In the wake of an historically deadly mass shooting and a historically unpopular president comes a musical comedy of sorts about guns, presidents, and their tragic interplay from Lincoln to Reagan. These elements, brought to life by the catchiest tunes in the Sondheim oeuvre, make for a musical that feels not only worth doing, but […]
Two visions of Sondheim’s Assassins opens as the country recoils from mass shootings
As the country grieves over yet another mass shooting and grapples with the question of what could drive anyone to contemplate such a hideous act, two productions of the Stephen Sondheim/John Weidman’s musical Assassins, which explores that question, are preparing to open in our area.
New musical Crazy Mary Lincoln from Pallas Theatre Collective (review)
A gunshot. Chaos. Followed by shock. And a nation, almost on cue and in sync, lets out a collective wail of grief. But the cries of a lone, new widow displease the gentry surrounding her in the aftermath so much so that her overwhelming anguish becomes a black stain on her character and a case […]
Pallas and Infinity theatre companies announce their 2017 seasons
Two announcements from companies who produce in a single calendar year, rather than on the traditional theatre schedule of fall to summer.
Page-to-Stage: Crazy Mary Lincoln, Over Her Dead Body and Alan Sharpe’s Short Plays
Writer’s choice: Page-to-Stage readings from Saturday, September 3, 2016. We asked our writers to report back on plays which they would like to see fully staged. From Debbie Jackson Crazy Mary Lincoln Written by Jan Tranen & Jay Schwandt Directed by Tracey Elaine Chessum Hanging out at the Kennedy Center for ten-hours of Page-to-Stage didn’t feel […]
Lost in Wonderland (review) from Pallas Theatre Collective
Lost in Wonderland is a workshop production of a new musical based upon Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. As fostered by Pallas Theatre Collective, this promising new musical provides a fresh approach to the oft-mined source material that both pleases and provokes the audience.
code name: Cynthia, a new spy musical from Pallas Theatre Collective (review)
Our city has a long history of conflating people with their chosen profession. Of course, being Washington, there are large subsets of our residents who can’t disclose what they do for a living without getting into some pretty hot water. code name: Cynthia, the latest show from Pallas Theatre Collective, steeps us in that hot […]
Pallas’ Major Barbara gets minor 30’s remake (review)
One great thing about theater is that it is iterative, constantly being forged and reforged so it has immediate relevance to our social realities and problems. Major Barbara from Pallas Theatre Collective, a slight redux of George Bernard Shaw’s classic, aims to do just that by setting the play in DC during the 1930’s Bonus […]
Fresh new ideas from Pallas Theatre Collective: preparing for Helen Hayes wage requirements
Earlier this month, Pallas Theatre Collective issued a response to the new Helen Hayes Awards eligibility requirements. You can read it here. DC Theatre Scene reached out to us and asked us to expand on our response for their series.
Pallas takes on The Taming of the Shrew
To understand The Taming of the Shrew as Shakespeare intended, you must imagine it to be in a land – such as Shakespeare’s England – where the observance of gender roles was a matter of life and death. It did not flow from a belief that women could not rule (after all, who ruled England?) […]
The Fall of the House of Usher
Edgar Allan Poe’s tale has grown so large in the literary imagination that we forget that the original was a short story, less than 7200 words in length and more atmosphere than incident. It is less a story than an invitation to the reader to create a story, and the Pallas Theatre Collective has accepted […]
The Yellow Wallpaper, closes this weekend
The short story, The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, which captures a woman’s slow descent into utter powerlessness and madness, has been sending shivers down readers’ spines for over a century. The woman, only identified as “Wife,” is sequestered in a bedroom by her husband to help her “rest and recover” after childbirth, but […]