We support DC area theatre all year long. Now we ask for your support.

Dear theatre lovers,

As all of you know, who try to find time to attend the 35+ openings in any given month, the Washington area is one of the busiest theatre hubs in America. And, we attest, one of the best.

We support DC area theaters all year. Now we need your support.

Along with some of you, we have been here to watch its phenomenal growth over the past 12 years as new companies emerge, and others move into magnificent new spaces. I am thinking right now of a small troupe called 4615 Theatre Company, which operates out of a tiny second floor theatre. Last year, their first, they produced one of the most difficult Shakespeare plays, King John. And they did it beautifully. This year, they took on Moira Buffini’s comedy Dinner as well as Macbeth. In rep. And they were fabulous.

I am also thinking back ten years ago, when founding members of 1st Stage took up hammers and saws and built their own theatre, just as the toughest recession in decades was hitting our economy. We saw their opening — an uproarious area debut of the Russian play The Suicide — and fell in love with them. For a while, we were the only publication which reviewed them, and it was through us that the people of Tysons Corner learned what a treasure they had in their midst. Eventually others started to write about them. Even the Wall Street Journal’s Terry Teachout heard about 1st Stage and wrote how wonderful their Side Man was.

But we were there first.

We watch them develop. No — scratch that. We don’t watch them. We participate. Because that’s our mission: to tell you about great theatre whether it’s at Arena’s gorgeous Mead Center for the Performing Arts in DC or upstairs at the Highwood Theatre in Silver Spring.

There are plenty of places where you can read about performances at Arena Stage and The Kennedy Center, including here. But DC Theatre Scene is the place where you can explore 4615 Theatre, Theater Prometheus and We Happy Few, Quotidian, Spooky Action Theater, Toby’s Dinner Theatre, MetroStage and Washington Stage Guild. Chances are, if you have been reading us over the years, you have discovered some new companies and seen plays because you read about them here.

Help support those theater companies you care about by supporting DC Theatre Scene

Like all web-based journalism, we are struggling to find ways to pay our writers, and cover the costs of operating a secure website, in the face of a downturn in advertising dollars. We will never do what other publications are doing – deny free access to our content via a firewall. Instead, we turn to you, the audience we serve, for help and support.

As Susan Porter told us last year:

“DC Theatre Scene is a voice in the arts community that we cannot afford to lose..”

Won’t you please consider a tax-deductible donation to DC Theatre Scene?

Click here to donate. Your contribution will make a difference.