Jenna Berk

We Happy Few presents Kill the Ripper, a feminist Victorian revenge fantasy directed by Megan Behm. Running from Oct 25 - Nov 18 at Capitol Hill Arts Workshop.

'Hurricane Diane' is a fun and thought-provoking production, though you’ll certainly have more fun if you don’t think too hard about the technicalities of the show itself. There’s a lot to enjoy, and a good takeaway message, and, sometimes, that’s enough for an enjoyable theatrical experience.

The final chapter of The King's Shadow is about to begin. Henry the Fifth, opening March 14, 2020, completes the first season in Brave Spirits Theatre's two-year project to stage Shakespeare's eight history plays about the Wars of the Roses. During a tumultuous period of less than a hundred years, England experienced civil war and political upheaval as the throne switched hands nine times. Shakespeare dramatized these events over the course of his career in eight remarkable plays: Richard the Second, Henry the Fourth Part 1, Henry the Fourth Part 2, Henry the Fifth, Henry the Sixth Part 1, Henry the Sixth Part 2, Henry the Sixth Part 3, and Richard the Third. Brave Spirits Theatre is making history by becoming the first professional American theatre company to mount full productions of Shakespeare's two tetralogies and perform them in repertory.

During a tumultuous period of less than a hundred years, England experienced civil war and political upheaval as the throne switched hands nine times. Shakespeare dramatized these events over the course of his career in eight remarkable plays: Richard the Second, Henry the Fourth Part 1, Henry the Fourth Part 2, Henry the Fifth, Henry the Sixth Part 1, Henry the Sixth Part 2, Henry the Sixth Part 3, and Richard the Third. With an ensemble of twenty actors, Brave Spirits Theatre will stage these eight plays over the next two years, culminating in marathon performance weekends during July 2021.

Director Megan Behm has embraced the world of old French farce, and crafted a contemporary satire that is as frenetic and slap-stick as it is wickedly witty. Minnicino's rhyming couplets constantly leave you gasping for breath with laughter, and every single member of the cast has honed their characters to their sharpest comic edge. There isn't a moment, a word, or a gesture wasted, and the way the actors literally throw themselves into their roles is a pure joy to watch.

Avant Bard presents A Misanthrope, a world premiere adaptation of Moliere's The Misanthrope by Manhattan-based playwright Matt Minnicino, directed by Megan Behm in her Avant Bard debut.

WSC Avant Bard's Script in Play Festival, started in 2016, has been an opportunity to test out shows for full production treatment through the guise of a series of staged readings and post-play discussions. Written and performed by rising professional talent, these readings have led to some memorable productions, including new versions of Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew and Twelfth Night and Lauren Gunderson's hit Emilie: La Marquise Du Chatelet Defends Her Life Tonight. In 2017, a reading of playwright Matt Minnicino's 'distillation' - not 'adaptation,' as we get into below - of Moliere's The Misanthrope was performed. Written entirely in rhyming couplets, it follows a professional cynic who falls in love with an ingenue, and finds his devotion to insincerity tested. Now, it's the capper of Avant Bard's 29th season. I spoke to Minnicino about his career thus far, the adaptation process, and why audiences should be excited for this show.

Avant Bard Theatre announces the full cast and creative team for its season finale, A MISANTHROPE, a world premiere adaptation of Moliere's The Misanthrope by Manhattan-based playwright Matt Minnicino, directed by Megan Behm in her Avant Bard debut.

4615 Theatre Company's 'Separate Rooms' is a great display of how love and loss can affect a group of people - it balances the raw emotions of the moment with the very human need to push on. Despite some story arc issues, it is a touching, intimate, and funny insight into humanity.

Taffety Punk Theatre Company's Bootleg Shakespeare production HENRY VI, PART 3 is performance without a net - exciting, dangerous, riveting, and raw. Bootleg Shakespeare isn't designed to be polished or perfect, it's designed to be fresh and immediate. And it delivered. What's more amazing? The actors arrived at 10:00 am Monday with roles assigned and lines memorized. That's it. Working together under the direction of Taffety Punk Artistic Director Marcus Kyd, over the next few hours the 32 actors DIY'ed the production and were on stage in front of an audience at 7:30 pm. There were minimal props, lights, and costumes-but the red and white paper lapel flowers told us exactly what we needed to know when every epic battle scene and every word of Shakespeare's text was performed.

THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH at Constellation Theatre is a thought-provoking, skillfully-rendered reminder that chaos and uncertainty are not unique to our time or to any single time. In the sure directorial hands of Mary Hall Surface, Thornton Wilder's masterpiece is a wild time-traveling, allegorical tragicomedy, without the Pepperidge Farm and Hallmark overtones we've now come to associate with the OUR TOWN playwright.

Rorschach Theatre announces the cast and designers for its revival of NEVERWHERE (2013), Robert Kauzlaric's adaptation of Neil Gaiman's modern cult classic about a man who stumbles upon adventure in a dangerous and magical world that exists below the streets of London. The ensemble cast will include returning cast members Sarah Taurchini as Door and Daniel Corey as Richard Mayhew. The design team will include cutting-edge set and projections design collective Pixelumen Lab.

The DC premiere of WHEN WE WERE YOUNG AND UNAFRAID directed by Marie Byrd Sproul in her Keegan Theatre directing debut is nothing if not timely. The play is set on Whidbey Island off the cost of Washington State in 1972, but the remote location and blaring seventies music only highlights the eerie resonance of playwright Sarah Treem's work. In a time before battered women's shelters and legal recourse against male abusers, Agnes (Sheri S. Herren) runs a Bed and Breakfast with a basement entrance for victims of domestic abuse. Her most recent runaway, Mary Anne (Jenna Berk), arrives with an angry gash on her forehead and begins to shape the mind of Agnes' daughter Penny (Kaylynn Creighton) with her acquiescent and yet militantly tactical approach to dating. WHEN WE WERE YOUNG AND UNAFRAID does not deal in black and white: Treem's arguments are nuanced and delicately fashioned. Violence against women is at times as loud as the gash on Mary Anne's forehead and as quiet as Agnes' cheerful suggestion that her industrious daughter Penny ask a boy to the prom.

The Keegan Theatre presents the Washington DC premiere of Sarah Treem's When We Were Young and Unafraid, opening on June 17, 2017. Directed by Marie Sproul, When We Were Young and Unafraid stars Keegan founding company member Sheri S. Herren as Agnes, the role originated by Cherry Jones on Broadway. Herren is joined by Kaylynn Creighton, Jenna Berk, Nora Achrati, and Theo Hadjimichael. The press opening is on Tuesday, June 20, at 8:00 pm.

BroadwayWorld has a full list of the Helen Hayes Awards winners updating LIVE below! Named for actor Helen Hayes - a Washington native and legendary First Lady of the American Theatre - the Helen Hayes Awards celebrates excellence in professional theatre throughout the Washington region and has become a hallmark recognized by theatre makers and theatre lovers far beyond Washington D.C.

A dark, tragic, comedy creates a surprsing mix

In keeping with Brave Spirits Theatre's commitment to producing overlooked works from Shakespeare's contemporaries, the company's staging of Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher's A KING AND NO KING marks a DC metro area professional premiere. An excellent cast and a modern approach by director Cassie Ash and the creative team make this production worthwhile.

Theatre for the Game of Thrones fan: In two plays from Shakespeare's contemporaries, brothers and sisters defy the greatest taboo and fall in love. Incestuous passion threatens to overcome reason, but to very different results. Brave Spirits Theatre pairs John Ford's gruesome tragedy,'Tis Pity She's a Whore, with Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher's rarely produced tragicomedy, A King and No King.

The 2017 Helen Hayes Award nominations were announced tonight. A line-up of leading theatre artists announced nominations in 47 categories of artistic excellence. Award recipients will be announced at the Helen Hayes Awards gala event to be held at the Lincoln Theatre on Monday, May 15 with an after-party hosted at Washington's legendary 9:30 Club.

Somewhere between the ancient rituals of our pagan ancestors and the tacky office holiday party you attended last night lurks an answer to the question that haunts your dreams: 'How did I get here?'