All stories by Celia Wren on BroadwayStars

Thursday, July 14, 2016

Shared camaraderie in ‘We Know How You Die!’ by Celia Wren

The show, from Upright Citizens Brigade performers, draws on a volunteer’s life story.

SOURCE: Washington Post at 03:36PM
Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Standout plays at this year’s Contemporary American Theater Festival: The list by Celia Wren

“The Wedding Gift” and “The Second Girl” have bright futures on the national scene.

SOURCE: Washington Post at 04:02PM
Friday, July 8, 2016

A ‘Mikado’ for a modern age — minus Japan, but complete with a bar by Celia Wren

A Chicago theater company brings two revamped Gilbert and Sullivan classics to Olney.

SOURCE: Washington Post at 01:51PM
Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Happenstance’s tongue-in-cheek homage to vaudeville resonates today by Celia Wren

‘Moxie,’ at Round House, has a sly modern perspective and alludes to the passing of time.

SOURCE: Washington Post at 03:00PM
Thursday, June 23, 2016

How to get lost in the Source Festival’s new plays by Celia Wren

Mazes and dreams mark this year’s premieres.

SOURCE: Washington Post at 11:16AM
Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Pulitzer winner ‘Next to Normal’ finds a rock musical in mental illness by Celia Wren

The Keegan Theatre’s production is overall an effective showcase for a hugely affecting story.

SOURCE: Washington Post at 06:03PM
Tuesday, June 14, 2016

A dated ‘Matt & Ben’ is still goofy fun, spoofing buddies Affleck and Damon by Celia Wren

Piece by Mindy Kaling, Brenda Withers purports to depict early relationship between the actors.

SOURCE: Washington Post at 04:22PM
Tuesday, June 7, 2016

A winningly intense ‘El Paso Blue’ at GALA Hispanic Theatre by Celia Wren

Poetic play reimagines the Oedipus myth as a contemporary love triangle in Texas.

SOURCE: Washington Post at 03:31PM

Faction of Fools’ ‘The Miser’ generates a windfall of wit by Celia Wren

Actor/director Toby Mulford, as Harpagon, and Molière’s 1668 comedy are a perfect match.

SOURCE: Washington Post at 02:28PM
Tuesday, May 17, 2016

The audience controls the action in ‘Happy Hour,’ and, yes, you get a drink by Celia Wren

Spooky Action Theater’s Interactive theatrical experience is a twist on familiar video game.

SOURCE: Washington Post at 08:57PM

A potential Jackson Pollock painting sparks an exaggerated class war by Celia Wren

Subtlety is not exactly the strong suit of the intermittently comic drama ‘Bakersfield Mist’ at Olney Theatre.

SOURCE: Washington Post at 10:02AM
Tuesday, May 10, 2016

A bold production of ‘Phaeton’ from Taffety Punk Theatre Company by Celia Wren

Playwright Michael Milligan chose iambic pentameter for his myth-based drama.

SOURCE: Washington Post at 12:51PM
Friday, April 29, 2016

The tangled questions on C.S. Lewis’s journey to becaming a Christian by Celia Wren

At the Lansburgh, a play about the writer probes theological issues but lacks visual variety.

SOURCE: Washington Post at 02:06PM
Wednesday, April 27, 2016

What’s up with the glowing baby at the back of the stage? by Celia Wren

A sense of mystery is at the heart of Rorschach Theatre’s production of “The Electric Baby.”

SOURCE: Washington Post at 04:39PM
Monday, April 25, 2016

Caliban and the Taliban? Shakespeare as you’ve never imagined. by Celia Wren

At the Folger, Reduced Shakespeare Company gleefully tackles the Bard’s “first” play.

SOURCE: Washington Post at 05:02PM
Tuesday, April 19, 2016

With Theatre Du Jour play, prepare to be shocked, and maybe grossed out, too by Celia Wren

Troupe stages the surreal “To Have Done With the Judgement of God” at D.C. Arts Center.

SOURCE: Washington Post at 03:55PM
Tuesday, April 12, 2016

GALA Theatre weaves a swift and taut ‘Chronicle of a Death Foretold’ by Celia Wren

Solo piece “One Word More” at Mead Theatre Lab also delves into questions of guilt.

SOURCE: Washington Post at 04:20PM
Wednesday, April 6, 2016

‘In a Word’: A poetic, rock-solid look at grief and loss by the Hub Theatre by Celia Wren

Reality often swings to absurdism as a woman seeks the return of her kidnapped son.

SOURCE: Washington Post at 03:28PM
Tuesday, April 5, 2016

The sparks fly when Tolstoy, Jefferson and Dickens meet in the afterlife by Celia Wren

THEATER REVIEW | “The Gospel According to Thomas Jefferson, Charles Dickens, and Count Leo Tolstoy: Discord”

SOURCE: Washington Post at 03:54PM
Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Keegan’s ‘American Idiot’ is lively but lacking in the song-and-dance department by Celia Wren

Musical based on the Green Day album follows three friends in post-9/11 America.

SOURCE: Washington Post at 12:38PM
Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Keegan’s ‘American Idiot’ is lively but lacking in the song-and-dance department by Celia Wren

The young adults in the rock musical “American Idiot” may suffer from alienation and malaise, but they apparently don’t have a problem with vertigo. In Keegan Theatre’s pleasant if r…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 05:33PM
Friday, March 18, 2016

An intense ‘1984,’ with echoes of 2016 by Celia Wren

At one point in the intense and memorable “1984” by the British ensemble Headlong, a squall of paper swirls through the air. A wary freethinker named Winston, having found a momentary re…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 02:00PM
Tuesday, March 15, 2016

A battle of wills and wits in Forum Theatre’s ‘The Pillowman’ by Celia Wren

It is the rare police interrogation chamber that doubles as a shadow-puppetry stage. It’s a rarer one still that also appears to be located inside a security-directorate meeting hall. But …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 06:05PM
Sunday, February 28, 2016

Poetry dances across the stage in ‘Mortal Tongues, Immortal Stories’ by Celia Wren

Poetry editors around the world would turn green with envy if they knew about the current multimedia performance by Dakshina/Daniel Phoenix Singh Dance Company. In an era that gives short sh…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 04:24PM
Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Theater reviews: ‘The Maid’s Tragedy’ and ‘Antigone Project: A Play in 5 Parts’ by Celia Wren

The eponymous heroine of the early-17th-century play “The Maid’s Tragedy” could teach Ophelia a thing or two about rejection. Like Hamlet’s ex, Aspatia of Rhodes sees her relationshi…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 04:12PM
Thursday, February 18, 2016

‘Collaborators’: Spooky Action Theater spins a semi-absurdist tale by Celia Wren

Joviality and waggishness may not be traits you immediately associate with the Stalinist secret police. But then you probably haven’t met Vladimir, the NKVD operative in John Hodge’s pla…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 01:48PM
Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Review: ‘Señorita y Madame’ at the GALA Hispanic Theatre by Celia Wren

A mortal enemy sure comes in handy. That’s one takeaway from “Señorita y Madame: The Secret War of Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein,” an informative, fitfully comic, double-barre…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 04:04PM
Friday, January 29, 2016

Audiences’ enduring ‘love affair’ with Alvin Ailey’s ‘Revelations’ by Celia Wren

“It’s pretty clear that there’s a love affair between audiences and ‘Revelations,’ ” choreographer Alvin Ailey wrote in his autobiography, speaking of the work that would becom…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 12:22PM
Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Keegan gives bright rendering to Steve Martin’s ‘Picasso at the Lapin Agile’ by Celia Wren

His canvases may still be selling for a relative pittance, but the Pablo Picasso who shows up at a Parisian bar in 1904 is making a killing on personality. As zestily portrayed by Matthew J.…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 03:58PM

Shadow puppets lend an otherworldliness to ‘Midsummer’ by Celia Wren

The shadow-puppet fairies in WSC Avant Bard’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” are a striking lot. Oberon is a muscular figure with an angry thicket of hair. Titania’s attendant Cobweb …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 02:51PM
Tuesday, January 19, 2016

NextStop Theatre’s ‘Middletown’ ponders life’s mysteries by Celia Wren

Partway through dramatist Will Eno’s quirky, philosophical and nearly plot-free “Middletown,” an eccentric couple who have opted to tour a run-of-the-mill small American community expl…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 02:32PM

All that Chat

2024-2025 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 05, 2024: Home - Todd Haimes Theatre
Jul 11, 2024: Oh, Mary! - Lyceum Theatre
Jul 30, 2024: Job - Hayes Theater
Sep 12, 2024: The Roommate - Booth Theatre
Nov 14, 2024: Tammy Faye - Palace Theatre
Dec 12, 2024: Cult of Love - Hayes Theater
Dec 19, 2024: Gypsy - Majestic Theatre
Mar 17, 2025: Purpose - Hayes Theater
Apr 01, 2025: Glengarry Glen Ross
Apr 10, 2025: Smash - Imperial Theatre
TBA: Titanic