With 286 shows announced, and 24 companies still to be revealed, the new season, which begins this week, can already be predicted to surpass the busy 2014-2015 season.
The Letters at MetroStage. Masterful performances (review)
On the surface, The Letters refers to communications written by the beloved Russian composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky to his male lover – letters so full of explicit “degenerate” material that the government gets involved to “purge” and clean them up.
Censoring history. Lynskey and Russotto team up for provocative The Letters at MetroStage
An office in 1930’s Soviet Union is the setting for John W. Lowell’s The Letters, a play based on the real life Soviet efforts to edit the sexually frank letters of composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, on stage now at MetroStage in Alexandria, VA.
Janet Langhart Cohen and Anne & Emmett. What we don’t want to talk about
A new production of Janet Langhart Cohen’s Anne & Emmett will be presented this weekend at MetroStage. I talked to Ms. Cohen recently to find out more about her background and why she chose to write this play about Anne Frank and Emmett Till. Janet Langhart Cohen was at a gathering when a woman questioned […]
MetroStage cancels Fugard’s The Island, reschedules for the summer
MetroStage’s production of The Island, Athol Fugard’s drama about two prisoners in a South African jail, has closed after three performances. Starring Michael Anthony Williams and Doug Brown, the Sunday night press opening drew rave reviews. DCTS’ Alan Katz considered seeing the play a “moral necessity.”
Shattering performances of Fugard’s The Island at MetroStage
Would you go to prison for a play, to defend what that play said about the world? What would that play look like? You can see for yourself at MetroStage in Alexandria, with Athol Fugard’s The Island, a part of the explosive canon of theater protesting South African apartheid in the ‘60’s, ‘70’s, and ‘80’s.
Fugard’s The Island compels Brown and Williams to reunite at MetroStage
South African playwright Athol Fugard is highly acclaimed for his plays, many of which opposed his country’s system of apartheid. In 1971, Fugard devised The Island with actors John Kani and Winston Ntshona, and it made its area premiere at MetroStage in 1991.
Bessie’s Blues, a triumph at MetroStage
Nothing can quite prepare you for the seismic impact of this innovative script in the hands of a stellar cast and designers with Bernardine Mitchell at the helm of Bessie’s Blues. Twenty years after its inaugural D.C. production, Bessie’s Blues still has the sass and flair that garnered all those Helen Hayes awards, electrified audiences, […]
From the creator of Bessie’s Blues: “Music is a quiet riot.”
As Bernardine Mitchell rehearsed for MetroStage’s upcoming production of Bessie’s Blues, the Thomas W. Jones II musical that first played the DC area 20 years ago at Studio (taking home 6 Helen Hayes Awards), she made a keen observation: “Twenty years ago I knew how to sing this, now I know how to live it.”
Personal tributes to actor Ralph Cosham. Memorial service announced.
Ralph Cosham, one of the busiest, best regarded, and best loved of local actors, died on September 30th. Anyone who frequents our stages will have seen him numerous times and will be a great admirer of his work. He was 78 years old and had battled heart problems for several years. John Dow, a close […]
Three Sistahs at MetroStage
These are things that break hearts: worn letters to and from a war, recalling memories with loved ones in your newly-sold childhood home, and a triangularly folded flag with a single dog tag, the other buried just today. Three Sistahs, returning to MetroStage from a run in 2007, contains all of these heart-breaking objects and […]
Underneath the Lintel at MetroStage
Underneath the Lintel is a deceivingly simple story of a librarian tracking down the patron who borrowed and returned a long overdue book which transitions into an unanticipated life journey. Paul Morella, date stamp hanging around his neck like a trophy or cherished medal of honor, is an absolute marvel as the lowly clerk.