Read any good plays lately? I have a confession to make. I can’t read a play and come away with anything approaching the emotional satisfaction I get from the experience in the theater. Some people can. I can’t. It takes the skills of actors, directors and designers to bring the stories to life for me […]
Archives for April 2014
Cinderella: The Remix
“Change the rules!” the audience of parents and young children shouts. Cinderella proclaims, “I do this in the spirit of woman and girl power.” Cinderella: The Remix at Imagination Stage is a children’s musical with layers – themes of sexism, racism, and intersectionality (the intersection between different forms of oppression) mixed with a cutting critique […]
From a blown interview, Muraoka gets directing job for Once on This Island
Some phone calls you never forget. For Alan Muraoka, it was a call he took this winter from Olney Theatre’s artistic director Jason Loewith, who was interviewing him for the chance to direct Once on This Island, which has long-been a favorite musical of Muraoka’s. When he hung up the phone after the interview, one […]
With HAIR sold out, and new construction this summer, Keegan enters its own Age of Aquarius
“This is our crowning achievement,” Mark A. Rhea told me the day after I had seen Hair at Keegan Theatre. I saw the show on a Wednesday night, at one of the performances that had been added to a run extended through Apr. 27th. The house was full and very enthusiastic.
Tovah Feldshuh on playing Golda Meir
“People love their mothers,” Tovah Feldshuh said. “Golda Meir is the full bodied, big breasted woman whose greatest love is the state of Israel. For one night, I can bring this mother of state back to life.”
Arguendo – Elevator Repair Service putting on the Supremes
Twelve Angry Men it is not. In that serious courtroom drama from the 1950s, twelve – yes, angry – sequestered jurors debate in real time the guilt or innocence of a man suspected of homocide. In Elevator Repair Service’s Arguendo, running at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company through April 27, five actors portray lawyers, court clerks, […]
Criticism in the crosshairs at Humana New Play Festival
Louisville was the home of Hunter S. Thompson, the Lord of gonzo journalism until he blew himself up in 2005. For Thompson, every story about the world was really a story about himself. Thompson wrote about the Hell’s Angels, the Kentucky Derby, Las Vegas and the 1972 Presidential campaign, but what could compete with his […]
The Realistic Joneses
Will Eno’s oddball play is a surprising last minute addition to the very rich ’13-’14 Broadway season, as it arrives starring four excellent actors who will help it find an audience.
Washington’s theatreWeek 2014 starts April 14
Have you noticed the creative promotions for theatreWeek in Metro stations around the area or in your newspaper this week and wondered what it was? Well, it’s nothing short of one of the biggest theater promotions ever held in our area, with an emphasis on showcasing the multitude of professional theaters in our area by […]
Comedy? Tragedy? Folger voting could go either way.
Folger Theatre’s entry into March Madness titled Bracket of the Bard has come down to the final two. Voting today has been so close, it’s impossible to predict whether Much Ado About Nothing or King Lear will emerge as the audience’s favorite Shakespeare play. Bracket of the Bard ends Friday, April 11 at 5pm. Enter […]
Adventure Theater’s Jungle Book – pretty, but somber
Here’s a tip for you: if you’re going to see a piece of children’s theater, bring a child with you. It seems obvious, but these things have a way of getting away from you. My 9 year old stepson was supposed to accompany me to Adventure Theater’s production of The Jungle Book, but ran late […]
Two Trains Running
In true August Wilson form, each character in Two Trains Running has a distinct style, function and purpose. Set in 1969, the characters frequent a run-down diner, that might actually offer half its menu on a good day. The rest of the time, the characters gather to get news, coffee, socialize and peer out the […]