The novel King of the Jews is the story of the heroic Jew Trumpelman, who makes the fatal decision to collaborate with Nazi oppressors in order to save the lives of the other Jews in his community.

Is He Dead? By Mark Twain Adapted by David Ives Directed by Halo Wines Produced by Olney Theatre Center Reviewed by Steven McKnight Would Is He Dead? have received a Broadway debut in 2007 if it had not been a long lost work written a century earlier by Mark Twain?  It’s a creaky and formulaic […]

  The Underpants adapted by Steve Martin from a play by Carl Sternheim directed by John Going produced by Olney Theatre Center reviewed by Rosalind Lacy Steve Martin, of Saturday Night Live fame, knows how to tell a joke just right. Even bawdy ones, abounding with double entendres, in a German farce that airs out […]

Rabbit Hole Written by David Lindsay-Abaire Directed by Mitchell Hébert Produced by Olney Theater Reviewed by Debbie Minter Jackson In this metro-area premiere, a suburban couple that seems to have all the creature comforts of home shows the frayed edges of trying to cope with a tragic loss.  

Stuff Happens by David Hare Directed by Jeremy Skidmore Produced by Olney Theatre Center Reviewed by Ted Ying Politics is the most exciting game in town.  Or so says my friend, the political lobbyist.  How else can he explain his choice of career, when he has worked in several more lucrative professions?  Olney’s Stuff Happens […]

Mousetrap Written by Agatha Christie Directed by John Going Produced at Olney Theatre Reviewed by Debbie Minter Jackson How does the longest running show in the history of London’s famed West End, one that has been performed on Broadway and throughout America for decades still have enough punch to keep ‘em guessing for yet another […]

1776 Book by Peter Stone . Music and Lyrics by Sherman Edwards Directed and Choreographed by Stephen Nachamie Reviewed by Tim Treanor If 1776 was merely a musical, it would not be much of one. Its pleasant score contains not a single memorable song, and the harmonies tend toward the barber-shop variety. Similarly, Olney’s production […]

Bad Dates by Theresa Rebeck Directed by Lee Mikeska Gardner Produced by Olney Theatre Center Reviewed by Rosalind Lacy “Oh, god, these things hurt,” referring to shoes in the opening lines of playwright Theresa Rebeck’s Bad Dates. Haley Walker, an almost 40, divorced mother, alone in her New York City digs, lives in a hyper-kinetic […]

“What do you do when you’re not sure?” is a question posed by Father Flynn at the start of John Patrick Shanley’s award-winning play Doubt: A Parable.  Ironically the answer to this question will determine Flynn’s fate when suspicions of child molestation arise in a Bronx Catholic school in 1964.  This deeply-layered work never fully […]

Late Nite Catechism by Maripat Donovan and Vicki Quade Produced by Olney Theatre Reviewed by Debbie Minter Jackson Late Nite Catechism – even a caveman knows that the show’s been around for years, but for the uninitiated, the blaring clue in the title, the jargony spelling of “Nite,” speaks volumes about the silliness that awaits. […]