What can our theater community do for our city during Trump’s...
We have seen the deployment of a police and military force against U.S. citizens, against the will of the people and the government of DC. By JULIAN OQUENDO and NICOLE HERTVIK
Wishful thinking at the Kennedy Center: An essay for the moment...
A Kennedy Center volunteer and theater fan reflects on the value of wishing, on and off the stage. By SAM BERIT
To Kennedy Center or not to Kennedy Center? For DC audiences,...
My first visit to Trump’s bizarre new fiefdom and why going back is... complicated. By NICOLE HERTVIK
What can DC-area theaters offer axed government workers?
Discounted or free tickets for furloughed or fired civil servants can be seen as a long-term investment in the future of the community. By DAVID SIEGEL
Jason Loewith on the fight for our country’s artistic soul
The artistic director of Olney Theater Company responds to President Trump’s plans for the Kennedy Center with a call to action. By JASON LOEWITH
Anxious questions for DC-area theater on Inauguration Day 2025
In the face of what might be a frontal assault, can we commit to collective fearlessness? By DAVID SIEGEL
Questions confronting theater at the onset of possible tyranny
What lies ahead? Is the past a guide? Will theaters band together? By DAVID SIEGEL
What will happen to DMV theater in the next four years?
What do you think? How worried should we be? Opinion by DAVID SIEGEL
Peter Marks is gone. Now what?
The veteran theater critic leaves the Post as a new generation takes DC theater journalism in new directions. Readers must adjust their habits to find them. By NICOLE HERTVIK
Bring back Page-to-Stage!
An appeal to Kennedy Center to resurrect the annual new play festival, from a playwright whose work got a boost at this vital event. By PATRICK FLYNN
Unpacking what was funny and not in David Sedaris’ show at...
Afterthoughts on an act in which some of the humorist's most memorable stories framed women or people of color as individuals we’re supposed to laugh at.
‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ at Kennedy Center opens us to our...
Aaron Sorkin's reimagining of Harper Lee's novel set in the 1930s is urgent and exhortative about the need to take sides against racism and ignorance now.
It’s still not time for theaters to quit mask and vax...
Continuation of COVID safety policies is crucial to local theaters’ economic health and survival.
Two women dress down ‘Five Women Wearing the Same Dress’
The comedy now running at Dominion Stage gets a critical look by its director and a cast member.
It’s time to say ‘No shot, no show,’ by Stephen Beaudoin
The executive director of The Washington Chorus calls on DC Metro performing arts organizations to make a vaccination policy rooted in respect.
The reopening long shot
It’s been quite the terrifying year for us connected to the performing arts. An absolute scary time that began in mid-March 2020 as theaters...
On toxic artistic leadership (part three): Manifesto for theater ethics
Back in the 1980s, the Harvard University Business School dismissed offers to create a curriculum in ethics—free of charge, if I remember correctly; an...
On toxic artistic leadership (part two): Training actors to be abused
The departure of Ethan McSweeny from the American Shakespeare Center was only one among many over the past year. Taken as a whole, the...
On toxic artistic leadership (part one): When workers unite in...
News of Ethan McSweeny’s departure as artistic director of the American Shakespeare Center has prompted a variety of responses—and the mainstream theater critics seem...
The year that COVID canceled live theater and a revolution came...
Theater history will long remember that 2020 was the year that COVID canceled live performance. It canceled lots else, of course, including, tragically, hundreds...