Gala Hispanic Theatre has put together a slick world premiere of Ana en el Trópico, the Spanish translation of Nilo Cruz’ Pulitzer-Prize winning play, Anna in the Tropics.
The Wings of Ikarus Jackson at The Kennedy Center’s Family Theater
February 6, 2012 by
The Wings of Ikarus Jackson, a world premiere commissioned by the Kennedy Center, is beautifully produced, engaging, and – there’s no way around it – uplifting. Parallels to the Greek myth of Icarus are slim – no one has to fashion wings to escape imprisonment on an island, and no one crashes. The Ikarus of this story successfully escapes his isolation and comes to a joyful acceptance of his nature.
The Rough-Faced Girl at Synetic Family Theater
December 5, 2011 by
The Rough-Faced Girl, Synetic Theater’s current Family Theater production, is much like Synetic Theater’s shows for adults: visually compelling, captivating, tender, and thoroughly worthwhile. The story itself is beautiful.
Inspecting Carol at Sandy Spring Theatre Group
November 14, 2011 by
Inspecting Carol, produced by The Sandy Spring Theatre Group, is a delightful romp, a perfect antidote to the gloom of lengthening nights and the frazzlement of approaching holidays. The farce built around Charles Dickens’ revered work A Christmas Carol, the play, Inspecting Carol by Daniel Sullivan, is surprisingly fresh and funny. Inspecting Carol lampoons the artistic [...]
GREEK at Scena Theatre
October 22, 2011 by
No description can do justice to Steven Berkoff’s Greek, at Scena Theatre. The play is an updating of the Oedipus Rex story, set in London of the 1980s. But that doesn’t get at the play’s off-kilter splendor. It’s a tragedy that is riotously funny. It pokes fun at high art while approaching high art itself. [...]
Stop Kiss at No Rules Theatre Company
September 12, 2011 by
No Rules Theatre Company’s Stop Kiss is a delight. How often can one say that of a play that tackles a serious issue? How likely is it that one could ever say that of a play structured around the brutal beating of a young woman? Nonetheless, Stop Kiss is funny, engaging, poignant, and deft, as [...]
The Arbor – a Film Directed by Clio Barnard
August 8, 2011 by
A disturbing, intense, and important film, The Arbor, directed by Clio Barnard, examines British playwright Andrea Dunbar’s short life as an artist and a parent and the role her impoverished environment played in both endeavors. Dunbar, who died of a brain hemorrhage at 29, was hailed as “a genius straight from the slums.” Her first [...]
Charlotte’s Web at Adventure Theatre
June 28, 2011 by
Adventure Theater’s production of Charlotte’s Web is a delight. An exuberant, talented cast and creative direction make this story of loyalty, loss and renewal engaging for children and adults alike. While the cast milks every possible laugh from the material, the fact is a pig loses his best friend. That is, his best friend who [...]
The Glass Menagerie at Arena Stage
June 13, 2011 by
Partnering with Arena Stage’s Mead Center for American Theater, Georgetown University’s Theater and Performance Studies Program has created a sensitive, energetic, and finely tuned production of Tennessee William’s Glass Menagerie. The Glass Menagerie is considered to be William’s most autobiographical play. In St. Louis of the 1930s a young man struggles to carve out space [...]
Purge at Scena Theatre
June 12, 2011 by
Purge, by the young Finnish sensation Sofi Oksanen, is an intense exploration of the dynamics of power. Scena Theatre’s production, which marks the play’s regional debut and is only its second performance in the US, is crisp, fast-paced, and enthralling. Set in Estonia in 1992, Purge traces the stories of two women who have both [...]
