'Freud's Last Session' at Theater J by Nelson Pressley

Sigmund Freud cracks five pretty good jokes in the first five minutes of "Freud's Last Session," Mark St. Germain's easygoing two-character drama. St. Germain wants you to like Freud, even t…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 3:51pm on May 19, 2014☆⚑

Kennedy Center to host free concert headlined by John Legend by Nelson Pressley

John Legend will headline a free concert May 28 showcasing an eclectic group of pop artists who have emerged via YouTube. Read full article >>

SOURCE: Washington Post at 1:40pm on May 16, 2014☆⚑

Theaters revive parts of August Wilson's 'Decades Cycle,' reavealing unease over race by Nelson Pressley

Race relations news from the past few weeks: Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy's bigotry eclipses his 15 seconds of folk hero fame as a federal grazing fee resister. The NBA playoffs nearly grind …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 12:12pm on May 16, 2014☆⚑

Destined for D.C.?: 'Children of Eden' and 'Scottsboro Boys' draw creative interest by Nelson Pressley

Attend the tale of two wandering musicals with imperial bloodlines, one by Stephen Schwartz ("Wicked," "Pippin," "Godspell"), the other by John Kander and Fred Ebb ("Cabaret," "Kiss of the S…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 12:12pm on May 16, 2014☆⚑

Cahill's 'Charm,' Brenton's 'Bloody Poetry' pair well at Taffety Punk Theatre Company by Nelson Pressley

Kathleen Cahill's "Charm" takes a rosy view of the early American feminist Margaret Fuller and her appealing play floats. Howard Brenton's "Bloody Poetry" delves into the romantic visions of…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 11:49am on May 14, 2014☆⚑

Kennedy Center to host free concert showcasing range of YouTube artists by Nelson Pressley

The Kennedy Center announced Monday that John Legend will headline a free concert May 28 in the Opera House showcasing an eclectic range of pop artists who have emerged via YouTube. The one-…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 2:08pm on May 12, 2014☆⚑

'Smokey Joe's Café' musical revue at Arena Stage is energetic fun, if light on substance by Nelson Pressley

"Teach me how to shimmy," goes one of the songs in the Leiber and Stoller revue "Smokey Joe's Café," and shimmying is what the venerable Arena Stage is doing with its energetic revival of t…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 4:54pm on May 9, 2014☆⚑

How 'The Velocity of Autumn' ran into the ferocity of Broadway economics by Nelson Pressley

Washington-based producer Larry Kaye didn't break a leg on Broadway, but he's now walking with a cane. Kaye stumbled in a hotel lobby recently while talking to a British producer interested …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 11:42am on May 9, 2014☆⚑

Kennedy Center extending Jason Moran's contract for three years by Nelson Pressley

The Kennedy Center announced Tuesday that it is extending its contract with pianist and composer Jason Moran, 39, the center's artistic adviser for jazz since 2011. Moran is being renewed fo…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 11:11am on May 6, 2014☆⚑

Constellation's 'The Love of the Nightingale' is dynamic and heartbreaking by Nelson Pressley

Constellation Theatre Company has developed one of the most distinctive house styles in town, especially when they light into classic myths and exotic design on a budget. "The Love of the Ni…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 12:12pm on April 29, 2014☆⚑

'Underneath the Lintel,' an agreeable historical goose chase, benefits from faith in audience by Nelson Pressley

"Underneath the Lintel" is an agreeable goose chase about a librarian perplexed by a returned item that was 113 years overdue. Who had it all this time? What can such century-hopping mean? T…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 2:00pm on April 28, 2014☆⚑

In Signature's 'Threepenny Opera,' old themes find a new relevance and a new look by Nelson Pressley

To the tune of "Mack the Knife": Brecht's "Threepenny" has Songs with teeth, dear Read full article >>

SOURCE: Washington Post at 11:43am on April 18, 2014☆⚑

Light-footed charmer 'Once on This Island' opens breezily at Olney Theatre Center by Nelson Pressley

"Once on This Island" at the Olney Theatre Center is a burst of spring, a warm 90-minute fairy tale told to breezy Caribbean rhythms. This is the 1990 musical by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flah…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 2:14pm on April 14, 2014☆⚑

Lynn Nottage: A playwright made for D.C. audiences rarely sees her work produced here by Nelson Pressley

You'd think Washington would perpetually be in the market for sophisticated, unpredictable, audience-friendly plays by a black female playwright. Yet plays by Lynn Nottage, a Pulitzer Prize …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 11:28am on April 11, 2014☆⚑

Nottage industry: Area productions of the playwright's work by Nelson Pressley

"A Nottage play, like history, is full of discoveries," critic Michael Feingold once wrote of Lynn Nottage. "You never know what, or who, will turn up next." Oddly, Nottage's plays have sel…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 11:28am on April 11, 2014☆⚑

MetroStage's 'The Thousandth Night' deftly evades play's invitation to mawkishness by Nelson Pressley

Acting isn't subversive, right? That's the case a nervous Parisian performer makes to a roomful of 1943 French gendarmes in Carol Wolf's "The Thousandth Night," a solo drama that Alexandria'…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 11:44am on April 9, 2014☆⚑

'Two Trains Running' by August Wilson at Round House Theatre review by Nelson Pressley

In 1969 August Wilson, who would become the most accomplished and historically ambitious black playwright this country has produced so far, turned 24. Did he shortchange the cauldron of late…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 2:56pm on April 8, 2014☆⚑

'Arguendo' at Woolly Mammoth blends reality, absurdity in show about Supreme Court case by Nelson Pressley

What exactly can you do in public while nude? When the Supreme Court pondered the question in 1991, a lawyer began like this: A man walks into a bar. "Once inside the bar," the lawyer argue…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 11:20am on April 4, 2014☆⚑

'Brief Encounter' at Lansburgh Theatre review by Nelson Pressley

The "Brief Encounter" that's at the Lansburgh Theatre for the next two weeks is hardly a campy parody of the beloved 1945 romantic film, thank heavens. It's a gorgeous, unexpected fever drea…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 11:23am on April 2, 2014☆⚑

'Spelling Bee' at Ford's Theatre is i-f-f-y by Nelson Pressley

Ford's Theatre isn't the only place you can find "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" this month. In April alone, the chipper musical about angsty, lovable adolescents enduring a ner…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 6:57pm on March 31, 2014☆⚑

At World Stages, 'Les Souffleurs Commandos Poétiques' is an inspired artistic intervention by Nelson Pressley

Stop. Breathe. Smile. You're in the hands of angels of tranquillity. They look fabulous in their individualized black outfits " chic boots here, a bowler there. They're ultra-hip and cross-c…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 3:30pm on March 30, 2014☆⚑

National Theatre of China's 'Green Snake' at Kennedy Center playfully blends old and new by Nelson Pressley

The National Theatre of China's "Green Snake" begins with a dignified ceremony as monks march through the aisles of the Kennedy Center's Eisenhower Theater, taking the stage for a somber rit…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 2:39pm on March 28, 2014☆⚑

'Morning, Miranda' is disappointing, obvious follow-up from playwright Stephen Spotswood by Nelson Pressley

The new play "Morning, Miranda" is so TV cute that our addled heroine, Miranda, shows up late to her mother's funeral wearing a short red dress. The mother's spirit haunts the girl, nagging …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 1:06pm on March 25, 2014☆⚑

'Tender Napalm' at Signature Theatre can be hard to watch, but you can't look away by Nelson Pressley

For some audiences, enduring the first few minutes of the terribly titled "Tender Napalm" will take nerve. The language in this peculiar romantic blowup by English dramatist Philip Ridley is…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 12:36pm on March 25, 2014☆⚑

Puppets make 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' magical at Kennedy Center World Stages fest by Nelson Pressley

English director Tom Morris and South Africa's Handspring Puppet Company brought the world "War Horse," a sensation thanks in large part to the show's graceful, stunningly realistic life-siz…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 2:35pm on March 21, 2014☆⚑