Not all plays are about the story. In fact, with many Harold Pinter plays, the story is the least interesting part. His works tend to center on character, the turbulence inherent in the rela…
Stunning, haunting, and entrancing are the words that came to mind as I watched Olney Theatre Center's production of Prince Gomolvilas' play "The Brothers Paranormal." The show's deeply enga…
 Intergenerational stories that spotlight that moment, or moments, when a younger person suddenly "gets" what an older person is going through and vice versa can be difficult to pull off…
I had no idea what to expect going into Brian Feldman's "Dishwasher 2: I Pay You." Was this going to be some sort of performance art piece? A no-holds-barred theatrical experiment? An ingeni…
The emotional stakes are high in Nilo Cruz's "Baño de Luna" ("Bathing in Moonlight"). Cruz, a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, also directs GALA Hispanic Theatre's production of his pla…
"My Mama and the Full-Scale Invasion" defies genre. It defies any sort of easy categorization. In many ways, it even defies a label like "play," and that is precisely why it is so mesmerizin…
Pulitzer Prizing-winning dramatist Annie Baker's "Circle Mirror Transformation," like many of her plays, focuses as much on what is not said and the awkward silences as it does on the snippe…
Psalmayene 24's play "Out of the Vineyard," now running at Joe's Movement Emporium in Mt. Rainier, offers an incisive look at racism and slavery in America through stories conveyed by descen…
The depressing opportunism that takes on a life of its own in James Graham's drama "Ink," is largely embodied by the set design as conceptualized in Round House Theatre's production, c"produ…
Creating a show that appeals to both children and adults can be a bit of a tricky feat. You have to incorporate enough action, color, and vibrancy to appeal to young people while sustaining …
When Lynn Nottage's Pulitzer Prize-winning play "Sweat" first opened on Broadway in 2017, New York Times critic Ben Brantley, reflecting on the play's blue-collar, Reading, PA roots, observe…
"Grounded" is a one-woman show that chronicles an Air Force pilot's transition from flying actual fighter jets to becoming part of what she deems the "Chair Force." Not previously familiar w…
In rather vehemently discussing the stark differences between the cold, hard facts of science and the reassurance of belief, Mother Miriam exclaims, "I want the opportunity to believe. I wan…
Admittedly, I had never heard of "The Absence of a Cello." This was also my first time attending a performance by the Bowie Community Theatre. Happily, I have to say that BCT delivered, and …
Prologue Theatre seemingly isn't afraid to take some risks when it comes to the types of productions they mount. They are happily in the process of laying the groundwork for a reputation tha…
"The Road to the End" by Bella Panciocco first developed during her senior year at George Mason, is probably among the weightier pieces premiering at Capital Fringe this year. Its subject ma…
"RiverShe Collective Arts: Queer Family Summer Sanctuary" is part religious revival, part variety show and part platform for the kind of quiet activism that emphasizes kindness over in-your-…
I was not at all sure what to expect from Erin Joy Schmidt's one-woman show about the somewhat elusive figure at the center of Roe v. Wade. I went in expecting something akin to a political …
You never know what you're going to get when it comes to Capital Fringe. With Pinky Swear Productions' "Bell Wringer," the cleverly contrived, highly entertaining randomness of it all perfec…
Plays containing lesbian leads are sadly"at least in this lesbian's opinion"few and far between. Broadway musicals containing a lead character who is lesbian are even scarcer. In fact, prior…
Anna Ziegler's 2015 play, "The Last Match," on its surface is the depiction of an intense tennis match between two rivals, the old guard and the new, and two very different approaches to the…
Alison Leiby's 70-minute stand-up show, "Oh God: A Show About Abortion" is not just about abortion. While the story she tells does ultimately wind its way to her self-professed "anticlimacti…
In "real life," the course of a relationship rarely runs smoothly. In Theater J's production of "One Jewish Boy" written by British playwright Stephen Laughton, the relationship at the cente…
"The Laramie Project," the most iconic and widely produced play developed by the Tectonic Theater Project under founder Moisés Kaufman, chronicles a very well-known and heinous anti-LGBTQ+ …
Having strong chemistry on stage suggests that the actors are not only invested in playing their own parts to the utmost of their ability but, also, they are mindful of helping their cast ma…