Tom Stoppard’s newest play The Hard Problem refers to philosopher David Chalmer’s “hard problem” of how to explain consciousness. Science can explain how our brains perceive sensations like pain, but not why we feel emotions like sadness. How do we explain our consciousness? Why are humans different from a monkey or a machine? The play’s protagonist, […]
Stoppard’s The Hard Problem at Studio Theatre (review)
The opening scene of The Hard Problem, Tom Stoppard’s latest play since 2006’s Rock and Roll, reminds you of the opening scene from Stephen Sondheim’s musical Passion. Two half-naked beautiful young people loll in bed, all aglow in afterglow and up for a chat.
Most memorable moments on DC area stages in 2016
As this year closes, perhaps you, like we, are thinking back over your own year spent watching the various riches spread before us by Washington area theatres. I asked our staff for their most vivid memories. We hope you will share your own as comments for us all to savor.
Straight White Men at Studio Theatre (review)
In Straight White Men, playwright Young Jean Lee finds remarkable insight and startling sympathy with our society’s least oppressed identity. Far from a brutal if well-deserved takedown, Lee digs deep into how her subjects think, feel, and suffer even as they try to do right by everyone else.
Staceyann Chin in MotherStruck (review)
Staceyann Chin is a memoirist, a spoken-word poet, and a live wire. The best qualities of all three are on display in her autobiographical show, MotherStruck now at Studio Theatre.
Caryl Churchill’s Cloud 9 at Studio Theatre (review)
We know who Clive (John Scherer) is: square-jawed, middle-aged, sandy-haired with a splash of white at the temples, refined of voice, of imperial bearing — why, he is the very model of the English colonial baron, ensconced in 19th-century Africa to carry, in Kipling’s terms, the white man’s burden. It is his job, as he […]
My won’t-miss shows for this season
If you’re like me, you’ve already done your Christmas shopping, filled out your budget for the next fiscal year, and made arrangements for your final repose after The Event Which Awaits Us All occurs. Now it’s time for something much more difficult: planning your theater season.
Hand to God at Studio Theatre (review)
Not everything made big is made better. And not everything on a large Broadway stage is improved by a cavernous space. Sometimes the best gifts are in tiny boxes.
Win tickets to Hand to God. Closes Thursday at 5pm
This week’s giveaway is a pair of tickets to Studio Theatre’s production of Hand to God.
The Object Lesson (review) at Studio Theatre
Americans increasingly seem to have a love-hate relationship with “stuff”. Visitors from abroad find themselves amazed at the vast array of artisanal cheese available at any grocery store. Our enthusiasm for decamping to distant exurbs where we can build ever-bigger houses for all of our toys continues unabated by troubles in the real estate market, […]
Churchill, Chekhov, Stoppard, Posner among Studio’s next season
Subscriptions became available today for Studio Theatre’s 2016-2017 season which features Three Sisters, No Sisters, Michael Kahn directing Caryl Churchill and Tom Stoppard writing on human consciousness. Studio intends to announce an additional play for both the Main Series and for Studio X in the near future.
Irish play Moment now at Studio Theatre (review)
Niamh Lynch (Emily Landham) has been calling her mother, Teresa, (Dearbhla Molloy) all morning. Unable to reach her and fearing the worst, she rushes to her mother’s house. Upon arriving, Niamh finds her mother in good health but is greeted by some disturbing news. After many years away, her brother Nial (Peter Albrink) is coming home for […]