A roundup of some of this week’s theatrical news and notes from The Kennedy Center, Washington Stage Guild and Signature Theatre.
UpClose: Caleen Sinnette Jennings, Women’s Voices Theater Festival
Caleen Sinnette Jennings is an actor, director and playwright who is a founding member of The Welders, a new D.C. Playwrights’ Collective. Eight of her plays have been published by Dramatic Publishing Company, and her work has appeared in 7 play anthologies. She has received playwriting awards from the Kennedy Center and The Actor’s Theatre […]
Maritime Ode, a one-man tour de force from Portugal’s best
The “seafaring life” has taken many forms over time: fearless explorers, bloodthirsty pirates, hopeful pilgrims, grizzled Hemingway-esque mariners, and modern sailors endlessly plying vast shipping routes.
A bold, dramatic new season coming for Washington National Opera
Walking into the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Tuesday morning, I was greeted by the hell-bent-for leather sounds of the famous “Ride of the Valkyries” from Wagner’s Ring Cycle. Nothing could have been better chosen to underscore KC’s new President Deborah F. Rutter stepping up to the podium to announce her […]
Shear Madness: Still crazy after all these years
Before the lights fall and the audience settles, on stage, Mike (Adi Stein) endures a slapstick shampooing and hair cut by madcap stylist Tony (Michael Litchfield), the flamboyantly gay owner and operator of the titular establishment in DC’s enduring (and endearing) comedy caper.
Outside the Bachx: hip-hop in search of a story
Hip-hop is always hungry. Like the katamari of video game fame or the doubly insatiable hippos of the childhood tabletop game, hip-hop music and culture has absorbed (and remixed and made it’s own) every genre that it touches. From when it was born on the streets of New York City in the 1970’s, hip-hop has […]
From Nashville, Jack’s Tale at The Kennedy Center
Using a bit of bluegrass, and evoking the best of Americana, the Nashville Children’s Theatre brings the old Appalachian (and originally Scot-Irish-English) folk hero, Jack, to life—merrily blending his many adventures into a single yarn for the stage.
Zero Hour: Tokyo Rose’s Last Tape
Anyone who knows me will tell you that as a critic and sometime creator of mixed-disciplinary performance, I have a particular proclivity for highly experimental theatrical works and perhaps especially combinations of contemporary dance-theatre from Japan and other parts of Asia. So why, I must ask, did Miwa Yanagi’s “Zero Hour:Tokyo Rose’s Last Tape” leave […]
Autism and grief explored in Mockingbird
Understanding loss can be a tricky business for children, and especially so for those with disabilities. The Kennedy Center’s poignant production of Mockingbird explores an autistic girl’s emotional, unique journey through grief and healing in the wake of unspeakable tragedy. Mockingbird, adapted from the award-winning young adult novel by Kathryn Erskine, stands out from the […]
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at The Kennedy Center
Sometimes, you get to see a play where the expectations are all laid out for you. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, now playing at the Kennedy Center, is that type of show, setting up expectations with its mere description then fulfilling those expectations with almost scary accuracy.