Wacky interactions between two people! A zany, wacky, female and a straight-man! With a quote from Groucho Marx in their show copy, Boy Meets Girl and Other Dilemmas sets the bar high for a sketch comedy show. I’m afraid that bar was at the top of the stairs up to the Bedroom and the XY […]
Archives for July 13, 2014
The Big “A”: Scenes from a Vanishing Landscape
At the start of The Big “A”: Scenes from a Vanishing Landscape an older couple is slow dancing. It is a nice image, until you wonder why both are holding their canes while swaying together. The scene encapsulates the nature of this play which looks at the impacts of Alzheimer’s disease – sometimes there are […]
The Matty Mathews Foundation
There is a clever idea behind The Matty Matthews Foundation. But as Mies van der Rohe said, God is in the details, and playwright John McGrath and his cast will need a couple of come-to-Jesus meetings before this play is all that it can or should be.
Joiceville 101.3
Poor Bob. Interactive theatre doesn’t bode well for the shy. Improv artists Rodrigo Pool and Carrie Helton Parsons, acting brilliantly as vicious, coked up radio anchors, selected an audience member to answer questions (“HEEEEEY BOB. What’s your favorite household appliance?!”). Bob’s answers shaped the show, and in this case, inspired a dishwasher commercial.
Ben & Lucille
“That’s just like us!” The man in the front row says to his wife in a not-so-quite whisper. He’s captured the gist of the fun, quirky and insightful piece that is Ben & Lucille. This stand-out play is a relatable new approach to a familiar story. The title duo are people that we know. They feel […]
Interrogation
To be honest, I’m a little bit scared to review Fringe veteran John Feffer’s new play, Interrogation. For one, he makes it very clear that he has access to my name, email address, and employer. For another, the fun and innovation inherent in this show come from the secrecy surrounding it. And yet, one of […]
The Dish
Directed by Strother Gaines, The Dish pokes fun at the seriousness and hierarchical attitude of those in the food industry. Everyone is an expert, everyone wants to blog and if one more person pulls out their phone in the middle of dinner service let’s all scream.
The Interpersonal Underworld
What makes the perfect team? How do individuals develop into a group? Taking its name from a theory by behavioral scientist William Schutz, ACW Dances’ The Interpersonal Underworld explores the dynamics of relationship building through beautiful and thoughtful modern dance. Trust, power, control, collaboration, harmony and more are explored and deconstructed in this finely wrought […]
The Inaugural Election for President of Mrs. Jacobson’s Sixth Grade Class
Out from the mouths of babes comes this heartwarming parody of the American political process. The Inaugural Election for President of Mrs. Jacobson’s Sixth Grade Class opens under somber blue lights, a funeral for the class hamster. The solemn affair is closed with a 21 spitball salute beginning a show that’s a hoot and half.
Report to an Academy
I’ll refrain from using phrases like “monkey business” and “going bananas” in the opening of this review, but that’s not for any disdain for bad puns. It’s simply because the show doesn’t warrant that kind of enthusiasm.
Coriolanus
Set in a very particular world with a very particular social and political structure, Córiolanus is not a play that lends itself particularly well to a “concept.” As director Elena Velasco proves with Elysian Theatre’s production, however, sometimes all it takes is a few strong casting choices to reinvigorate an otherwise straightforward Shakespearean tragedy.
Dracula . A Love Story
Dracula moonlighting as a blood-sucking lobbyist in downtown DC? Brilliant. A young Washingtonian concerned life should be more than the humdrum of laws, policies, and phone calls. Accurate. An ongoing pontification of life vs. death? Yep. Love—the kind you would die for? Of course!