The ‘ISEKAI: Blooming Parallel Worlds’ exhibit at Artechouse: Is it theater?
A visit to fantasy worlds in technology-driven experiential art points to provocative possibilities in performance and production. By JOHN STOLTENBERG
The enduring magnificence of ‘Les Misérables,’ now at Kennedy Center
It's one of the world’s greatest musicals and essential to see.
Craig Houk’s near-perfect ‘Brute Farce’ skewers a theater critic
A report on a staged reading of a new comedy that could become a theater-laughs-at-itself classic alongside 'Noises Off.'
The woman who freed Frederick Douglass: a Q&A with Kristolyn Lloyd
Behind every great man is a great woman, and the actor who plays Anna Douglass in 'American Prophet' at Arena Stage reveals the power in that truth.
What it means ‘When Boys Exhale’: A Q&A with Anthony Green
The writer-director explains why his play about young Black gay men is titled after the movie about Black women friends.
Gen Z feminism is the hero in ‘John Proctor Is the...
The quality of the writing and the caliber of the performances at Studio are enthralling, but here's what impressed me most. By JOHN STOLTENBERG
Exegesis of a sexy Jesus: A look at love in ‘A.D....
A magnificently entertaining and beautifully profound new musical has opened at Olney. Here's what love's got to do with it.
What’s ‘Once Upon a One More Time’ doing at the Shakespeare?
There's got to be more to it than a cool chance to groove on the oeuvre of Britney Spears. | Column by JOHN STOLTENBERG
Whitney White on directing James Baldwin’s classic ‘The Amen Corner’ at...
A frank, in-depth interview about activating the actor, performance for the white gaze, the play's queer narrative, and much more.
Mike Daisey mansplains
The master monologist takes an unblinking look at Scott Rudin, Andrew Cuomo, and himself.
Trans Lives and Theater as Change Agent: A Q&A with Dane...
In observance of the the 12th annual International Transgender Day of Visibility (March 31, 2021), we republish this in-depth conversation with two leading lights...
Tennessee Williams’s ‘Lady from the Village of Falling Flowers’ returns
Spooky Action Theater’s utterly charming production of The Lady from the Village of Falling Flowers—a recently discovered early work by Tennessee Williams directed for...
A critic at play
During the past seven-odd years that I've contributed to DC Theater Arts, I've written about upwards of 600 shows—sometimes as the designated reviewer (when...
Theatermakers of color call white theater to account for systemic racism
The cultural momentum powering protests that followed the May 25 murder of George Floyd has galvanized a national and local movement for transformational change...
Another lost female genius found, in ‘Einstein’s Wife’ at ExPats Theatre
The history of science is studded with female geniuses snubbed by sexism. There's biophysicist Rosalind Franklin, geneticist Nettie Stevens, chemist Alice Ball— And several...
“I want to make space for women who make mistakes”: A...
Dani Stoller's world-premiere comedy Easy Women Smoking Loose Cigarettes is funny and witty and in its own quirky way quite deep. Plus it puts...
‘Boys Don’t Cry’ at Dance Place rejoices in macho detox
Boys Don't Cry made this boy cry.
It happened near the end. I had been watching a performance by the French dance company Cie Hervé...
Actor Mikéah Jennings unpacks his powerful performance in ‘Shipwreck’ at Woolly...
Anne Washburn's Shipwreck: A History Play About 2017 is an epic, scorching, and surreal satire of white liberalism in the era of Trump. It...
Who is Black? Signature Theatre’s ‘Gun & Powder’ hits a national...
It may surprise you (as it did me) that the title of this melodic world-premiere musical does not refer to gunpowder. The word gun...
‘The Royale’ at 1st Stage bares a Black brother’s big heart
This play about a boxer packs so many emotional punches into its compact six rounds, you might not know what hit you. As fists...