Nancy Robinette News

At the 35th annual Helen Hayes Awards on Monday, May 13 at The Anthem, actress, director, playwright, leader, and professor Jennifer L. Nelson will receive the 2019 Helen Hayes Tribute. Nelson has dedicated her artistic life to increasing access and inclusion of traditionally marginalized theatre artists largely in the Washington area region, and was a Helen Hayes Award recipient for her original play Torn from the Headlines, which received the Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding New Play in 1997.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts hosts more than 120 outstanding theater students from colleges and universities across the nation as part of the 50th annual Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF), which runs April 16-20, 2019 in multiple locations throughout the Center. The Center also announced the national awardees for the KCACTF. Selected awardees and representatives will be brought to Washington, D.C. for an expense-paid trip to participate in the National Festival. These student artists from across the United States have been recognized for their outstanding work from the eight regional festivals that were held January 8 through February 28, 2019.

Perhaps the biggest problem with 'The Heiress' is that it's difficult to invest in. It's hard to root for Catherine beyond hoping she tells Morris off, and that's more about dislike of him than support for her. After all, we can all get behind telling off a bad ex. It's just a shame that The Heiress doesn't give us the opportunity to go deeper than that.

Arena Stage presents Ruth and Augustus Goetz's melodrama, The Heiress, suggested by the Henry James novel, Washington Square.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater announces the full company for Ruth and Augustus Goetz's melodrama, The Heiress, suggested by the Henry James novel, Washington Square. After growing up subjected to her father's disinterest and strong resentment, a young woman in the 1850s discovers what love is in her journey towards independence, growth and strength, without an impactful female role model in her life. Directed by Deputy Artistic Director Seema Sueko, The Heiress runs February 8 - March 10, 2019 in the Fichandler Stage.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater announces the full company for Ruth and Augustus Goetz's melodrama, The Heiress, suggested by the Henry James novel, Washington Square. After growing up subjected to her father's disinterest and strong resentment, a young woman in the 1850s discovers what love is in her journey towards independence, growth and strength, without an impactful female role model in her life. Directed by Deputy Artistic Director Seema Sueko, The Heiress runs February 8 - March 10, 2019 in the Fichandler Stage.

In honor of Artistic Director Michael Kahn's final season with the Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC), the opening show of the 2018-2019 Season, William Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors, will feature beloved performers, many of whom have been with the Company since the very beginning.

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 DC theatre community hurried along the waterfront on Monday night, attempting to beat the looming, black storm clouds that threatened, but this could not dampen the vibrant crowds as they entered the recently opened Anthem for this year's Helen Hayes Awards. This stunning, modern space will be greeting the likes of Belle & Sebastian, Janelle Monae, and Nine Inch Nails in the coming months, and on this evening, theatre creative showed off their finest.

This evening, the 34th Annual Helen Hayes Awards celebrated Washington's diverse and vital theatre community with a gala event at The Anthem, recognizing 258 Helen Hayes Award nominees and 48 award recipients drawn from 202 eligible productions presented at 64 theatres in 2017. GALA Hispanic Theatre's Spanish-language production of Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegria Hudes' In The Heights received nine awards, putting them at the top of a list of 20 theatres receiving Helen Hayes Awards this year.

One thing can be said about award-nominated playwright Annie Baker. She captures the human condition in the most realistic of ways. This is no more apparent than in Signature Theatre's production of Baker's latest work, John. Director Joe Calarco delivers his finest staging to date. He's assembled a superb cast that includes the grand dame of DC theater, Nancy Robinette.

Signature Theatre is proud to present the DC premiere of Annie Baker's John, directed by Signature Theatre Director of New Work Joe Calarco (Signature's The Gulf, Jesus Christ Superstar).

The 34th Annual Helen Hayes Awards will take place on Monday, May 14, 2018 at The Anthem, the cultural center of Southwest D.C.'s new District Wharf, with a celebratory party to follow.

The 34th Annual Helen Hayes Awards will take place on Monday, May 14, 2018 at The Anthem, the cultural center of Southwest D.C.'s new District Wharf, with a celebratory party to follow. Esteemed Washington theatre artists Michael J. Bobbitt, five-time Helen Hayes Award nominee, choreographer and Artistic Director of Adventure Theatre MTC, and Alyssa Wilmoth Keegan, recipient of last year's Outstanding Lead Actress in a Play-Hayes Production for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, will host an evening showcasing the vibrant and diverse community of professional theatre artists in the Washington region. There are 258 Helen Hayes Award nominations-selected from 202 eligible productions from 64 theatres in 2017. Tickets for the event are $100 for reserved seating and $275 for VIP premium seating. Reduced-priced tickets will be available to artists and administrators in the community at an industry rate, subsidized by Artist Supporter tickets. All tickets are now available for purchase through the theatreWashington website.

I often state that a solo show is the hardest kind of theater performance to put together because it's just the performer and the audience. In most cases, the show would be an actor telling his/her story or portraying multiple characters. Most of these are easy to follow because there is a clear story line. Now, consider Scena Theatre's latest offering featuring the dynamic actress Nanna Ingvarsson performing three short pieces by the master of easy to follow, minimalist, avant garde material...Samuel Beckett. Yes, you read that right. If you go in thinking of the three pieces as acting exercises rather than full pieces of complete theatrical storytelling, you are sure to have a good experience.

Signature Theatre announces the full cast and creative team for the DC premiere of Annie Baker's John, directed by Signature Theatre Director of New Work Joe Calarco (Signature's The Gulf, Jesus Christ Superstar). Elias and Jenny, a young Brooklyn couple, escape on a much-needed getaway to a cozy bed-and-breakfast in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. However, under the watchful eye of the cheery, if slightly off, innkeeper, a ghost seems to haunt their crumbling relationship. Annie Baker's John was called "so good on so many levels that it casts a unique and brilliant light' by The New Yorker. John will run April 3 - April 29 in Signature Theatre's MAX Theatre.

Jonathan Safran Foer's 2002 semi-autobiographical debut novel, Everything Is Illuminated, is a riveting portrayal of one man's quest to find the woman who saved his grandfather from the Nazis at the start of World War II. While the journey of the central character, Jonathan, is the focus of the book, and the brilliant adaption playing now at Theatre J, the secondary story of Alex and his grandfather is equally, if not more, poignant.

Today's subject Kimberly Schraf is currently living her theatre life at Ford's Theatre portraying one of the best known female roles in the American Theatre. Not only does Kimberly give a superb performance as Linda Loman in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, she does so with Craig Wallace as Willy Loman. Wallece is her partner in life as well as onstage. Her once-in-a-lifetime performance can be seen through October 22nd.

National New Play Network, the country's alliance of nonprofit theaters that champions the development, production, and continued life of new plays, will co-present the 12th annual MFA Playwright's Workshop (MFAPW) in association with the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival and Stanford University's National Center for New Plays.

National New Play Network, the country's alliance of nonprofit theaters that champions the development, production, and continued life of new plays, will co-present the 12th annual MFA Playwright's Workshop (MFAPW) in association with the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival and Stanford University's National Center for New Plays.