These are the plays that won’t let go. They are there as I drift off to sleep, or, unbidden, come to me during the day. This happens more often now, as work here slows to a close. You probably have your list of best plays and performances. This is not that list. These seem to […]
DCTS Performance Guide for the 2020/2021 theatre season
While planning theatre in the time of Covid requires faith and flexibility on everyone’s part, we thought it valuable to show you the shows our companies hope to present. Some are virtual. Some will be in theatres once that becomes possible. This is a listing of performances. Not included are readings, panels and discussions. We’ll keep […]
Our 22 most memorable performances of 2019
One last standing ovation for these performers whose work quite simply blew us away this year. Ian Merill Peakes, Amadeus, Folger Theatre In Amadeus, Ian Merill Peakes brought Peter Shaffer’s Salieri to brilliant, anguished life. He was a childishly sweet-scarfing confidant explaining to future generations the way his young court-rival genius, Mozart, curdled Salieri’s heart and activated […]
Review: Airness. An air guitar comedy whose wildly talented cast strikes a comedy chord
“The whole impetus of air guitar is world peace,” earnestly intones a grown man who goes by the name Golden Thunder right before he goes out on stage in a dingy bar to play a pretend instrument. This one moment, perhaps more than any other, perfectly encapsulates Chelsea Marcantel’s hit air guitar play, Airness, currently […]
Review: Trying at 1st Stage
Literate, compelling, and uplifting, Trying is a fine two-person play brought to life with simple style and a gentle grace by 1st Stage. Director Alex Levy has an impeccable cast to work with, abetted by excellent contributions from his design collaborators. Trying is the story of the late Francis Biddle, an old-school, patrician son of […]
Review: The Member of the Wedding at 1st Stage
Frankie Addams really, really wants to get out of dodge. The teenager and her struggles are put center stage in The Member of the Wedding, a staple of high school English classes adapted into a play in 1950 and now being staged by 1st Stage. Frankie (Zoe Walpole) becomes feverishly fixated on her brother’s upcoming […]
Keeping in mind the trauma left in the wake of school shootings, how do you direct “columbinus” about the Columbine shooting, and why? We talk with Alex Levy
The 20th anniversary of the mass school shooting at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999 in Littleton, Colorado, will be on closing night for columbinus at 1st Stage. The play was written by Stephen Karam (The Humans) and PJ Paperelli a few years after the event. The questions we had were the same 1st […]
Review: columbinus at 1st Stage
Twenty years on. And the horror of April 20, 1999 has not only not dissipated, but it also seems to have continually intensified with each mass school shooting. Virginia Tech. Sandy Hook. Parkland. Countless others that run together like one big blob of shameful gray in America’s collective mind under the mental banner of “another Columbine.” Since […]
Review: The Brothers Size at 1st Stage, captivating performances
The Brothers Size is a deceptively simple three-character play that tackles themes of brotherhood, devotion, and freedom. It is receiving an outstanding production at 1st Stage. The story involves a pair of brothers. Ogun Size (Gary-Kayi Fletcher) runs an automotive repair shop in Louisiana, while his younger brother Oshoosi Size (Clayton Pelham, Jr.) is recently […]
Raising praise for Markus Williams (1972-2018) from his family and the cast of A Civil War Christmas
“Luminous.” That is the word that five actors from A Civil War Christmas settled on to describe their Music Director Markus Williams, who swept into their lives in early November. Two days into tech rehearsals, Markus complained of a headache, and returned to his home in Silver Spring, Md. He died there of a brain […]
Review: Paula Vogel’s A Civil War Christmas at 1st Stage
No two things are more opposed to each other than war and Christmas. Christmas is a time to love life and our neighbor, to wish peace and good will toward all. War is a time to hate our neighbor and to celebrate his death, and death generally. War is at war with Christmas, and Christmas […]
Review: 1st Stage give Ayckbourn’s play Hero’s Welcome its area debut
A war hero returns to his hometown after 17 years with a new wife with hopes for a new life. Yet the scandalous circumstances of his departure and long-standing regrets challenge his plans in Alan Ayckbourn’s Hero’s Welcome, a well-acted and intriguingly crafted play at 1st Stage.
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