18 stories by "Elizabeth Ballou"
Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli's "The Birth of Venus" is a painting famous for its youthful beauty and artistic mastery. When I stood in front of it in Florence, I struggled to look a…
Many theater people grow up daydreaming of the classic shows they want to take on one day. They envision themselves directing Angels in America, or performing the lead role in Phantom of the…
When The Rite of Spring, a ballet with a score by Igor Stravinsky, premiered in 1913, theater-goers were so shocked by Stravinsky's relentless, stabbing music and Vaslav Nijinsky's avant-gar…
"No major social change in this country has ever happened without the aid of storytelling," said Kimmel. "That's one of the reasons why I'm using a play to tell this story."
The post Profile…
On February 14, 2018, a gunman entered Stoneman Douglas High School and killed 17 students and teachers. On April 3, Playwright Lauren Gunderson made her new play involving gun violence, Nat…
The play En el tiempo de las mariposas (In the Time of the Butterflies), making its D.C. debut at GALA Hispanic Theatre, tells one of the most inspiring and heart-wrenching stories to come o…
Potted Potter, Potted Productions' rollicking parody of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels, is full of toy snakes, terrible wigs, and boatloads of physical comedy. The audience plays Quiddit…
The Gospel at Colonus, Avant Bard's production of the gospel-infused Oedipus story, opened on February 27Â with a sweet, bright salvo of a song. Members of the Women's Ecumenical Choir (he…
Imagine this: it is the night before Christmas. A silent snow blankets New York City, and inside a spare living room, a woman dozes in front of her Christmas tree. Her adolescent son snuggle…
“Let your joy be an act of resistance!" proclaims the woman who has seized the stage underneath Dupont Circle. She's wearing a top hat, winged liner, and a stylish frock coat. A lineup…
Kyla Garcia is starring as Sarah Ridge Polson in Sovereignty at Arena Stage. Sovereignty, by Mary Kathryn Nagle, tells two stories. One is of a modern Native woman (played by Garcia) fightin…
The Ford's Theatre production of Jefferson's Garden (by Timberlake Wertenbaker), which had its American premiere on January 24, tries to balance the oft-tread narrative of Thomas Jefferson's…
Imogen, Pointless Theatre's adaptation of Cymbeline, places one of Shakespeare's most confusing heroines at the center of a battle for her independence. As in Cymbeline, Imogen has to conten…
In 1839, Mary Kathryn Nagle's great-great-great grandfather, Cherokee statesman John Ridge, was assassinated for signing the Treaty of New Echota. In 2017, Nagle wrote a play about her famil…
Binomio, a flamenco show making its U.S. premiere at the GALA Hispanic Theatre, begins with two solo dances by Francisco Hidalgo and Anabel Moreno. The two dancers command the stage as they …
When Hurricane Maria struck the island of Puerto Rico on September 20th, the storm left millions of American citizens with no electricity, drinkable water, cell service, or a roof over their…
In the first scene of LadyM, a show devised by Francesca Chilcote, Rachel Hynes, Vanita Kalra, and Anastasia Wilson, a woman dressed in white dumps an entire bottle of ketchup onto a burger.…
On August 11th and 12th, a group of neo-Nazis, fascists, and white supremacists thronged Charlottesville, Virginia. They were there to protest " peacefully, they'd said " the removal of a st…
