Perhaps the best kind of political play is the one that has no message at all. With One in the Chamber, Marja-Lewis Ryan is not at all interested in making points, picking sides, or influencing your views; she simply wants to observe a corner of the world as it is, and let you take away […]
Archives for August 2015
Family Portrait from DC Music Theatre Workshop (review)
DC Music Theatre Workshop makes its debut with Family Portrait, a musical written by British composer Theo Jamieson and being fully staged here for the very first time. The show is a collection of musical snapshots of a prototypical family. At opening, we see a picturesque arrangement of father, mother, daughters, and son, which proves – […]
A stroke of bad luck: Director Gabriele Jakobi stricken
Friends and colleagues of the director Gabriele Jakobi were shocked and deeply saddened to learn that she suffered a massive stroke in June. A GoFundMe campaign has been set up with the goal of helping her cope with the enormous medical bills that she has incurred to date and will continue to incur during a […]
UpClose: Kathleen Akerley, Women’s Voices Theater Festival
Kathleen Akerley, Artistic Director of Longacre Lea, has two plays debuting in the Women’s Voices Theater Festival: Bones in Whispers opens August 12 and Night Falls on the Blue Planet opens September 3.
DCTS Guide to the Women’s Voices Theater Festival
August 12 – Nov 22, 2015 Full productions, performances and readings are listed below. There’s more! WVTF panel discussions are free but require reservations
Life as theatre performed on a Parisian street corner
“… life is a drawn-out stream of people making entrances you’re unprepared for and exits you barely notice.” There’s a street corner in Paris with a cast of thousands. Take a seat where the Rue Pierre Lescot crosses the Rue Berger. It’s in the pedestrian zone that stretches from the Forum des Halles shopping district […]
Hamilton Broadway Review: Revolutionary!
When Hamilton opened Off-Broadway in February, I called it groundbreaking and breathtaking – and I was trying not to gush. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hip-hop musical about the life and times of the Founding Father whose face is on the ten dollar bill has drawn exuberant bipartisan praise – from both Obama and Cheney, both Sondheim and […]
Stage Briefs by Keith Loria
A roundup of some of this week’s theatrical news and notes from DC Music Theatre Workshop, Forum Theatre, Ford’s Theatre, Women’s Voices Theater Festival, Constellation Theatre and Signature Theatre.
Schedule for Kennedy Center’s 2015 Page-to-Stage Festival, Sept 5 – 7
(WASHINGTON)—The Kennedy Center hosts its 14th annual Page-to-Stage new play festival from Saturday, September 5 to Monday, September 7, 2015, featuring more than 50 theaters from the D.C. metropolitan area, all with a mission to produce and support new work. The 14th Annual Page-to-Stage event showcases more than 40 new plays by female playwrights and […]
The Fix: Signature brings back its favorite political musical. Just in time.
Dysfunctional. Absurd. Chaos. These are words that could easily describe Thursday’s upcoming Republican primary debate, but in fact, are taken from reviews of the American premiere of the political black comedy musical The Fix, in 1998 when it was produced by Signature Theatre.
Claire Schoonover: acting knows no age
“It picks you rather than you picking it.” That is how Claire Schoonover describes acting. DC theater lovers are certainly finding Schoonover and her craft a perfect fit. The British native made her regional debut this summer as the co-lead in director Christopher Goodrich’s re-imagining of Romeo and Juliet at Unexpected Stage’s Randolph Road […]
“A Good Way to Go Out” Jack Marshall ends TACT with a challenge to the future
The American Century Theater (TACT) opened its doors in 1995 with a production of Twelve Angry Men. That’s the teleplay from the golden age of live TV that, like many of the best of those (Marty, Bang the Drum Slowly, Requiem for a Heavyweight), was turned into a memorable film. It was only a matter […]