By Valerie J. Mikles

When the curtain rises, you’ll be struck by the stunning and ambitious multi-level set. The deep maroon accents give a rich feel, the in situ lights and fire glow ominously, and you’ll never guess where all the secret compartments are hidden. Set designer Dan Lavanga and set dresser Roy Hammond have created a gorgeous interior of an old Victorian house that sets the mood for murder.

Bowie Community Theatre’s latest production, Web of Murder by Jonathan Troy, is a whodunit murder mystery in a classic style. It’s filled with family drama, creepy clues, and more than one twist to keep you guessing. 

Minerva Osterman (Jeanne Louise) is a domineering, ailing matriarch who invites her wealthy family to the mansion for a reading of her will — an event she wants to lord over them while she’s still alive. The wheelchair-bound woman lives with her spineless daughter (Melanie Belkin), her shrewd housekeeper (Rosalie Daelemans), and a mysterious doctor (Roy Hammond), all of whom are gritting their teeth so they won’t be disinherited. When Minerva’s nieces arrive with two unexpected guests, Minerva informs them that she knows she will be murdered soon and that several of them will die with her. Panic, hijinks, and murder abound in this tangled caper, though without a detective leading the case, it is up to the audience to piece together the clues. No one is above suspicion.

Jessie Duggan lights the stage as the animated, over-the-top Belle Hamilton. Duggan and Tatum Moss (playing ex-con Pete Martinelli) match their body language and stylized speech to heighten the characters’ chemistry and create an entertaining and endearing couple. Duggan foils perfectly off Dana Fleischer, who plays her sister, Mary Hamilton. Where Duggan is outrageous, Fleischer is poised and prim. Fleischer carries much of the show’s movement, being both strong and vulnerable as she draws out the clues and backstory from the other characters. 

Louise anchors the show as the mean-spirited Minerva, dominating and taunting her family, but revealing unexpected layers as the show progresses. She’s supported by a strong cast, all of whom give great performances. Melanie Belkin as the worn-down Stephanie Osterman stole my heart every time, because I really wanted her to escape the mother who treated her like a servant and held her hostage.

The sound design team of Mo Gaia, Sally Dodson, and Randy Tusing brings an unexpected, but noteworthy element. The use of mood music underneath the dialogue adds intrigue to the exposition. They work in concert with the lighting design team of Collin Griese, Nicholas Mudd, and Randy Tusing to never let you forget that it is a stormy night in a gloomy mansion surrounded by ravenous, murderous dogs. The use of lamps around the set creates a wonderful, eerie vibe. As a three-act show, there are one-and-a-half acts before intermission and one-and-a-half acts after. The lighting and sound design use their elements as glue to transition between acts.

There were a few imbalances in the set that sometimes distracted me from the performance, namely the cluster of chairs blocking the fireplace and the too-small couch that often had three people squeezed onto it. While director Randy Tusing did a good job of creating balance in the blocking, at times I felt the characters were moving in circles for the sake of moving. Some perceived imbalances may have been to keep the paths wide for the wheelchair and for the sheer number of corpses that had to be hauled off the stage. 

Story-wise, a few threads never got woven into the plot, leaving the motives of the individual characters too nebulous to grasp. This led to one of my murder-mystery pet peeves: the killer’s reveal speech brought a lot of brand-new information rather than weaving in tidbits or clues that had been scattered along the way. 

Regardless, the actors truly breathe life into the characters, making the show engaging and fun to watch. Overall, it was a delightful night out and was well-received by the audience. I’m glad BCT is bringing its signature murder mystery shows back to the stage.

Running Time: Two hours, including one 15-minute intermission and a raffle.

Web of Murder plays through November 16, 2025 (Friday and Saturdays at 7:30 PM and Sunday matinees at 2 PM), presented by Bowie Community Theatre performing at Bowie Playhouse, 16500 White Marsh Park Dr., Bowie, MD. Purchase tickets ($25, general; $20, seniors and students) online, by phone at the BCT Hotline at 301-805-0219, or by email (boxoffice@bctheatre.com) prior to the performance date.

Web of Murder
Written by Jonathan Troy
Directed by Randy Tusing

CAST
Nora, The Housekeeper: Rosalie Daelemans
Stephanie Osterman: Melanie Belkin
Minerva Osterman: Jeanne Louise
Mary Hamilton: Dana Fleischer
Keith Latimer: Andrew Rappa
Belle Hamilton: Jessie Duggan
Pete Martinelli: Tatum Moss
Dr. Adler: Roy Hammond
The Woman: Lauren Barnes

PRODUCTION TEAM
Producers: Alan & Penni Barnett
Director: Randy Tusing
Stage Manager: Penni Barnett
Set Designer: Dan Lavanga
Costume Designer: Linda Swann
Set Dresser/Decorator: Roy Hammond
Properties Designer: Roy Hammond
Sound Designer: Mo Gaia, Sally Dodson, Randy Tusing
Lighting Design: Collin Griese, Nicholas Mudd, Randy Tusing
Sound and Lighting Crew: Bowie Playhouse Staff

Valerie J. Mikles is a Ph.D. astronomer who made a career leap to work on weather satellites. Balancing her science life, she fills her free time writing novels, playing songs on her ukulele, and vacuuming cat hair. Her motto in life is “I can be everything I want, just not all at the same time.”

The post A tangled classic whodunit in ‘Web of Murder’ at Bowie Community Theatre appeared first on DC Theater Arts.

In Prince William Little Theatre’s haunting October production of The Woman in Black, director Cameron McBride conjures a masterclass in atmospheric storytelling that lingers long after the final blackout. Staged in the intimate Gregory Family Theater at the Hylton Performing Arts Center, this adaptation of Stephen Malatratt’s play (based on Susan Hill’s novel) embraces minimalism with maximum impact, inviting the audience to lean into the shadows and fill in the terror with their own imagination. PWLT’s imaginative retelling of the story that played for over 30 years in London’s West End is a perfect treat for the ghoulish season.

In this story, Arthur Kipps, a lawyer obsessed with a curse that he believes has been cast over him and his family by the specter of a Woman in Black, engages a skeptical young actor (and his spectral stagehands) to help him tell his terrifying story and exorcise the fear that grips his soul. It all begins innocently enough, but then, as they reach further into his darkest memories, they find themselves caught up in a world of eerie marshes and moaning winds.

The principal actors, John Mathews and Scott Heine, deliver a complex retelling of the story with a masterful challenge of portraying multiple layers of character simultaneously. The play, which is essentially a play within a play, is haunted throughout by the ghost story. Scott’s Arthur Kipps hires John’s Actor to depict himself, retelling the ghost story. At the same time, Arthur Kipps takes on the roles of numerous other characters in the story. Their chemistry is compelling, especially as the boundaries between performance and reality start to blur. 

The ensemble of “Shades” — Becca Anderson, H. Christian Aguilar, Ava Botros, Laura Gibson, Emily LaCroix, and Billy Lister — adds eerie texture, haunting the periphery with silent menace and spectral grace. They add an extra layer of subtle dread, foreshadowing the ghost story that underlies both the reality of the past and the horror that may come.

The production team deserves high praise for crafting an immersive world with subtlety and skill. Michelle Brooks and Cameron McBride’s set design is evocative without being literal, allowing the audience’s imagination to roam. Award-winning lighting designers Ken and Patti Crowley manipulate shadow and silhouette with finesse, bringing the stage to life and afterlife, while Matthew Scarborough’s sound design heightens the tension with moaning winds and distant echoes. Riley Leonhardt’s costume work and Emily Lagana’s hair and makeup complete the illusion, grounding the ghostly in the Victorian.

The Woman in Black is a triumph of suggestion over spectacle, of imagination over exposition. It’s a ghost story that doesn’t just ask you to watch — it asks you to participate. As McBride writes, “The real chills are not on stage, but in what you picture just beyond the light.” PWLT’s production delivers those chills in spades, offering a perfect October night of theatrical magic.

Catch it before it vanishes into the mist. And when you leave the theater, don’t forget to glance over your shoulder — you never know what might be following you home.

Running Time: One hour and 50 minutes, with one 15-minute intermission.

The Woman in Black plays through October 19, 2025, presented by Prince William Little Theatre performing at Hylton Performing Arts Center, 10960 George Mason Cir, Manassas, VA. Purchase tickets ($20–$25) online.

CAST
Actor: John Mathews
Arthur Kipps: Scott Heine
Shades: Becca Anderson, H. Christian Aguilar, Ava Botros, Laura Gibson, Emily LaCroix, Billy Lister

PRODUCTION TEAM
Director: Cameron McBride
Producer: George Fulda
Stage Manager: Deb Hansen
Hair and Make-up Design: Emily Lagana
Set Design: Michelle Brooks & Cameron McBride
Set Dressing: Michelle Brooks
Lighting Design: Ken Crowley & Patti Crowley
Costume Design: Riley Leonhardt
Properties Design: Julianna Gedney
Dramaturg: Jenn Robinson

The post Chilling elegance and thrills in Prince William Little Theatre’s ‘Woman in Black’ appeared first on DC Theater Arts.

By Kaitlyn Gibbens

Bethesda Little Theatre is about to serve up a new treat — and this one comes with plenty of heart, humor, and life’s twists and turns. Following the production of two other original musicals, including Neal Learner’s Trees in 2023, BLT proudly presents the world premiere of Leaner’s new work, French Cupcakes.

French Cupcakes is a (fictional) legendary café-bakery in a quaint midwestern college town. Under the direction of Michael Fowle (director), Paul Rossen (music director), and Cathy Oh (choreographer), BLT’s new and seasoned actors bring the charming locale and characters to life.

When Pierre, the café’s beloved owner, is ready to hang up his apron and chase sunsets on the French Riviera, the other characters are left to determine the café’s fate. The main characters’ dreams of becoming a diplomat, a shining country star, and a Wall Street titan collide with the reality of French Cupcakes’ future as a community mainstay. And, as fate would have it, old ambitions melt away, making room for unexpected new beginnings — even for the “Greek Chorus” of baristas. French Cupcakes promises heartfelt moments, laugh-out-loud scenes, and an ending that reminds us: Sometimes dreams come true… just not the ones you expect.

French Cupcakes, presented by Bethesda Little Theatre, runs October 10–12 and 17–19, 2025, at the Writer’s Center, 4508 Walsh St, Bethesda, MD. Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 PM and Sundays at 2:30 PM. Tickets are $28 general admission ($22 for senior citizens and military servicemembers and $18 for children 12 and under) and available online.

Join BLT for the icing on the [cup]cake: a talkback from playwright and composer Neal Learner, along with the director and music director, after the October 12 performance and a post-performance dessert party after the October 17 performance!

The post ‘French Cupcakes’ is on the menu at Bethesda Little Theatre appeared first on DC Theater Arts.

If you’re a fan of improv, chances are you’ve heard of The Improvised Shakespeare Company®, who perform regularly in DC as they tour around the country.

But did you know that the District has its very own improvised Shakespeare group?

The Merely Players: An Improvised Shakespeare Show hits the Washington Improv Theater (WIT) stage on September 28 for a limited run of four consecutive Sunday performances at 7 PM. It’s part of WIT’s fall show series Laugh Riot: Comedy in the Face of Everything!, which started September 19.

The Merely Players are directed by veteran improv performer Shawn Westfall, who says his homegrown homage to The Bard packs the punch of a five-act play into a 40-minute spectacle.

He sat down with WIT’s Anna K. Nelson to talk about why audiences can’t seem to get enough of improvised Shakespeare in this capital city, where, one imagines, a good number of people go around thinking, “Don’t you know how important I think I am?”

Anna K. Nelson (WIT): Let’s start with the troupe’s name. Presumably, it’s taken from As You Like It?

Shawn Westfall: That’s right, from Act II, Scene VII: Jacques says this as a preface to his “seven ages of man” speech:

All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts…

I love this speech because it corresponds to something I’ve long believed about identity, that we — all of us, not just “actors” — are playing roles constantly, and these roles shift over time and are sometimes forced upon us. I think recognizably “self-aware” people are more accurately “selves-aware” in that they understand this, as well as how a modicum of insincerity and “performance” is occasionally necessary for graceful human interaction.

And I love how comically the word “players” is diminished when it’s modified by “merely,” suggesting that players, i.e., you and me, are not, and never are, as important as we think we are in the grand scheme of things.

What made you want to start up an improvised Shakespeare group here in DC?

To be candid, DC’s seen its share of improvised Shakespeare already. A lot of us got hooked after catching Improvised Shakespeare at the Del Close Marathon in NYC — what, 20 years ago? We were like, “Wait, you can improvise a genre? Even THAT one?” To my mind, that show basically kicked off the whole genre-improv wave, and DC folks were eager to try a Shakespeare one. A few short months later, some of us — including WIT’s Artistic and Executive Director Mark Chalfant — cobbled together Crude Mechanicals for WIT’s annual festival of experimental improv called Improvapalooza. When I ran my own theater here in DC, I leaned hard into genre improv with an improvised Shakespeare structure as a tentpole show that I directed and performed in. Later, in Portland, Oregon, I joined former Philly improv-scene mainstay Kristen Schier’s Love, Shakespeare show, and once I was back in DC, Rails Comedy asked me to direct another improvised Shakespeare show — and of course I said “Yes.”

That’s the long answer, obviously. The short answer? I’ve loved Shakespeare ever since my undergraduate English survey class, and I’ve loved improv ever since I began performing it in the mid-’90s. For me, it’s two great tastes that taste great together.

Shakespeare can be challenging to perform on a good day (and without the added pressure of making the words and the plot all up in real-time while staying in character!). What are some particular challenges The Merely Players have faced as you’ve been rehearsing?

I mean, none, obviously! Why should there be any challenges whatsoever? Rehearsals are flawless and executed perfectly! Why do you ask this silly question?

(Just kidding, of course.) The primary challenge for us is narrative time. Shakespeare had the luxury of five-act plays into which he shoved a lot: characters, soliloquies, swordplay, romantic banter and bawdiness, ghosts, physical comedy, battles, marriages; scenes that changed locations quickly and by turns from, say, Rome to Cairo and back again. He also had audiences for whom this was their primary means of entertainment, essentially their “streaming service:” There was little else to do back then except go to a weekend Globe Theatre show and spend the afternoon drinking beer and seeing what this chatty, crazy Hamlet fellow is going to get up to next.

The Merely Players, on the other hand, have approximately 40 minutes to create a couple of characters, the worlds/milieus they inhabit, and then — without a script — find ways to bring these worlds together such that it appears “Shakespearean,” doing our best to incorporate the above. But it’s a tightrope that’s not only fun to walk, but fun for the audience to watch us walk. I think.

What are the most thrilling aspects of improvising Shakespeare? It must be quite a rush for the players!

Indeed, and a rush for their director as well! I always enjoy seeing how this cast’s unique individual skillsets flavor their choices, characters, and tropes. We have one actor who excels at high-status roles and naturally plays royalty and another who is effortless with rhyme and meter and rattles off soliloquies. We also have a performer who embodies lower-class characters with ease, plus a couple with deep Maryland Renaissance Festival experience, which proves invaluable. Another actor shines at physical comedy. The whole cast has sharp improv skills and remarkable memories, weaving audience suggestions into the show in ways I could never predict. Those in-the-moment discoveries delight the audience, the cast, and me — it’s a joy watching how much fun they’re having!

Shakespeare’s use of language, character, setting, and genre was so intentional that one might be forgiven for thinking it a fool’s errand to play with it to such a degree. And yet, improvised Shakespeare works so well. Why do you think that is?

It may be a fool’s errand to tinker with Shakespeare’s language, characters, and settings — but Shakespeare, a fool himself, did it often. He freely borrowed plots and lifted characters from numerous sources, altering them as needed for his own plays. His sources range from, among others, Holinshed’s Chronicles (the source of both King Lear and Macbeth) to even older versions of Hamlet like the 12th-century Amleth and the now forever lost Ur-Hamlet, written a few decades before his Hamlet. Copyright, in the sense we now understand it, didn’t exist, and plagiarism hadn’t been defined as we now know it. Later eras even rewrote his plays — Romeo and Juliet was, in the early 18th century, staged with a happy ending. The “doomed” lovers were no longer ill-fated but surviving and marrying instead! (I know, right?)

I think an improvised Shakespeare show works because — and please, don’t tell anyone this — we’re not really “improvising Shakespeare.” The Merely Players are parodying what people think Shakespeare is: lofty, inaccessible, “high art,” the bastion of intellectuals and the academy,performed by snotty actors who take the plays and themselves way too seriously. That’s what I love about it: parody is baked in. It knocks Shakespeare off that perceived pedestal and returns him to what he was in the first place — entertainment, not Art-with-a-capital-A. I can’t prove it, but I doubt Shakespeare ever thought of himself as an “artist.” He was an entertainer, and a popular one at that.

What would you say to someone who’s not a huge fan of Shakespeare as to why they should come out and see The Merely Players?

The cliché, pedantic answer is that even if you think you don’t like Shakespeare, you kind of do: the English you speak every day is packed with phrases he invented, and if you’ve enjoyed movies like The Lion King (Hamlet) or Ten Things I Hate About You (The Taming of the Shrew), you’ve enjoyed Shakespeare.

But here’s a better answer: Shakespeare wasn’t just an artist, as I said above. He was an entertainer — and a spectacular one at that, specifically in the sense of the word “spectacle.” He was the Michael Bay of his era. Think about it: his plays have sword fights, explosions, battles, music, murder, dance, flirty banter, groany and bawdy puns, royalty and rogues, mistaken identities, cross-dressing, lascivious jokes, and both physical slapstick-comedy and intellectually sharp wit. And, despite this entertaining spectacle, as the five-act play wore on, audiences — especially those standing on the ground of the Globe in the cheap “seats” — grew rowdy, drunk, and chatty to the point that they began talking back to the actors on stage. Thus, actors had to improvise — that’s right, improvise — in character while keeping the play moving. Oh, and that cheap-seat standing crowd? They were called “groundlings,” and that’s where the legendary improv troupe/theater The Groundlings got its name.

So don’t come for “Shakespeare.” Come for the fun, the spectacle, the laughter. And to see improv comedy’s roots.

The Merely Players cast features Catherine Mullins, Zach Myers, Meredith Garagiola, Emily Dalton, Keegan Cassady, Sammy Garcia, Matt Mansfield, JoJo Franzen, and Shawn Westfall.

See them perform at Washington Improv Theater on Sundays from September 28 to October 19, 2025, at 7 PM. (Each show includes a 25-minute opener by a DC-based indie improv troupe, followed by a 40-minute performance by The Merely Players.) General admission is $20. Shows take place at Studio Theatre, 1501 14th St NW, Washington, DC. Go to witdc.org/shows.

You can also catch them at Rails Comedy on these Tuesdays: September 30 and October 14, 2025, at 8 PM at The DC Arts Center in Adams Morgan, 2438 18th St NW, Washington, DC. Go to railscomedy.com.

The post For The Merely Players, all of WIT’s a stage this fall appeared first on DC Theater Arts.

By Bill Leary

Suicide. It’s a simple word with a devastating impact. It’s a theme that has fueled countless dramatic works, but it’s a reality that the theater community knows all too well. Tragically, many beloved artists have faced mental health struggles, with some choosing to end their lives.

So when Community Crisis Services Inc. (CCSI) decided to organize a fundraiser to support suicide prevention, the choice of production may seem unexpected — Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show. But as CEO Tim Jansen explains, the choice was both intentional and deeply meaningful.

Why hold a fundraiser now, especially when so many are struggling?

Tim Jansen: Many people don’t realize that the 9-8-8 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline has seen a budget cut of more than $2 million, and the dedicated LGBTQ+ “press 3” option was completely defunded. These cuts forced us to lay off over 40 hardworking team members. We had to act — and fast. This fundraiser is our attempt to recoup even a small portion of that lost funding.

Why a theatrical production, and not a traditional fundraiser?

I didn’t want to host another evening of long speeches and rubber-chicken dinners. We’ve all sat through too many of those. I wanted to create a space where people could celebrate, learn, and connect — where the seriousness of suicide prevention could be approached openly, not hidden in the shadows. Theater is powerful in that way.

But why The Rocky Horror Show specifically?

Rocky is a cultural phenomenon. Whether you’ve seen it or not, most people know about it. The characters are wildly diverse, unapologetically themselves, and living outside societal norms. That message — of embracing individuality and being seen — is core to what CCSI stands for. We’re here for everyone, not just those who fit into a specific mold.

With limited funding, why use resources for a show instead of programs?

Thanks to a generous donor and theater lover, the entire production has been underwritten. That means not a single programmatic dollar is being spent. It’s a zero-risk opportunity to raise awareness and funds without compromising our core services.

How do the themes of Rocky Horror relate to suicide prevention?

Each character in the show is an outsider in some way — longing for love, belonging, identity, or home. Frank builds the “perfect man” to find connection. Magenta and Riff Raff long to return home. Brad and Janet are on their own journey of self-discovery. These universal emotions — loneliness, confusion, hope, and longing — mirror what so many people experiencing suicidal thoughts go through.

How has the cast responded to the mission behind the show?

Many of our cast and crew have personal connections to this issue — whether as survivors of suicide loss, individuals who’ve struggled with suicidal ideation, or advocates for mental health. In fact, the CDC has identified performing artists as having one of the highest rates of suicidal thoughts and attempts across all professions. So for many of them, this isn’t just a performance — it’s personal.

Can people support the event if they can’t attend in person?

Absolutely. CCSI is a 501(c)(3) organization, so donations are tax deductible. You can donate online at www.ccsimd.org or text CCSI to 71760. If you’d like to purchase a ticket to donate to someone else, we have an option for that as well. Just visit the donation section on our site.

What else can attendees expect from the event?

This is more than just a musical — it’s a full community experience. We have an incredible preshow lineup featuring:

• Congressman Glenn Ivey
• Prince George’s County Council Member At-Large Jolene Ivey
• The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington’s Potomac Fever

Plus other amazing speakers, performers, and a premium silent auction featuring theater tickets, exclusive items, and even a cruise for two on Holland America.

Final thoughts?

This event is a celebration of life, identity, and support. Suicide prevention doesn’t have to be discussed in whispers. Let’s shout it from the stage, in fishnets and glitter if we have to — because every life is worth saving, and every voice deserves to be heard.

The Rocky Horror Show: A CCSI 9-8-8 Suicide Prevention Event performs Saturday, September 20 at 7:00 PM at Bowie Center for the Performing Arts, 15200 Annapolis Rd, Bowie, MD 20715. Tickets range from $35-$100 and can be purchased online.

Need help? Call or text 988.
You are not alone.

The post How the ‘Rocky Horror Show’ is helping shine a light on suicide prevention appeared first on DC Theater Arts.

By Bob Bartlett

“Whereas the tourist generally hurries back home at the end of a few weeks or months, the traveler belonging no more to one place than to the next, moves slowly over periods of years, from one part of the earth to another.” ―Paul Bowles, The Sheltering Sky

Late this summer, I returned from Italy with a new play, Mary Shelley’s Monsters, which I wrote while with the good folks at La MaMa Umbria International, a nonprofit cultural center and artist residence in Spoleto founded in 1990 by La MaMa founder and legendary theater pioneer, Ellen Stewart, and a program of NYC’s La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club. Upon my return to my little farmhouse in central Maryland, I pitched an article to DC Theater Arts, mostly a travelogue but also a preview of the play, an adaptation of Frankenstein, which opens next week at the historic chapel at Congressional Cemetery in Washington, DC. And they said, yes!

I’d never travelled much until a few years ago, when I started solo travelling to write — and quickly fell in love with the adventure of it all. In recent years, I’ve spent two to four weeks each in Reykjavik, Iceland; Rhodes, Greece; a redwood forest outside of Eureka, California; an eco-farm in the Green Mountains of New Hampshire; a shack on a tree farm in the panhandle of Florida; and, most recently, Spoleto, Italy, in La MaMa’s restored 700-year-old monastery. Some of these travels were residencies and others were inexpensive Airbnbs far from the trappings of tourism.

I’m always curious about the habits of writers, their inspirations and work routines. I generally need noise, white, brown, or gray, which often presents as trance-inducing songs and music, a movie I’ve seen thousands of times playing in the background, or strangers milling around bookstores or chatting with friends in cafés. I’m not a writer who can work in silence or without focus-inducing distraction or low-level external stimuli. And I’ve learned that getting away from home plunges me into story in unexpected ways, and gets me to places and spaces unfamiliar and exciting.

I’d heard of La MaMa from playwright and director friends who had attended one of its residencies in Spoleto, and I’d never been to Italy, so with a grant from Bowie State University, where I am retiring professor of theater, I was on a plane from DC to Italia in early August.

I can’t say enough about the positive experience of being in Spoleto. The converted monastery/villa is everything I’d dreamed. For ten or so days, I worked and studied with 20 other writers and La MaMa’s staff and interns. This residency was led by Dael Orlandersmith, writer of Pulitzer Prize finalist Yellowman and Spiritus/Virgil’s Dance, which recently premiered at the Contemporary American Theatre Festival. Almost each morning, Dael led a three-hour workshop/session, which often drifted into the spiritual, and had writers spread about the floor of a lovely movement studio built into a hillside. I learned much about the play I was writing from hearing the work of peers and Dael’s compelling responses to our work.

La MaMa’s website accurately notes that writers are “immersed in the creative, natural and regenerative” while living and working at the historic villa, which is nestled in the Italian hills and surrounded by olive trees and offers breathtaking views of distant villages and valleys. Generally when I travel for writing, my routine includes exploring historic downtowns and regional must-sees, but my time in Spoleto was spent primarily on the grounds of the villa, which provides all a writer could need: so many stirring spaces to write, read, and wander; a café with morning cappuccino made by one of the remarkable interns; and locally-sourced meals including pastas made in the kitchen, pizza in the outdoor wood-fired, stone oven, and veggies culled from the garden.

I never quite adjusted to the time change, so I was often working throughout the night. I went to Italy with two pages of a play and came home with a messy 125 or so, which I’ve trimmed to a 65-page production draft.

Last fall, I was fortunate to present my horror play, Lýkos Ánthrōpos, which asked audiences over a chilly month to bring fold-up chairs or blankets and sit among the graves at Congressional Cemetery to witness a ghostly interaction between a werewolf and his victim. As that production ended, I pitched a new horror play to Cemetery leadership, an adaptation of Frankenstein, which would run in their chapel the following Halloween, and here we are. I knew only the title, Mary Shelley’s Monsters, and that the play would in some way bring Shelley face-to-face with her creations. The three-hander, directed by friend and collaborator Alex Levy, artistic and executive director at 1st Stage in Tysons, features Katrina Clark as Mary Shelley, Jon Beal as the Creature, and JC Payne as Victor Frankenstein. As with my other site-specific projects with Alex, this is a speedy affair with only a couple of weeks of rehearsal. I am a writer inspired by geography, so I was thrilled to spend a recent week alone and editing in the chapel, which was built in 1903 and has hosted countless interments, serving as a conduit, if you will, from one world to another, which my Mary Shelley spookily addresses in her opening monologue.

I couldn’t be happier with the play, although I admit to many sleepless nights this late summer, crushed by the immensity of the task of retelling a story (in only 85 minutes!) for audiences who revere the novel — and for those who know only Boris Karloff’s brilliant wordless monster and not the poetic and philosophical creature of Shelley’s cautionary and too relevant tale. My experiences in Italy, of course, have found their way into the play, including at least one significant panic attack, a late-night lost-in-the-hills walk in the rain, and many chats about story (and monsters!) with Dael and peers, as well as a half-day and 30,000 steps on a bum ankle, which took me to Rome’s Basilica, Forum, and Coliseum.

I hope you can make it out to Congressional Cemetery this fall to experience the horror of Mary Shelley’s imagination, as filtered through my lifelong obsession with her frightful fable. And if you’re considering solo travelling in support of your writing or attending La MaMa Umbria International, I’m always happy to share my experiences and methods.

Mary Shelley’s Monsters plays September 18 to October 12, 2025 (Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8:00 PM and Saturdays and Sundays at 2:00 PM), at Congressional Cemetery, 1801 E St SE, Washington, DC. Tickets are $35 and available online. Some content may not be appropriate for children.

The program for Mary Shelley’s Monsters is online here.

Bob Bartlett’s plays include Love and Vinyl (Kitchen Dog); Swimming With Whales (1st Stage); E2 (Rep Stage); Happiness (and Other Reasons to Die) (The Welders); The Accident Bear (Avenue Laundromat); Lýkos Ánthrōpos (Congressional Cemetery); and new full-lengths Writing In Diners, Mediocre White Men, A Boy on a Bed, and The Regular. MFA, Playwriting (Catholic University) (bob-bartlett.com)

The post Playwright Bob Bartlett on adapting ‘Frankenstein’ in Italy appeared first on DC Theater Arts.

By John Becker

Standing in the darkness of a field at 1 a.m. — my key light dead, a bug in my eye — I asked the questions we all ask in times of darkness: Why are we here? How did we get here?

In the 1950s, Arthur Miller answered those questions by writing The Crucible, transforming the fears of his time into art that still resonates today. Watching the absurdities of my own era, I started writing Deep End.

The narrative TV series follows strangers in a campground who discover they’re surrounded by a mysterious group of conspiracy theorists in the woods. Despite this, it’s mostly a comedy to reflect the absurdity of our age. As one of our cast, Vince Eisenson, put it: “Wearing a non-functioning headlamp in scenes of near total darkness gave me a feeling of delusional optimism.”

(Note to self: Contact manufacturers about merch — hats, T-shirts, car magnets — saying “Deep End: Delusional Optimists Only.”)

But Deep End isn’t just about what happens on screen; it’s about how we’re making it.

We’ve built a creative space that brings together some of the DC area’s most talented actors, who I maintain are as skilled as any in the country. Part of the fun of the series is finding your favorite DC actors in any given episode. We’ve partnered with local businesses like DC Pretzels, Honey Acres Farm, and Rockland Winery. Thanks to a grant from the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County, we were even able to support a young woman in crisis — someone who lost both parents as a teen, cares for her younger brother with Down syndrome, and is living with PTSD.

Our 1st AD, Kellie Scott Reed, put it best: “It’s been cathartic to work in a space where you can express the ridiculousness of the human experience when all seems deadly serious right now.”

That’s the mission of Deep End: to offer light in a time of darkness. We want audiences to laugh, to think, and to feel hope. Or, as cast member Veronica Del Cerro described, to simply “be together as a group in the dark and sing and just feel like teenagers again.”

Actress Beth Hylton said, “I had more fun working on this project than should be legal: it was one of the most joy-filled projects I have ever worked on! The only real challenge was trying to get through all the scenes with enough usable takes — because we kept breaking (or corpsing) to laugh!”

You can watch Deep End now on Fawesome TV and YouTube. By subscribing and sharing, you’re helping show that art — and its power to create joy and resilience — still matters.

Surrendering to fear brings greater fear. Confronting fear brings healing. Laughing at it brings not only joy, but change.

America may feel like one big dysfunctional family, where fear and blame dominate. But through comedy, community, and creativity, we’re proving there’s another way forward. Join us in the deep end. In Beth Hylton’s words: “I am so grateful and proud to be part of the Deep End cast and community and maybe help forge a path of resistance through laughter.”

Watch Deep End now on Fawesome TV. Subscribe on YouTube.

THE AWARD-WINNING WRITER, CAST, AND CREW

Writer/Director John Becker has won three Individual Artist Awards from the Maryland State Arts Council, was awarded 1st place in a play festival at the Kennedy Center, was recently awarded a grant for Deep End’s artistic excellence and social impact, and many more.

1st AD Kellie Scott Reed was Assistant Editor-in-Chief of Roi Faineant Press. Aside from her film work, she is also a short story writer, poet, songwriter, and former host of the interview show A Word. Kellie is an indispensible part of our Deep End team!

Beth Hylton (Beth) appeared in Law & Order, House of Cards, a Thanksgiving sketch on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, and many others. She has also appeared in many theater productions, including an Off-Broadway production of Handbagged by Moira Buffini.

Vince Eisenson (Vince) has appeared on New Amsterdam, The Good Lord Bird with Ethan Hawke, Billions, The Endgame, Wonder Woman 1984, What Would You Do, and many others. Vince also has extensive theater experience.

Gerrad Alex Taylor (Lamar) appeared in MacBeth at the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, Great Expectations at the Everyman Theatre, The Skin of Our Teeth at Constellation Theatre Company, Metamorphoses at the Folger Theatre, and many others.

Veronica Del Cerro (Ashley) appeared in Othello at Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, DC, Oedipus in Greece, Dead Tree Gives No Shelter in Denmark, We, MacBeth in England, My Children! My Africa! at Studio Theatre in DC, and many others.

Debora Crabbe (Gabrielle) featured in several productions at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. She also appeared in School Girls: Or the African Mean Girls Play at Round House Theatre and Gloria at Theatre J. She hosted the National Portrait Gallery’s Facing Our History show through Fresh TV.

Alyssa Sanders (Anne) is an Artistic Director at Avant Bard Theatre in Virginia. She appeared in King Lear, Pride and Prejudice, The Tempest, and many others.

Christopher C. Holbert (Tim) appeared in Hamlet, Coriolanus, and Julius Caesar at Avant Bard Theatre. He appeared in A Clockwork Orange at Studio Theatre in Washington, DC, and To Kill a Mockingbird at Theatre on the Run.

Karen Vincent (Jessie) appeared in Guys & Dolls, Ragtime, and Into the Woods at Ford’s Theatre. She has also appeared at Imagination Stage, Adventure Theatre, Olney Theatre, and many more. She is also a cabaret vocalist, appearing in many venues in the Washington, DC, area.

Jon Watkins (Harley) appeared in HBO Films’ Something the Lord Made with Alan Rickman, Kyra Sedgwick, and Mos Def. He has appeared in many theater productions, as well as many music venues in the DC area as a musician/vocalist .

Anna DiGiovanni (Jenny) appeared in Age of Innocence at Arena Stage, Leopoldstadt at Shakespeare Theatre Company, Through the Sunken Lands at the Kennedy Center, Benevolence at Mosaic Theatre, and many others.

Nick DePinto (Fred) appeared in productions at the Kennedy Center, Ford’s Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Constellation Theatre, and many others. He appeared in the film Meant to Be Broken. Nick is also a voiceover actor and musician.

Bradley Klotz (sound) is an essential piece of our Deep End family. He has worked on many films, including The Lonesome Trail and Water in a Broken Glass. Brad is the unsung hero of Deep End!

For more information, visit Jouska Productions.

The post New indie streaming series ‘Deep End’ offers light in dark times appeared first on DC Theater Arts.

By Avant Bard Theatre

This summer, Avant Bard Theatre invites audiences behind the curtain to witness the creation of a bold new work — Eclipsing Stars, written by playwright and professional trapeze artist Kaely Michels-Gualtieri, whose unique perspective shapes this new play’s blend of circus, Shakespeare, and American history.

The following interview comes in advance of three public presentations of Eclipsing Stars: a workshop reading on July 24 and two staged readings on August 1 and August 7, all followed by talkbacks with the playwright. These events are an essential part of the play’s development, giving Kaely and the team the chance to hear the piece with an audience and refine it further. 

Avant Bard: As both a playwright and professional trapeze artist, your career bridges two seemingly different worlds. How did you come to combine circus and theater in your artistic practice? 

Kaely Michels-Gualtieri: For over a decade, I was a professional swinging trapeze artist, performing my solo act with companies including Cirque du Soleil and Ringling Brothers. My career took me across 14 countries, three continents, and multiple awards. Then, everything changed.

While performing with Cirque du Soleil, I sustained several debilitating injuries that left me unable to perform — and I’m still in recovery. Like Kafka’s Gregor Samsa, I awoke one morning in a body I no longer recognized. I had collided headfirst, quite literally, with my greatest fear: Is it still possible to soar when one can no longer fly? My world is no longer defined by defying gravity, but by learning to live within its weight. And to my surprise, in my fall, I found something new — my voice.

P.T. Barnum’s narrative arc in Eclipsing Stars mirrors my own: master of spectacle reckoning not just with performance, but with the cost of admission. Akin to Barnum, I once built worlds meant to dazzle, to distract, to defy death. But when the spotlight fades, what happens when a body and a curtain fall? What lingers in the dark? Writing this play allowed me to explore those questions — not just with my mind, but with the muscle memory of someone who has flown, fallen, and found meaning in both.

The essence of the theater is its ability to transform feeling into form. My artistic voice emerged from a fusion of fear and flight, of tension and trust, of that suspended moment when the story lifts off the ground and becomes something more. That moment — that lift — is central to both my artistic identity and this play. And if, for even a heartbeat, the audience takes flight, then the circus in this play has done its job.

Eclipsing Stars blends history, Shakespeare, and circus metaphor in a unique and compelling way. What inspired you to tell the story of the Booth brothers through this lens? 

The first big circus contract I ever signed was with Barnum’s very own Greatest Show on Earth. I toured the United States and matured as a trapeze artist under his spotlight. But it wasn’t until I became a student that I learned Barnum rose to fame at the very same time as the Booth theatrical dynasty — against the volatile backdrop of the American Civil War. From there, the idea took hold: the story of the Booth brothers should be told through the eyes of the Greatest Showman on Earth.

Historical accuracy gave me the structure. Shakespeare gave me the language. And the circus gave me the metaphor. I wanted to explore the performance of ideology: how two brothers, raised on the same stage, could become mirrors, shadows, and eventually, foils. In Eclipsing Stars, Barnum becomes both ringmaster and reckoner, guiding us through a three-ring collision of belief, doubt, and legacy.

As a trapeze artist, I’ve always lived in metaphor — suspended, defying gravity, trusting invisible forces. That perspective shaped the way I approached their story. The circus became the natural framework: a place of spectacle, illusion, and danger, where performers risk everything for a fleeting moment of awe. And what is history if not a spectacle we retell to make sense of the fall?

As this play continues to develop through readings and talkbacks, what are you most hoping to learn from these early audiences? 

What excites me most about these early readings is the opportunity to listen — really listen — to how the story lands on an audience. This play asks big questions about fate versus free will, legacy versus inheritance, and performance versus spectacle. But it also lives in the small moments: in the glances between brothers, the pauses before a line, the weight of what isn’t said. I want to know how those moments feel in the room. Are the stakes clear? Do the themes connect? Are the transitions fluid? Is Barnum guiding the audience — or obscuring the path?

I’m especially interested in how people respond to seeing these prominent historical figures (Abraham Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth, and P.T. Barnum) reframed. I want to know when the audience leans in — and when they pull away. This information will help me shape the next version of the play.

Eclipsing Stars is an ambitious play, weaving together history, Shakespeare, and circus metaphor. I’m eager to learn what resonates emotionally, and where the story needs more clarity or breath. Ultimately, I’m not looking for perfection at this stage — I’m looking for impact. I want to know how the play breathes when it’s out of my hands and in someone else’s imagination.

Upcoming Readings of Eclipsing Stars by Kaely Michels-Gualtieri

Workshop Reading – District Fringe (Directed by Erin Abney)
Thursday, July 24, 2025, at 7:30 PM
Flicker Bar (4340 Connecticut Ave NW, DC)
Free admission – no reservations required

Staged Reading #1 (Directed by Natalie Cutcher)
Friday, August 1 at 6:30 PM
Big Bear Café (1700 1st St NW, DC)
Suggested donation: $20 – reserve tickets online.

Staged Reading #2 (Directed by Natalie Cutcher)
Thursday, August 7 at 6:30 PM
Dock5 (1309 5th St NE, DC)
Suggested donation: $20 – reserve tickets online.

Avant Bard Theatre produces thought-provoking theater dedicated to interrogating the classics and classical themes through innovative, bold approaches in intimate settings. Gratefully in its 35th season, Avant Bard has delivered high-quality, diverse, and accessible arts to the Washington, DC, region since 1990.

The post How to soar if one can’t fly: Kaely Michels-Gualtieri on her career switch from trapeze artist to playwright appeared first on DC Theater Arts.

By Andrea Moya

“Where are you from?”

With this question, Cody LeRoy Wilson engages the audience. He is standing on what appears to be the back porch of his family’s farm in Plum Run, West Virginia — complete with a screen door, whitewashed wooden walls, and an antique chair — as if these 100 or so people just happened to stop by one summer afternoon. After a smattering of answers (responses ranging from DMV locals to visitors from as far as Florida), he endeavors to answer that question for himself.

“Did My Grandfather Kill My Grandfather?” is written and performed by Wilson and directed by Victor Malana Maog. The play is having its world premiere at this year’s Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF) in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. Wilson has the distinction of being the first West Virginia–born playwright to have a play premiere at CATF. Prior to that, the play was workshopped during Pan Asian Repertory’s NuWorks Festival 2023 in New York City. This autobiographical one-man show tells the story of Wilson’s blended family, his experience as an Asian American growing up in West Virginia, and explores themes of identity, race, and family legacy.

The second question Wilson attempts to answer is how did he, clearly not your typical redneck, end up growing up in a holler in rural West Virginia? As Wilson explains, his mother was adopted as a baby during the Vietnam War by Wilson’s grandfather, an American soldier. This dual heritage is both a source of pride and tension as Wilson attempts to reconcile his two identities. During the first part of the show, Wilson focuses on his childhood and adolescence, discovering that he is different from most of the other kids at Plum Run, learning about the Vietnam War from a racist teacher in high school, trying to find out information about his grandfather’s experiences in Vietnam and about his mother’s family.

The titular grandfathers are men Wilson never got the opportunity to meet, but whose influence in his life looms large. The second half of the play explores the possibility that these men’s paths potentially crossed in Vietnam and what that means for Wilson as a descendant of soldiers on different sides of the same war. At a particularly poignant moment, Wilson reflects on how he hates the Vietnam War for its cost in human lives, the fear and discrimination it has led to within the Asian American community, while also recognizing that he wouldn’t exist without it.

As a performer, Wilson commands the stage, seamlessly mixing humor and charm with moments of heartbreak and inner turmoil as he struggles with questions about his family’s past with no clear answers. Through the use of strategically placed props, he embodies younger versions of himself as well as other characters, weaving their voices and mannerisms into his storytelling.

Throughout the show, the lighting design by Mary Louise Geiger and sound design by Christian Fredrickson create distinct beats in the story, shifting the mood and setting as Wilson’s narrative travels from his family’s home (distinguished by soft warm light, bluegrass music, the rustling of leaves) to the jungles of Vietnam (dim lighting, ambient sounds of insects and birds). Additionally, the shadows of tree branches, family photos, and images from the Vietnam War are projected onto windows and pieces of wall suspended over the stage (scenic design by Chelsea M. Warren, projection design by Mona Kasra). Under Malana Maog’s direction, all these elements come together to elevate Wilson’s performance and give the play an almost cinematic quality, particularly during an action sequence towards the end.

For audience members who have the lived experience of straddling more than one identity, of experiencing generational trauma that creates more questions than it answers, or who have explored their own family’s stories to better understand themselves, this play has the potential to hit close to home. The question that opens the show may appear on the surface to be straightforward, but by the end of the show, it’s clear that for many of us, it’s actually quite a loaded question.

Running Time: 90 minutes, no intermission.

Did My Grandfather Kill My Grandfather? plays through August 3, 2025, presented by the Contemporary American Theater Festival performing at Studio 112, 92 West Campus Drive, on the campus of Shepherd University, Shepherdstown WV, in repertory with four other CATF plays. Times, dates, and ticketing information may be found on the CATF website or by calling the CATF box office at 681-240-2283.

Did My Grandfather Kill My Grandfather?
By Cody Leroy Wilson
Directed by Victor Malana Maog

CAST
Cody: Cody Leroy Wilson*

PRODUCTION TEAM
Scenic Design: Chelsea M. Warren**
Associate Scenic Design: Ruidi Yang
Costume Design: Phuong Nguyen**
Lighting Design: Mary Louise Geiger**
Sound Design: Christian Fredrickson**
Projections Design: Mona Kasra**
Stage Manager: Jasmin Holton*

*Actors’ Equity Association
**United Scenic Artists
***Stage Directors and Choreographers Society

Andrea Moya (they/them) is DC Theater Art’s new West Virginia correspondent. They are a graduate of New York University and previously worked as a food and travel writer. They are based out of the Eastern Panhandle and cover shows in Northern Virginia and Maryland.

SEE ALSO:
Contemporary American Theater Festival announces full 2025 lineup (news story, March 31, 2025)

The post ‘Did My Grandfather Kill My Grandfather?’ at Contemporary American Theater Festival appeared first on DC Theater Arts.

By Stub Estey

I had the pleasure last week of being part of a full house of enthusiastic patrons at Fauquier Community Theatre’s production of Jersey Boys. I expected to be one of only a few in the audience who had actually heard this music on the radio back in the 1960s, but there were lots of other old souls who came out to be moved by it. As well as a few old souls in young people’s bodies — everyone loves this music!

The jukebox musical Jersey Boys opened on Broadway 20 years ago, but it hasn’t lost any of its appeal. With book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, music by Bob Gaudio, and lyrics by Bob Crewe, it tells the story of four Garden State guys with big dreams in the early days of rock ’n’ roll. Their band “Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons” produced distinctive harmonies no one had heard before, and captured the hearts of people all over with their iconic sound.

After selling an estimated 100 million records worldwide, the band achieved ultimate recognition by being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (and the Hollywood Walk of Fame), but they experienced rocky patches on the road to stardom.

Directed by Matt Moore and produced by Mary Beth Balint, the story is presented as four “seasons,” each brought to life by a band member offering his perspective on the group’s history and music. Vocal Director Cate Murray honed the company’s musicality to energetically deliver a whopping 31 songs that move the story along smoothly. Gabrielle Tessier designed dance routines that worked so well the audience couldn’t help but move right along with them. Late in the show, I counted 18 people on stage, and they were all moving together like a well-oiled machine. Very cool.

An interesting aspect of this cast is that most played more than one part. I counted 19 names on the cast list, but 72 different roles. Accounting for the fact that the four main characters in the band stayed with that role exclusively, that means the other 68 parts were played by the remaining 15 actors, or an average of 4.5 roles each, which is astounding.

The entire company was marvelously entertaining, making it difficult to select a few standouts, but here are some notes I made in the darkened theater.

Luke Tessier does an awesome job playing Frankie Valli. His melodic tenor tones slip seamlessly from chest voice to head voice and back, something very difficult to do — especially considering the ultra-high register that Valli practically invented. When Frankie sings a duet (“My Eyes Adored You”) with Mary Delgado (Melissa Pieja), their harmony is exceptional, and when the arrangement segues to add the other members of the band, the effect is remarkably pleasing.

In fact, the quartet meshes so harmoniously throughout the show that the audience feels transported back to the 1960s, listening to the real Four Seasons. And — most of the time — those singers are also accompanying themselves with instruments, something rare onstage. Nick Villacorte was a welcome sight returning to FCT as Tommy DeVito, and Daniel Ferguson, an FCT newcomer, was a pleasure to hear and see as Bob Gaudio. Noah Sarinana, as Nick Massi, rounded out the Four Seasons quartet, all doing a fine job singing as well as earning special applause when they delivered poignant monologues.

The 10-piece orchestra directed behind the scenes by Cathy Drummond makes the show much better than it would have been with a recorded track, layering its lively accompaniment onto songs as the actors phased out their onstage playing. The orchestra was invisible to the audience except when Jack Dusek (trumpet) and Joe MacFarlane (saxophone) delightfully ambled onstage to add emphasis to Luke Tessier’s amazing rendition of “I Love You Baby.”

Other standout musical numbers were the iconic Four Seasons’ very first number one hit, “Sherry Baby,” and “Walk Like a Man,” which had an appealing key change at the end.

Ryan Balint, normally found behind the scenes stage-managing, producing, or assistant-directing, tried his hand at acting this time and was terrific as Joe Pesci and later as a replacement for one of the Four Seasons quartet members. Fans no doubt will want to see more of him on the boards. The number “Workin’ My Way Back to You,” featuring Ryan with Luke Tessier and Hunter Elliot, was an absolute pleasure to see and hear.

The trio of Elizabeth Steimel, Jessica Mabry, and Samantha Wong was outstanding on “My Boyfriend’s Back.”

Costume Designer Ruth Williamson hit the mark with several sets of bright jackets for the quartet (and the wonderful “older quartet”) as well as colorful dresses for the ladies. With over 100 costumes needed for all the costume changes, assistants Joy and Gloria Williamson and Robin and Mia Dalusung were also part of the wardrobe team.

The production kept its authentic ’60s vibe with rock ’n’ roll before the show and Kingston Trio music during intermission. Lights designed and operated by Jack Tessier and Stacy King were cool when they needed to be, smoothly coming up to bright when required, with spotlights run by Nikole Schlevensky and Kaitlyn Nelson. Sound designed by Frankie Stamps and operated by Lex Hartung added realism when the situation called for those effects.

Peter Marsh’s set design was a winner. An eye-catching matched pair of spiral staircases made it possible to establish the two-level set needed in several scenes. It’s hard to describe; come see for yourself how nice it is with the black-and-white diamond stage floor. Also, Doug Barylski’s creative set dressing added much to the show. Utilizing the actors as stagehands, Stage Manager Debbie Martin’s set changes were so unobtrusive they seemed like part of the show.

One of several show-stopping numbers was “Oh, What a Night!,” expertly executed by Daniel Ferguson and the ensemble. At the end of the evening, as I was standing with the other patrons while everyone clapped and cheered, that was exactly the thought that came to mind.

Running Time: Two hours and 40 minutes, including a 15-minute intermission.

Jersey Boys plays through May 18, 2025 (Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm and Sundays at 2:00 pm), presented by Fauquier Community Theatre, performing at Vint Hill Theater on the Green, 4225 Aiken Drive, Warrenton, VA. All tickets ($16 youth, $18 seniors, $20 adults) are for reserved seating.  Purchase tickets online or call the box office at 540-349-8760.  Tickets sold out very quickly in advance for every performance after opening night. An additional performance was added for Sunday, May 18, at 7:30 pm. Printed playbills are available at the performances and online.

Stub Estey is a retired business executive, published author, and local actor/musician in northern Virginia.

The post ‘Jersey Boys’ playing to capacity crowds at Fauquier Community Theatre appeared first on DC Theater Arts.

By Timothy Nelson, IN Series artistic director

In 1936, with the radical idea that a uniquely American new form of theater could unite artists and journalists to promote grassroots social action, dramatizing real-time world events with no adornment, the “Living Newspapers” were launched with the play Ethiopia by Arthur Arent. While the Living Newspapers, in their brief appearance on the American stage, went on to create famed and important works of social theater, Ethiopia itself was never staged. The play deals with the Italian aggression in Ethiopia between 1934 and 1936, the moral failure of global governing bodies to respond, and, with dramatic prescience, the darkening clouds of World War II arising from this conflict. The play’s creators wanted to end their piece with text from a speech made by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, whose administration quickly and effectively banned the premiere of the new work. IN Series’ world premiere of the work, almost 90 years later, was almost thwarted again by the withdrawal of federal support from the National Endowment for the Arts on Friday, May 2. This time, however, the show will go on with the incredible work of local actors, musicians, visual artists, and creatives, as IN Series opens its new production and closes out its 2024/25 season of works banned at the time of their inception. Of course, none of us could have known in planning this season how resonant its theme would become as it progressed.

Along with the original 1936 Living Newspaper is a new play by Sybil R. Williams, playwright, scholar, and director of African American and African Diasporic Studies at American University. In her responsive play, Williams explores the same history from a very different place — one that opens to the many women involved in the fight for Ethiopian freedom, the Black Americans actively allied with their African brothers and sister, and a form of poetic storytelling that opens up the themes of the piece to a broader understanding of human history. At the heart of this piece is the life of Mayme Richardson, a real opera singer who traveled to Ethiopia to sing for Emperor Haile Selassie and then became an activist leader for the Ethiopian cause. Both pieces are tied together with a musical score by DC jazz composer and pianist Janelle Gill. I recently took a break from staging rehearsals of Ethiopia to chat with Williams about this project, its historic and human significance, and her original play.

Timothy Nelson: You brought me this idea for a project around Arthur Arent’s play during the height of the COVID pandemic. It was a piece and subject entirely new to me, but one I know you’d been living with for many years. How did you first encounter this work, and what drew you to its themes in a way that also compelled you to write a response?

Sybil R. Williams: Yes, thanks for that question! I remember hearing — overhearing really — a conversation that seemed to suggest that African Americans were not interested in international politics. I immediately thought about the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1936, and the overwhelming response of African Americans as they hurried to the aid of the Emperor and his country. Ethiopia rallied African Americans in a way that had lasting consequences.

What, for you, is the significance of the Living Newspapers then as historic works, and now as potentially model forms of social storytelling? 

Ethiopia, like all Living Newspapers, is a form of visual storytelling. With the continued development of film, video, and other forms of visual media, theater can function like other forms of popular media, allowing for the possibility of engaging audiences who would not normally attend the theater. The Living Newspaper was a tool used by the Federal Theatre Project to report the latest headlines and issues of the day in a way that was certainly provocative but also, quite frankly, partisan. The Living Newspapers had a clear political position with each issue they presented.

It seems to me that this entire project, staging both the world premiere of Arthur Arent’s first Living Newspaper, Ethiopia, as well as your contemporary response, is in some way about righting historical wrongs. What do you think about that?

I am not sure that a play can do that! Would that it could! We can, however, make a statement about how history cannot be rewritten or erased. History — like truth — will always make its way to the light. But what I want to do is what I imagine the first Living Newspapers wanted to do — and that is inspire audiences to take action by providing them with an informed opinion.

In your play in particular, it seems you aren’t so much countering and critiquing the work of Arent but illuminating it. I think of your play as a text that, in what it says but also how it says it, is augmenting and filling out the original 1936 play. What histories, themes, threads were you seeking to spin out and weave more fully in your new play?

Again, thank you for that question! This is really a first draft, and there are many threads that I am still weaving. I have found, almost inadvertently, that I am telling the stories of women. I am telling the story of Mayme Richardson, Empress Menen, and other Rastafari women, Dr. Deena Beresford, Gaamang Gloria Sims, and others who so graciously allowed me to interview them.

The script of Arthur Arent’s Ethiopia is full of indications of the role of music. We can only imagine how music was centered in the intended performance of the work. And, you know, of course, that in making a new text for IN Series, music would again want to be centered. How does music fold into your dramaturgic thinking in creating this new work? How does music become its own layer of storytelling?

For me, the music functions as another language. It extends the dialogue — much like a musical, characters sing because they are so full that is the only way they can express themselves. Music also functions as memory; it is how characters are transported. Their memories live as music.

Of course, you discovered a musical thread that brings almost everything into a union with the life and work of Mayme Richardson. Can you say how you found her, what we know about her life, and what she has come to mean for you?

It is true that resistance can and often does yield great beauty, and this is evident in the music and activism of Mayme Richardson. Initially, I thought I invented Mayme, but in talking with Dr. Jake Homiak of the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, I learned about her life and contribution to Rastafari. I also reached out to Dr. Giulia Bonacci, whose research includes the first Rastafari to repatriate to Ethiopia, in a book titled Exodus!: Heirs and Pioneers, Rastafari Return to Ethiopia. She was very encouraging, and I do hope to continue to learn about Mayme Richardson.

Arthur Arent’s curation of real speeches, news headlines, and quotes from the time we call Ethiopia has shattering contemporary resonance with the global political landscape and the moment in which we find ourselves today. It is less about the history of Italy’s aggression in Africa, but more about how the world powers, which of course were white world powers, failed to respond. Your play opens this history up to show how the Black world, all over the world, did respond and continues to be in resonance with that moment. Can you speak to this pan-African energy that is both historic and contemporary, and feels both political, but also deeply spiritual? 

I think art points the way for African people throughout the Diaspora to forge a path back to Africa by recovering parts of ourselves that have been lost to colonialism, slavery, Jim Crow, etc. In fact, Dr. Michael Eric Dyson says it best, “The purpose of Black art in the ‘New World’ is to restore a Black Universe and to reestablish Black humanity which includes: recovering Africa; to entertain the world including white audiences while liberating Black audiences, to generate a political vocabulary specific to the circumstances of existence in America….”

This work is so rich, impossible to convey simply or shortly, as it should be. That said, what do you feel we’ve left unsaid for the moment? 

Again, there are so many women’s voices that I still want to illuminate. But I thank IN Series and the amazing cast of Ethiopia for pointing the way forward.

Running Time: Approximately two hours, including an intermission.

Ethiopia plays May 16 to 18, 2025, presented by IN Series performing at 340 Maple Drive (DC Waterfront/Wharf), Washington, DC. Purchase tickets (reserved seating, $72; general-rear, $49; student, $35) online.

Ethiopia also plays May 30 to June 1, 2025, at the Baltimore Theatre Project
45 W Preston St, Baltimore, MD. Tickets (general admission, $30; student, $20) are available online.

Ethiopia
A Living Newspaper by Arthur Arent
A New Play by Sybil R. Williams
With New Music by Janelle Gill

Directed by Timothy Nelson
Music Direction by Janelle Gill
Designed by Tsedaye Makonnen, Adrienne Gaither, Kathryn Kawecki
Lights by Alberto Segarra
Costumes by Rakell Foye
Projections by Hailey LaRoe

FEATURING
Marvin Wayne Allen III
Ezinne Elele
Elise Jenkins
Madison Norwood
Shana Oshiro
Daniel J. Smith
Nakia Verner

MUSICIANS
African drums and instruments led by Jabari Exum

The post A look inside ‘Ethiopia,’ a world premiere Living Newspaper at IN Series appeared first on DC Theater Arts.

By Kaitlyn Gibbens

Bethesda Little Theatre’s latest musical revue, Hues in Harmony: A Musical Spectrum, is a vibrant collection of beloved songs and dazzling choreography that invites you to experience the emotional language of color. Each number in the show “captures the essence of a hue,” says director Laura Holmes. “Blue’s melancholy, green’s envy, yellow’s joy, and red’s passion — blending sound and color to evoke the full spectrum of human feelings.”

The carefully curated song list offers a kaleidoscope of musical moments. From nostalgic classics like “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” and musical masterpieces like “One Short Day” to more recent phenomena like Barbie’s “Pink,” there is a melody to match every palette. There will even be an opening night happy hour — Red Solo Cup provided.

The incredibly talented ensemble of 18 new and seasoned BLT members is ready to whisk you Over the Rainbow. As Holmes puts it, “Hues in Harmony takes audiences on a journey through the emotions that color our lives, reminding us how deeply music and shades of feeling are intertwined.”

Hues in Harmony promises a spectrum of emotion and entertainment, so get your tickets and let BLT show you what a Wonderful World it can be Live in Living Color!

Hues in Harmony: A Musical Spectrum will be performed by Bethesda Little Theatre at Montgomery College Cultural Arts Center, 7995 Georgia Ave, Silver Spring, MD:

• Fridays and Saturdays, June 6, 7, 13, 14, 2025, at 8 PM
• Sundays, June 8 and 15, at 2:30 PM

Opening night Happy Hour will be June 6 from 6:45 to 7:45 PM. Tickets and more information are available online. 

The post Bethesda Little Theatre to show true colors in ‘Hues in Harmony’ appeared first on DC Theater Arts.