Playwright A. R. Gurney died Tuesday, June 13, 2017 in his home in New York City. He was 86. A native of Buffalo, NY, the beleaguered city appeared as the setting for some of his 86 plays. Among his most produced were The Dining Room (1982), The Cocktail Hour (1988), the gift to actor couples everywhere, Love […]
Aaron Harrington as Tom Collins in Rent, coming to the National
On January 25, 1996, a new musical by an unknown writer who had tragically died the night before, opened Off-Broadway at the New York Theatre Workshop, and the landscape of theater changed forever.
Next season, Bedlam is back as Folger twists the classics
Folger Theatres’ 2017-18 season, announced yesterday morning, will be full of plays by the usual gang: Shakespeare, Congreve, Shaw. But not everything will seem familiar.
Meet our 2017 Fringe crew writers
[ezcol_1fifth] [/ezcol_1fifth][ezcol_4fifth_end] Brett Steven Abelman is a DC-area native, a teller of stories, and a proud member of The Welders 2.0. At Fringe this year, besides reviewing, he is also acting in Clara Bow: Becoming ‘It’ with LiveArtDC. His work includes Play Cupid, Balloon Plays, Curiouser; Attack of the Killer Bugs, the musical; The Water Plays; […]
Source Festival shorts: Covert Catalyst (review)
The Source Festival’s tenth birthday party is a subdued one, and this year’s lineup is but a shadow of Sources gone by. While we usually see three debuting full length plays, there is only one this year, a returnee — an oldie but, as Brett Abelman’s review shows, a goodie. Where the Source usually has […]
Knockout performances by Annie Houston and the cast of Still Life with Rocket (review)
Some plays are compelling because their dilemmas are so universal they provoke the shock of recognition in all of us. Disgraced is like that. Other plays are compelling because, though the characters are repulsive, they are repulsive in so entertaining a way that we cannot take our eyes away. August: Osage County is like that. […]
The Return: a Palestinian pays the price for peace (review)
Among all the fraught issues which torment the tortured search for peace in the Middle East, none spark a greater intransigence on the part of the State of Israel than the Right of Return — which is to say, the right of Palestinians chased from their homes in the revolution which established Israel in 1948 […]
Bootycandy, sexy and seditious fun from Iron Crow (review)
Who says theater is not educational? Why, just this past weekend I learned that “bootycandy” is a euphemism for the penis.
Nick Olcott sprinkles magic on Oberon from In Series (review)
Oberon, king of the fairies, has been challenged by his queen Titania to write a play to rival Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream without resorting to magic. But Oberon, though beautiful, falls far short of the queen’s request.
Wizard of Oz at Creative Cauldron (review)
The timelessly wonderful Wizard of Oz still shimmers brightly. The familiar story that’s over a century old delights with each well-remembered sight, sound and scene at Creative Cauldron, rendered with care, creativity and love.
Perfect timing for return of Perfect Arrangement at Source (review)
In its tenth anniversary, CulturalDC’s Source Festival has chosen to revisit one of its previous hits to celebrate, and has made the prime choice of Perfect Arrangement for this honor. It’s a for-sure laugh-riot, this 1950’s-set sitcom for the stage, and it has the cleverest of premises: Two gay men and two lesbian women hiding […]
Flying V Fights: The Secret History of the Unknown World (review)
Genius. Fearless. Absolutely fun. Flying V Fights: The Secret History of the Unknown World is a pop culture junkie’s wet dream. And, given the violence, skin, and sexual innuendos, there’s no better way to describe it.