Theater
Local theater scene prepares for a season to remember
‘Evita,’ a Garland tribute, ‘Night of the Living Dead’ among highlights
Mosaic Theater Company has already stepped into the fall season with Psalmayene 24’s “Monumental Travesties” (through Oct. 1), a new D.C.- set comedy that explores race, memory, and disturbing statuary. Mosaic’s out artistic director Reginald L. Douglas directs. Mosaictheatre.org
At Round House Theatre in Bethesda, it’s James Graham’s “Ink” (through Sept. 24). A co-production with Olney Theatre, the smashing joint effort rivetingly rehashes the beginning of the relationship between burgeoning media tycoon Rupert Murdoch (Andrew Rein) and an increasingly ruthless British editor Larry Lamb (Cody Nickell). Olney’s out artistic director Jason Loewith directs. Roundhousetheatre.org
Shakespeare Theatre Company rather uncharacteristically kicks off its season with a musical, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Evita” (through Oct. 15). Produced in cooperation with Boston’s American Repertory Theater and staged by young director Sammi Cannold, the show promises a new take on the rise and fall of Eva Peron (played by Shireen Pimental), Argentina’s iconic first lady, both sainted and despised in equal measure. Shakespearetheatre.org
Following the recent death of GALA Hispanic Theatre’s beloved artistic director Hugo Medrano, the Columbia Heights company marks the opening of its 48th season with “Baño de luna/Bathing in Moonlight” (through Oct. 1), written and directed by Pulitzer Prize-winning out playwright Nilo Cruz.
The provocative drama (in Spanish with English surtitles) centers on the illicit romance between a handsome Catholic priest (Raúl Méndez) and talented pianist parishioner (Hannia Guillén). The cast also features Hiram Delgado, Luz Nicolás, and out actors Victor Salinas and Carlos Castillo. Galatheatre.org
Studio Theatre marks its foray into foreign language with “Espejos: Clean” (through Oct. 22), a bilingual play with both Spanish and English supertitles by Christine Quintano. The new work takes a look at isolation and the power of being seen when two women from different worlds cross paths in touristy Cancún, Mexico. Studiotheatre.org
Through Oct. 8, Woolly Mammoth is premiering Sasha Denisova’s “My Mama & The Full-Scale Invasion.” Starring multiple Helen Hayes Award-winning out actor Holly Twyford as Mama, the 90-minute long, three-person piece describes an old Ukrainian woman’s fantastical account of her experiences in the war with Russia. Woollymammoth.net
Ford’s Theatre presents the premiere production of playwright Pearl Cleage “Something Moving: A Meditation on Maynard” (Sept. 22 – Oct. 15). The work reflects on Maynard Jackson’s game-changing 1973 election and legacy as Atlanta’s first Black mayor and strong gay ally. The 10-person ensemble cast includes queer actors Billie Krishawn and Tom Story. Seema Sueko directs. Fords.org
And a note to friends of Dorothy. For one night only at the Strathmore in Bethesda, it’s the Liza Minelli-produced “Get Happy! Michael Feinstein Celebrates the Judy Garland Centennial” (Sept. 21). The good-time show features famed out pianist Feinstein performing Garland’s hallmark songs along with big-screen film clips, never-before-seen photos, and rare audio recordings. Strathmore.org
The Edge of the Universe Theater is offering Harold Pinter’s “The Caretaker” (Sept. 29 – Oct. 22) at The Writer’s Center in Bethesda. The absorbing 1960 psychological study involving two brothers and a homeless man was Pinter’s first commercial success. Stephen Jarrett directs. Universalplayers2.org
On Capitol Hill, Taffety Punk Theatre Company presents Kelsey Mesa’s intriguing new play “La Salpêtrière” (Sept. 28 – Oct. 15), a painful yet heartening exploration of one woman’s experience as an inmate in the dreaded asylum known for its curious and publicly demonstrated methods of “treatment.”
The four-person cast includes Fabiolla da Silva, Yihong Chen, Danny Puente Cackley, and celebrated local actor Kimberly Gilbert. Danielle A. Drakes directs. Taffetypunk.com
At 1st Stage in Tysons Corner, it’s “The Chosen” (Sept. 28 – Oct. 15). Penned by Aaron Posner and Chaim Potak, it’s the story of two Jewish teenage boys navigating friendship, family, and religion in 1940s Brooklyn. Artistic director Alex Levy directs. 1ststage.org
Arena Stage opens its season with “POTUS: or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive,” (Oct. 13 – Nov. 12), Selina Fillinger’s feminist farce describes a staff of women who keep their dim president and beleaguered country afloat. Directed by Margot Bordelon, the singularly female seven-member cast includes Felicia Curry, Naomi Jacobson, and Natalya Lynette Rathnam. Arenastage.org
Through Nov. 11, Constellation Theatre Company presents Sarah Ruhl’s adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s novel “Orlando,” a trans tale of an amorous young nobleman who one night goes to sleep as a man and awakens the following morning as a woman. Nick Martin directs. Constellationtheatre.org
Just in time for Halloween, Rorschach Theatre presents a reimagining of filmmaker George Romero’s 1968 zombie cult classic “Night of the Living Dead” (Oct. 27-Nov. 19) with an “unforgettable theatrical experience with thrills and surprises for both horror fans and those new to the genre.” Lilli Hokama directs. Rorschachtheatre.com
Lauren Yee’s “King of the Yees” is making its D.C. premiere at Signature Theatre in Arlington through Oct. 22. It’s not a musical (Signature’s specialty), but a play, more specifically “a vibrant, semi-autobiographical comedy about community, culture and the connection between fathers and daughters.” Out actor Grant Chang plays the playwright’s father Larry Yee.
And then it’s “Ragtime” (Oct. 24 – Jan. 7) directed by Signature’s powerhouse artistic director Matthew Gardiner. With a score by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, and an adaption of E.L. Doctorow’s novel by extraordinary gay playwright Terrance McNally (who succumbed to COVID complications early in the pandemic), the epic musical intertwines storylines from early 20th century New York including the scandal involving Evelyn Nesbit portrayed on celluloid in “The Girl on the Red Velvet Swing” with Joan Collins as the eponymous showgirl. Sigtheatre.org
Broadway at the National continues with hits from the Great White Way including “Mrs. Doubtfire” (Oct. 10-15). Rob Mclure reprises his Tony Award-nominated performance as an out-of-work actor who poses as a Scottish nanny in a desperate attempt to stay in his kids’ lives followed by “The Wiz” (October 24-29), a gospel/rock/funk infused take on “The Wizard of Oz” with a Tony Award-winning score by Charlie Smalls. Broadwayatthenational.com
Theatre J presents Jenny Rachel Weiner’s “The Chameleon” (Oct. 11- Nov. 5), directed by Ellie Heyman. Rampaging through questions of identity, representation, and the complications of assimilation, Weiner’s new comedy centers on an aspiring actor poised for her big break, or so she hopes. Theatrej.org
Along with promising works, Theatre Week (Sept. 21 – Oct. 8) is ushering in fall with a three-week-long celebration of the launch of the 2023-2024 theater season in the DMV. The festivities begin with Kickoff Fest, a free all-day event at Arena Stage on Saturday Sept. 23.
Throughout Theatre Week, more than 25 area productions will offer discounted tickets at $22, $40, and $60 through todaytix.com. More information is available at theatreweek.org.
Theater
Explore new venues, productions during D.C. Theatre Week
30 shows, including musicals, comedies, dramas, premieres, and more
2024 Theatre Week
Sept. 26-Oct. 13
Theatreweek.org
For Michael Ramirez, theater remains an ongoing source of inspiration and pleasure. As a little boy in El Paso, Texas, his mom took him to see lots of kids’ shows. And later in high school, he played one of the Sharks in “West Side Story.” All fond memories.
At the University of Texas in Austin for social work (undergraduate) and social work/public administration (graduate school) and then as a successful human resources professional and policy wonk in Washington, Ramirez continued to enjoy theater from the audience or behind the scenes. Now retired, he serves as a Helen Hayes Awards judge and board member at Woolly Mammoth Theatre.
Theatre Washington is the umbrella organization that not only produces the Helen Hayes Awards but also Theatre Week, an annual celebratory launch of the season with shows at low prices, a free kickoff fest, and other fun events.
The 2024 Theatre Week, explains Ramirez, features about 30 varied productions in the DMV, including musicals, comedies, dramas, new works, premieres, and works geared to young audiences. And tickets are affordably discounted at $60, $40, and $20.
“It’s a great opportunity to take a chance on a theater that you might not be familiar with,” he says. “When it comes to seeing shows, a lot of people think Kennedy Center or Ford’s. This can be an introduction to something entirely new. D.C. is a busy theater town with lots of companies and venues.”
At the heart of Theatre Week are its plays and musicals. Ramirez has already made his list.
His picks include GALA Hispanic Theatre’s “The 22+ Weddings of Hugo” featuring out actor Carlos Castillo as Hugo and staged by out director José Zayas; busy out playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ “The Comeuppance” at Woolly Mammoth; and “Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead” at Nu Sass Productions.
He also plans to see Mosaic Theatre’s “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill,” a play with music about jazz legend/queer icon Billie Holiday starring Roz White; ExPats Theatre’s “Marlene,” featuring Karin Rosnizeck as legendary diva Marlene Dietrich; and Rorschach Theatre’s “Sleeping Giant” written by gay playwright Steve Yockey well known as the developer of the HBO Max comedy-drama television series “The Flight Attendant.”
Ramirez adds, “And as a good gay, I can’t miss ‘Sondheim Tribute Revue’ at Creative Cauldron.”
There are also parties and outdoor events. He advises a few of his favorites.
On Monday, Sept. 9, Woolly Mammoth hosts a Theatre Week Launch Party replete with drinks and season sneak peaks (invitation only).
The Historic Theatre Walking Tour (Sept. 21) asks the public to check out downtown D.C. theaters with guides Farar Elliot and Chris Geidner (free). And with City on the River Concert (Sept. 22), Theatre Washington returns to the D.C. Wharf Transit Pier to present “musical theater showstoppers” from a dozen of the season’s upcoming shows (free).
Next up it’s “DC Theatre at the Nats” (Sept. 24), a night out at the ballgame that baseball lover Ramirez is sure to attend. And typically, he says, performers from a local show or company are booked to sing the anthem ($20).
And big event Kickoff Fest 2024, an all-afternoon event for all ages, takes place on Sept. 28 at Arena Stage (also free).
Not surprisingly Ramirez fell for another theater aficionado. He and husband John Ralls got together in 1990 and married in 2014. Ralls is a board member at Rorschach.
As board members, they “function as ambassadors and marketers for the theater. We reach into our pockets and write the checks. We buy the season tickets, and encourage our friends to do the same.”
Ramirez enthusiastically reiterates: “Theatre Week is especially fun. Again, tickets are reasonable. There’s everything from puppet plays at Glen Echo Park to something more serious. It’s the perfect chance to try something new.”
Theater
Mosaic kicks off 10th anniversary with ‘Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill’
Play set in nightclub where Billie Holiday gave one of her last performances
‘Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill’
Sept. 5-Oct. 6
Mosaic Theater Company
1333 H St., N.E.
$50–$80
mosaictheater.org
Throughout a big career, jazz icon Billie Holiday experienced tremendous highs and lows. Unapologetically herself and openly bisexual, she made her mark with songs like the very popular “Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)” and successfully stepped into social activism with her performances and recording of “Strange Fruit,” a searing protest anthem inspired by the photograph of a lynching.
On the downside, she was dogged by addiction and fell prey to users of various stripes (more often than not male), but fans and music experts agree that it’s these less-than-sanguine life experiences that helped to shape the emotional content of her inimitable take on the blues.
Currently Mosaic Theater Company is kicking off its 10th anniversary season with Lanie Robertson’s “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill,” a play with music set in a seedy Philadelphia night spot where Holiday gave one of her last performances just months before dying from heart disease at just 44 in 1959.
Mosaic’s immersive production is directed by the company’s out artistic director Reginald L. Douglas and stars D.C. favorite Roz White. At 90 minutes, the one-woman show features about a dozen of Holiday’s songs, and tucked in between are book scenes touching on personal and political themes including racism, sexism, domestic abuse, and drug use. In many ways, says Douglas, it’s the history of what Black female singing stars have had to endure to achieve success.
For Mosaic’s season opener, a black box space at Atlas Performing Arts Center on H Street, NE, is being reconfigured as a nightclub with café seating and drinks. White as Holiday (affectionately nicknamed Lady Day by famed saxophonist Lester Young) sings with a standard jazz tiro: pianist (William Knowles), bassist (Mark Saltman), and drummer (Greg Holloway).
An avowed Holiday admirer, director Douglas says staging the production has only increased his devotion: He describes her as an all-gender loving woman, who possessed a love of life, and an openness about her struggle.
“Without a doubt, she was a force of nature that queer audiences respond to and admire. Particularly for queer Black people, legends like Billie Holiday are vital for our ability to see ourselves.”
And as a theater maker who goes in as a Billie fan, Douglas already knew the show’s classics like ‘Strange Fruit’ and ‘God Bless the Child,’ and now he’s excited to be learning more from her canon like ‘What a Little Moonlight Can Do,’ ‘Crazy He Calls Me,’ and ‘Easy Living’ which has become a special moment in the show.
And working with the powerful White as Holiday is proving “a dreamy collaboration.”
“The core is respect,” says Douglas who began his tenure with Mosaic in November of 2021. “I trust the experts and Roz is an expert. She knows how to command a stage and she is Billie Holiday’s biggest fan. She has a depth of knowledge about the artist and her music, jazz, the blues. I just want to listen and soak that up and elevate it and amplify it on stage.”
The experience is filled with trust and admiration and give and take, he adds. And along with wonderful choreography and movement consultant Sandra L. Holloway who is a queer Black woman, the three of them are having a great time.
White recently returned to D.C. after completing a two-year national tour of “TINA: The Tina Turner Musical.” And now with “Lady Day at the Emerson Bar and Grill,” she marks her return to Mosaic where, among other performances, she is remembered for her compelling portrayal of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the queer Black woman who invented rock ‘n’ roll, in “Marie and Rosetta.”
Holiday’s voice is unmistakable. With its wonderfully unique phrasing and a gravel and hoarseness resulting from years of late nights and strain, it’s often copied, but that’s not what they’re going for here.
Douglas says, “We’re not striving for an impersonation here. We’re letting Roz be Roz; but while honoring the spirit of Billie, you’ll notice some pronunciation and dialect work. Still, Roz brings her own kind of special sauce to the work.”
Theater
Hillary Clinton like you’ve never seen her before in ‘Soft Power’
Musical fantasia employs humor to explore contrasting cultures
‘Soft Power’
Through Sept. 15
Signature Theatre
4200 Campbell Ave.
Arlington, Va.
Starting at $40
Sigtheatre.org
There’s a wonderful scene in “Soft Power” where Hillary Clinton goes underground. She’s just lost the election and she’s eating a lot of bad takeout and seeing no one. But she’s willing to make an exception for one man. He’s Xue Xing, a Chinese theatrical producer from Shanghai whom she briefly but memorably met on the campaign trail.
Once he convinces her to venture outdoors, Hillary doffs the food-stained robe and dowdy sleeping cap to magically reveal a chic black shirt dress with full skirt and a bouncy bob of blonde tresses. Next, the duo elegantly dances across the stage (and presumably the country) for a better view of the romantic Golden Gate Bridge. It’s quite the moment.
Billed as a musical fantasia, “Soft Power,” a terrific collaboration between playwright David Henry Hwang (“Yellow Face,” “M. Butterfly”) and composer Jeanine Tesori (“Fun Home,” “Kimberly Akimbo”), is currently playing at Signature Theatre in a revised, taut version of its earlier off-Broadway incarnation. At about 90 minutes, it’s substantially shorter, and this time an Asian actor, the marvelous Grace Yoo, is playing Hillary.
The story unfolds at a rapid, highly entertaining pace. On the cusp of the 2016 election, Xue Xing (an all-around pitch perfect Daniel May) is eager to peddle some soft power (i.e. “to co-opt rather than coerce”). His mission in America is to put a pro-Chinese musical on the Great White Way. Sadly, DHH the playwright he’s commissioned to do the job can’t find a viable way into the assignment.
Like David Henry Hwang, DHH (Steven Eng) is the son of immigrants. He possesses limited knowledge of China and doesn’t speak Chinese. Also, like Hwang, who was stabbed by a random stranger near his home in Brooklyn in 2015, DHH is violently attacked on the streets of New York. It’s while recovering in hospital that DHH falls into a prolonged fever dream in which he reconciles feelings about China and America set against a backdrop of ardor, and classic Broadway and Hollywood musicals. Like so many dreams, the characters are blends of real people and places.
Staged by Ethan Heard, Signature’s associate artistic director who also happens to be Chinese-American, queer, and proficient in Mandarin, “Soft Power” boasts a top-notch, largely Asian cast that ably plays varied races from wide-ranging walks of life. Broadway costume designer Helen Q. Huang creates a rather soigné look drawn from the real-life candidate’s practical workaday uniform. Set designer Chika Shimizu cleverly creates distinct settings using straightforward signage, subtle graffiti, and some smoky glass.
Billy Bustamante’s choreography conveys energy and emotion ranging from a tiki torch bearing mob to a Fred and Ginger expression of budding romance. And music director Angie Benson skillfully conducts the 10-person orchestra beautifully rendering Tesori’s both eclectic and memorable score.
The show’s razzle-dazzle number “I’m With Her,” features Hillary in full campaign mode at a busy McDonald’s restaurant. Initially, high above the crowd, dressed in an ivory-colored coat, she evokes Evita. As she descends into the adoring fray, it’s more a blend of oily Harold Hill, brassy Reno Sweeney and a bit of Baby June really selling it on the Orpheum circuit. In short, all the glad-handing madness of an American election.
The feel-good fun is abruptly interrupted when a preppy kid in a red baseball cap, Holden Caufield (an aptly angsty Joey Urgino standing in for Nicholas Yenson), crashes the lovefest proclaiming how he can’t stand “phonies” so he’s voting for the other guy.
With varying degrees of success, the playwright employs humor to explore contrasting cultures, democracy, exceptionalism, and gun control. At one point, a delightfully fey Chief Justice (Andrew Crispi) musically lays out just how voting works including the Electoral College, which doesn’t ensure a victory for the candidate garnering the most votes. Xue Xing isn’t impressed.
Hwang’s isn’t the only work about Asians suffering at the hands of emboldened racists. Chisa Hutchinson’s “Redeemed,” a piece inspired by an uptick in anti-Asian hate crime in the early days of the pandemic (think “kung flu”), made its world premiere at the Contemporary American Theatre Festival in West Virginia in the summer of 2023.
The Black bisexual playwright’s compelling two hander is set in the visiting room of a high security prison where an Asian American woman meets with the white man who murdered her gay brother when he heard him speaking Chinese in line at an ATM. There’s no singular way to talk about domestic terrorism. Both pieces work but in different ways.
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