As Black Lives Matter protests filled D.C.’s streets this summer, Raymond O. Caldwell, Artistic Director of Theater Alliance, considered how he and his Anacostia-based theatre company could carry those calls for justice and change beyond the protests. The result: Strategize, Organize, Mobilize: A Protest in Eight, a series of 8 short films, each addressing a […]
Guide to Halloween specials from DC area theatres
If there’s one holiday that screams ‘theatre’ it’s Halloween, and we’ve found some spooky spectacular events from our local theatre producers. Available now Master of horror Alex Zavistovich produces spine-tingling Edgar Allan Poe dramas on Poe on the Air heard over NPR. Part 1 of Never Bet the Devil Your Head is online now.Part 2 […]
Political Theater you can watch in the countdown to Election Day
Political theater is different this year, and not just because it’s on screens rather than stages. There is a palpable sense of urgency. The weeks counting down to Election Day may have always seemed a good excuse for art and entertainment about campaigns and candidates, drawing from a long American theatrical tradition.That tradition is on […]
Shakespeare Theatre announces its 2020-2021 virtual and in person season.
Like spring crocuses peeking out of the melting snow, DC-area theaters are beginning to formulate a path back to their audiences, tentative but real. Shakespeare Theatre Company is among the first to do so, with a six-production portfolio – not quite a schedule, as dates have not been announced – of plays, some virtual, some […]
New Black theatre company, Two Strikes Theatre Collective, opens with Brown Sugar Bake-off play fest
“I’m speaking.”–Kamala Harris to Mike Pence at the Vice Presidential Debate. That simple, emphatic statement could serve as the rallying cry for the new theater company, Two Strikes Theatre Collective, founded in the midst of COVID19 and a summer of racial violence that continues to scorch-earth America’s soul. Two Strikes Theatre Collective is an artistic […]
Rorschach’s “trail blazers” discount for its real life DC treasure hunt ends Oct 13
The pandemic has turned theater into a treasure hunt for some companies as they scramble to find new modes of presentation which are both safe and rewarding for their audiences. But one area theater company has decided to turn this metaphor on its head, and make, as part of its theatrical season, a treasure hunt […]
Rick Hammerly named Executive Director of DC’s recorded performance archive, WAPAVA
For more than 30 years, DC actor and director Rick Hammerly has been adding to the history of Washington area theatre as actor, director and Artistic Director of Factory 449. He has added a new role, it was announced today; Hammerly is now the Executive Director of the Washington Area Performing Arts Video Archive (WAPAVA), […]
Emergent Seed $500 microgrants for DC Metro emerging creatives: Round 2 closes this Friday
Emergent Seed, an arts organization created in response to the impact of coronavirus on the DC area creative community, is closing its second round of $500 microgrant applications on Friday, October 9th at 12pm ET. The competition is for original work in one of four categories: Poetry, Storytelling, Songs, and Instrumental. All emerging writers and […]
The Helen Hayes Awards night plus reaction you didn’t see from 4615 Theatre Company
The Helen Hayes Awards were last night, so I slipped into my good tux, straightened my black tie, and took the Metro down to the waterfront. I hoofed it to the Anthem; saw some buddies; shook some hands; slapped some backs. I squeezed up to the crowded bar and ordered a martini; the bartender accidently […]
Friday night’s 2020 Helen Hayes Awards celebration. Free for all.
Remember going to the theatre in 2019: the greetings and hugs with casual acquaintances in the lobby, the smiling faces of front of house staff checking your tickets, happily taking your seat amidst a crowd of strangers, the occasional cough, probably nothing more than dry throat, you think, the collective gasps, or laughs, sighs or […]
Remembering Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Ruth Bader Ginsburg well earned the sobriquet “Notorious.” Everything about her seemed to live in happy contradiction. She followed her mother’s “dueling” advice: always to be a lady and to live a life of independence. She sparred almost daily with her more conservative “constitutionalist” colleague on the Supreme Court, Antonin Scalia, yet considered him a […]
Is there a 2020-2021 theatre season? Comments on what we know so far.
Update: GALA Hispanic Theatre Any planning for live theatre, in this time of pandemic, calls for faith and flexibility. And a search for answers to the unknowable. What will audiences want to see? When can rehearsals start safely? Are we looking at darkened theatres for the next 3 months? or 8 months? If they open, […]
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