I was very excited when I heard about the 2019 summer/fall season at the American Shakespeare Center: Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, and Shaw’s Caesar and Cleopatra. I’m kind of obsessed with Shakespeare’s Roman plays. Due to other obligations and theater-going opportunities, I didn’t end up seeing them until the end of the season. I […]
The first time a friend invited me to see a show at Synetic, I rolled my eyes, but went along. I’ve seen some of my favorite shows by saying yes to invitations I didn’t think I was interested in. This was no exception. The show was Romeo and Juliet, which I had just finished directing […]
It seems like Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Everybody is the play of the year. Theater people will know what I’m talking about–if you are in that world, every year, there’s some play that everyone you know is doing. Last year, it was The Wolves, Men in Boats, and, oddly enough, The Seagull. Nobody seems to know why […]
When I heard that Quill was doing an all-female Taming, I felt like this was the rare production of this text that I could handle seeing. I’m not a fan of the script. It’s not just the abuse that I don’t like (although there’s that). I also don’t think that the Bianca suitor plot is […]
Our local community theater put up Peter Pan and I took the kids. I’ve seen some things at Valley Players in the past that were outstanding (Outside Mullingar is a favorite). A few kids my kids knew were in the show as well. I should preface this by saying that I cannot even begin to […]
Shenandoah University, just up the way in Winchester, has a summer musical series. They bring in professional actors for most of the principal roles and their students make up the ensemble. I knew the general outline of Ragtime, but hadn’t ever seen it performed, so I wanted to see it. The production was outstanding, musically, […]
It’s not every day that a little theater in rural Virginia prints the words “A Gay Fantasia on National Themes” on its posters. When ShenanArts decided to mount Angels in America, I knew I had to see it, if only to encourage this kind of programming. I hadn’t ever seen Angels staged, although I have […]
A couple of years ago, around the time when I was trying the phrase “magical realism Shakespeare” on for size (it fits!), playwright Bob Bartlett told me, “You should check out Constellation Theater, in DC. They are your kind of people.” When I looked at their production history on their website, I about fell over. […]
I should just start by saying, I am not a fan of The Comedy of Errors. I nearly didn’t go to see it. But I knew my kids would enjoy it–they are in a phase of being quite excited about physical comedy. We were able to get a few homeschool friends to join us for […]
Sometimes the best shows are the ones you didn’t plan to see. I was all set to check out Shit-faced Shakespeare, when I learned it happened to have a hiccup in its usual schedule and wasn’t playing after all. More or less at random, I ended up seeing Ride the Cyclone, a musical I knew […]