Theater
FALL ARTS 2016: ‘Cloud Nine’ for theater lovers
‘Angels,’ ‘Carousel,’ ‘Urinetown’ and much more on D.C. stages


The oft-revived ‘Angels in America’ is on stage through Oct. 30 at Round House Theatre. (Photo courtesy Round House)
With its scores of transporting theatrical offerings there’s something to suit all tastes: original works, national tours of recent Broadway hits and retooled chestnuts. Here are a few.
At Gala Hispanic Theatre, Helen Hayes Award-winning out director José Luis Arellano stages the world premiere “Cervantes: El último Quijote (The Last Quixote)” in Spanish with English subtitles (through Oct. 2). The new drama focuses on the most tempestuous periods in the great Spanish writer’s life and the furious creativity of his final years. The top notch cast includes Luz Nicolas and out actors Eric Robledo and Erick Sotomayor.
Ford’s Theatre’s “Come From Away,” (through Oct. 9), the uplifting Broadway-bound new musical tells the story of how a small Canadian town cared for 6,579 airline passengers stranded there on 9-11. The cast includes the exceedingly talented out Broadway veteran Jen Colletta.
Round House Theatre and Olney Theatre Center are co-producing out playwright Tony Kushner’s Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning work “Angels in America: Part I: Millennium Approaches & Part II: Perestroika” (through Oct. 30). Set in mid-‘80s New York, “Angels” explores sexuality, religion and politics at the beginning of the AIDS crisis. A strong cast includes local out actors Tom Story, Jon Hudson Odom, and Sarah Marshall who plays — among other parts — Mormon matron Hannah Pitt, executed spy Ethel Rosenberg and an Orthodox rabbi.
At Studio Theatre, out director Michael Kahn is staging Caryl Churchill’s “Cloud Nine” (through Oct. 16), the work that put her on the map. This gender-bending experimental comedy is set both in Victorian era colonial Africa and post-sexual revolution 1970s London. The cast includes talented out actor Holly Twyford.
Shakespeare Theatre Company’s out associate artistic director Alan Paul is helming a much anticipated “Romeo & Juliet.”(Sept. 13-Nov. 6). After directing especially well-received musicals “Kiss Me, Kate” and “Man of La Mancha,” this is Paul’s first Shakespeare production at STC.
Theater Alliance presents the regional premiere of Kimber Lee’s “brownsville song (b-side fortray)” (Sept. 15-Oct. 9). Directed and choreographed by Paige Hernandez, Lee’s hopeful drama centers on life in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn where a senseless act of violence kills a young man and leaves his family to deal with the grief.
“Urinetown” (through Oct. 9) has come to Constellation Theatre. The Tony Award-winning musical is about a town whose dire water shortage prompts its plucky population to rise up against the evil corporation that has put a ban on private toilets. Constellation’s artistic director Allison Arkell Stockman directs this seriously funny satire.
With “The Last Schwartz” (through Oct. 2), Theatre J puts the spotlight on family dysfunction. Deborah Zoe Laufer’s absurd and thoughtful comedy follows the woes of a splintering Jewish family whose chances of coming back together appear slim to none. The production marks the D.C. area directing debut of the company’s out artistic director Adam Immerwahr.
Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company’s season opener, an absurdist comedy titled “Collective Rage: A Play in Five Boops” (Sept. 12-Oct. 9), features five women all named Betty who according to Woolly Artistic Director Howard Shalwitz “represent a wide range of feminine archetypes, each of whom feels trapped in a box of some kind.” The magic of the play lies in the transformative power of bringing them together around an absurd theatrical project and witnessing how they discover their truest selves by engaging with other women who are totally different.” Penned by Jen Silverman, the world premiere is directed by Mike Donahue and boasts a fine cast including Beth Hylton, Dorea Schmidt, Natascia Diaz, Kate Rigg and Felicia Curry as the Bettys.
Signature Theatre opens the season with local playwright Audrey Cefaly “The Gulf” (Sept. 13-Nov. 6). Billed as a provocative comedy, it’s the story of a lesbian couple played by Rachel Zampelli and Maria Rizzo whose fishing trip goes wrong when their boat breaks down and they become stranded far from shore. “The Gulf” is staged by out director Joe Calarco.

Maria Rizzo and Rachel Zampelli in ‘The Gulf’ at Signature Theatre. (Photo by Christopher Mueller)
Theater J is offering “The Last Schwartz,” an “absurd and thoughtful comedy about a dysfunctional Jewish family,” through Oct. 2 and “The Christians,” a “big play about faith in America and the power of religion to unite or divide” from Nov. 16-Dec. 11. Drag ensemble the Kinsey Sicks return for “Oy Vey in a Manger” there Dec. 20-28. Details at theaterj.org.
Helen Hayes-winning out actor Rick Hammerly is directing Alfred Uhry’s “Driving Miss Daisy” (Sept. 28-Nov. 6) as the Riverside Theater in Fredericksburg, Va. This tender exploration of the relationship between an elderly white woman and her black chauffeur in Atlanta stars Karen Grassle, best known as patient and resourceful Ma from TV’s “Little House on the Prairie.”Hammerly reports Grassle is lovely.
At Arena Stage, out artistic director Molly Smith is staging Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Carousel” (Oct. 28-Dec. 24) with a large cast lead by Arena veterans E. Faye Butler and talented out actor Nicholas Rodriguez. The beloved 1945 musical centered on the passionate union of bad boy carnival barker Billy Bigelow (Rodriguez) and millworker Julie Jordan, and features classic songs like “June Is Bustin’ Out all Over” and “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”
In October, Capital Fringe presents Fringe POP (Oct.6-9), the first of a new annual project that explores ways of blending projections and live performance. Fringe POP explores how we experience public and private spaces by pairing films with 10-minute plays to create two distinctive presentations.
Broadway comes to D.C. this fall. The Kennedy Center presents the national tour of “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” (Oct. 5-23). The multiple Tony Award-winning drama follows smart but awkward teenage Christopher who after being accused of killing a neighbor’s dog embarks on an investigation that leads to a life-changing adventure.”
And at National Theatre, the national tour of the multiple Tony Award-winning musical “Once” is slated for a short run (Nov. 25-27). Based on the Academy Award-winning film, “Once” is the story of an Irish musician and a Czech immigrant whose love of music draws them into a complicated romance.
And finally, for those who aren’t yet politically sated, Washington Improv Theater presents its fourth edition of “POTUS Among Us” (Oct. 12-Nov. 6), a satire of the presidential election process where audiences help decide who becomes the next president. Wonder if any of the candidates will have orange hair?
Theater
Theatre Prometheus spreads queer joy with ‘Galatea’
Two girls dressed as boys who find love despite the odds

‘Galatea’
Through May 10
Theatre Prometheus
Montgomery College Cultural Arts Center
7995 Georgia Ave, Silver Spring, Md.
$27
Theatreprometheus.org
In a timely move, Theatre Prometheus thought it would be a beneficial thing to spread a little queer joy. And since the company’s mission includes engaging audiences and artists in queer and feminist art, there was nothing to stop them.
Co-artistic directors Tracey Erbacher and Lauren Patton Villegas, both queer, agree they’ve found that joy in John Lyly’s “Galatea,” an Elizabethan-era comedy about Galatea and Phillida, two girls dressed as boys who find love despite some rather slim odds.
Now playing at Montgomery College Cultural Arts Center on the Takoma Park/Silver Spring campus, the upbeat offering is a mix of contemporary and period, and strives to make audiences happy. Galatea’s cast includes Amber Coleman and Cate Ginsberg as the besotted pair.
Erbacher, also the production’s director, adds “queer joy is something that I prioritized in casting actors and interviewing production people. I asked them what it means to them, and resoundingly the reply — from both them and the play — is that queer joy is the freedom to be yourself without having to think about it.
“Galatea” was first brought to Prometheus’s attention by Caitlin Partridge, the company’s literary director. Erbacher recalls, “she strongly suggested I read this very queer play. I read it and fell absolutely in love. And because it’s a comedy — I really like directing comedy — I knew that I could lean into that while not neglecting its universal themes of young love.”
Villegas, who’s not ordinarily drawn to the classics, was also instantly smitten with Galatea.
“Usually with classics, the language doesn’t jump out at me the way modern works do,” she says. “But not so with ‘Galatea.’ The first time I heard it read aloud, I found it easy to follow and entirely accessible in the best way.”
Whether Lyly deliberately wrote a queer play isn’t known. What’s definitely known is the play was written with an all-boy performing troupe in mind; that’s partly why there are so many young female roles, the parts 10-year-old boys were playing at the time.
There’s not a lot known about Lyly’s personal life, mostly because he wasn’t wildly famous. What’s known about the times is that there wasn’t a concept of “gay,” but there were sodomy laws regarding homosexual activity in England geared toward men having sex with men; it was all very phallocentric, Erbacher says.
She categorically adds, “Women’s sexuality wasn’t considered in the equation. In fact, it was often asked whether women were even capable of having sex with other women. It just was not part of the conversation. If there wasn’t a dick involved it didn’t count.
“Perhaps that’s how the playwright got around it. If there were two male characters in the play he could not have done it.”
Prometheus has done adaptations of ancient myths and some classics, but in this case it’s very faithful to the original text. Other than some cuts winnowing the work down to 90 minutes, “Galatea” is pretty much exactly as Lyly wrote it.
And that includes, “girls dressed as boys who fall in love thinking girls are boys,” says Erbacher. “And then they start to clock things: ‘I think he is as I am.’ And then they don’t care if the object of their affection is a boy or a girl, the quintessential bisexual iconic line.”
And without spoiling a thing, the director teases, “the ending is even queerer than the rest of the play.”
Erbacher and Villegas have worked together since Prometheus’s inception 11 years ago. More recently, they became co-artistic directors, splitting the work in myriad ways. It’s a good fit: They share values but not identical artistic sensibilities allow them to exchange objective feedback.
In past seasons, the collaborative pair have produced an all-women production of “Macbeth” and a queered take on [gay] “Cymbeline,” recreating it as a lesbian love story. And when roles aren’t specifically defined male or female, they take the best actor for the part.
With Galatea, Prometheus lightens the current mood. Erbacher says, “the hard stuff is important but exhausting. We deserve a queer rom-com, a romantic sweeping story that’s not focused on how hard it is to be queer, but rather the joy of it.”
Theater
Timely comedy ‘Fake It’ focuses on Native American themes
Arena Stage production features two out actors

‘Fake It Until You Make It’
Through May 4
Arena Stage, 1101 Sixth St., S.W.
Tickets start at $59
Arenastage.org
A farce requires teamwork. And Larissa FastHorse’s “Fake It Until You Make It” now at Arena Stage is no exception.
The timely comedy focuses on Native American nonprofits fractiously housed in a shared space. Friction rises when rivals River (Amy Brenneman), a white woman operating in the Indigenous world, goes up against the more authentic Wynona (Shyla Lefner) to win a lucrative Native-funded grant.
While Brenneman (best known for TV’s Judging Amy) is undeniably a big draw, it takes a group collaboration to hit marks, land jokes, and pull off the well-executed physical comedy including all those carefully timed door slams.
As members of the six-person “Fake It” cast, Brandon Delsid and Eric Stanton Betts, both out actors of partly indigenous ancestry, contribute to the mayhem. Respectively, Delsid and Betts play Krys and Mark, a pair of two-spirited Native Americans who meet farcically cute and enjoy one of the play’s more satisfying arcs.
For Krys, every attractive man is a potential next fling, but when Mark, handsome and relatively reserved, arrives on the scene, it’s something entirely different.
Both onstage and sometimes off, Betts plays the straight man to Delsid’s waggishness. But when it comes down to real life business, the friends are on the same page: not only are the L.A.-based, up-and-coming actors intensely serious about their film and stage careers, but they’re also particularly engaged in the themes of Indigenous People found in “Fake It.”
On a recent Wednesday following a matinee and an audience talkback, they were ready for a phone interview.
In establishing whose voice was whose, Delsid clarified with “I’m the one who sounds a little like a Valley girl.”
WASHINGTON BLADE: Brandon, you’ve been with the show since its early work-shopping days in 2022 and through its debut in Los Angeles and now Washington. Have things evolved?
BRANDON DELSID: Definitely. I’ve grown up in the last couple of years and so has my character; it’s hard to know where I end and Kry begins. There’s been a real melding.
Eric and I are both queer, and to get to play these roles that are so human, imperfect, sexy, and interesting is really joyful.
As queer artists you don’t always get the chance to do work like this. So many stories are queer trauma, which is incredibly important, but it’s liberating to feel joy and ride it off into the sunset, which, without revealing too much, is kind of what we get to do.
BLADE: There’s some race shifting in “Fake It” particularly with regard to “pretendian” (a pejorative term describing a person who has falsely claimed Indigenous status).
ERIC STANTON BETTS: The last few years I’ve been on a journey with my cultural identity and place in the world. I’m a mixed BIPOC artist, my dad is Black and Native American by way of the Cherokee tribe and my mom is white.
Since 2020, I’ve tried to figure out where I belong in this cultural history that I haven’t had a tie to throughout my life; it’s gratifying to find my way back to my indigeneity and be welcomed.
In the play, race shifting is introduced through farce. But it’s never in a disrespectful way; it’s never mocked or done in a way to take away from others. The playwright parallels race shifting with gender fluidity.
DELSID: But in life, there are people posing as Indigenous, actively taking grants, and the play goes there, we don’t hold back. Larissa, our playwright, has made it clear that she’s not trying to figure it out for us. With that in mind, we hope people leave the theater interested and curious to learn more.
BLADE: Mark arrives kind of the middle of some crazy drama, bringing along a jolt of romance.
BETTS: Yeah, when I show up, we’re all sort of shot out of a cannon, struggling to keep up with the initial lie.
DESLID: A very gay cannon.
BLADE: What’s up next for you two?
BETTS: Both Brandon and I are up for the same part in a TV pilot, so one of us may be getting some very good news. I also have a Tyler Perry film coming out soon [he plays a model, not an unfamiliar gig for Betts].
DELSID: Coming up, I have a recurring part on HBO’s “The Rehearsal,” and a supporting part in “June and John,” a John Besson film. But doing “Fake It Until You Make It” in L.A. and now D.C. has been a special time in our lives. It’s 23/7 togetherness. There’s that hour for sleep.
Theater
‘Bad Books’ a timely look at censorship in local library
Influencer vs. conservative parent in Round House production

‘Bad Books’
Through May 4
Round House Theatre
4545 East-West Highway
Bethesda, Md.
Tickets start at $43
Roundhousetheatre.org
While a library might seem an unlikely place for a heated contretemps, it’s exactly the spot where adults go when they’re itching to battle out what books minors might be allowed to read.
In Sharyn Rothstein’s “Bad Books,” two women, The Mother (out actor Holly Twyford) and The Librarian (Kate Eastwood Norris), swiftly become mired in a quarrel that comes with some weighty repercussions.
The Mother is a popular conservative influencer on a mission. She’s furious that the local library has overstepped its bounds and she blames The Librarian, a woman who adheres to the “it takes a village” method of child rearing and is dedicated to the young people who approach her reference desk.
There’s some background. It seems The Librarian who dresses young (tight jackets and Doc Martens) and curses a blue streak, forged a friendship with Jeremy, a teenage library regular.
While the details are a bit hazy, it seems the troubled Jeremy confided in The Librarian regarding some personal issues. In return, she suggested a helpful book – Boob Juice.
Unsurprisingly, based solely on its title, the book has thrown The Mother into a pique of outrage. After finding Boob Juice in her son’s bedroom, she made a beeline to the library; and not incidentally, The Mother hasn’t read the recommended work and has no plans to do so.
Set in a suburb with lax gun laws, the story explores facets of division and conciliation. The Mother insists she isn’t so much about banning books as she is keeping some books away from young people until they’ve obtained parental approval.
“Bad Books” is performed in the round. Built on a rotating stage, Meghan Raham’s set is simple, pleasingly serviceable, and easily transforms from the library into a small corporate office, and later the assembly room of a church. Overhead floats a circular glass shelf filled with a cache of banned books. Things like a rolling book cart and a goldfish bowl add some flavor to the different locations.
The Mother wasn’t always a popular conservative warrior with an enthusiastic horde of followers.
Her past includes penning a book that later filled her with guilt and regret. She refers to that early questionable literary accomplishment as her bad book. And while over the years, she has persevered to find and destroy each and every printed copy, she hasn’t entirely succeeded.
Norris plays three women who figure meaningfully into the arc of Twyford’s mother character. In addition to The Librarian, Norris is The Manager, a broadly played piece of comic relief, and The Editor, a warm woman who reveals things about Jeremy that his own mother never knew.
Smartly staged by Ryan Rilette, the production is part of a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere. While Rothstein’s script offers two strong roles (skillfully performed by celebrated actors Twyford and Norris), its ending feels too neatly resolved.
In the past, Twyford and Norris have successfully joined forces for numerous DMV productions including Studio Theatre’s production of David Auburn’s two-hander “Summer, 1976,” the story of a longtime and unlikely friendship between two women who meet as young mothers during the Bicentennial summer.
Though different, both The Librarian and The Mother share a strong and ultimately hopeful relationship with words.
There’s a quote from E.B. White’s classic “Charlotte’s Web” that pops up a couple of times in the briskly paced 80-minute play. Charlotte, the wise spider, says, “with just the right words you can change the world.”
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