Before we begin, a question for the grownups: How many of you still have a treasured stuffed animal from our childhoods, still hidden away in a plastic bin in the closet or in a cardboard box under the bed?
Archives for September 2015
When She Had Wings (review). Yours are waiting at Imagination Stage
There’s a not-so-secret code in Theater for Young Audiences (TYA) productions. Whether you’re a parent/guardian or just someone interested in theater, you might read the synopsis of a TYA production on a snazzy postcard or a painstakingly-crafted advertisement with the intention of maybe checking out the show, but you probably won’t decide to go until […]
Playwright takes the spotlight in No Spring Chicken at NextStop (review)
“Forty is old to have a baby.” Those words rang in the ears and down to the depths of Ginna Hoben’s soul as a skinny, way too young nurse pronounced her sentence over the actress desperately trying to conceive a child.
Newly expanded Columbia Festival of the Arts has plenty for theatre lovers
For 29 years, the Columbia Festival of the Arts has brought together dance, music and theater a couple of weekends each summer, hoping to bring attention to the Maryland city and its growing arts scene.
Destiny of Desire by Karen Zacarias at Arena Stage (review)
We are in full swing of the Women’s Voices in Theatre Festival with some mighty impressive entries having led out of the gate. We have Artistic Director Molly Smith in great part to thank for initiating this gathering of talent.
From creation of transgender opera, As One, to UrbanArias’ quick embrace
“This project has changed me completely,” Laura Kaminsky told me, “as an artist and as a composer. It’s been an amazing experience so far. For months, I was taking Hannah’s spirit everywhere with me. She was haunting our household.”
UpClose: Allison and Margaret Engel, Women’s Voices Theater Festival
Erma Bombeck: At Wit’s End, the new play from Allison and Margaret Engel, opens October 9, 2015 at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater.
UpClose: Hope Lynne Price-Lindsay, Women’s Voices Theater Festival
Playwright Hope Lynne Price-Lindsay’s new play, For the Love of Oscar, debuts October 28, 2015, produced by The New Millennium Howard Players.
Monique LaForce, Women’s Voices Theater Festival
Monique LaForce’s new play Hootenanny opens October 2, 2015 at the National Museum of Women in the Arts.
2015 MacArthur “genius grants” include four theatre artists
The MacArthur Foundation announced its twenty four 2015 MacArthur Fellows, commonly called “genius grants,” and among them are playwright/performer Lin-Manuel Miranda, set designer Mimi Lien, choreographer/tap dancer Michelle Dorrance and puppetry artist Basil Twist. Each $625,000 grant is paid out over the next five years.
Daddy Long Legs review at the Davenport Theatre
In a program note for Daddy Long Legs, director John Caird wonders why the 1912 novel on which the musical is based isn’t considered a great American classic. I wonder the opposite – why its problematic premise has inspired a 16-character Broadway play, at least seven movies and now a two-character Off-Broadway musical, which has […]
At Folger, texts&beheadings/ElizabethR (review)
texts&beheadings/ElizabethR, created and directed by Karin Coonrod, draws on the letters, prayers, and speeches of the queen who reigned in Shakespeare’s time. A fitting choice for the Folger Theatre, whose library of resources provided much of the source material for the play. The production was developed with Compagnia de’ Colombari, an international collective dedicated to […]