Shannon Dorsey

Theatre Communications Group presented its 2024 TCG Gala: Our Stories at The Edison Ballroom. The Gala featured performances from PigPen Theatre Co., Nichelle Lewis, Judine Somerville, Tracee Beazer, Jacqueline Arnold and Aisha Jackson. Check out photos from inside the big night!

Let me tell you a bit about myself. Even before the death of George Floyd and the political earthquake that followed, I have long been of the opinion that drastic and systemic changes are needed in the American judicial system.

​​​​​​​Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company closes its 2022-2023 season with the world premiere of Incendiary, a play bursting with satire and influenced by the style of video games, anime, and blockbuster action movies. The play runs from May 29 to June 25 at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company (641 D St NW). Tickets and further information can be found here.

As the director says, this is a 'Black play that speaks to Black people and talks about Black shit.' But it allows larger audiences a chance to listen in to the conversation and laugh, if more gently, at the jokes. While not everything in the show is funny, much of it is irresistibly so.

Fasten your seatbelts, and prepare for turbulence. Baltimore Center Stage (BCS), in a co-production with Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, presents the regional premiere of AIN’T NO MO’ written by Jordan E. Cooper and directed by Lili-Anne Brown now through November 20, 2022. See photos from the production.

Fasten your seatbelts, and prepare for turbulence. Baltimore Center Stage, in a co-production with Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, will present the regional premiere of AIN'T NO MO' written by Jordan E. Cooper and directed by Lili-Anne Brown from October 27 through November 20, 2022.

What did our critic think of AIN'T NO MO' at Woolly Mammoth?Thanks to Barack Obama's presidency but, alas, because of Rachel Dolezal's wannabe caper, American drama requires some updated, Black-originated satire; Jordan E. Cooper obliges with Ain't No Mo', his 100 minute whupping of white privilege, supremacy, and presumptive cultural majority at Woolly Mammoth through October 9. Cooper follows the late Douglas Turner Ward and George C. Wolfe whose Day of Absence (1965) and The Colored Museum (1986) lampooned white dominance with comedy both uproarious and bitter, and so does this show. It's good to have the real, live, three-dimensional exchange that only theatre provides. No disrespect, Dear White People, Get Out, Sorry to Bother You, and the canon of Spike Lee.

Fasten your seatbelts, and prepare for turbulence. In a co-production with Baltimore Center Stage, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company will present the regional premiere of AIN’T NO MO’, written by Jordan E. Cooper.   

The Shakespeare Theatre Company wraps up its 2021/2022 season with a brilliant production of Red Velvet, directed by Jade King Carroll, playing now at the Michael R. Klein Theatre through July 17, 2022.

Woolly Mammoth’s upcoming 2022-2023 season is a break-out collection of unconventional storytelling, filled with characters who upend roles, rules, and regimes, and authentic, in-your-face playwriting voices.

 Due to the ongoing surge of COVID-19 cases in the D.C. region, all performances of The Mountaintop are canceled, January 21 through February 13, 2022. Directed by Nicole A. Watson, the production was to feature KenYatta Rogers as Martin Luther King, Jr., and Shannon Dorsey as Camae.

Ford’s Theatre Society announced full casting and the design team for The Mountaintop by Katori Hall. Directed by Nicole A. Watson, the production features KenYatta Rogers (Ford’s Fences, Death of a Salesman) as Martin Luther King, Jr., and Shannon Dorsey (Ford’s A Christmas Carol 2018) as Camae.

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.

Playright Psalmayene 24’s contribution to Arena Riffs is “The Freewheelin’ Insurgents,” a day in the life of four actors as they cope with the pandemic and the forces arrayed against them, both as artists and African-Americans.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater has announced the second installment in the Arena Riffs series on March 31 at 7 p.m. The Freewheelin’ Insurgents is a pandemic-era hip-hop musical written, directed and performed by award-winning playwright, director and actor Psalmayene ‘Psalm’ 24 (Arena’s The 51st State, May 22, 2020).  

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater will debut the first installment in the Arena Riffs series on Wednesday, March 17 at 7 p.m. The three-part series begins with a musical memoir composed and performed by award-winning indie-folk duo Abigail and Shaun Bengson.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater announces its robust lineup of digital programming for the 2021/22 Looking Forward Season. Following on the success of last year's virtual offerings, the upcoming season expands even further to reflect Arena's commitment of championing diverse voices, engaging audiences and producing compelling, dynamic work. As part of Arena's mission to serve artists and audiences on a national, regional and local scale, the 2021/22 Looking Forward Season is packed with ambitious new works.

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.

The William & Eva Fox Foundation and Theatre Communications Group have announced the fourteenth round of Fox Foundation Resident Actor Fellowships recipients.

Tonight, at a celebration honoring theatre excellence on stages across the Washington area, theatre artists, administrators, patrons, and special guests gathered in the National Theatre's Helen Hayes Gallery for theatreWashington's announcement of nominees for the 36th Annual Helen Hayes Awards, which will be presented on Monday, May 18 at an event at the Anthem.