If theatre were judged like diving with a degree of difficulty factor, a play by British playwright Caryl Churchill would be akin to a reverse twisting three-and-a-half summersault dive. Therefore, the fact that Lumina Studio Theatre would even take on two such challenging works with a cast featuring several young actors is cause for applause. […]
Fresh interpretation of Caryl Churchill by the young women of Lumina Studio
With a pair of plays by Caryl Churchill, Lumina Studio Theatre looks to tap into the spirit of our times. “Top Girls… is sort of women on top, and Fen is sort of women on the bottom,” says David Minton, the company’s artistic director, who is also directing this show. “Fen is really about… wage […]
From Shakespeare’s warrior, Lumina Studio creates Kabuki Coriolanus
One would think that a Kabuki-inspired adaptation of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus would be enough of a challenge to be tackled by a professional theater company. Factor into that equation two separate casts of over 45 student actors, some tackling Shakespeare for the first time, some for the 24th time. With no auditions. Sound like a recipe […]
Lumina and Round House respond to Round House Silver Spring issue
Lumina Studio’s Artistic Director David Minton, on Sunday, called a Lumina report that a Lumina spokesperson had given DC Theatre Scene “strictly internal and used to generate new ideas” and characterized its release as “a mistake.” Complaints about the space’s management, Minton said, “had nothing to do with suggesting a change to the single operator […]
New details on Round House Silver Spring conflict
DC Theatre Scene has learned that Lumina Studio Theatre, the Montgomery County Company known principally for its classical productions or classical mash-ups using casts composed primarily of children and young adults, was the prime mover in the series of events which culminated in Round House Theatre’s decision not to renew its lease on the Silver […]
Lumina Studio’s Invasion of the Surreal Plays
For your consideration: An evening of theatre with echoes of “The Twilight Zone” and “Star Trek.” And if you look closely, you also might find glimmers of Waiting for Godot. The thespians playing out these staged science-fictional forays possess keen intellect and the chameleon-like abilities to transform into all manner of characters, human or otherwise.
Girls Who Think They’re Hot
Girls Who Think They’re Hot is one of the most intriguing and creative productions I’ve seen at the Fringe in years and a terrific introduction to Lumina Theatre.
With 100 productions to its credit, Lumina is ready for more
For those for whom Shakespeare is not enough, there is always Lumina. The Silver Spring-based not-just-for-kids troupe just finished celebrating its one hundredth production in fifteen years – a version of Midsummer Night’s Dream which manages to tie in Fritz Lang’s classic movie “Metropolis” and also the story of Dr. Faustus, all in slightly less […]
A most original Tom Jones from Lumina Studio
There are companies which do epics, and then there is Lumina Studio. Having put together a sixty-character amalgamation of Henry VI Part 1, 2 and 3, in which no actor was above the age of 19, Lumina now tops itself by producing a seventy-character musical version of Tom Jones, with songs imported from John Gay’s […]
Henry VI, Parts 1, 2 and 3
At Lumina Studio, the Next Generation invokes a story set twenty generations ago The young prince Edward (Aidan Close) kneels down to be knighted by his father, King Henry VI (Emma Bergman). It is a moment of greatness for Edward, but also of rage and pain, and the three emotions struggle for dominance upon his […]
Lumina’s musicalized Canterbury Tales – putting it all together
I’ll be frank with you – I didn’t know much about Lumina Studio Theatre until I read a ‘rave’ for Lumina’s The Comedy of Errors … at Colonus?. by DCTS reviewer Leslie Weisman in which she called the production “a remarkably inventive and accomplished effort by the young company.”
The Comedy of Errors … at Colonus?
If only your reviewer wrote as rapidly as Lumina’s astoundingly accomplished young performers declaim poetry, verse (and reverse) and verbal pyrotechnics by, and in the manner of Sophocles and Shakespeare, this review would be a stream-of-consciousness critique chock-a-block with tropes,