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May 20, 2024 | 
dctheaterarts.org | Colleen Kennedy |Maryland. Previously
Everyman Theatre closes its season with an enchanting and jubilant adaptation of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Expertly directed with pizzazz by Associate Artistic Director Noah Himmelstein, this must-see production’s novel concept by adapter Gavin Witt is brilliantly realized through the thoughtful work of dramaturg Robyn Quick. The induction scene begins as four folks (three Resident Company members, Deborah Hazlett, Bruce Randolph Nelson, Jefferson A.
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Mar 24, 2024 | 
dctheaterarts.org | Colleen Kennedy |Maryland. Previously
A love of literature, a sense of community and collegiality, a few glasses of wine and a cheese board: these are the essentials of a good book club, but they don’t necessarily make for good drama. But in DC playwright Karen Zacarías’ The Book Club Play directed with warmth and good humor by Laura Kepley, now onstage at Everyman Theatre in Baltimore, the addition of a documentary camera and a new member creates chaos and comedy.
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Mar 24, 2024 | 
dctheaterarts.org | Colleen Kennedy |Maryland. Previously
Think back on what you were taught in U.S. history classes, especially in your younger years. Probably a lot of downright lies, like the old fabricated story of Washington chopping down a tree and telling the truth about it. But how many of us were not taught that the so-called Founding Fathers who championed equality for all men were also slave owners?
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Feb 25, 2024 | 
dctheaterarts.org | Colleen Kennedy |Maryland. Previously
The age-old dramaturgical question is always: “Why do this play now?” In the case of The Oresteia — currently onstage at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company and the company’s first foray into Greek tragedy — the answer is fraught if we are looking into an ancient play for contemporary parallels to our own times, our current wars, or our own modern understanding of abstract ideas like justice, vengeance, duty, family, or divinity.
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Dec 10, 2023 | 
dctheaterarts.org | Colleen Kennedy |Maryland. Previously
At this time of year, many of us turn to It’s a Wonderful Life, A Christmas Story, or A Muppet’s Christmas Carol for warm, fuzzy, happy feelings, but some of us prefer darker or subversive holiday fare: Die Hard, Batman Returns, Gremlins, or Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.
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Dec 2, 2023 | 
dctheaterarts.org | Colleen Kennedy |Maryland. Previously
‘Tis the season when almost every theater company stages its own adaptation of A Christmas Carol. The challenge is always finding a new way to engage with audiences or adding a unique spin on this chestnut without losing its charm.
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Nov 13, 2023 | 
dctheaterarts.org | Colleen Kennedy |Maryland. Previously
Mirror, mirror on the wall, which local musical enchants and enrages us all? WITCH, produced by Stillpointe Theatre and onstage in Area 405 Gallery in Baltimore, is a wickedly engaging but ultimately slight new musical that fuses the history of witchcraft and contemporary socio-political issues with a strong cast of weird sisters. Directed by Ryan Haase with musical direction by Stacey Antoine, WITCH invites us to join a welcoming coven for the evening.
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Oct 1, 2023 | 
dctheaterarts.org | Colleen Kennedy |Maryland. Previously
In Shakespeare’s comedies, forests are places of transformation, playfulness, love, and healing, an alternative to and inversion of the rigid rules and patriarchal norms that define cities and royal courts. Think of the licentious liberty of the forest outside of Athens in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, or consider the magical island where Prospero lives in The Tempest.
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Jul 30, 2023 | 
dctheaterarts.org | Colleen Kennedy |Maryland. Previously
Sometimes a movie may hit a little too close to the bone, and for the avid readers of DC Theater Arts — lovers, season subscribers, Fringe enthusiasts, cast members, and the creatives, crew, and staff of the 80-plus theaters across the DMV — Theater Camp is that film. The comedy brings lots of laughs, stages pitch-perfect parodies of musical theater, and also creates some truly touching moments without veering into the maudlin.
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Jun 18, 2023 | 
dctheaterarts.org | Colleen Kennedy |Maryland. Previously
By the pricking of my thumb… something wicked(ly good) this way comes. Macbeth, performed by Chesapeake Shakespeare Company’s Black Classical Acting Ensemble and expertly directed by Lauren Davis, is both a powerful production of Shakespeare’s supernatural tragedy and a testament to investing in the training, rehearsal space, and stage time for the next generation of Black actors. This Shakespeare-in-the-Ruins production feels less a Scotland of mortals, but an otherworldly realm.
