DC is emerging as a hub for young artists and curators like Carter Wynne, a self-taught artist under the apprenticeship of independent curator and creative consultant, Fabiola R. Delgado. Wynne's groundbreaking exhibition, Intrinsic Tool, is the first to showcase her work at DC Arts Center. As part of the center's Curatorial Initiative, this exhibition celebrates the revolutionary potential of play.
The Comeuppance–on stage now at Woolly Mammoth Theatre–is a dark comedy with a simple premise that slowly builds tension, layers, and unexpected nuances. It is anything but simple, and the production kept surprising from beginning to end.
In Run Away But Come Back Petit Marronage Act 1, the artwork depicts two Black men at a plantation. Behind them is a cabin with a red, blue, and white striped roof set against a starry navy sky fabric. With a comforting arm around the first, the man on the left looks calmly out to the plantation. The man on the right looks towards the horizon with a sad expression. To the right, five men are cast in varying silhouettes of the American Flag. A fabric of red and yellow flowers frames the entire scene. The artwork Run Away But Come Back Petit Marronage Act 2 portrays a similar scene with women as the central figures.
The New York Circus Project‘s HAMLET, a contemporary circus adaptation of the Shakespearean classic performed at Union Market Dock 5 in Washington, DC, this past month, took the flexibility of what is generally accepted as Shakespeare’s most successful story to a literal place, with several tricks up their sleeve
The Broccoli City Festival 2024 ignited D.C. with unity and celebration during the final weekend of July. This year's event marked a significant upgrade as it moved to the city's newest sports venue, Audi Field, home of D.C. United.
At Washington, DC’s Union Station passenger railway waiting area, you'll come across a series of murals spanning the upper walls from Gate A through L. The murals, entitled The Potomac Shen River Series, were created by local artist Katherine Tzu-Lan Mann. They’re the second installation of Art @ Amtrak at Union Station, part of Amtrak's initiative to revitalize the station and enhance the travel experience for its visitors.
The DC/DOX Documentary Film Festival returned to the district this June, once again providing a platform for emerging filmmakers innovating documentary storytelling. Held from June 13th to 16th, the festival showcased a diverse range of documentaries on big screens across the city. These films tackled critical topics like LGBTQ+ shelters and the controversial reinstatement of Arizona's abortion ban.
Our lives are an amalgam of ordinary moments and significant events. Interior Lives, an exhibition featuring works by up-and-coming local artist Sydney Vernon at Philips@THEARC captures the subtleties and complexities of these experiences.
The Art of the Challenge part of the Alexandre Diop: Jooba, Jubba, L'Art du Defi, the Art of Challenge exhibit at the museum, showcases five potent works by the French-Senegalese artist. Diop tackles complex themes such as colonialism's lingering effects, violence, and suffering. While the themes he explores are timeless, his choice of found materials adds a fresh perspective, transforming them into a powerful commentary on the contemporary issues he grapples with
“Phone rings, door chimes, in comes… Company?” That refrain is one of Stephen Sondheim’s greatest earworms (second only perhaps to “Bobby, Bobby baby, Bobby bubi, Robby,” etc. in the same song). And, in the shaky touring production of Marianne Elliott’s inventive reimagining of the beloved musical, playing at the Kennedy Center through March 31, it presents more like a cautious question than a confident declaration.
If Bravo had been spinning off franchises in the 12th century BC, one can only imagine that Penelope would be the wine-soaked breakout star of the Real Housewives of Ithaca. Known to classicists as Odysseus’ faithful, languishing queen in Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey, Penelope takes on a darker edge in a new musical bearing her name by composer and lyricist Alex Bechtel and co-book writers Bechtel, Grace McLean, and Eva Steinmetz. A pseudo-cabaret that asks audiences to consider the story from her point of view, Penelope runs at Arlington’s Signature Theatre through April 21.
“It’s certainly important to have these conversations in real life. But in real life, either emotions take over or, at the other extreme, people are too careful to really address the issues. There’s certainly a lot of anger expressed in The Niceties, but, for the most part, the characters stay on point,” says director Kevin O’Connell.
Playwright Marshall Pailet was captivated by Private Jones’ story and dreamed for many years of telling a First World War story through a unique lens—the true story of Private Jones, a deaf, Welsh sniper. Melding dramatic moments with comedy, music, and innovative sound design, Private Jones seeks to replicate Jones’ experience theatrically for both the hearing and hard-of-hearing audience.
Whether an indulgence of the market or a rebellion against it, Stefano Massini’s The Lehman Trilogy is undoubtedly a triumph. Since its translation into English by Mirella Cheeseman and its significant adaptation by playwright Ben Power, the play has carved out a generous space in the theater world, touring and transferring between theaters across Broadway, LA, and the West End for the past seven years.
Longing for a life beyond their exile, three Cuban sisters deal with loss and hope in GALA Theatre's Las Hermanas Palacios (The Palacios Sisters). Inspired by Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters, this powerful production examines themes of longing and belonging in a vibrant 1980s Miami.
Public Obscenities, written and directed by Shayok Misha Chowdhury was performed at Woolly Mammoth Theater until late this month.
Watching the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s new production of William Shakespeare’s As You Like It, I kept leaning forward in my seat, grinning, as the Bard’s poetry …
It’s a rare comedy that manages to be witty, political, socially engaged, viciously smart, and so funny that you spend much of the show laughing out loud. And I mean, really loud laughter echoing through the theatre. Even joy.
The Washington Ballet’s 2023-2024 season was announced earlier this summer with some highly anticipated productions, including …
Here There Are Blueberries, playing at The Shakespeare Theatre after its world premiere at San Diego’s La Jolla Playhouse, is compelling, thought-provoking, and tightly written.
It’s not often that a night at the theater leaves you feeling like “you’ve been to church!” This raucous bio-musical now playing at Ford’s Theatre follows the pioneering life of Sister Rosetta Tharpe (1915-1973).
Blue is a coming-of-age tragedy that’s as much about forgiveness, identity, and the false hopes and expectations of Black men, as it is about police brutality.
