All stories by Anne Valentino on BroadwayStars

Monday, October 27, 2025

Theatre Review: ‘Dr. Moloch’ presented by Flying V Theatre at Silver Spring Stage by Anne Valentino

AI is everywhere. As a professor, I attend numerous faculty meetings, seminars, and sessions to address the head-scratching dilemma of “what do we do with this thing?” This dilemma has b…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 10:12AM
Friday, October 24, 2025

Theatre Review: ‘The Wild Duck’ at Shakespeare Theatre Company, Klein Hall by Anne Valentino

Henrik Ibsen, arguably the forerunner of theatrical realism, did like to take little expressionistic leaps now and then, blending the bleak workaday world with a more surrealist spin on the …

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 11:20AM
Monday, October 20, 2025

Theatre Review: ‘Cold Country’ presented by ExPats Theatre at Atlas Performing Arts Center by Anne Valentino

Swiss playwright Reto Finger’s “Cold Country” comes across as part folktale, part gothic campfire story, and part dysfunctional family drama. Combined, all of these ‘parts’ offer a…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 11:45AM
Saturday, October 11, 2025

Theatre Review: ‘Julius X’ at Folger Theater by Anne Valentino

Theatrically chronicling the rise and fall of Malcolm X demands a contextual framework equal to the larger-than-life mythicism of the story. Al Letson, using  Shakespeare as his canvas, cas…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 01:46PM
Monday, October 6, 2025

Theatre Review: ‘The Heart Sellers’ at Studio Theatre by Anne Valentino

With his most recent play, Pulitzer Prize finalist Lloyd Suh proves that he is indeed a master manipulator of the heartstrings. Taking audiences on a wild and still deeply poignant journey t…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 06:27PM
Monday, September 29, 2025

Theatre Review: ‘Dream Hou$e’ at NextStop Theatre Company by Anne Valentino

Playwright Eliana Pipes’ “Dream Hou$e” isn’t afraid to scratch at the scab of human greed, as it takes a deep existential dive into the lengths that some will go to to ensure a comfo…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 07:49PM
Monday, September 22, 2025

Theatre Review: ‘The Great Privation (How To Flip Ten Cents into a Dollar)’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company by Anne Valentino

The year is 1832. A mother and daughter stand vigil at the gravesite of Moses Freeman, father and husband. We don’t know the circumstances initially. We don’t know how he died or why the…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 11:06AM
Tuesday, September 16, 2025

Theatre Review: ‘Craiglisted’ at Nu Sass Productions by Anne Valentino

Once upon a time, Craigslist was a bold new entry into the online classifieds arena. People flocked to the platform to buy and sell “new-to-you” items, to find employment, look for apart…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 02:01PM
Tuesday, September 9, 2025

Theatre Review: ‘Dodi & Diana’ presented by Mosaic Theater Company at Atlas Performing Arts Center by Anne Valentino

Plays based on actual people from the past generally take one of several approaches: they might offer an in-depth, if not quasi-fictionalized, narrative about a specific moment(s) from that …

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 03:18PM

Theatre Review: ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman’ at GALA Hispanic Theatre by Anne Valentino

With a new movie musical version set to be released in October, “Kiss of the Spider Woman” seems to be enjoying a dynamic revival. While the Bill Condon-directed J Lo-led film promises t…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 01:35PM
Monday, July 28, 2025

Theatre Review: ‘Apropos of Nothing, a Comedy’ at The Keegan Theatre by Anne Valentino

The DC premiere of Greg Kalleres’ “Apropos of Nothing” at The Keegan Theatre may be just what this summer ordered in the nation’s capital. Forget the politics, forget the chaos, forg…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 06:06PM
Sunday, July 27, 2025

Theatre Review: ‘A Guide to Modern Possession’ by Caro Dubberly at District Fringe by Anne Valentino

Caro Dubberly’s “A Guide to Modern Possession” takes us musically and theatrically where I have yet to see many productions of its kind tread. The setup is unique, the songs are well-c…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 10:29AM
Wednesday, July 23, 2025

Theatre Review: ‘Happy Fall: A Queer Stunt Spectacular’ by Lisa Sanaye Dring with Rogue Artists Ensemble at the Contemporary American Theater Fest by Anne Valentino

People don’t often think about the ones behind the scenes of big-budget films—particularly not the stunt people who fight the fights, take the hits, and fall from bone-breaking heights d…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 10:54AM
Tuesday, July 22, 2025

Theatre Review: ‘Side Effects May Include…’ at the Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF), Shepherd University by Anne Valentino

Most people have likely never heard of the condition known as Akathisia. The mother in Lisa Loomer’s new play, “Side Effects May Include…” at the Contemporary American Theater Festiv…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 05:32PM

Theatre Review: ‘Dead Inside’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company by Anne Valentino

No one talks about infertility, not really. Poignantly, actor, writer, and singer Riki Lindhome wiped away tears as she concluded her one-woman show about what she faced over the course of n…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 05:17PM

Theatre Review: ‘Now to Ashes’ presented by Theatre51 at District Fringe by Anne Valentino

The history of abolitionism in the United States can be a difficult one to trace, not to mention writing a play about it. The intersection between abolition and women’s suffrage is a parti…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 04:40PM
Tuesday, July 15, 2025

Performance Review: “Out of My Wheelhouse” (District Fringe Festival) at Phoenix-UDC Lecture Hall by Anne Valentino

Improv, when done right, can be a laugh-out-loud journey that constantly keeps you guessing. At the first annual District Fringe Festival, the improv performance of “Out of My Wheelhouse�…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 09:11PM
Sunday, July 6, 2025

Theatre Review: ‘Duel Reality’ by The 7 Fingers at Shakespeare Theatre Company (part of the DC International Theatre Festival) by Anne Valentino

“Duel Reality’s” tagline, “never was a story of more whoa,” a clever play on the final line of “Romeo and Juliet,” perfectly encapsulates the experience of watching The 7 Finge…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 11:43AM
Tuesday, June 17, 2025

Theatre Review: ‘The Rocky Horror Show: Pride Edition 2025’ presented by Iron Crow Theatre at Baltimore Theatre Project by Anne Valentino

Ask anybody what “The Rocky Horror Show” is about and generally answers run along the lines of: “it is such a good time,” or “you get to throw toilet paper!” or “the songs are …

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 01:52PM
Friday, June 13, 2025

Theatre Review: ‘The Berlin Diaries’ at Theater J by Anne Valentino

Penning a memoir-style journey into one’s ancestral past is an intriguing way to approach a key historical moment. Using a blend of two distinct and, at the same time, blurred voices that …

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 12:14PM
Tuesday, June 10, 2025

Theatre Review: ‘The Piano Lesson’ at 1st Stage by Anne Valentino

One of August Wilson’s most celebrated plays, the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama “The Piano Lesson,” takes audiences to 1930s Pittsburgh. Set in a modest home centered around an ancestra…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 11:49AM
Monday, June 9, 2025

Theatre Review: ‘Bull in a China Shop’ presented by The Montgomery Playhouse at The Gaithersburg Arts Barn by Anne Valentino

Mary Woolley isn’t exactly a well-known historical figure. Most would be hard-pressed to say who she was. Still, her life and legacy make for absolutely fascinating theatrical material. In…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 09:52AM

Performing Arts News: Pride Plays, Pop-Ups, and a Strathmore Extravaganza – WorldPride 2025 by Anne Valentino

As WorldPride 2025 came to a close, it’s safe to say that the art and artists marking the events of the past two weeks were just as varied, beautiful, and spectacularly unique as the queer…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 09:22AM
Wednesday, June 4, 2025

Theatre Review: ‘King James’ at Round House Theatre by Anne Valentino

The term “buddy comedy” usually denotes a story about the enduring bond between two generally different, generally male characters as we watch them embark upon some sort of journey, life…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 05:12PM
Tuesday, June 3, 2025

Theatre Review: ‘Andy Warhol in Iran’ presented by Mosaic Theater at Atlas Peforming Arts Center by Anne Valentino

  Capturing the essence of a character like Andy Warhol (who arguably was as much self-conceptualized character as he was actual human being) can go one of two ways: either the portrayal wi…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 10:59AM
Monday, June 2, 2025

Performing Arts News: A Gender-Defying Shakespeare and an Iconic Gay Men’s Chorus or Two, WorldPride 2025 by Anne Valentino

This year Google did not mark the start of Pride month with some whimsical rainbow-colored send-up of its home page, per their usual. If you’ve checked out the National Park Service’s St…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 11:12AM
Thursday, May 22, 2025

Theatre Review: ‘Juxtapose: A Theatrical Shadow Box’ presented by Happenstance Theater at Joe’s Movement Emporium by Anne Valentino

Happenstance Theater’s “Juxtapose: A Theatrical Shadow Box” is said to have been influenced by the shadow box art of Joseph Cornell, the films of Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Jacques Tati, a…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 11:32AM
Monday, May 12, 2025

Theatre Review: ‘Hamlet’ presented by Avant Bard Theatre at Gunston Arts Center Theatre Two by Anne Valentino

Avant Bard Theatre has a reputation for offering a malleable Shakespeare that speaks to an array of issues, stagings, and audiences. With their production of Kathleen Akerley’s conception …

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 08:08PM
Tuesday, May 6, 2025

Theatre Review: ‘Baby With The Bathwater’ at Spotlighters Theatre by Anne Valentino

A pioneer in modern absurdist theatre, Christopher Durang can be seen as polarizing. You either love his work or hate it. Indeed, attend a production of one of his plays and you’re apt to …

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 11:28AM

Theatre Review: ‘Paradise Blue’ at Studio Theatre by Anne Valentino

Immersive theatre experiences can be somewhat tricky to do well. There’s the logistics of it all, having actors disciplined enough not to be distracted or thrown off by less-than-conventio…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 11:02AM
Tuesday, April 29, 2025

Theatre Review: ‘Choke, Or, SUCEDE HASTA EN LAS MEJORES FAMILIAS’ at GALA Hispanic Theatre by Anne Valentino

Passion, raw emotion, and utter frustration need no translation in GALA Hispanic Theatre’s latest production, “Choke, Or, SUCEDE HASTA EN LAS MEJORES FAMILIAS.” The actors pour their h…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 07:06PM

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