Kimberly Gilbert News

Today's subject was kind enough to give me an hour of his time in the balcony of the place he lived his theatre life for almost 40 years.  I'm sure there isn't a person here in DC who would argue that Howard Shalwitz was one of the most influential minds in the DC theatre community as the Artistic Director of Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. Under Shalwitz, Woolly Mammoth produced some of the most thought provoking, wild, and sometimes shocking pieces of theatre this area has ever seen. Shalwitz stepped down in 2018 and the company is now run by Maria Manuela Goyanes. Mr. Shalwitz remains as Artistic Director Emeritus.

Olney Theatre Center, recipient of 27 nominations for the 2020 Helen Hayes Awards, begins rehearsals tomorrow for The Humans by Stephen Karam and directed by Aaron Posner. The 6th show of the 2019-2020 season runs on the Mainstage, April 1 - May 3, 2020. Press is invited to attend the performance on Saturday, April 4 at 8:00 pm.

There are some topics in which you hope plays conquer correctly. Topics that include dark parts of history such as the holocaust sit at the top of that list. Luckily, Alix Sobler's remarkable script and Theater J's impressive production of Sheltered, honors the topic, the people, and the story.

Sheltered, by Alix Sobler begins performances at Theater J in the renovated Aaron and Cecile Goldman Theater at the Edlavitch DC Jewish Community Center on January 9, 2020 and continues through February 2, 2020. Set in the US and in Vienna in 1939, Sheltered is a suspenseful story about one couple's bold act of resistance. Theater J's DC premiere will be directed by Artistic Director Adam Immerwahr. The press is invited to Opening Night on Monday, January 13 at 7:30 PM.

Jackie Sibblies Drury's play, Fairview, currently playing at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, is a show that desperately calls for conversation. It's no wonder, then, that each performance is immediately followed by community discussions led by Build With, a DC-based anti-racist training, facilitation, and consulting practice focused on people, power, and partnership. While I wasn't able to stay for this event following Saturday night's performance, it is an important step in ensuring this work's complicated themes are digested in a clear way. Fairview is one of the most conceptual shows in recent memory. Not every idea can be fully explored in this production, which has a tight 100-minute run time that director Stevie Walker-Webb keeps clipping at a good pace. Nevertheless, Fairview is a necessary piece for anyone looking to dive deeper into discussions of race and identity in America.

The Pulitzer Prize winning play, Fairview, recently opened at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. Find out what critics had to say!

Do not miss this three hour thriller about diplomacy about the Middle East makes its regional premiere.

Oslo is an amazing against-all-odds story of risk, trust, and diplomacy. It is about overcoming hard-and-fast assumptions. Oslo shows the value in finding common ground and allowing ourselves to hope. This Round House Theatre production is a wonder-a brilliant heartfelt, heart-filling experience.

National New Play Network, the alliance of professional theaters that collaborate in innovative ways to develop, produce, and extend the life of new plays, held its annual benefit Monday night at The Vineyard's Dimson Theatre in New York City. In addition to a staged reading of Audrey Cefaly's Alabaster, Charly Evon Simpson's Jump was celebrated as the inaugural recipient of The David Goldman Fund for New American Plays. 

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company announces its 2019-2020 season, which features an energizing array of plays by new voices and Woolly veterans.

Theater J Artistic Director Adam Immerwahr and Managing Director Jojo Ruf announce the 2019-2020 season, welcoming home audiences to a beautiful and refreshed theater located in the newly renovated Edlavitch DC Jewish Community Center on 16th Street. The season includes four plays and one musical, all being produced for the first time in DC, as well as the triumphant return of a recent Theater J hit. From an intoxicating new musical set in Tel Aviv based on the Song of Songs to the late-career masterpiece by multiple Pulitzer Prize-winner Edward Albee, Theater J's season celebrates journeys of every kind with a provocative and ambitious slate of plays. Of the six shows, three have future runs: two in New York City and one at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park.

Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park will present THE LAST WIDE OPEN, a love story that encourages audiences to take a personal, humorous look at modern-day courtship, romance and relationships, just in time for Valentine's Day. It begins Feb. 9 in the Shelterhouse Theatre and runs through March 10, with support from The Rosenthal Family Foundation, Season Sponsor of New Work. Opening night is Feb. 14.

For his fifth and final work with Shakespeare Theatre Company director Michael Khan, the playwright David Ives has not returned to rhyming couplet adaptations of French classics, as he did in 'The Liar,' 'The Heir Apparent,' 'The Metromaniacs' and 'the School for Lies.'

The most remarkable part of Ford Theatre's production of 'Born Yesterday' may not be the superb performances or the sharp-tongued humor, but the unsettling realization that this 1946 comedy feels much like present-day Washington, D.C.

In this sharp-edged satire, opportunistic tycoon Harry Brock arrives in Washington with his naive girlfriend, Billie Dawn, to game the political system.

Ford's Theatre Society announceS full casting and design team for a new production of Garson Kanin's 1940s screwball comedy, Born Yesterday.

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.

Round House Theatre announces casting for the five mainstage shows that will comprise its 41st season. "Our 2018-2019 Season launches our exciting Resident Artist program, and once again confirms our longstanding value to prioritize the use of local artists, with more than 90% of our artists hailing from the DC area," says Artistic Director Ryan Rilette. "We're thrilled to pair the best DC artists with some of the most exciting new plays and modern classics in American theatre. It's a season you won't want to miss." 

The Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA) is proud to announce full casting and creative team for the Theater Company's World Premiere production of Human Error by Eric Pfeffinger.