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Temptation
by Václav Havel
directed by Allison Arkell Stockman
produced by Constellation Theatre Company
reviewed by Steven McKnight

Václav Havel’s Temptation transfers the classic Faust story to a modern scientific institute in a totalitarian country with healthy doses of political satire and absurdist humor.  It is a challenging work, but Constellation Theatre Company’s production succeeds due to an inspired creative team and a talented cast. (more…)

• The Oresteia                                                   
• Written by Aeschylus; Translated by Robert Fagles
• Adapted and Directed by Allison Arkell Stockman
• Produced by Constellation Theatre Company
• Reviewed by Debbie Minter Jackson

They did it again.  Constellation Theater, just finishing its first season yet already establishing a track record of stunning productions, has added a spectacular rendering of Greek tragedy to its repertory.   With a cast of almost thirty actors, a percussionist on stage, moodily placed fog and mist, and a huge coliseum set with columns that extend to the expansive rafters of the Clark Street Playhouse (lighting and set design by A.J. Guban), The Oresteia transports the audience to an ancient time to witness the essential core of theater. These folks are unstoppable.

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• The Good Woman of Setzuan                                     
• Written by Bertolt Brecht.  Translated by Eric Bentley
• Directed by Allison Arkell Stockman
• Choreographed by Ashley Ivey
• Produced by Constellation Theatre Company
• Reviewed by Debbie Minter Jackson

In this fun-loving cautionary tale, Shen-Te, winningly played by Katie Atkinson proves to be a good woman, pleasing to the gods, sacrificing her own needs and well being for everybody else’s interest, and attempting to marry for love.  Except for the pleasing of the gods part, the rest of the premise could come straight out of any contemporary reality show filled with gaggles of friends and relatives having their say, action and reaction shots of the main character wrestling with conflicting emotions, some desperately trying to do the right thing in a “What’s in it for me?” society.  (more…)

• The Arabian Nights
• By Mary Zimmerman
• Directed by Allison Arkell Stockman
• Produced by Constellation Theatre Company
• Reviewed by Janice Cane

Constellation Theatre Company’s production of The Arabian Nights, now playing at Source Theatre, is a good show. It’s not a great show, and it’s not a bad show. It’s just … good. The set, lushly carpeted with dozens of Persian rugs, sets the mood perfectly. Percussionist Tom Teasley plays his exotic musical instruments at all the right moments to heighten the level of drama on stage. Most of the actors play their parts with a great deal of enthusiasm. But somehow, when all of these elements come together, they lack that special something that makes a good show spectacular. (more…)

by August Strindberg

Adapted by Caryl Churchill

Produced by Constellation Theatre Company at the Source Theatre

Directed by Allison Arkell Stockman

Reviewed by Tim Treanor

Does the D.C. area really need another professional theater?  You bet it does.  As long as theater has important things to say, and theater professionals have the wit and craft to say them, we will benefit from it no matter who the producing company is - as this wildly ambitious, somewhat uneven but generally successful production shows. (more…)