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Steve Hallex is an entertainment writer, who joins us covering the 2011 Capital Fringe Festival.

Landless’ Mashup Festival – late night edition

January 16, 2012 By 1 Comment

Night of the Living Golden Girls and TarXXXanadu

This Saturday, I attended DCTS’ annual party at a lovely Thai restaurant near DuPont Circle.  I must say that every moment was enjoyable, but the party really started with Tim Treanor’s toast, followed by the obligatory game of Who Said That.  As we sipped our non-adult adult beverages, slips of paper were passed around with a quote from a reviewer’s work this past year.  After (usually correctly) guessing the reviewer who penned it, we voted on our favorite.  [Read more...]

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Parfumerie

December 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment

If you like comedy that makes you smile as well as laugh you can’t do much better than 1st Stage’s presentation of Miklós László’s Parfumerie.  Audiences on this side of the world are not particularly familiar with this play from its title – written in Hungary in 1936, the comedy has been a favorite in Europe for decades, but only made its U.S. debut in 2009 - but it could very well become a standard Christmastime production in the years ahead.  1st Stage Artistic Director Mark Krikstan, wanting to stage “a Christmas play that is different than what is normally done,”  gave it his third season’s holiday slot. [Read more...]

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The Continuing Adventures of John Blade, Super Spy

October 29, 2011 By 1 Comment

“Take a typical show at the old Globe, kick out the wine merchants and vassals who paid subscriptions and leave only the groundlings,” and you’ll get the audience Apron Theatre Company Artistic Director Tyler Budde wants.  To get there, this new Georgetown theatre company offers pre and post-show parties, but doesn’t offer subscriptions: “We don’t want someone to come to our plays because they have to.” [Read more...]

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The Crucible

October 26, 2011 By 4 Comments

- – This play will probably always be part of the dramatic canon, because it tells a story that seems to repeat itself as often as summer rain.  From Socrates to Christ, to Jan Hus, to Dreyfus, to the unthought-of victims of countless purges and pogroms throughout history, the human story is full of such moments. – -
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ReEntry

October 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment

If you are seeking a nuts-and-bolts review of KJ Sanchez and Emily Ackerman’s ReEntry, you need to look elsewhere.  I can’t provide that; this is simply a play that resists that kind of analysis.  The first thing you should know is that the playwrights’ intent is to educate more than edify, and their success in this approach will depend on what you, the audience, put into it. [Read more...]

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Hellspawn

October 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Plays the devil made them write

There was once a kid who lived in Cottage City, Maryland.  In 1949, in fact.  Research says the boy—Ronnie Hunkeler—was very “off.”  A loner with classic anti-social traits, by all witnesses, he was a miscreant who enjoyed causing pain and anguish, going so far as occasionally torturing small animals, but his Swedish immigrant family was convinced the boy was demonically possessed.  [Read more...]

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Backstage with Shakespeare Theatre’s youngest star

September 27, 2011 By 1 Comment

The “star” of one of the most popular plays this season only appears on the stage for a few minutes, has no lines of dialogue, and doesn’t take questions from the press.  Worse still, this is almost certain to be her only show; so when her run is finished, you will never get another chance to see her perform on stage. [Read more...]

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Love Cures Cancer: A Musical

September 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Some of you have lost loved ones to a disease that took its sweet time to do its destruction.  I will not ask you to remember what that felt like.  You recalled it all, just because I brought it up.  For the rest: if you need a metaphor, hold your breath while suffering an eye irritation.  The natural course of your life is suspended, and the things that normally enrich it are meaningless. [Read more...]

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Notes to the Motherland

September 18, 2011 By 1 Comment

Be patient, readers.  There is a review in your future, but first—a history lesson.  Lithuania is a relatively small (about 3 million people) country on the Baltic Sea, bordering both Russia and Poland.  Once a prominent European Duchy, Lithuania has spent most of the last few centuries occupied by one foreign power or another.  Lithuanians won their independence at the end of WWI, and it looked like they would after many generations, enjoy autonomy.  But Europe erupted in war again, and the little land by the Baltic was invaded, first by the Soviets in 1940, then by the Germans a year later.  An era of tumult and privation followed, scarring several generations of Lithuanians, including the generation of actor/playwright Paul Rajeckas. [Read more...]

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Much Ado About Nothing – Riot Grrrls style

September 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment

It seems there are three simple rules to staging Shakespeare successfully.  One: put the play in a modern setting, like, say, a dive bar in Anytown, country unknown.  Second, inject as much action as possible into the working script, quickening the pace to modern tastes.  Third, no matter how clunky or inappropriate it may sound, do not monkey with the Bard of Avon’s dialogue. [Read more...]

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