Folger Theatre News

Paper Mill Playhouse, recipient of the 2016 Regional Theatre Tony Award, presents the comedy by Ken Ludwig, A Comedy of Tenors, the hilarious sequel to the Tony Award-winning comedy Lend Me a Tenor. A friendly reminder that performances begin tomorrow, February 1, 2017 for a limited run through Sunday, February 26, 2017 at Paper Mill Playhouse (22 Brookside Drive) in Millburn, NJ.

Folger Theatre continues its celebrated 25th anniversary season with As You Like It, one of Shakespeare's most beloved comedies. Directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch, this classic tale filled with love, laughter, and mistaken identity features original songs composed by Heather Christian and dances by Alexandra Beller. As You Like It is on stage now through March 5, 2017. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

The Pearl Theatre Company will present the world premiere of Vanity Fair by Kate Hamill, best known for her critically-acclaimed, off-Broadway hit Sense & Sensibility. 

Folger Theatre continues its celebrated 25th anniversary season with As You Like It, one of Shakespeare's most beloved comedies. Directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch, this classic tale filled with love, laughter, and mistaken identity features original songs composed by Heather Christian and dances by Alexandra Beller. As You Like It is on stage from January 24 through March 5, 2017.

Circle Theatre opens its 36th Season with Who Am I This Time? (& Other Conundrums of Love), by Aaron Posner, adapted from stories by Kurt Vonnegut (Music by James Sugg). 

At 5:30pm tonight, January 19, 2017, at sunset the eve of the Inauguration, more than 500 theaters, ensembles and companies, high school and university theater programs will gather across the country to light a light and make a pledge to stand for and protect the values of inclusion, participation, and compassion for everyone - regardless of race, class, religion, country of origin, immigration status, (dis)ability, gender identity, or sexual orientation.

As previously announced, at 5:30pm on January 19, 2017, at sunset the eve of the Inauguration, more than 500 theaters, ensembles and companies, high school and university theater programs will gather across the country to light a light and make a pledge to stand for and protect the values of inclusion, participation, and compassion for everyone - regardless of race, class, religion, country of origin, immigration status, (dis)ability, gender identity, or sexual orientation.

Long Wharf Theatre, under the direction of Artistic Director Gordon Edelstein and Managing Director Joshua Borenstein, present the world premiere of Napoli, Brooklyn by Meghan Kennedy, directed by Edelstein.

Amphibian Stage Productions announces the cast and creative team for its first main stage play of the 2017 season, Northside Hollow by Jonathan Fielding and Brenda Withers. Starring Jim Jorgensen and Jordan Sobel, the play runs Friday, February 10 through Sunday, March 5 at the Berlene T. and Jarrell R. Milburn Theatre at Amphibian Stage Productions. Supporting artists include Stephanie Cleghorn Jasso and Jake Nice. 

Jacqueline E. Lawton's new political thriller Intelligence makes its world premiere at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater. Under the direction of Daniella Topol (Round House's Ironbound), Intelligence explores the cost of deception and the consequences of speaking truth to power. Due to popular demand, the production has been extended for one week with eight additional performances and will run February 24-April 9, 2017 in the Arlene and Robert Kogod Cradle.

WaterTower Theatre today announced details for the third annual WOMEN IN THEATRE panel discussion.  The event is presented under the auspices of Women of WaterTower Theatre (WOW!) and it is chaired by Jennifer Martinez.  This is the third panel in the series, having already explored the unique perspective of prominent female directors and actors, 2017 will feature The Designers, and it will be held on Monday, February 6, 2017 from 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm (with a post-lecture reception in the lobby with the artists). The event will be held in the Canterbury Family Main Stage at the Addison Theatre Centre.  The lecture will be moderated by Dallas arts journalist Lauren Smart, and features Leann Burns, Clare Floyd DeVries, Sylvia Fuhrken Marrs, and Frida Espinosa-Muller.

For theatre lovers in our area, we always look forward to what our theatre companies have in store for us in their upcoming seasons. We look to see if there are any trends that stand out to us as audience members. We also see growth in many companies with each new season of shows. Anyone that's been following DC theatre for a while will notice how things have changed in the last twenty or thirty years. One of the biggest examples of this would be the clean up and revitalization of 14th Street, which had direct implications for Studio Theatre and Source.

Dev loves Mash. Mash loves Con. Con loves Nina. Nina loves Trig…but so does Emma. Thus, the stage is set for sidesplitting heartache, in Aaron Posner's irreverently funny and unabashedly provocative riff on Chekhov's classic The Seagull, beginning a 5-week regional premiere run on Thursday, January 19 at Stage West.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has announced the full casting for the world premiere of Bud, Not Buddy, a new play by Obie Award winner Kirsten Greenidge, adapted from Christopher Paul Curtis's acclaimed Newbury Medal winning novel, with music by world-renowned jazz artist and composer Terence Blanchard.

Folger Theatre continues its celebrated 25th anniversary season with As You Like It, one of Shakespeare's most beloved comedies. Directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch, this classic tale filled with love, laughter, and mistaken identity features original songs composed by Heather Christian and dances by Alexandra Beller. As You Like It is on stage from January 24 through March 5, 2017.

Today's subject might be considered one of the hardest working guys in show business. Tom Story is currently living his theatre life on both sides of the footlights. His expertly directed production of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe finishes its successful run at Adventure Theatre MTC in Glen Echo, MD this weekend. You can also see him onstage in the one-man play Fully Committed at MetroStage in Alexandria, VA through January 8th.

Pioneer Theatre Company presents Fences, the critically renowned play by August Wilson. The timeless drama about fathers and sons runs January 6 to January 21, 2017.

Arena Stage announces full casting for Lillian Hellman's Watch on the Rhine, winner of the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play.

The Washington Stage Guild starts its 'Pearl Anniversary' season with a remount of one of America's favorite holiday stories in It's A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play. It's Christmas Eve, 1946, and we are the studio audience for a local radio station as its cast of voice actors and one very busy sound effects man broadcast the beloved tale of George Bailey and his encounter with Clarence, his guardian angel. This 'radio play-within-a-play' re-imagines the familiar movie as it would have been heard in homes all over America in the late 40s, when just such a broadcast took place. Playwright