All stories by Debbie Minter Jackson on BroadwayStars

Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Alabama Story, why a bunny book got banned from Alabama’s libraries (review) by Debbie Minter Jackson

The facts behind the real life incidents captured in Kenneth Jones’s Alabama Story – the controversy over banning a children’s book – stands as a cautionary tale, one that ha…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 12:21PM
Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Review: Nat Turner in Jerusalem at Forum Theatre by Debbie Minter Jackson

Nat Turner in Jerusalem is a journey into the fervent religious belief behind the leader of a slave rebellion in Southampton County, VA, armed only with a sword and spirit. You may have seen…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 12:14PM
Saturday, March 10, 2018

Review: The Texas Homecoming Revolution of 1995. Big laughs at Best Medicine Rep by Debbie Minter Jackson

The Texas Homecoming Revolution of 1995 has got to be one of the strangest titles that I’ve ever seen but the production is incredibly entertaining. The fast-moving script by Jennifer …

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 12:17PM
Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Becoming Dr. Ruth at Theater J (review) by Debbie Minter Jackson

Dr. Ruth. Nearly everybody knows her iconic look, sound and effervescent spirit. Little did we know, however, about the marriages that didn’t work, early professional hardships, experi…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 12:16PM
Monday, February 19, 2018

The Veils from Nu Sass (review) by Debbie Minter Jackson

In The Veils by Hope Villanueva, Melody, a female Marine translator in Afghanistan, has completed her tour of duty and returned stateside trying desperate to pick up the pieces of her life.…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 05:05PM
Monday, February 5, 2018

Booker T. Washington’s messages in Character Building resound today (review) by Debbie Minter Jackson

Most of us have heard of Booker T. Washington as the counterpoint to W.E.B. DuBois, one espousing the “safe’ position of newly freed blacks to better themselves through industry and serv…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 10:35AM
Saturday, January 27, 2018

Jefferson’s Garden at Ford’s Theatre (review) by Debbie Minter Jackson

Set in the time of the American Revolution, Jefferson’s Garden is the sweeping story of the immense struggle of our country’s founders, and the personal story of two people despe…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 10:34AM
Monday, January 22, 2018

Pointless Theatre’s Imogen, a romance with puppet (review) by Debbie Minter Jackson

It’s always a treat to see what Pointless Theatre does with a story, and they rise to new levels with their take on one of Shakespeare’s rambling masterworks.  The program notes that Sh…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 07:48AM
Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Rabbit Summer from Ally Theatre Company (review) by Debbie Minter Jackson

In the poster for Rabbit Summer, a woman wearing a glamorous dressing gown stands provocatively, hands seemingly on her hips.  A closer look through the shadows reveals she’s actually hol…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 11:58AM
Thursday, December 14, 2017

Foolish Fairytales from Faction of Fools, abundant silliness (review) by Debbie Minter Jackson

Faction of Fools’ usual abundance of silliness reaches new heights in Paul Reiser’s Foolish Fairytales.  The puns, the double entendres, mixed messages and general tomfoolery are so…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 11:33AM
Friday, December 8, 2017

Signature brightens the season with Holiday Follies (review) by Debbie Minter Jackson

Young new performers who you may not have heard about are finally getting their time in the ARK spotlight at Signature Theatre.  Katie Mariko Mariko Murray, Ines Nassara and David Rowen hav…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 11:18AM
Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Bruns’ gorgeous artistry in A Coffin in Egypt at Quotidian Theatre (review) by Debbie Minter Jackson

A Coffin in Egypt, one of Horton Foote’s lesser known scripts, has one of the most unengaging titles imaginable, (it’s actually derived from the last line in Genesis).  Get past the tit…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 11:24AM
Monday, November 20, 2017

Nina Simon: Four Women at Arena Stage (review) by Debbie Minter Jackson

Nina Simon: Four Women at Arena Stage slams you from the moment you see the set depicting a blown-up church with pews flying in mid-air, windows shattered and still smoldering, dust settling…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 09:06AM
Wednesday, November 8, 2017

The Ravens, a provocative look at victims’ choices (review) by Debbie Minter Jackson

The Ravens brings a whole new perspective to defining art.  What’s Shakespeare’s text doing on the lips of a strip tease performer while she sliding down the pole in shimmery stilettos?…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 11:24PM
Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Musical The Mistress Cycle debuts at Creative Cauldron (review) by Debbie Minter Jackson

What is it about the idea of a mistress?  Throughout history the “other woman” has been called all kind of names under the sun, shunned, cast-out, run out of town, off the land – or b…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 10:33AM
Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Are you now, or have you ever been… review. Shameful Congressional hearing by Debbie Minter Jackson

A writer’s life is peculiarly isolated and the opening sequence of Are you now, or have you ever been… makes that abundantly clear.  A typewriter sits on a table with a stack of papers …

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 12:06PM
Monday, September 11, 2017

Astronomy and witches . Aglaonike’s Tiger at Venus Theater (review) by Debbie Minter Jackson

Perfectly timed since the region is still enthralled from the excitement of the near total solar eclipse, Aglaonike’s Tiger is a stylistic rendering of one of the earliest female astronome…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 11:12AM
Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Gems found at Kennedy Center’s Page-to-Stage 2017 by Debbie Minter Jackson

Debbie Minter Jackson sends back this report from her visit to the Saturday, September 2, opening day of this year’s Page-to-Stage festival at the Kennedy Center and brings back some s…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 11:54AM
Tuesday, August 22, 2017

The Wizard of Hip (Or When in Doubt, Slam Dunk) at MetroStage (review) by Debbie Minter Jackson

Thomas W. Jones II is older and grayer than when I saw his show 25 years ago but The Wizard of Hip is just as poignant and entertaining as he struts his stuff and delivers bucket loads of a…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 12:18PM
Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Janet Langhart Cohen on Anne & Emmett, when will the hatred that destroyed these children end? by Debbie Minter Jackson

Talking with Janet Langhart Cohen is like stepping back in time and talking to a time traveler –she’s been everywhere and knows everybody.  A broadcast journalist and President and CEO …

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 12:33PM
Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Welcome to Fear City (review) by Debbie Minter Jackson

It’s surprising how quickly a time period can be captured with a few props, boom box, land line phone and some huge Afro wigs.  This world premiere by the talented Kara Lee Corthron is fi…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 11:06AM
Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Wizard of Oz at Creative Cauldron (review) by Debbie Minter Jackson

The timelessly wonderful Wizard of Oz still shimmers brightly.  The familiar story that’s over a century old delights with each well-remembered sight, sound and scene at Creative Cauldron…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 07:48AM
Tuesday, May 9, 2017

Master Class at MetroStage (review) by Debbie Minter Jackson

The Tony Award-winning play Master Class, now at MetroStage, is a thrilling tribute to opera, love, passion and artistry. Playwright Terrence McNally includes the audience as part of an actu…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 12:06PM
Monday, April 24, 2017

Lydia Diamond’s back at Arena Stage with Smart People (review) by Debbie Minter Jackson

The long awaited Smart People at Arena Stage tackles issues of race and gender stereotypes from the viewpoint of four distinctly different people, each serving as a kind of archetype of hist…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 12:02PM
Thursday, April 6, 2017

King Lear from Lean & Hungry Theater (review) by Debbie Minter Jackson

For this special fully staged production after ten years of radio dramas, Lean & Hungry Theater sure picked a doozy. Lear isn’t for the faint of heart.  For one, the notorious a…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 11:18AM
Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Dry Land at Forum Theatre (review) by Debbie Minter Jackson

Dry Land, though set over 100 years later than its companion piece, What Every Girl Should Know, Forum Theatre’s #nastywomenrep, is an alarming reminder that young women continue to f…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 11:36AM

What Every Girl Should Know at Forum Theatre (review) by Debbie Minter Jackson

What Every Girl Should Know opens in pitch darkness with barely audible intermittent sounds of female pleasure, various tones and tonalities and an intermittent gasping groan.  What in the …

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 11:36AM
Friday, March 10, 2017

Playwright D. L. Coburn responds to MetroStage’s production of Gin Game by Debbie Minter Jackson

Pulitzer Prize winning playwright D. L. Coburn was intrigued by DC area reviews of his play, The Gin Game, at MetroStage, enough to make a special trip to see it.  He wrote the play 40 yea…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 11:36AM
Monday, February 20, 2017

The Very Last Days of the First Colored Circus (review) by Debbie Minter Jackson

It’s a rare and unusual  treat to dip into parts of history that have been cast aside, forgotten and ignored. There was a time when the circus coming to town was the most exciting thing a…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 11:54AM
Thursday, February 9, 2017

Exciting. Electric. Enchanting. Ella Enchanted at Adventure Theatre MTC (review) by Debbie Minter Jackson

Being obedient and doing as one is told are usually good traits instilled in the earliest ages and rewarded with parental approval and societal regard.  When obedience is compelled without …

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 05:42PM
Wednesday, February 8, 2017

The Gin Game at MetroStage (review) by Debbie Minter Jackson

In the right hands, a simple game of cards can uncover secrets, reveal hidden truths, and topple the best intentions of polite etiquette and civility.  The Gin Game at MetroStage shows tha…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 09:36AM

All that Chat

2023-2024 BROADWAY SEASON
May 30, 2023: Grey House - Lyceum Theatre
Jun 26, 2023: Just For Us - Hudson Theatre
Jul 24, 2023: The Cottage - Hayes Theater
Nov 16, 2023: Spamalot - St. James Theatre
Dec 18, 2023: Appropriate - Hayes Theater
Mar 07, 2024: Doubt - Todd Haimes Theatre
Apr 14, 2024: Lempicka - Longacre Theatre
Apr 17, 2024: The Wiz - Marquis Theatre
Apr 18, 2024: Suffs - Music Box Theatre
Apr 25, 2024: Mother Play - Hayes Theater
Jun 10, 2024: The Drama Desk Awards