Among the pivotal works of modern literature, novels like “Infinite Jest” and “Finnegan’s Wake” have proven so dense, so abstract, so impenetrable as to be nearly adaptation-proof. You can add to that list David Grossman’s genre-defying “Falling Out of Time,” a dense meditation on loss and grief that blends poetry, prose, and drama. Theater J accepted the […]
Archives for March 2016
The Diary of Anne Frank at Compass Rose Theater (review)
Heroes come in all shapes and sizes. Take Malala Yousafzai who was already making waves at age 11 in her native Pakistan, speaking out against the Taliban for limiting education for females. By 15, she had been shot in the head while coming home from her school, undergone numerous medical procedures and survived without brain […]
Eight-show Signature season offers five world premieres, two by local playwrights
Signature Theatre will bookend next year’s season with musicals about Jelly Roll Morton and Jesus Christ, and will also feature five brand spanking-new plays, the company announced yesterday. Included in its season will be a new play by local playwright Audrey Cefaly and a musical constructed by the local team of Allyson Currin (book), Matt Connor […]
Paige Hathaway on The Pillowman’s freaky, strange set
The Pillowman from Martin McDonagh has been a hot play for more than a decade, catapulting its author to major film writing gigs and international stardom. A local version from Forum Theatre, due to its early announced powerhouse cast of Maboud Ebrahimzadeh, James Konicek, Bradley Foster Smith and now Jim Jorgensen has been my pick of […]
Next! Shakespeare Theatre Company’s upcoming season
The Tony-winning Shakespeare Theatre Company will present a “future history” fresh from Broadway, a musical, a new adaptation by the delightfully eccentric Elevator Repair Service, a Jacobean play and two of the Bard’s finest for its 2016-2017 season, Artistic Director Michael Kahn has announced.
Dry Powder Review: Claire Danes and John Krasinski face off in Wall Street play
Dry Powder is a play about a private equity firm that tries to buy a luggage company, but it is not as dry as it sounds, and not just because its cast includes John Krasinski (formerly of The Office), Claire Danes (Homeland) and Hank Azaria (The Simpsons), and it’s directed by Thomas Kail (Hamilton.)
Fur at Venus Theatre (review)
Audio announcements and a note in the program request that audience members stay seated for all 90 minutes of Fur and not totter off to the restrooms since the actors need full backstage access during the performance.
Irish play Moment now at Studio Theatre (review)
Niamh Lynch (Emily Landham) has been calling her mother, Teresa, (Dearbhla Molloy) all morning. Unable to reach her and fearing the worst, she rushes to her mother’s house. Upon arriving, Niamh finds her mother in good health but is greeted by some disturbing news. After many years away, her brother Nial (Peter Albrink) is coming home for […]
Constellation’s 10th anniversary season: three plays and a movie
Constellation Theatre Company will celebrate its tenth anniversary season with a wildly successful contemporary musical, a children’s story set on stage and Mary Zimmerman’s reanimation of a classic tale, the Company announced Friday. It will further leaven the season with a four-day showing of the classic Fritz Lang silent film, Metropolis, backed by original music […]
Olney announces its seventeen event season for 2016-2017
Olney Theatre Center will continue its three-tier approach to programming next season by producing nine full-run plays at Olney, co-producing Tony Kushner’s two-play cycle Angels in America with Round House Theatre in Bethesda, doing brief runs of three plays for young people and three productions by the National Players, and sponsoring a reading of six Pulitzer-winning […]
Marcia Milgrom Dodge’s 110 in the Shade at Ford’s Theatre (review)
Having seen and been touched by nearly every version of this story that’s out there, I wondered what yet another iteration would reveal, and I discovered, well plenty! The creative casting and dynamic direction and choreography by Marcia Milgrom Dodge bring the story to life with cultural twists and turns.
An adventurous NextSeason at NextStop
A con man, sharp tongues, dizzying heights, the afterlife and peeing will make up an unusually adventuresome season of theater at Herndon’s NextStop, the company has announced.