The future is female. The future is non-binary. The future is genderqueer. The future is trans. The future is queer. But before we reach the future, and while we strive in the present, it is imperative that we reflect upon the history that has guided and pushed us to where we are.
Archives for January 2018
4,380 Nights at Signature Theatre (review)
When a play grips your thoughts and continues to cling to them past the curtain call, then you know you’ve witnessed a treasure. The elements of 4,380 Nights blend together to generate a captivating play. Playwright Annalisa Dias and Director Kathleen Akerley have created a piece that enjoins the audience to reflect on the priorities […]
On manhood and memory: In Search of My Father (review)
“Just what kind of man would abandon his son?” This is the central question writer/performer W. Allen Taylor has been asking in his twenty-year running play In Search of My Father … Walkin’ Talkin’ Bill Hawkins now at Atlas Performing Arts Center.
Perisphere takes on Molière’s Tartuffe (review)
Perisphere Theater refreshes Molière’s classic Tartuffe with a skilled and playful cast. But you need be patient. The show digs itself a very deep hole in its first full scene, exhibiting most of its flaws well before it gets charming.
The Dog Must Die at Highwood Theatre (review)
Overlong and undercooked, Highwood Theatre’s The Dog Must Die puts the stop in dystopia. This tale of a society in which something has gone terribly, terribly wrong begins promisingly enough, with playwright Madison Middleton establishing a mystery at the play’s outset, and cunningly spinning clues at a good pace, but it deflates about a third […]
It’s Alive! Young Frankenstein at Toby’s Dinner Theatre (review)
Toby’s Dinner Theatre’s production of Young Frankenstein proves you don’t have to travel to New York or even as far as DC to get your Broadway Baby fix.
Abuse in Washington area theatres: Town Hall meeting tonight to share survey and proposed Code of Conduct
When the physical and sexual abuse at Chicago’s Profiles Theatre was brought to light, the theatre communities of America buzzed about. Here in DC, it shocked some , but for others, there was almost a sigh of relief. People were talking about it. Finally.
Jefferson’s Garden at Ford’s Theatre (review)
Set in the time of the American Revolution, Jefferson’s Garden is the sweeping story of the immense struggle of our country’s founders, and the personal story of two people desperately seeking freedom. Christian, the Quaker son of a German immigrant, promises his family that, despite joining up to fight for his new country’s liberty, he […]
Groundbreaking Sovereignty educates on Native American history(review)
Whether or not you will enjoy Sovereignty at Arena Stage depends on why you value theatre. If you attend this show with the intent to learn, you will find it an incredibly enriching experience. If you go to support underrepresented voices, you will gain great inspiration. But if you arrive with the hope to feel […]
Natsu Onoda Power on her adaptation of Ursula Le Guin’s The Lathe of Heaven
In 2007, Richard Henrich adapted the Ursula K. Le Guin book, The Lathe of Heaven, for a production at Spooky Action Theater, which he directed. But the show didn’t completely fulfill his vision of the story. Fast forward about 10 years, and Henrich approached playwright Natsu Onoda Power, associate professor in Georgetown’s Program in Theater […]
Theresa Rebeck wrote Way of the World with Kristine Nielsen in mind. They talk about the play and their professions
Theresa Rebeck, Kristine Nielsen, and The Way of the World “Are you twins? Sisters?” Theresa Rebeck and Kristine Nielsen were heading past a guard’s desk at Folger Shakespeare Library when the question was posed. The response to the query was a laugh and a “No,” followed by the qualification, “But we’re turning into each other.”
The Wolves at Studio Theatre (review)
Much of the fumbling journey of growing up as a teenager is done around other teenagers, not parents or other adults, at least in my experience. And the essence of that pubescent collective identity is at the center of playwright Sarah DeLappe’s celebrated debut The Wolves, about a pack-circle of girls shaping one another in […]