These are the plays that won’t let go. They are there as I drift off to sleep, or, unbidden, come to me during the day. This happens more often now, as work here slows to a close. You probably have your list of best plays and performances. This is not that list. These seem to […]
Tim Treanor reviews his life as a theatre critic
After death, two professionals spring into action. The undertaker applies makeup, and puts formaldehyde in the veins, so that the forgetting may begin after a celebration. If the undertaker is successful, the deceased will float into the corner of your brain which holds Uncle Gus, who died when you were eight and who you didn’t […]
Review: This Is Who I Am, a pie that binds
“During peacetime, when we need metaphors, we raid the language of war. But the idiom of wartime is food: cannon fodder, carnage, slaughterhouse. Buildings and people are pancaked, sandwiched, sardined,” writes Annia Ciezadlo in Day of Honey: A Memoir of Food, Love, and War. “Perhaps it is because the destruction reminds us of the knowledge […]
Local artists lend their unique talents to “Act Out: Vote 2020” on Oct 29
As the theater industry recovers from COVID-19 and considers a social justice reckoning, the 2020 presidential election is high stakes, resulting in “Act Out: Vote 2020,” an online performance livestreamed on Oct. 29 at 9 p.m. According to Chiara Klein (she), the director of artistic producing at Baltimore Center Stage (BCS) who invited theaters to […]
Review: Telephonic Literary Union’s Human Resources. One help line you’ll be happy you called
Usually, the phone tree process for any corporate call-in help line is either migraine-inducing or so frustrating you find yourself spewing rancid obscenities at the robotic prompts until your throat gets raw. With the Telephonic Literary Union’s Human Resources, getting lost in a phone tree is a new-found pleasure. The first offering of Woolly Mammoth’s […]
DCTS Performance Guide for the 2020/2021 theatre season
While planning theatre in the time of Covid requires faith and flexibility on everyone’s part, we thought it valuable to show you the shows our companies hope to present. Some are virtual. Some will be in theatres once that becomes possible. This is a listing of performances. Not included are readings, panels and discussions. We’ll keep […]
DC theatres open lobbies as safe spaces for Black Lives Matter protestors
Update: Source and The 9:30 Club become the latest venues to open their doors to protestors. With thousands of people planned to gather in DC this weekend to protest police brutality, a number of theaters have joined the #OpenYourLobby movement and announced that they will open their lobbies and bathrooms to allow protestors to rest […]
Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company holds free live-streamed Progressive Party April 20
With its planned fundraising spring gala impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company is basking in a “show must go on” mentality and will host its live-streamed Progressive Party on Monday, April 20. Originally planned as a progressive dinner in partnership with José Andrés’ Oyamel and China Chilcano, the now free online […]
Woolly Mammoth uses its 3-D printer to help hospitals save lives
For years, theater artists have used their skills to create stage illusions from unlikely ingredients. Today, at Woolly Mammoth, two artists are using those skills to save lives. The artists are Woolly Mammoth Technical Director Joel Garcia and his assistant, Alec Sparks. They are using their skills with Woolly’s 3-D printer to create parts for […]
Review: Anne Washburn’s Shipwreck at Woolly Mammoth
Shipwreck: A History Play About 2017 is a gas giant of a play, Jovian in proportion, profoundly ambitious, wonderfully weird, beautifully written, Dostoyevskian in scope. It is three hours ten minutes long (including one intermission) and may leave you dazed. Robert Burns wrote “Man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or else what’s a heaven for?” […]
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) […]
2020 Visions. Theatre leaders tell us what lies ahead.
We asked area theatre companies to tell us what they were most looking forward to in 2020. Their answers surprised us! Contributors: 4615 Theatre Company . American Ensemble Theater . American Shakespeare Theatre Company . Arena Stage . Avant Bard Theatre . Brave Spirits Theatre . Capital Fringe . CulturalDC . Folger Theatre . Happenstance […]
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