173 stories by "Ravelle Brickman"
Anyone who thinks that storytelling is a lost art should hurry on over to the Quotidian Theatre Company, where Jane Squier Bruns is now holding forth in A Coffin in Egypt, Horton Foote's mas…
It's roughly a year ago to the day that Vicuña"a political satire of presidential proportions"had its first showing in Los Angeles. At the time, audiences laughed themselves silly over th…
In Sotto Voce, Theater J's first production of the 2017-18 season, the characters don't actually lower their voices. Instead, they speak in whispers, and not always to each other. However, t…
Even before the houselights go dim, sparks fly. That vision " of fire blazing from a riveter's gun in a factory in Detroit " is emblematic of what is to come in Skeleton Crew, Dominique M…
Some of the most interesting new plays unveiled at this year's Page-to-Stage Festival–held over the Labor Day weekend at the Kennedy Center–were among those offered by Playwright…
Any doubts about the future of the American Theatre were put firmly to rest on Labor Day Weekend, when more than 60 DC-area companies presented excerpts from some of their newest plays at Th…
It's no coincidence that The Devil's Music – the show that celebrates the life and song of Bessie Smith – blew into Washington's bustling H Street district at roughly the same ti…
Horton Foote, the Oscar and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of hundreds of plays for stage and screen, was known as the American Chekhov. As such, his work is a perfect choice for The Quotidia…
Cabaret, the blistering musical satire written more than 50 years ago by John Kander and Fred Ebb, stormed into The Kennedy Center this week with a performance that had the audience on its f…
Internet addiction is no laughing matter. However, for the talented team now lighting up the stage at the Sprenger Theatre at Atlas, the Internet–and all the craziness it has produced&…
Welcome to show business! And welcome to this comedy revue where four talented actors burst on and off the stage offering send-ups of various show biz situations, real and imaginary. Geoffre…
One of the most frequently performed plays in America today, The Laramie Project, is now on view at the Atlas Performing Arts Center, where the bare stage of the Lang Theatre has been transf…
I love Fringe. And like many theatergoers, I head off each day with tolerance and hope. The tolerance is for shows that are long on ambition, and the hope is for something more. Imagine my s…
You don't have to understand quantum mechanics " or even elementary physics " to follow Quantum Suicide: A Talk by Professor Sophie Miller, the one woman show now enjoying its first Fringe p…
The verdict is in: Shylock–the Jewish moneylender whose trial is detailed in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice–has been exonerated. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsbur…
They're back! Second City–the group that made Chicago the capital of comedy and that all but invented improv–has returned to DC, where it is part of The Kennedy Center's month-lo…
Seeing The Return, the stunning new play that has just burst upon the stage at Mosaic Theater Company of DC–is like watching fireworks up close. In fact, the heat from this drama is…
 The idea of using theater to educate people is not new. The Greeks were doing it way back when, using the great amphitheater at Epidaurus to teach the populace that murder and mayhem wou…
Seeing All Shook Up at Arena Stage last weekend was like an adventure in time travel. The show, which played for one weekend only, offered a glimpse of a long-ago world"1955, when Elvis Pres…
It's taken five years for The Father"the highly-acclaimed drama by Florian Zeller that shook Paris in 2012"to arrive in the Washington area. But now that it's here"following sold-out perform…
Theatre-lovers searching for a sequel to Doubt"John Patrick Shanley's prize-winning (and frequently revived) play about nuns and priests in an Irish-American enclave of New York"will be surp…
 South African playwright Athol Fugard's early masterpiece, Blood Knot, has finally returned to DC. And, judging by the roaring ovation on opening night, those who can see this production…
If you can imagine a play that captures bits and pieces of The Wizard of Oz and Greek Mytholgy, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and a Tom and Jerry comic, then you will have some idea of what goe…
The How and the Why – Sarah Treem's celebrated play about science, feminism and generational rivalry – has just made its long-awaited DC debut at Theater J. The two-handed play i…
  US Premiere of Mexican Classic Now Playing at GALA Hispanic Theatre  Some might think of it as a Mexican version of Rashomon"Akira Kurosawa's classic 1950 film in which each of …
