DC Theatre Scene . Washington’s liveliest theatre web site

• Translations
• by Brian Friel
• Directed by Mark A. Rhea
• Produced by Keegan Theatre 
• Reviewed by Rosalind Lacy   

A knock-out punch is hard to see coming, but you know when you’ve been hit. Brian Friel’s Translations has that kind of riveting power so that you leave the theater reeling from its quaintly developed revelations. Keegan Theatre’s beautiful  restaging is a chance not to be missed. It’s a mesmerizing revival of director Mark A. Rhea’s 1997 Helen Hayes Award-nominated production.

(more…)

• The Screwtape Letters
• Adapted by Jeffrey Fiske and Max McLean from a novel by C.S. Lewis
• Directed by Jeffrey Fiske
• Produced by the Fellowship for the Performing Arts at the Lansburgh Theatre 
• Reviewed by Tim Treanor

I respectfully recommend that you commit to memory the name of Karen Eleanor Wight. There will be a day, I predict, when every member of the theater-going public will know it, and on that day will use it as a reason to shell out a hundred bucks to see a show. It will be good for you to get in on the ground floor, and to see her before prices get astronomical. I mean no disrespect to the estimable writing team of McLean and Fiske - who are Screwtape and Director, respectively - or to their superb technical staff, but the best reason to see this production is Wight.

(more…)

DC-area theatre lovers got some good news and some bad news this week.

The good news is that Washington, D.C. continues to be a robust theatre town. (more…)

• 
• LONDON CALLING :
• The Vortex, Speed the Plow, God of Carnage, Billy Elliot, Brief Encounter, Gone with the Wind, some not to be missed London spots, and a visit with Emma Thompson    

by NY Theatre Buzz columnist, Richard Seff

(more…)

• Man of La Mancha
• Play by Dale Wasserman
• Music by Mitch Leigh . Lyrics by: Joe Darien
• Directed by Colin Hovde
• Musical Direction by Shawn Burke-Storer
• Choreographed by Stefan Sittig
• Produced by Washington Savoyards
• Reviewed by Leslie Weisman

You don’t often get the chance to see a small local company put on a Broadway blockbuster that started life as a black-and-white TV show, inspired by a 16^th-century novel whose cultural legacy still speaks to us in the 21^st.  But for the next few days, you can see it on H Street.

(more…)

The Bethesda Theatre has announced that due to  water damage, which originally occurred in the apartments above, damaged the main floor of the theater and its electrical system.  Due to the time needed to make the extensive repairs, the producers have announced that Smokey Joe’s Cafe, originally scheduled to run through May 11th, must be cancelled. (more…)