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By Tim Treanor

So you’re sitting in your seat - excellent seat, second row center - watching Caroline, or Change and some cretin starts talking behind you. Well, they’ve reminded everyone to turn their cell phones off, and to put their candy away, but they forgot to say stop talking. And this guy is nattering on. What do you do?

If you’re Joel Markowitz, you know that some behaviors can’t be tolerated. So you turn around, peer into the darkness, hesitate - he seems like a big guy, and vaguely familiar - and then say, “Please, sir. Would you mind? I’m trying to watch the show.”

But then it’s the second scene, at that long, emotional soliloquy which starts the scene, and he’s at it again. Loudly. Even the actress - Tonya Pinkins - seems flustered. So, since you’re Joel Markowitz, you turn around again and in a steely voice say, “air, you need to stop, or I’ll have the house manager remove you.” And the loquacious man and his wife finally stop. Tonya throws a thank-you nod in your direction.

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Fiona will be covering DC productions for us and Valeria will be covering childrens theatre.  We are super happy to have them with us!

Fiona Zublin is a sophomore honors student at the George Washington Univeristy, where she plans to major in Dramatic Literature and Journalism. She works for the student newspaper and taught theater at various California high schools prior to entering college. She has worked as a freelance theater reviewer with the Washington Theater Review since February 2005.

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Valeria Lamarra is an analytical thinker and student who performs with a children’s circus group. She perfects her unicycling and juggling skills and is able to fall in front of an audience, get up and keep smiling. She is currently reading The Book of Three, and The Scarlet Pimpernel. Valeria is interested in many cultures. She is especially interested in Japan and Anime. She enjoys creating her own costumes to wear to anime conventions. Valeria is thrilled to be reviewing children’s plays for DC theatre reviews!

By: Ronnie Ruff

Irish Authors Held Hostage — Jt Burian Theatricals

I did not really know what to expect at a show with the rather wacky title of Irish Authors Held Hostage but I purchased my large cup of java at the Warehouse coffee bar and made my way through the long drab hallway leading back to the Warehouse forty-five seat black box. As I approached the door traditional Irish music and green, white and orange curtains grabbed my senses putting me immediately in a jovial mood.

In this clever play of multiple variations, Irish authors are held captive by modern day terrorists who in most cases are driven quite mad by trying to hold these men and women of prose against their will. Without going into detail I can say that the entire sell out crowd was delighted with an evening of smart sometimes political humor and lilting Irish folk music between sketches. Director Martin Blanco keeps everything moving at a brisk pace throughout the evening.

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By: Tim Treanor

Whole Against the Sky, at Trumpet Vine Theatre

Paul Donnelly’s new play, Whole Against the Sky, has much going for it. The dialogue is witty, the characterizations are sharp, and there are scenes of enormous emotional authenticity and power. The play is still a few rewrites away from being the strong theater it could be, however. In particular, the flabby ending disappoints.

It is a measure of the hard, and good, work Donnelly has done so far on his plot to compare the play’s description on the Trumpet Vine website to what we actually see on the stage. Jack Rheingold (Jon Townson), a gay lawyer living in Washington, has returned to his Cincinnati hometown to witness the remarriage of his hard-bitten, domineering mother Carol (Jean Hudson Miller) to Ken, a right-wing Christian activist. (Returning from a pre-nuptial party, Jack observes, “I was the only one there who hadn’t heard Rush Limbaugh that morning”.) Jack and his big sister Linda (Ellie Nicoll) cordially detest their mother; Jack detests Linda’s manic-depressive husband Greg (Gerald R. Browning) and you can be certain that Linda will detest Ken as soon as she meets him. Regrettably, she never has the chance, as Ken gets a surprise one-way ticket to verify his religious beliefs the day she arrives.

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By Tim Treanor

The Autumn Garden by Lillian Hellmen at The American Century Theater

Imagine, if you will, a roomful of morose men and women of late middle years. They are too old for optimism or other forms of self-deception, and so pass their time in reading, heavy drinking, and aiming barbed witticisms at each other. It is Louisiana, just after the second war. Into their midst returns a charmed figure from their youth - a stupendously gifted artist who has established a reputation in Europe. He, it turns out, is even worse - and worse off - than they: a bitter, controlling, smarmy lecher and a drunk. He spreads chaos to this listless house, and brings humiliation to people seemingly beyond humiliation. This is the long-forgotten Lillian Hellman play, The Autumn Garden. Hellman thought it was the best thing she ever wrote.

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By: Tim Treanor and Valeria Lamarra

Haroun and the Sea of Stories   Theater Alliance

L to R: Ian leValley and Carlos Bustamante     Credit: Colin Hovde

Haroun and the Sea of Stories is a children’s play, adapted from a children’s novel by the great Salman Rushdie. I am a 55-year old lawyer. Should I be reviewing this play?

I don’t think so. Children possess an imaginative faculty which is gone by adulthood. What might seem jejune or threadbare to an adult may hit the motherload of excitement or satisfaction to a kid.

If you doubt me, watch a gaggle of kids playing with an empty packing box. If you ever catch a bunch of theater critics doing the same thing, let me know, and I will withdraw my claim.

Until then, it is my belief that children are better judges of children’s theater productions than are adult critics. Therefore, for this play I have subcontracted my reviewing responsibilities to Valeria Lamarra, an interesting 11-year-old of my acquaintance notable for her good judgment and command of the language. Valeria is also familiar with performance needs and values, being herself (among other things) a circus unicyclist.           

Valeria, take it away:

This is a very nice show. Not only is it a good show for kids but it has a deeper message, about how children and parents love and can miss each other. Salman Rushdie wrote it while he was under a fatwa and he was in hiding. He had to be separated from his son at this time and it must have been very sad for him. Even though there is great sadness in the story, there is much comedy as well. (You can’t have a children’s show without comedy.)It is the story of a young girl, Haroun (Anu Yavid), who saves her father’s career. Her father, Rashid (Ian LeValley), was a storyteller, but he became sad and
couldn’t tell stories. The reason he was sad was that his wife Soraya (Erica Chamblee) left him. Worse, after Rashid lost his wife, Haroun became angry with him and said, “What’s the point of telling stories that aren’t even true?” And after that he couldn’t tell his stories any more.

But telling stories was his whole life. Without being able to tell stories, Rashid was no longer special. So in order to help her father find the source of his inspiration, Haroun travels all the way to an alternate world which has two cities, totally opposite to each other. She discovers that the sea of stories, where all stories come from, is itself in danger. She joins forces with magical creatures and fights deadly enemies who have even greater magical powers. In order to free the sea of stories, she has to concentrate so hard it brings light to a city of darkness.

This is a complex story, but not a confusing one. Both the sad things and the funny parts were very clear and easy to understand. I have four sisters, ages from five to seventeen, and I believe they would all thoroughly enjoy it.

For one thing, the actors were convincing, and the story itself was very interesting. I liked Ms. Chamblee, who played a lot of roles, and was happy and sad and everything in between. Ms. Yadev as Haroun was a mix of emotions, but each one was clear and understandable and convincing. Butt the Hoopoe (Carlos Bustamante) delivered his punch lines at exactly the right moment. I also liked Mikal Evans as the page, Blabbermouth (who was so much a page that she wore pages out of the book). Ms. Evans was a good acrobat as well as a good actor - she played a girl pretending to be a boy, and I really thought she was a boy until her helmet came off.

There was seating on three sides and all the action was in the middle. The seating was good because no matter where you sat, you had a good view of the action.

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By: Debbie Minter Jackson

The Rainmaker        Arena Stage                                                               

The Rainmaker feels so contemporary; it’s hard to believe it’s been around for fifty years. Packed with themes of love and yearning, laced with messages about self-worth, confidence, and the redemptive power of truth, there’s a reason why it was so successful on Broadway, as a movie–who can forget Katherine Hepburn and Burt Lancaster in the title roles-as well as a musical, “110 in the Shade.”  It hits all the marks.  Arena’s stark production goes to the heart of the story, strips away any pretense, exposes the basic issues without glamour or frill, and hits the mark, too. 

The unique staging requirements of the Fichandler always bring a bare and vulnerable reality to its productions since the audience surrounds the actors on all sides resulting in total exposure, no place to hide.  The play opens on an empty set; just a lone cowboy hat hangs off in a corner.  The story is set up by the Curry men, a father and two brothers all fixated on the single and looming spinster status of sister Lizzy.  When she finally enters, Lizzy, wonderfully played by Johanna Day establishes the pace and emotional stakes of the play.  Day is a delight, and we find ourselves engaged and caring about her well being.   She physically works the immense stage as comfortably as if she’s in her own living room with ease and naturalness.  The family dynamics also work nicely with William Parry portraying Pop Curry as cool headed and genuine, Graham Winton nails the surefooted older, “wiser” brother Noah, the acerbic truth teller, and Ben Fox is the playful and scattered younger brother Jim. 

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By: Ronnie Ruff

The Mai — Solas Nua 

Irish playwright Marina Carr offers many observations of importance in The Mai currently mounted at The Josephine Butler Arts Center in Columbia Heights. One of note is “Everyone is deranged — Some people just hide it better”, another and the central theme of the play is “There are two kinds of people — there are those that put their children first and those that put their lovers first.” We all parent differently and we are all vastly different people. The Mai, directed by Artistic Director Linda Murray and co-director Caroline Kenney is dreamy and stylish, while retaining the intimacy for which the company has received deserved praise.

This is a play of lilting Irish prose and biting sarcasm as told by the Mai’s sixteen year old daughter Millie (Stephanie Roswell) whose memories of her childhood give way to chilling visions of future events. The Mai (Kerry Waters) is a tragic figure who is left to raise her daughter alone by her philandering cellist husband Richard (Ken Arnold). She builds her family a mansion on the shores of Owl Lake a place of legend and Irish myth. Carr details spirited family arguments and finally anguished family holidays that lead to splits in the fabric that holds the the family together.

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Thinking about taking your little one to see Haroun and the Sea of Stories at the H Street Playhouse? Tim Treanor and an eleven year old co-writer will attend Sunday’s performance and give you the low-down from a child’s eye!

Debbie Minter Jackson attended the opening of Arena’s Rainmaker last night. I have it on good authority the audience was taken with the show. She is busy writing our review.

Check back Monday for our reviews!

Also coming up.. Tomorrow…

I saw The Mai by Solas Nua last evening and just as a preview to my review I can tell you this production is a must see if you want to experience what tremendous art is being staged by fringe DC theatre companies! Instead of trying to reproduce a mansion on the small stage Solas Nua stages the play in a mansion. Fine acting, great lighting and sound design all combine for a wonderful Irish memoir of love and loss.

Read the review right here tomorrow!

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From the Signature Blog

Hello cyber-Signature fans! Welcome to a preview of the fabulous world of Julie Marie Myatt’s hysterical and powerful new play, The Sex Habits of American Women. My name’s Michael Baron and I’m the director. Based on the conversations the cast and I’ve had during the first week of rehearsals, this promises to be a theater experience you’ll talk about long after the show’s over.

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