Theater
Exploring a complicated father-daughter relationship
Mosaic’s ‘Birds of North America’ unfolds over 10 years

‘Birds of North America’
Through Nov. 21
Mosaic Theater Company
Atlas Performing Arts Center
$20-$68
Mosaictheater.org
In the leafy backyard of a suburban Maryland home, a father and daughter watch birds and talk about life. Sounds amiable, but in Anna Ouyang Moench’s “Birds of North America” it isn’t, well not entirely.
The affective and humorous two-hander, now at Mosaic Theater Company, covers nearly 10 tense years of annual October visits home during which John and adult daughter Caitlyn, both avid birders, indulge in their gentle hobby when they’re not fighting.
“A tufted titmouse,” says John (David Bryan Jackson) motioning toward a heard but unseen songbird. Caitlyn (Regina Aquino) who’s down from New York to see her parents, quickly picks up the binoculars and the feathery friend takes center stage. It’s the same when they spy a nuthatch, cardinal, or morning dove, but after the birds fly off with an audible swoosh, the conversation inevitably turns from the latest hawk or barn owl sighting back to Caitlyn’s lack of ambition or John’s intractability and seeming inability to empathize.
He hates her job choices (working at a conservative news website and later doing marketing for the oil industry), and wishes she’d complete her novel or help to save the planet. She mocks him for putting solar panels on a large house, much too big for two people.
Time passes. Father and daughter continue to masterfully press each other’s buttons. Initially, he seems cringingly unaware of the impact of his wounding words, particularly when it comes to Caitlyn’s pain surrounding infertility issues. But sometimes he goes for the jugular. She fights back similarly. Despite the ongoing brutal contretemps, there’s still love, and some laughs, between them.
Without a lot of reference to specific time and place, the playwright cleverly moves the years forward, revealing the details of new relationships, job changes, illness using sometimes quotidian dialogue that rings particularly true. Yet, the work is simultaneously lyrical.
Mosaic’s out managing director and producer, Serge Seiden, smartly directs the piece with a light, elegant touch, resulting in a thought-provoking and pleasurable 90 minutes. He ably helms a topnotch design team: Alexa Ross creates a simple backyard (worn picket fence, picnic table, and unassuming lawn chairs) backed by a feathery wing of blazing autumnal colors. Brittany Shemuga bathes the intimate stage with the dappled sunlight of a fall day, and David Lamont Wilson’s appealing sound design includes coos, caws, chirps, and pecking sounds. In between scenes, an increasing number of crunchy leaves are scattered over the stage/yard.
Aquino and Jackson share a combative chemistry, and throughout the years covered, both effectively age, mostly through voice and demeanor. Though stubborn until the end, John seems increasingly resigned and vulnerable; Caitlyn becomes less youthfully exuberant, and more practical and self-contained.
While Caitlin’s eco-friendly father can be preachy, the play isn’t. The urgency of climate change is couched in unstilted conversations that all of us have overheard or been a part of more than once.
And by spacing the piece over a decade, Moench demonstrates the vicissitudes of life and relationships, and what a warming climate entails (i.e., decreased bird migration, a longer tick season that results in more dreaded Lyme disease, etc.) Unfortunately, John continues to criticize Caitlyn’s professional choices. She fires back that unlike her father, she needs to earn a paycheck. It seems the mother, a practicing doctor and family bread winner, has long made it possible for John to pursue an unpaid career in vaccination research, an endeavor that he is certain, unfoundedly so, will one day result in a big money payoff.
As the audience becomes invested in the actors’ finely assayed characters, there also comes a sense of frustration, regret about what might have been. And some hope.
“Birds of North America” marks Mosaic’s first in-person production after 18-months of closure. COVID-19 infection prevention measures include proof of vaccination, masks, and socially distanced seating. A streaming version will also be available.
Theater
Local holiday theater season sparkles with expectation
Classic tales, modern retellings, Cirque Du Soleil, and more

Like Christmas itself, the local holiday theater season is filled with tradition, excitement, and sparkling expectation. And whatever way you might celebrate the holidays, the DMV theater scene has scores of options to treat you and yours to something special. Here’s a taste.
Beloved British ensemble The Kings’ Singers are booked at the Washington National Cathedral for one night only (Dec. 15). The proposed song list promises a mix of “Christmas favorites, popular familiar tunes, and some surprises.”
Earlier this year, the popular a capella group made headlines when a bigoted Florida Christian college shamefully cancelled a performance by the musical sextet over ‘concerns’ about the sexual orientation of its members. But that’s in the past, and now the six good-looking blokes are celebrating the season in one of the nation’s foremost places of worship. Tix.cathedral.org
Baltimore’s gorgeous Hippodrome Performing Arts Center hosts the eye-popping Cirque Du Soleil production “Twas the Night Before,” Nov. 24-Dec. 3
Synetic Theater in Crystal City is bringing back “Snow Maiden” (Dec. 9 – Jan. 6), a dazzling movement piece based on a 19th century folk tale about a lonely boy who builds a girl from snow. Performed by Maryam Najafzada and Vato Tsikurishvili and created by Helen Hayes Award-winning choreographer and Synetic co-founder Irina Tsikurishvili. Synetictheater.org
In Falls Church, Creative Cauldron presents “Madeline’s Christmas” (Dec. 1-17), a charming musical based on the classic book by author and illustrator Ludwig Bemelmans. “Madeline’s schoolmates and tutor are all sick in bed on Christmas Eve, unable to go home for Christmas to be with their families. So, it’s Madeline to the rescue! And with the help of a magical rug merchant, she takes her friends on a Christmas journey they will never forget.” Matt Conner directs. Creativecauldron.org
Rehoboth Beach’s Clear Space Theatre Company presents “Estella Scrooge,” Nov. 24-Dec. 10. It features Ebenezer Scrooge’s great great granddaughter in a modern retelling of the classic Christmas tale. clearspacetheatre.org
Olney Theatre Center spices up the season with “Drag the Halls” (Dec. 8 and 9), a holiday spectacular with fabulous queens Echinacea Monroe (Solomon Parker III), Evon Michelle (Baltimore’s Drag Performer of the Year) and Tiara Missou. Olneytheatre.org
Whether handed off discreetly in a sedate ivory envelope or placed under the tree in a silvery wrapped box, theater tickets make a great holiday gift.
For a terrific kids’ prezzie, you might give the hour-long musical experience of “A Year in the Life of Frog and Toad” (through Jan. 7) at Imagination Stage in Bethesda. The endearing title characters are played by Deimoni Brewington and Casey Evans, respectively. Imaginationstage.org.
At Theater J there’s another show for kids, “Tiny Lights: Tales for Chanukah” (Dec. 3, 9, 10), created by Aaron Posner and Erin Weaver. “Taking inspiration from the great Chanukah tales of master storyteller Issac Bashevis Singer, our theatrical storytellers will weave tales out of words, a few simple props, and theatrical devices — and then teach you and your young kids how to do the same.” Sounds fun. Theatrej.org
The Washington Ballet presents “The Nutcracker” at the gilded Warner Theatre (through Dec. 30). With Tchaikovsky’s timeless music and splendid choreography by Septime Weber, this 1882 Georgetown-set production features historical figures including George Washington and King George III, along with the usual suspects like children, rats, fairies and a mysterious godfather. Washingtonballet.org
Bethesda’s Music Center at Strathmore is bringing back “The Hip Hop Nutcracker” (Dec. 19-22), Tchaikovsky’s classic re-imagined with MC Kurtis Blow (“White Lines”). Strathmore.org
Undeniably the lynchpin of D.C. holiday theater is the historic Ford’s Theatre version of “A Christmas Carol” (through Dec. 31), a popular Washington tradition for more than 30 years. Conceived by Michael Baron, this beautifully staged take on the Dickens’ classic features Craig Wallace as Scrooge who after a night of ghostly visits, rediscovers Christmas joy.
Joining the cast this holiday season is versatile D.C. actor Kimberly Gilbert as the Ghost of Christmas Present. The Helen Hayes Award-winning Gilbert says, “I have been wanting to join this show for years and am so over the moon that I get to be a part of the ‘beautiful machine.’ This kind of process is the most unique I have embarked on in my twenty years on DC stages. Its intricate structure is so well-tuned, which surprisingly means it was flexible enough to allow a maniac like me into the mix.
For Gilbert, taking on Christmas Present has proved a joy. She says, “I don’t show Scrooge my powers by anything other than small gestures: a larger goose, an oil can, a few more coins in someone’s pocket. And I think that is quite purposeful as I am teaching him that it doesn’t take much to create a ripple effect of good on this Earth. That’s a huge lesson for all of us right now.”
On a personal note, Gilbert adds, “my performance is in honor of my amazing mother, Catherine Gilbert, who we lost in January of this year. My family’s holidays were so magical because of my mother, and I will bring her spirit on stage with me every night.” Fords.org
And not to be missed, the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington is back with “The Holiday Show” (Dec. 2, 9, and 10) at the historic Lincoln Theatre where they promise to break out the sparkle, reindeer antlers along with glorious music, new jokes, and loads fun. Gmcw.org
Theater
Memories of time spent in India revealed in ‘Public Obscenities’
An inspiring production from writer-director Shayok Misha Chowdhury

‘Public Obscenities’
Through Dec. 23
Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
641 D St., N.W.
$52-$85
Woollymammoth.net
For writer-director Shayok Misha Chowdhury, the memories and imaginings of time spent in India are revealed in “Public Obscenities,” an inspiring new production currently playing at Woolly Mammoth Theatre.
Born in India, raised in Boston and now living in New York, Chowdhury, 38, has visited his native country often over the years. Those visits serve as a connection to family and himself. “I was trying to a write a thing that reflected the intense specificities of my life as a uniquely situated gay man,” he explains. “It’s filled with intersecting longings among diasporic gay folks and those on the subcontinent.”
A Woolly co-production with Theatre For A New Audience (in which four of the seven characters are queer), “Public Obscenities” follows Indian born Choton (Abrar Haque) as he returns to Kolkata on a research trip with his Black American boyfriend Raheem (Jakeem Dante Powell). While visiting his family home, Choton acts as translator (Bangla and English) and interviews queer locals all while showing Raheem his world.
In the past, Chowdhury, 38, has written musical experimental pieces but had never written a solo author naturalist play. “This is my debut as a playwright. What’s more, I’m directing something that I’ve written for the first time.” But being a director is squarely in his wheelhouse.
WASHINGTON BLADE: How much of “Public Obscenities” is about you, Misha?
SHAYOK MISHA CHOWDHURY: The plot isn’t autobiographical, but the circumstances are. My partner is an African-American video artist and I’m more words driven. We’ve travelled many times. Unlike Choton, I don’t have a Ph.D.
Definitely Choton’s a character close to my skin. He lives in states robust fluency in mother tongue and feels a longing for what might had been had he remained.
He feels very much at home being gay in Kolkata. He can desire and be desired by people who look like him and speak to them in his mother tongue. There’s a cross connection: He likes what they have and they like that he lives in America with accepting parents and can easily have a relationship with a Black man.
BLADE: It is also a bilingual piece?
CHOWDHURY: Entirely bilingual in a very natural way. Characters speak either Bangla or English given circumstances. Choton’s partner doesn’t speak Bangla so the main character is translating in real time. When Bangla-speaking characters are in a scene, the audience is reading supertitles.
BLADE: Is it tough casting a bilingual piece?
CHOWDHURY: Yes, more than anything it was a casting challenge. Finding these actors is what made the piece possible. I’m very glad we had the muscle to find these folks and keep them in the production by flying them in and housing them.
BLADE: And place is very important?
CHOWDHURY: The house is a character in the play. Very much a scenic replica from real life; I’ve spent time in that house. For the Woolly production, the scenic designer has added a meta conceit: You enter through a movie theater and behind the screen of the cinema hall that house is revealed. But once there, it will feel the same.
“Public Obscenities” has been described as theater verité. The aesthetic leans into documentary precision and mimics the rhythms of real life. There’s been a rewrite for this latest iteration. We have the same cast that appeared at Soho Rep in New York. They were assembled from a wide-ranging casting search. Specificity is required in terms of performance, language, and gender.
BLADE: But it’s not the usual queer story
CHOWDHURY: It’s not a coming out story; not a family conflict, it’s more about the main character working so hard to prove that he’s native to this place yet still himself.
BLADE: Is it hard to be objective when directing your own work?
CHOWDHURY: That’s always a question you have to ask yourself. Here my proximity was a gift. The nature of this project involved precise vision.
Theater
New play explores love through unique, years-long journey
Spooky Action’s ‘Agreste’ highlights powerful voice from queer Brazilian theater

Agreste (Drylands)
Through Nov. 12
Spooky Action Theater
1810 16th St NW (the Universalist National Memorial Church)
$37.50
Spookyactiontheater.org
From the sidelines, love can be misunderstood, attacked, celebrated, or simply accepted and left alone.
In “Agreste (Drylands),” a queer story penned by gay playwright Newton Moreno, one of the most powerful voices in the queer Brazilian theater, love is explored through a unique, years-long journey currently being recounted at Spooky Action Theater in Dupont.
It’s the tale of Maria and Etevaldo, star-crossed kindred spirits who fall in love from opposites sides of a fence. From a distance their feelings grow; when they can, they leave flowers and pieces of cloth on the fence, mementos of their love. Eventually they boldly come together living happily as a romantic pair for 22 years in the arid northeast part of Brazil. Their bliss is interrupted by unexpected tragedy and further destroyed when locals unleash a torrent of hate and bigotry on what remains.
Spooky’s exquisite offering (the first professional U.S. premiere of Moreno’s play) is both directed and translated from Portuguese to English by Danilo Gambini. Like the playwright, Gambini is gay and Brazilian. He’s also the new associate artistic director at Studio Theatre.
Agreste is performed in Spooky’s welcoming home in the Universalist National Memorial Church at 16th & S Streets, N.W. Its serviceable, intimate, subterranean space is configured as an alley with seating on both sides, making an ideal runway for scenic designer Giorgos Tsappas’ stunning amalgam of scorched earth and subtle yet ravishing monumentality. Colin K. Bills’ brilliant lighting design effortlessly summon expanses, domestic scenes, fires and escape hatches; and sound designer Aria Velz adds to the atmosphere with jarring bell tolls and the sound of falling water, a precious commodity in this parched part of the world.
In less than an hour, Gambini’s precisely staged mythic account (reportedly based on true happenings) explores themes of intolerance and understanding, as well as violence toward the LGBTQ+ community and perhaps pathway to overcoming that viciousness.
Dressed in loose tunics, headscarves, and rustic boots (compliments of costume designer Danielle Preston), the most appealing cast of four — Raghad Almakhlouf, Irene Hamilton, Kate Kenworthy who is nonbinary, and Miss Kitty, a nonbinary/genderqueer/transfemme performer — fearlessly rise to the challenge. As told by a choric quartet sharing parts, main and ancillary, the love story is crammed with passion, sadness, and wonderful whiffs of saucy vivacity.
While there is striking cohesion among the players, each adds their strengths to the piece. And though “Agreste” isn’t a musical or even a play with music per se, at the top of the show Miss Kitty serves up a memorable rendition of “Nature Boy” made famous by Nat King Cole, and further along Almakhlouf delivers a haunting melody.
Spooky Action’s artistic director Elizabeth Dinkova is kicking off her inaugural season with Agreste, and it’s a good move. She’s titled the season “Beyond Borders,” acknowledging her own status as the first immigrant to helm Spooky as well as her vision of a future world made limitless through art. In spring, Dinkova directs Phillip Howze’s Frontières Sans Frontières, a funny take on cultural imperialism.
Something terrific for now, and something promising to look forward to.
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