Do you remember the old Firesign Theatre? On their records (do you remember records?), an absurd scene would dissolve into another absurd scene, until you dissolved in laughter. To put a period on our annus horribilis, Ike Holter’s I Hate It Here uses the Firesign Theatre motif. Absurd scenes dissolve into other absurd scenes. But […]
Review: Capturing the conscience of Studio’s Kings
There are not many towns which could be riveted by a tale which revolves around the tax treatment that carried interest gets, but, by God, Washington is one of them. Of course, the carried interest argument is just the lever by which playwright Sarah Burgess gets to larger moral issues, including the power and use […]
How Indian Ink connected Tom Stoppard and Joy Zinoman to their lives in Asia
Perhaps a bit long and convoluted – with a plot that switches back and forth between the 1930s and 1980s – Tom Stoppard’s Indian Ink collected generally favorable reviews in early stagings in London and San Francisco. Once Joy Zinoman gave the play its East Coast premiere in 2000, it garnered rave reviews, enthusiastic audiences, […]
Juneteenth celebrations: Antonyo Awards, Alvin Ailey, IN Series and a nationwide new play reading
Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, the day that a regiment of Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas to announce the end of the Civil War and the emancipation of the enslaved peoples of Texas. On January 1, 1980, Texas became the first state to declare Juneteenth, also known as Emancipation Day, Jubilee Day and Freedom […]
Samuel Beckett’s literary agent tried to close Joy Zinoman’s 1998 Waiting for Godot. How she prevailed.
1998 was promising to be a banner year for Joy Zinoman and her Studio Theatre. Already settled into a stunning new building which opened the previous year that shone with what Washington Post architectural critic Benjamin Forgey called an “inner glow,” the company was winning kudos for its positive impact on a long-derelict neighborhood, and […]
Review: Pass Over at Studio Theatre, brilliant, spell-binding, heartbreaking truth
“Kill me now,” says Moses. “What are your Promised Land Top Ten?” counters his side- kick Kitch. Thus begins two memorable, masterful, spell-binding and heartbreaking performances by Christopher Lovell (Moses) and Jalen Gilbert (Kitch) in the dynamic duet of despair and determination that is Pass Over, a brilliant – and, hopefully, audience-transforming – play by […]
Justin Weaks is working two very different characters at the same time. How he keeps his balance
Justin Weaks is well-known to DC audiences these days. He’s worked over 20 productions since 2015, won a Helen Hayes James MacArthur Award in 2017 (Word Becomes Flesh), and, after finishing up Dominique Morisseau’s Pipeline at Studio Theatre, will take on This Bitter Earth at Theater Alliance starting February 22. Amidst this busy schedule, Weaks […]
Thoughts on Dominique Morisseau’s Pipeline. Make no mistake. These people are fighting for their lives
“He was her only child: her baby boy..maybe an A-1 student running, hiding, taking cover. The women gather crying tears that fill a million oceans. It doesn’t matter where you’re living. It doesn’t matter.” – Sweet Honey in the Rock, “The Women Gather” “Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, […]
Review: Dominique Morisseau’s Pipeline at Studio Theatre
Playwright Dominique Morisseau has had a whirlwind last few years since her play Pipeline premiered in 2017. In that span of time, she’s managed to begin her tenure as a Residency 5 playwright at Signature Theatre in New York City, earn a MacArthur “Genius” Grant, and pick up a Tony nomination for writing the book […]
7 upcoming plays which are about to tell us where we lost our humanity and where we can find it again.
Tim Treanor was asked to recommend 7 plays for the lecture DC Theatre Season 2020 held January 14 in the Smithsonian’s S. Dillon Ripley Center. Since we’ve had several requests for his remarks, we publish it here, along with our thanks to the other critics Chris Klimek (Washington City Paper),Nicole Hertvik (DC Metro Theater Arts) […]
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 […]
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