In the maze of D.C. political and activist organizations, the mission of Young Playwrights’ Theater is clear: Teaching students to create art has less to do with art and more to do with making them “realize the power of their own voices.”
Love was in the air – Opera on Tap DC’s debut at the Black Fox
The DC chapter of the national non-profit Opera on Tap launched last week at the Black Fox Lounge in Dupont Circle. Titled Love is in the Air, Opera on Tap DC’s first performance (co-presented with the Washington National Opera Bravo club) included an array of opera and musical theatre favorites in bite-sized crowd-pleasing sets.
Impossible! A Happenstance Circus
In times of pain, needless violence, and gunshots, glimpses of circus-like brilliance and pathos carry us to different (and more whimsical) dimensions. Impossible! A Happenstance Circus performed by Happenstance Theater at Round House Theatre entertains, sneaks up on you, and snaps you awake.
Meena’s Dream: Let It Live On
Meena’s Dream closed two weeks ago at Forum Theatre at Round House Theatre in Silver Spring, Maryland, but the artistic team and D.C. audiences want the dream to live on. The Meena’s Dream team (Anu, Anjna, Rajna, Sam, Ronee, and more) are raising money to take Meena’s Dream on tour. The funds will go toward recording […]
Opera on Tap arrives in DC with “Love is in the Air” at the Black Fox
Mark Vanhoenacker of Slate declared classical music dead last week, but DC divas aren’t going down without a fight. The new DC metro chapter of Opera on Tap, a non-profit organization devoted to stomping out the stereotype “opera is stuffy,” will make its premiere on Wednesday, February 5 at the Black Fox Lounge.
La Vie en Rose
La Vie en Rose, a collaboration between the In Series and the Washington Ballet Studio Company, is an intriguing production: ballet dancers interpret famous French songs in subdued black and white costumes in front of French street lights and newspaper clippings.
The Tallest Tree in the Forest
Daniel Beaty’s original play The Tallest Tree in the Forest at Arena Stage follows controversial performer and activist Paul Robeson, initially renowned for his singing, but later labeled a communist traitor and blacklisted during the McCarthy era.
Meena’s Dream
“Your imagination can pierce reality,” says Hindu God Lord Krishna to nine-year-old Meena in the world premiere of Meena’s Dream at Forum Theatre. I left one-part inspired and one-part devastated – inspired by the music, message, and unparalleled talent of writer and performer Anu Yadav, and devastated because productions like this are too rare.
The Lion, The Unicorn, and Me
The Lion, The Unicorn, and Me, a new opera based on Jeanette Winterson’s acclaimed children’s novel, premiered in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater on Saturday night. Washington National Opera’s Artistic Director Francesca Zambello is interested in music and theatre that speaks to us today, and The Lion, The Unicorn and Me is no exception.
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner is the story of unexpected and uncomfortable reactions to love between a black man and a white woman. It brings up the issue of racism from all fronts: the African American maid, the progressive white newspaper publisher, and the elderly African American man. “You still think of yourself as a […]
Miracle on 34th Street
Turning a beloved film into a musical isn’t easy – certain themes are hard to translate into song, and people notice when lines and entire scenes are cut to make room for these songs.
She, After
Few operas require the soprano to sing in between bites of baked goods. Contemporary opera often goes one of two ways: avant-garde and over our heads, or separate from the grand and often inaccessible genre of opera. She, After, Daniel Felsenfeld’s exploration of women in metaphorical cages, doesn’t reject its genre entirely, but it also […]