Sometimes it doesn’t take an assassination, an earthquake, or a war to make headlines. Sometimes a production stocked with dazzling dance moves, a gifted cast, and catchy melodies is enough to get the public’s attention. Which is exactly the case at the National Theatre, where Newsies is running through the end of the month.
The Trap from Ambassador Theater. Ultimately disturbing (review)
Something is amiss in a converted church on 20th Street, which the trenchcoated guards by the door – members of the cast – make plain. This is the world of The Trap, Ambassador Theater’s latest production, by Tadeusz Rózewicz, drawing inspiration from the biography of Czech surrealist writer Franz Kafka.
Zombie: the American bites off more than it can chew (review)
Zombie: The American is a marketing department’s dream—touching on political commentary with cheeky humor and more than a splash of the undead, it looks and sounds like a show that would bring Washington’s government staffers and hipster populations together for a night of good, absurd fun.
Comedy at its finest – Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (review)
Ninety-two coins spun consecutively have come down heads ninety-two consecutive times, all confirming that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, now onstage at the Folger Theatre, is one to see. For the linguistically inclined, banter and wordplay abound. For the Shakespeare aficionado, there’s more than a sprinkling of the Bard. For the philosopher, there’s that sticky […]
Uncle Vanya at Round House: one for Chekhov (review)
With several Vanyas to choose from this spring, Round House Theatre is celebrating its take on the Chekhov classic as one of the more authentic — a version of Uncle Vanya that would make the playwright happy.
theatreWashington’s Linda Levy Steps Down as President & CEO
Via theatreWashington: Washington, DC – theatreWashington President & CEO Linda Levy announced today that she is retiring after serving the organization and Washington’s theatre community for 27 years. Since December 2014, Levy has been on medical leave following spinal reconstruction surgery. While the surgery was successful, doctors discovered a serious neurological condition during the procedure […]
2015 Helen Hayes Awards: thoughts on the Hayes recipients
This year’s Helen Hayes Awards didn’t seek to dazzle. It was enough to attempt the daunting — if not altogether impossible—task of presenting awards for both Helens and Hayeses in a ceremony that didn’t last as long as Forum’s Passion Play. Where last year’s 30th Anniversary bash was, by all counts, a glamorous spectacle – […]
Forum Theatre triumphs with Ruhl’s Passion Play
Everything about Sarah Ruhl’s Passion Play is ambitious. Clocking in at just under four hours (yes, you read that right), the three-play cycle chronicles the staging of Passion plays across three places in geography, politics, and history. It uncovers, in the process, parallels in faith, morality, and aspects of human nature.
Director Garces on taking chances, risking all with Lights Rise on Grace
Michael John Garcés is no stranger to Washington, DC. Washington audiences will remember the 2013 production of The Convert, and before that, Oedipus El Rey. He directed both for Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, where he returns this season to bring us the world premiere of Chad Beckim’s Lights Rise on Grace, which opens March 30.
Blaemire turns end of the world into quirky new musical Soon
The world is ending at Signature Theatre. Not with a bang, not with a whimper, but with a song. In Soon, a world premiere musical from writer/composer Nick Blaemire, we are faced with the threat of untimely demise. And remarkably, it’s a good time.
Cherokee gets lost in the woods (review)
In roughly two hours, Cherokee packs in a man’s disappearance, sex in a tent, two slaughtered bunnies, a Native American wilderness guide, a midlife crisis, a pregnancy, bigamy, an improv theatre exercise, a case of amnesia, a fake accent, and an all-you-can-eat buffet. Not in that order.
Metromaniacs. Don’t disburse. This one’s a first review in terse verse
The Shakespeare Theatre has brought back David Ives to instill some archaic French literature in our lives.