In the early days of regional stay-at-home orders, theatre artists Rebecca Ballinger and Rebecca Wahls were not ones to waste any time. They secured the equipment they would need: some quick decorations and the FaceTime app on their phones, and produced a series of very funny shorts. A few weeks later, their 9 episode mini-series, […]
Actor Steve Beall bids farewell to Quotidian Theatre Company
I would have wept no matter when or how Quotidian Theatre Company (QTC) closed. I heard about it soon after the decision was announced, and wept again when it was reported here at DC Theatre Scene. I’m fond of a lot of theatres for a lot of different reasons, but this one? This one is […]
Francesca Zambello: Thoughts on opera in the time of Covid
On May 13th, Opera America launched its first annual conference online, marking the organization’s Fiftieth Anniversary. Over 1200 people had signed in when I checked the count of attendees, representing fellow artists and organizations the world over. Many, I’m sure, had been feeling scared or depressed, struggling through shutdowns, layoffs, and most especially questions regarding […]
Live Zoom shows already feel “old school.” One young company’s new show pushes its boundaries
“O that this too solid flesh would melt, / Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew!” Hamlet cries out in his first soliloquy of the eponymous Shakespeare play. And as Shoshana Tarkow (she/her, resident director) and Megan Lohne (she/her, resident playwright) of Like Fresh Skin discovered, many young people in the midst of the COVID-19 […]
DC Freshman becomes youngest ever winner of ESU National Shakespeare Competition
Ava Blum, a 14-year-old freshman at Georgetown Day High School, recently took home first place in the English-Speaking Union National Shakespeare Competition. A resident of Washington D.C.’s The Palisades neighborhood, Blum was first exposed to William Shakespeare when she read Julius Caesar in school and soon after entered her first Shakespeare monologue completion. “I decided […]
Mosaic Theater prepares to open Alexandra Petri’s Inherit the Windbag on Aug 19.
Update: The live performance of this show has been canceled. Mosaic will create a video performance, for Fall 2020 release. On August 28, 1968, two iconic intellectuals — author, editor, political commentator and (PBS) television host William F. Buckley for the right and author, lecturer, frequent television guest and occasional actor Gore Vidal for the […]
How I got hooked on theatre: Simon Godwin
It began with sawdust, clowns, and the high wire. It began with walking excitedly across muddy English fields to a gaudy big top. It began with spectacle and a world elsewhere. Then, on my ninth birthday, sawdust met the stage when my mum took me to see the ultimate circus musical, Barnum, starring Michael Crawford […]
Reports from Quarantine: How 4 stage managers, used to setting a fast pace, are spending their time at home
Our unsung heroes, the people who keep everything running. The folks who are more on top of their game than any theatre artist you’ll ever meet: Stage Managers. Stage Managers are the spines of the theatre world; without them entire productions would fall apart. This is due in part to their wide array of skills; […]
How I got hooked on theatre: Laura Giannarelli
I can’t remember a time when I was NOT hooked on performing. My Mama played ‘Let’s pretend’ with my sister and me in the kitchen back when I was four and five years old and I loved it. I was cast as the third good fairy in The Sleeping Beauty in third grade; that was […]
Olney Theatre’s running Zoom classes for kids and adults. Here’s how it’s going.
At Olney Theater Center, although all performances and the National Players tour are canceled, the artistic staff, education staff and the National Players have found a new way to stay engaged with the community — through eight hours of Zoom classes on Mondays through Fridays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. All classes are free […]
DCTS writer, an admitted introvert, debuts with Story District’s virtual “Acting the Fool”
After years of writing reviews for DCTS, I’m writing my first preview! The world is changing, and I’m rolling with the punches. And, it’s not for a musical or play, but for Story District—whose “True stories told live!” format is a kindred spirit to theatre. For those of you unfamiliar with Story District, it’s a local […]
How I got hooked on theatre: Eric Schaeffer
I grew up in a small town in the middle of Amish Country in Pennsylvania. There wasn’t much to do other than ride your bike, go to the pool or count cows. So we had a first grade teacher named Mr. Reid Lessig – who just loved the theatre. He would put on plays in […]