuse: The Women of Shakespeare Theatre Company’s ‘Richard the Third’

An embittered wife. A “painted queen.” A virago who curses all who have crossed her. At first glance, the women of Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Richard the Third would not seem to be particularly...

Verona Quartet Brings Storytelling to the Mansion at Strathmore

Since forming six years ago while graduate students at Indiana University, Verona Quartet has established itself as one of the most sought after string quartets of its generation. Under the mentorship...

Scott Ward Abernethy on ‘The Master and Margarita’ and Acting in DC

The extension of Constellation Theatre’s nifty The Master and Margarita provided an opportunity to interview Scott Ward Abernethy, who portrays the Devilish Woland in the production that runs through...

4615 Theatre’s Director and Design Team Discuss World Premiere of ‘Separate Rooms’

True to its current mission of producing a provocative blend of classical and contemporary work, inspiring audiences to explore the echoes and resonances of storytelling passed down through the ages,...

Signature Theatre Announces Recipients of Inaugural SigWorks: Signature Theatre / Yale Composer Partnership

Signature Theatre announced today that Mark Sonnenblick and Scott Feiner will both receive workshops of their new musical theater works as part of the SigWorks: Signature Theatre/Yale Composer...

Synetic Theater’s Vato Tsikurishvili on ‘Cyrano de Bergerac’ and the Nature of Time

Impressed with his debut as a director for Synetic’s touching Cyrano de Bergerac, I took the opportunity to interview Synetic Theater’s Vato Tsikurishvili. It was a chance to delve deeper into the...

Review: ‘Radium Girls’ at Maryland Ensemble Theatre

The horrific and – not too strong a word – evil events recounted in Maryland Ensemble Theatre’s production of D.W. Gregory’s Radium Girls were, as the play underlines, a major, sensational, national...

In the Moment: Reflections on ‘Nell Gwynn’ at the Folger Shakespeare Theatre

Beyond cracker-jack, comic allure, the Folger production of Jessica Swale’s Nell Gwynn is a class act. The Robert Richmond-directed production is built upon Swale’s clever, fresh script. Nell Gwynn is...

Review: ‘Among the Dead’ at Spooky Action Theatre

Hansol Jung is an imaginative young playwright whose work focuses on feeling perpetually uprooted. Born in Jeonju, South Korea, she moved with her family to South Africa at the age of 6. When she was...

Review: ‘Thunder Knocking on the Door’ at Creative Cauldron

Thunder, in this case, is one Marvell Thunder, a supernatural, shape-shifting, competitive trickster who has surrendered a good bit of his humanity to act as the spirit of the blues. Played by the...

Review: ‘Hair & Other Stories’ by Urban Bush Women at Dance Place

Don’t think you’re going to sit back and observe if you show up at Urban Bush Women’s latest, Hair & Other Stories, which made its Washington, DC premiere this past weekend at Dance Place. Oh no. Read...

Review: ‘The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical’ at the Kennedy Center

Life is hard enough when growing up, but when you find out that you’re the son of a god, the stakes get even higher. Armed with friends and a pen, Percy Jackson explores the world of newly discovered...

Review: ‘The Heiress’ at Arena Stage

Women are on the move today. A US Congress reflects the voices of women as never before. #MeToo movements everywhere are fighting the forces that would stifle those voices. So, on the surface, it...

Pianist Lara Downes on ‘Holes in the Sky’

With a singular mission to expand the music universe for diverse audiences, ground-breaking pianist Lara Downes will be gracing DC’s Sixth & I Historic Synagogue stage in a live event co-commissioned...

Review: ‘Richard the Third’ at Shakespeare Theatre Company

Did ever a villain so enjoy his murderously evil ways as Shakespeare’s Richard III? In the Shakespeare Theatre’s production, Matthew Rauch’s Richard teaches a master class in duplicity and...

Review: ‘Anatole: Mouse Magnifique’ at Imagination Stage

Imagination Stage is currently playing Anatole: Mouse Magnifique, a musical adaptation of the children’s book series “Anatole” by Eve Titus. Book and lyrics are by John Maclay and Lee Becker, with...

‘Nell Gwynn:’ A London Hit Brings Laughter, Love (and a Few Flying Oranges) to the Folger Theatre

Nell Gwynn – as brash and bawdy as a play could be – has arrived on Capitol Hill. And what a triumph it is! The play, which had a successful run in London’s West End and won Britain’s top award for...

Studio Theatre To Close Its Acting Conservatory

Raise your hand if you studied at Studio Theatre’s Acting Conservatory? For the 10,000 plus performers whose careers started at Studio’s 43-year-old conservatory, the news that Studio would be closing...

Signature in the Schools Premieres ‘The Spoken Word’ February 22

Regional Tony Award recipient Signature Theatre continues its singular Signature in the Schools program with another original production written and directed by Joe Calarco. Calarco is the Resident...

Review: ‘Reykjavík’ by Rorschach Theatre

The Reykjavík conjured up in Steve Yockey’s new play Reykjavík is not the family-friendly destination the Iceland tourist bureau might try to sell you. But if you’re 18 or older—and if you wish to be...

News: Simon Godwin Announces His Debut Season for Shakespeare Theatre Company

Incoming Artistic Director Simon Godwin today announces Shakespeare Theatre Company’s 2019-2020 Season. Godwin’s debut season highlights his artistic aspirations for the company to create “high...

Monumental Theatre Company Announces Cast for ‘Daddy Long Legs’

Monumental Theatre Company’s Daddy Long Legs tells the story of Jerusha Abbott, her mysterious young benefactor and the affection that grows between them by way of handwritten letters. John Caird’s...

From Amsterdam to the Kennedy Center: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Performs February 13

In a 2008 poll of the world’s leading music critics by Gramophone Magazine, the Amsterdam-based Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (RCO) was selected as the greatest in the world. Luckily, the orchestra is...

Review: ‘Huckleberry Finn’s Big River’ at Adventure Theatre MTC

The excellence of this world premiere of Huckleberry Finn’s Big River ensures that it will become a family theater classic. Not only are the script, songs and choreography expertly crafted and...

Young Artists of America Launches ‘Hear the People Sing’ Civic Engagement Project with ‘Les Miserables’

Young Artists of America (YAA) is proud to announce that the Greater Washington Foundation’s (GWF) Donors InVesting in the Arts (DIVAS) Fund has awarded them a grant for a civic engagement social...

Review: ‘The Old Man, the Youth, and the Sea’ at GALA Hispanic Theatre

As the clouds have gathered over the past two years, we have witnessed the coarsening of our politics as one party promotes an increasingly strident brand of nationalism, corruption, and incompetence...

Shu-Chen Cuff and Gin Dance Company Return to Atlas Intersections Festival with ‘Next’

Shu-Chen Cuff and her Gin Dance Company are returning to perform at the celebrated DC Atlas INTERSECTIONS Festival. “We are thrilled to be part of the 10th anniversary of the Atlas INTERSECTIONS...

Review: ‘Grand Concourse’ at Prologue Theatre

Prologue Theatre presents Grand Concourse, by Heidi Schreck. This show kicks off the inaugural season for Prologue, a new Arlington based non-profit professional Theatre company. Artistic Director...

Review: ‘Working’ by the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC

The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC has presented a production of the musical Working that perfectly captures the individual and collective spirit that embodies the strength and dignity of the...

Review: ‘NEA Jazz Master Archie Shepp’s All-Star Tribute to John Coltrane’ at the Kennedy Center

Moments in jazz performances punctuate the annals of jazz history. There are some performances that you wished you had attended because they will be talked about for years. “Archie Shepp’s All-Star...

Review: ‘Sorrow of Love, Joy of Love: Love Songs of the Great Entertainers’ by the Russian Chamber Art Society

Ah, l’amour! In what could be called a perfect DC description of, and introduction for, a perfect Valentine’s Day concert, Russian Chamber Art Society president Mary Kruger welcomed the sizable and...

Review: ‘The Wolves’ at NextStop Theatre

Sarah DeLappe’s first play, The Wolves, was a finalist for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for drama, and has subsequently been produced all over the country. The production at NextStop Theatre Company is,...

Review: ‘Once’ at Olney Theatre Center

If you’ve never heard of the musical Once, written by Enda Walsh, with music and lyrics by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, you aren’t alone. Despite receiving eleven 2012 Tony Award nominations and...

Review: ‘First Date’ by Other Voices Theatre

Anyone who has ever been on a blind date knows the nerve-wracking anxiety that usually goes with it. “What will my date be like? Will we have anything to talk about? Will we be compatible? Will this...

Review: ‘Nell Gwynn’ at the Folger Shakespeare Theatre

Nell Gwynn (1650-1687) was not only one of the most talented actresses in Restoration Theatre, but also one of the most beloved. That was because “pretty, witty” Nell, as diarist Samuel Pepys called...

Not Just ‘Dead White Guys’: Kennedy Center Artistic Directors Defend 2019-2020 Season

The Kennedy Center’s artistic directorial staff defended their calculus for choosing their collective 2019-2020 classical-music season during a media briefing and panel discussion earlier this week....

Review: ‘BLKS’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre

BLKS is gonna be a blockbuster. Let’s get that out of the way. BLKS is a rapid-fire, laugh-out-loud comedy about a quartet of twenty-something black women in New York City who are roommates, gal pals,...

Review: ‘Plaza Suite’ by Sandy Spring Theatre Group

Those who aspire to great heights of theatrical art tend to look down on comedy. They don’t take it seriously, which is understandable, since it is, by definition, not serious. Famed comic actors...

Review: ‘Cyrano de Bergerac’ at Synetic Theater

Edmond Rostand’s tale of a consummate wordsmith achieves profound new eloquence in Synetic Theater’s wordless production of Cyrano de Bergerac. As they have done in so many previous productions, from...

In the Moment: Impressions on STC’s ‘Richard the Third’

Complex villains are irresistible on stage and screen. They can be so magnetic. Their restlessness and shadings of evil keep my brain’s neurons firing. I have always thought of the fictional King...

Review: ‘The Music Man’ at the Kennedy Center

We’ve got trouble, right here in the Capital City. That might be true – mind-numbingly true – but it’s not at the Kennedy Center where Jeffrey Finn has produced a charming, energetic production of...

Review: ‘Philosophus’ at Best Medicine Rep

One of the things Best Medicine Rep does best is comedies about historical and literary figures, such as last year’s Engaging Shaw. They are now presenting another, Philosophus, by Colin Speer...

Review: ‘SHAME 2.0 (With Comments From the Populace)’ at Mosaic Theater Company

“You have to be a good Arab,” says Morad Hassan of the stigma he faces trying to have a career as an Arab actor in Israel—the very country where, he says, “we are the Jews of the Jews.” “FREE...

Review: ‘Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (Program B)’ at The Kennedy Center

“Who will tell our grandmothers’ stories?” The phenomenal Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater soulfully responds in memory of its iconic founder with dignity, power and enough creative energy to light...

Theater and Policy Salon Conversation on Criminal Justice to Follow ‘Twelve Angry Men’ at Ford’s Theatre

Ford’s Theatre is partnering with the Theater and Policy Salon for a special post-performance discussion on “Justice” in Criminal Justice, following the 7:30 pm show of Twelve Angry Men on February...