The facts behind the real life incidents captured in Kenneth Jones’s Alabama Story – the controversy over banning a children’s book – stands as a cautionary tale, one that has been brought to life and beautifully rendered by Washington Stage Guild.
World War II love story continued: See Rock City at Washington Stage Guild (review)
History books shroud World War II with specific imagery: soldiers, Nazi salutes, atomic bombs, Rosie the Riveter, and a victorious kiss from a sailor in Times Square. But See Rock City breaks through these grandiose symbols and reveals a refreshingly simple story.
A Child’s Christmas in Wales and Other Stories (review)
Take heart, all those caught up with the holiday shopping frenzy. Thankfully, there is a chance to take a pause and listen to some simple, well-written stories told by Vincent Clark and Laura Giannarelli, two fine actors with a flair for storytelling.
Shaw’s Widowers’ Houses review, a sly gut-punch of a story
Black People’s Houses might be this play’s title if it were a play written today and set in DC. That title would probably give a better sense of how provocative and satirical it is. Concerned, as it is, with slum landlords and gentrification, it is much more relevant and sharp than the creaky word “widower” […]
Back to Methuselah concludes at Washington Stage Guild, 3 years after its start (review)
Perhaps we can call this ‘slow theatre,’ as an analog to the ‘slow food’ movement. George Bernard Shaw’s epic five-act Back to Methuselah is now being concluded, a full three years after Washington Stage Guild began presenting it. Even more so than Shaw’s other works, it is a drama mainly composed of ideas, typically expressed […]
Two strangers meet on a train – Last Train to Nibroc at Washington Stage Guild (review)
In December, 1940, the bodies of two prominent American writers, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Nathaniel West were shipped cross country in a railcar. This strangely titled piece is the first of a trilogy about a couple who meet on that train from California, their destination, Corbin, Kentucky.
Search for Tricia McCauley ends in tragedy
“Tricia is gone. They have found her body,” her brother, Brian McCauley, wrote in a Facebook post this morning. “Thank you for all your work, support and love. To all of her DC family, I know that she truly thought of you that way, thank you for being there for her all these years. Hang […]
At Washington Stage Guild, It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play (review)
A play like this, where actors play fictional actors who play roles in an entirely different play, gives you a sort of double vision. You see not Joe Brack playing George Bailey, but Jake Laurents — a fictional character being played by Joe Brack — playing George Bailey. His interpretation of the character is not […]
The Gospel According to Thomas Jefferson, Charles Dickens, and Count Leo Tolstoy: Discord at Washington Stage Guild
Fans of Sartre will know this setup: three guys walk into a small room in the afterlife. But unlike No Exit, the characters in The Gospel According to Thomas Jefferson, Charles Dickens, and Count Leo Tolstoy: Discord are three of the most eminent men of the nineteenth century. I’d tell you who they are, but […]
Critics are up again in St. Nicholas at Washington Stage Guild (review)
A fascinating conversation about the fascinating story of an all-too-ordinary man, Conor McPherson’s St. Nicholas, at Washington Stage Guild, is theatre for people who like to laugh at, and think about, things they never expected. As a replacement for the originally-scheduled third installment of George Bernard Shaw’s Back to Methuselah (postponed until the company’s 30th […]
It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play at Washington Stage Guild
I am usually a strict adherent to the “No Christmas till after Thanksgiving” edict, but I am happy I broke my own rule and started my holiday season a little early with Washington Stage Guild.
UpClose: Bill Largess as Washington Stage Guild turns 30
Bill Largess is a founding member and Artistic Director at Washington Stage Guild. A graduate of Catholic University, he has been extensively involved as an actor and director in the region for more than three decades. He also serves as a faculty member at George Washington University’s Department of Theater and Dance. His newest directorial […]