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 […]
J. J. Johnson talks about WANNABE, his comic play about growing up Black in a White VA town
J. J. Johnson, who extends his talents as a DC stage actor (recently, Les Deux Noirs: Notes on Notes of A Native Son) into film and and commercial work, now adds playwright to his resumé with the debut of WANNABE. Produced by 4615 Theatre Company, the Zoom performance can be seen starting this Thursday, July […]
In a world shut in by COVID-19, 3 DMV theaters find innovative uses for Zoom
Zoom is currently a common mode of communication for the world affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Schools and colleges use it for online classes; companies are using it for meetings; friends and family use it to stay in touch during a time of social distancing. For theatre companies, Zoom has proven to be an innovative […]
4615 Theatre Company races to produce Britt A Willis’ breakthrough play tonight on Facebook
4615 Theatre Company, like all theatre companies, has seen its season destroyed, a casualty of the coronavirus. However, this made way, Artistic Director Jordan Friend told DCTS, for a long-dreamed program – readings of short form passion projects by his company members. The first, part of the #quarantinetheatre series, goes live tonight, March 23 at […]
Review: Museum 2040, an ambitious but flawed immersive experience
I was intrigued by Museum 2040, an alternate future immersive production that combines a museum exhibit and a theatricalized dedication ceremony, from the moment I interviewed its playwright Renee Calarco 5 years ago for DC Theatre Scene. After all, I do work full time at a very large museum complex here in DC (yes, the […]
For Museum 2040, 4615 Theatre creates a museum of the future, then moves in.
Starting this week, Washington, DC is getting a new museum, and a different kind of immersive theatrical experience. 4615 Theatre’s upcoming production, Museum 2040, written by Renee Calarco and currently in its last few days of development by the cast and crew team at 4615, is set in a museum curated to highlight a domestic […]
Review: Joe Calarco’s A Measure of Cruelty from 4615 Theatre Company
There is something very refreshing about being an audience to theatre outside of a theater. 4615 Theatre Company is proving, as did the bar hopping runaway hit The Smuggler late last year, that theatre works perfectly well when set in a bar or restaurant, park, library, or town square. In this case, Measure takes over the historic […]
A fight breaks out in Bethesda’s Harp and Fiddle Pub. It’s Joe Calarco’s play, A Measure of Cruelty
In 2009, a 15-year-boy was doused with rubbing alcohol by four middle school classmates, who lit him on fire in a heinous tragedy that rocked a South Florida community. A few years later, playwright Joe Calarco was commissioned by the Mosaic Theatre in Plantation, Fla., to pen a play about the events, though he wasn’t […]
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 […]
Our 20 most memorable shows of 2019
What matters most, when all the theatrical offerings for 2019 have been made, is what lingers in the minds and hearts of the audience. We asked our writers and the Gary Maker Audience Award recipients to think back over the year, and tell us their most unforgettable shows. Here they are in alphabetical order. Ain’t […]
Review: Infinite Tales debuts at 4615 Theatre Company
In this ambitious collection of Irish folktales, four siblings, neglected and mistreated after their mother’s death, are cursed and forced to live in exile for 900 years as swans. Told as part of three mythological cycles, the tales are nestled in each other like Russian dolls. Just when you become familiar enough with one, out […]
The Infinite Tales. Adapter/director Gregory Keng Strasser harnesses Irish myths for 4615 Theatre
Gregory Keng Strasser first popped onto my radar when I met him while auditioning for 410[GONE] at Rorshach Theatre. At the time, I thought it quite an anomaly, as there were almost painfully few Asian and Asian-American directors in DC, or so it felt. This was a time before Desdemona Chang came over for White […]
You must be logged in to post a comment.