On press night of Ain’t Too Proud—The Life and Times of The Temptations, an impassioned cry pierced a moment between flaming montages of the 1967 Detroit riot and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination in 1968. During the song “I’m Losing You,” a woman in the audience spontaneously shouted “Oh, Jesus!” The gesture felt holy, […]
The Frederick Douglass Project sails but never stops to weigh anchor
On opening night of The Frederick Douglass Project, lightning cracked the sky over the Anacostia River and wind-blown rain snapped the flaps of the stage tent at The Yards Marina. Solas Nua, known for putting on site-specific productions, has chosen the perfect spot to serve up an Irish story in a new light: the stage […]
Review: Hooded, or Being Black for Dummies unsheaths grim realities through comedy
Hooded, Or Being Black for Dummies is a challenging play. Having read every review from Mosaic Theater ‘s Helen-Hayes-nominated premiere in 2017, I thought I knew what to expect. I was wrong.
Meet the puppets and their creators from Snow Child at Arena Stage
As we speak, Emily DeCola (Puppet Designer) is in New York City, directing a puppet, bookcases, and fish for a new Puppet Kitchen production, The Little Red Fish, with New York City Children’s Theater. Eric Wright (Puppet Director) is rehearsing with the cast of Snow Child in Washington, D.C., looking out on a rare March […]
Review: Against a backdrop of a medical scandal, Theater J’s Roz and Ray is surprisingly uplifting
With a bare set and only two seen characters, Roz and Ray draws your focus to the weight of words between people. This intimate production, directed by Adam Immerwahr, Artistic Director of Theater J, wastes no time or aesthetics on distracting you from stark realities under harsh hospital lighting. Instead, it hurtles headlong through 11 […]
6 minutes, 20 seconds ignited a student revolution. March For Our Lives brought it to Washington, D.C. This is just the beginning.
The opposite of screaming is silence. That silence can contain a multitude of meanings. If you see something wrong, and you do not speak up, silence is complicit. If you represent the dead, whose voices have been extinguished, silence is the language of the living. If you face livid rants from politicians, threats from NRA […]
No Word in Guyanese For Me from Rainbow Theatre Project (review)
Much like the photo album that plays a pivotal role in numerous scenes of the play, No Word in Guyanese For Me leaves the audience with poignant images: a pair of Guyanese feet gratefully slipping out of American shoes; timid hands cradling a small doll with natural hair; a sleek scarf snaking sensuously around a leg. […]
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 […]
Director Nataki Garrett on Jefferson’s Garden “when slavery flourished in the garden of America”
When Nataki Garrett was 9 or 10 years old, her aunt took Garrett, her sister, and two cousins to visit Thomas Jefferson’s home of Monticello. Garrett remembers walking through the gardens and main house of the estate, hearing a tour guide drone on about the fountain pen Jefferson had used to write historical documents as […]
Readings with chutzpah: Theater J’s new Yiddish Theater Lab
DC Theatre Scene sat down with Artistic Director Adam Immerwahr to discuss Theater J’s newest venture, the Yiddish Theater Lab, which will revive nearly-forgotten Yiddish classics and reimagine them into English for a contemporary audience.
Kid-empowering Madeline’s Christmas enchants at Creative Cauldron (review)
From the moment you step into the lobby of Creative Cauldron, Madeline’s Christmas will teach your kids to be the protagonists of their own stories. Much like a Wonder Woman or Captain America costume on Halloween, young audiences this holiday season can pose confidently in front of an Eiffel Tower backdrop while wearing the titular […]