Ryan Tumulty News

A multi-talented cast in a unique, romantic setting makes for a lovely summer evening. Shakespeare's MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING is the progenitor of the modern rom-com. Maybe this is why it has been placed in so many different eras of civilization from its original Renaissance setting to Edwardian England to the Roaring Twenties to its present incarnation in Post-World War II France. No matter where it travels, audiences will recognize the bickering protagonists, gossipy friends, meddling family, village buffoons, and broad comedy with a touch of tragedy.

Chesapeake Shakespeare Company continues its 19th Season with William Shakespeare's historical epic, Henry V, directed by Alec Wild.

RICHARD II will play one preview performance on March 3, with opening night set for March 4.  Scheduled through March 12, the production will perform Thursdays at 7:30, Fridays at 8 p.m. and Saturdays at 7 and 9:30 p.m.

Prologue Theatre's 'The Explorers Club' is both immensely funny and immensely profound. The careful attention to detail and context pays off greatly, and the result is a wonderful experience for the audience.

One of the newest professional theatre companies in the DC region, Prologue Theatre, is continuing its inaugural season with Nell Benjamin's The Explorers Club. This hilarious satire explores societal, workplace, gender, economic, and racial inequalities.

The 35th annual Helen Hayes Awards honored local theater on Monday, May 13, at The Anthem.

The first five minutes of Theater Alliance's new production of Flood City are some of the most gripping that have graced a D.C. stage in the past year. As two women wrestle the torrential disaster which laid waste to Johnstown, Pennsylvania in 1889, the ensemble creates an immensely satisfying flood across the stage at the Anacostia Playhouse. Just when the dramatic storm is reaching a natural conclusion, the action is cut short by an announcement for the audience to turn off their phones. It's admittedly a humorous turn to the scene but it sets up a dangerous precedent for the remainder of the production: almost every scene is cut short just as it starts to settle into a groove. The result is two hours of wading through a black comedy that can't settle on a pace, tonality, or even a central theme.

Synetic's latest work is taken from Kafka's novel THE TRIAL with elements borrowed from his other works, presented in the kinetic and bold theatrical style the 22-year old company has earned their renown. A perfect fusion of movement, stagecraft, text and performance, Synetic's THE TRIAL leaves a lasting impression long after the performance. I confess in my six years of covering theatre in the DC area, THE TRIAL is my first Synetic production. But it certainly will not be the last.

Synetic Theater's Founding Artistic Director Paata Tsikurishvili goes underground to give you his interpretation of Franz Kafka's The Trial. Picture this: A 30-year-old man going about his day, when suddenly without cause or warning, he is arrested while at work. Two unidentified agents from an unknown agency arrest this man for an unspecified crime. While this story might sound as if it had been ripped from the headlines, it is from Franz Kafka's 1914/15 The Trial. Synetic Theater will explore the struggles of 'K' and his encounters with the invisible Law and the untouchable Court.

While there is nothing particularly easy about this play, it is a unique viewing experience that every area theatergoer should have.

BroadwayWorld has a full list of the Helen Hayes Awards winners updating LIVE below! Named for actor Helen Hayes - a Washington native and legendary First Lady of the American Theatre - the Helen Hayes Awards celebrates excellence in professional theatre throughout the Washington region and has become a hallmark recognized by theatre makers and theatre lovers far beyond Washington D.C.

A mash-up between Super Mario and Checkhov's Uncle Vanya, Brother Mario is a weird little play and there is really no way around that. In Brother Mario, Flying V Theatre, Playwright Seamus Sullivan, and Director Paul Reisman deftly straddle the void between fringe and professional theatre.

The 2017 Helen Hayes Award nominations were announced tonight. A line-up of leading theatre artists announced nominations in 47 categories of artistic excellence. Award recipients will be announced at the Helen Hayes Awards gala event to be held at the Lincoln Theatre on Monday, May 15 with an after-party hosted at Washington's legendary 9:30 Club.

Faction of Fools Theatre Company presents William Shakespeare's THE MERCHANT OF VENICE, pairing heightened text with heightened physical comedy in the style of Commedia dell'Arte. One of Shakespeare's most rich and intricate plays is also one of his most controversial, as it explores a burgeoning merchant class and what happens when things get personal. By utilizing masks and physical characterizations from Commedia dell'Arte, Faction of Fools puts the comedy back into the text, allowing the tragic junctures to cut all the more profoundly. Performances run November 18th - December 11th, 2016 in the Eastman Studio Theatre at Gallaudet University.

Music streaming services allow kids these days to put together digital playlists for every mood or activity.

JOURNEY TO THE WEST is visually stunning and highly inventive production that features an expert ensemble of actors bringing both humor and humanity to an epic story.

As a society, we often view extreme acts of 'passion,' whether it be motivated by anger, lust, or sadness, as negative, resulting in pain, or as something to be 'fixed.' Instead, we strive for normalcy and balance, obliterating any despair and following our established routine of life. What we often don't realize is that 'normal' can lead to an emptiness in connection, desire, and motivation that those who feel exceptional passion do not suffer. Is it possible for the 'normal' to make room for the extreme in their own lives?

Sarma, an Irish-Indian playwright, gives us a glimpse of the despair of a Celtic Tiger weighed down by debt and economic depression. A country that once had so much optimism is still struggling to get back on its feet, after the financial crisis wiped out many of the gains it had made. Sarma writes with sympathy but also with remove; none of the people in her universe are completely innocent, nor completely evil either. Their humanity is contrasted with the trap that society has set for them, with almost inevitable results.

The hardest parts of a journey are staying the course and overcoming obstacles. The Oregon Trail, written by Bekah Brunstetter, follows Jane though her own struggles from a teenager in the late 1990's to a present day adult with depression. Whenever Jane hits rock bottom, she relies on escaping into the world of the computer game, The Oregon Trail. Simultaneously, another Jane from Missouri is told that she must leave her home with her sister, Mary Jane, and her father, Clancy, to journey to Oregon in a small covered wagon. Flying V Theatre's The Oregon Trail, directed by Amber McGinnis Jackson, does not successfully complete its journey due to a bumpy production that is full of too much 90's nostalgia, unrelatable present day female characters, and stale jokes.

'Flying V Fights: Heroes & Monsters' marks a return to truly exciting form, performed by this year's Aniello Award-winning emerging theatre, a thrilling evening devoted to stage combat.  If you are a big fan of action on the screen, on your hand-held, wherever, this is just the dream spectacle  you need to get your summer off to a roaring start.