Michael Russotto

What did our critic think of THE NANCE at 1st Stage?

The Nance will come to 1st Stage next month! Performances run April 4-21, 2024.

This week marks a very important event for DC area arts education. On June thirteenth, The Theatre Lab School of the Dramatic Arts (TTL) held its very first class and co-founders Deb Gottesman, Buzz Mauro and Michael Rodgers never looked back. The organization has changed locations a few times over the years but the quality of the work that Theatre Lab’s instructors and administration have given to hundreds and hundreds of students has always remained at the top of its game.

'The Joy that Carries You' is a touching and touchingly thoughtful journey, one which many might recognize in their own. But Secka and Stoller also make this a celebration of the relationships which until (only) very recently were taboo. Thank goodness we're no longer at the stage where seeing two women choosing each other as life-partners is a shock; we can now see them as human beings. But we also know that relationships like this are still fraught with a unique form of anxiety, between the women themselves but especially with their families.

Awa Sal Secka and Dani Stoller's new play The Joy That Carries You begins rehearsals today for its World Premiere at Olney Theatre Center. Directed by Jason Loewith and Kevin McAllister, performances begin May 11, 2022, and run through June 12, 2022. The Invited Press performance will be held Sunday, May 15 at 1:45 pm.

Theater J’s 'Tuesdays with Morrie' is a touching, emotional exploration of human connection. It’s an intimate portrait of a beautiful relationship between a man and his mentor in the face of tragic circumstances, but it’s also a greater insight into how we all relate to each other and ourselves.

Theater J presents internationally renowned bestselling author Mitch Albom for a talk on his #1 New York Times bestselling new book The Stranger in the Lifeboat. In his profound new novel of hope and faith, a group of shipwrecked passengers pull a strange man from the sea who claims to be “the Lord.” And, he says he can only save them if they all believe in him. At the event, Albom will talk about the book and answer questions submitted in advance from the audience.

Brandeis University sociology professor Morris S. Schwartz inspired millions with his lessons on life and loving in Mitch Albom's breakout memoir, Tuesdays with Morrie, which has been adapted for the stage by Albom and playwright and screenwriter Jeffrey Hatcher (Stage Beauty and Columbo) and will appear as the second play in Theater J's 2021-2022 season.

MY LORD, WHAT A NIGHT at Ford's Theatre is a fascinating story of a surprising friendship developing at a critical time in history. We don’t see the characters as mythological beings in this production, thanks to the expert cast we are drawn to the approachable – very human – personal stakes, strong bonds and real concerns that compel action.

Directed by Ford’s Theatre Senior Artistic Advisor Sheldon Epps, the remarkable new drama is based on true events and the friendship between contralto Marian Anderson and physicist Albert Einstein.

Ford’s Theatre Director Paul R. Tetreault announced performance and on-sale dates for its season of in-person productions that explore Civil Rights icons including Marian Anderson and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the anticipated premiere of D.C. composer Nolan Williams, Jr.,’s musical Grace and the joyful holiday return of A Christmas Carol.

Forda??s Theatre Director Paul R. Tetreault today announced updates to the Forda??s Theatre 2020-2021 season, following a revaluation amid the national reckoning for racial justice and the impacts of COVID-19 on live performances.

With everything shut down due to the pandemic do you find yourself looking for an innovative and affordable way to get your theatre fix? Have you ever wanted to take a theatre class taught by a top DC theatre artist but thought that you couldn't afford one? Well, my favorite DC area arts education institution has found a way to solve both of these issues while you are cooped up in your home practicing social distancing and binge watching whatever one binge watches.

Theater J Artistic Director Adam Immerwahr and Managing Director Jojo Ruf have announced Theater J's 30th anniversary season of five plays and two musicals. The nation's largest and most prominent Jewish theater company, Theater J celebrates its anniversary with a season that features all the elements that have become signature to its work: stories that illuminate the Jewish condition, joyfully celebrate humanity, and challenge us to empathize and think more deeply about the world.

The Amateurs by Jordan Harrison and directed by Jason King Jones runs in Olney Theatre Center's Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab, March 4 - April 5, 2020. The production is the fifth show in Olney Theatre's 2019-2020 season and the final show to perform in the Theatre Lab before it closes for renovations, scheduled to re-open in November 2020. OTC regulars Evan Casey (On the Town), James Konicek (Dial 'M' For Murder), Michael Russotto (Singin' in the Rain), Emily Townley (Ken Ludwig's A Comedy of Tenors) and Rachel Zampelli (The Crucible) are joined by Shakespeare Theatre Company veteran John Keabler (Hotspur in Henry IV, part I). Opening night is Saturday, March 7 at 7:45pm.

Olney Theatre Center presents its biggest, most technically challenging musical to-date when it produces Singin In The Rain, November 8, 2019 - January 5, 2020, directed by Marcos Santana. Santana, who directed and choreographed In The Heights, which won the 2018 Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Musical Production, is joined by choreographer Grady Bowman who choreographed 2017's My Fair Lady. Press is invited to attend the performance on Thursday, November 14 at 8:00pm. Keeping with its tradition of partnering with community oriented non-profits during its holiday productions, Olney Theatre will be accepting donations of new or gently used coats to be distributed to community members in-need by One Warm Coat.

EIGHT NIGHTS, a new play from award-winning playwright Jennifer Maisel, is having a unique introduction to audiences - a series of benefit staged readings across America. The 8 Nights of EIGHT NIGHTS series will occur on at least 8 different nights in at least 8 different cities, to raise funds and awareness for HIAS.

Arena Stage's production of 'Junk' marks the Washington, DC area premiere of the critically acclaimed play, and, happily, Arena's production is more than up to the task of living up to the show's reputation.

Arena Stage presents Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and author Ayad Akhtar's (Arena's Disgraced) timely tale Junk. Inspired by the real junk bond giants of the 1980s, Akhtar explores how the riveting, hostile takeover of a family-owned manufacturing company paved the way to expose the rise of greed, power, race and wealth that led to reshaping the rules of Wall Street and the world.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater announces the full company for Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and author Ayad Akhtar's (Arena's Disgraced) timely tale Junk. Inspired by the real junk bond giants of the 1980s, Akhtar explores how the riveting, hostile takeover of a family-owned manufacturing company paved the way to expose the rise of greed, power, race and wealth that led to reshaping the rules of Wall Street and the world. Directed by Jackie Maxwell, Junk runs April 5 - May 5, 2019 in the Fichandler Stage.