Heather Hill

Sulayman Al Bassam is returning to the Kennedy Center next week for the first time since 2009. The international playwright and director has had his work performed around the world, but this is the first time he will be using an all-American cast instead of his usual Pan-Arab troupe.

Riot Grrls, the all-women arm of Taffety Punk Theatre Company, made the brilliant decision to take on THE TROJAN WOMEN, a play written by Euripides and translated into English by Edith Hamilton. Although the play itself is practically as old as time, the story remains jarringly relevant in today's time. It is directed by Kelsey Mesa. 

I am reminded that one of the beauties of dance is not always to tell a story but to evoke an idea that lives on its own wild life within each member of the audience and echoes out into our individual, very real lives long after we leave the theatre--and Alvin Ailey does just that. 

I have never talked with anyone who is more excited to live a dog's life than when I caught up with Andreas Wyder last week. Andreas currently plays a puppy in the role of Young Max on the national tour of THE GRINCH, and we had a nice, long chat about what first got him into the world of theater (I'll give you a hint-it wasn't a dog) and really, everything Grinch and Puppy.

This is the sort of production you can slip into easily; find yourself there in the story. It's an ordinary story about an extraordinary thing-yet another reason to love it. The Girl reignites the music in the Guy; she takes him in hand (and hoover) to fall slowly back into song, back into hope, and back into love.

Rorschach Theatre often tackles strange and sometimes difficult productions, and A BID TO SAVE THE WORLD fits right in with that lineup. My mind hurts nicely from all the thinking in what is a surprisingly cerebral experience. Written by Erin Bregman and directed by Lee Liebeskind, the play explores death and saving the world with a light hand and an intellectual cudgel.