DC Theatre Scene . Washington’s liveliest theatre web site

Produced by Signature
Reviewed by Ronnie Ruff

(l to r) John Lescault, Kathleen Coons, Deborah Hazlett, Joe Isenberg (Photo: Carol Pratt)

It just may be that Crave is the most unusual production I have seen in the entire history of DC Theatre Reviews. Those keeping notes should scribble in their notepads now that this is not necessarily a bad thing at all – in fact if I were to judge my evening with little golden stars it would get three of five. This is not a play for everyone and if you like a show that fits within lines Crave may not be for you. (more…)

Produced by Round House Theatre

Reviewed by Tim Treanor

Kathryn Kelley and Wilbur Edwin Henry (Photo: Stan Barouh)

Imagine Noises Off, Michael Frayn’s comedy about a grade-Z theater company’s attempt to put on a farce (or read about Arena’s production of it here). Now, substitute theater icons Orson Welles (Wilbur Edwin Henry), Joan Plowright (Connan Morrissey) and Sir Lawrence Olivier (Anthony Newfield) for Frayn’s misbegotten company. Next, instead of the smarmy farce, substitute Eugene Ionesco’s Rhinoceros. Finally, instead of the trivial and banal considerations which drove the action in Frayn’s play, substitute core questions about duty, ego and the nature of the theater itself. You would have something very much like Austin Pendleton’s Orson’s Shadow, now playing at Round House Theatre. (more…)

Produced by GALA Hispanic Theatre
Reviewed by Rosalind Lacy

                                           (l to r) Cynthia Benjamin, Carlos Castillo and  Manuel Cabrera-Santos (Photo: Daniel Troconis)

Argentine playwright Griselda Gambaro took an enormous risk because she couldn’t keep silent about “the disappeared.” When she wrote The Walls (Las Paredes) in 1964, she was ahead of her time. She held up a mirror to the reality of never-ending military state terrorism, which started in the 1960s and peaked in 1983 during the Dirty War, a period of kidnappings, Nazi-like tortures and executions by security police. (more…)

Produced by Catalyst Theater Company
Reviewed by Tim Treanor

                                                       Cassie Platt (Moth) and Scott Fortier (Leather) (Photo credit:  Joe Shymanski)

The first thing to understand about this quirky and provocative play is what it is not. It is not a play about the internet. It is not a play about underdeveloped or third-world countries, with or without the internet. It is not about the People’s Republic of China, and, notwithstanding its setting in a socialist country, it is not about the political implications when the economy of some socialist backwater suddenly goes international.

It is about love. Don’t take my word for it; read Catalyst’s interview with the playwright here. (more…)

Moments after arriving in town to rehearse Lypsinka: The Passion of the Crawford, playwright/actor/performance artist John Epperson sat down with Joel Markowitz for a  rare one-on-one interview.  Listen in as John divulges his fascination with Joan Crawford, his life as Lypsinka, backstage stories from his off-Broadway phenomenom My Deah and his brushes with greatness in the film world.  Lypsinka’s performance as Joan Crawford in the upcoming Studio Theatre production The Passion of the Crawford opens February 7^th.. 

 

 Standard Podcast: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

By Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Reviewed by Gary McMillan

Brush up your Shakespeare
Start quoting him now
Brush up your Shakespeare …
… there will be a pop-quiz pretest plus a take-home essay exam following the show.

(more…)