Jack Read - Page 2

The Capital Fringe Festival, now in its 14th year, has undergone many changes, but one thing has remained a constant: there's a wide assortment of things to see. Presented by artists local to DC and traveling in from other areas, if you have a theatrical itch, something at Capital Fringe will scratch it. This is the festival's second year being based out of the Southwest Waterfront area while work is done on their new space near H St, and on Friday June 28, artists and audiences gathered at Market SW to sample some of what's being offered this year.

There's one thing I find comforting about theatre that I take care to remember: we will always find new ways to tell old stories. In particular, it seems like our theatrical landscape repurposes the stories of the Greeks at a breakneck pace. Hadestown, Anais Mitchell's retelling of Eurydice and Orpheus, just won the Tony for Best Musical. In the District, Klytemnestra at Theater Alliance gorgeously reframed a maligned Queen through the lenses of Black ancestry. And now Happenstance Theater, utilizing devised, ensemble-based storytelling, is closing out their run of the dynamite Pantheon, a handful of myths and stories I thought I knew. What is Pantheon? The program notes that the title refers to both the Roman temple that transported us to stories, and to the array of Greek myths at our disposal. There's a few here you know, and maybe a few you might not. It wouldn't matter if you knew any of them or not, however, so clear is Happenstance's physical storytelling. It's hilarious and breathtaking and wholly unique.

Forest Treas (pronounced 'Triage'), the season closer for Pointless Theatre Company, is a new work by Navid Azeez inspired by the October 2002 sniper attacks that looks at the effects of the media - specifically, omniscient cameras - on a community facing ongoing tragedy. The show is a sharp mixture of physical storytelling - Pointless' bread and butter, and never better than here - and live cameras and projections. It's a successful mixture, with many meaningful stage images. Forest Treas manages to mostly become a memorable and touching affair, though there are moments that are more successful than others.

The central performance in Sarah Ruhl's The Oldest Boy, now playing at Spooky Action Theater through June 30, belongs to the ensemble as a whole. The title character, a reincarnated Tibetan Buddhist lama, is brought to life not by a single actor, but by the seven actors that create his world. Some are more directly responsible than others - the puppeteers, for example, move him from one place to another, help him to look where he needs to, help him to hold things - but all are crucial to helping us believe in him. When his mother looks into his eyes, we think we can catch him breathing. It's a leap of faith on our part, one that yields some of the richest results any show will bring this summer.

Certain shows are practically foolproof bets for audiences. A Midsummer Night's Dream, for example, is such an exquisitely crafted play on the page that a good time is all but guaranteed. Singin' in the Rain, the stage musical based on the 1952 film directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, is one of those guarantees. But NextStop Theatre Company's new production, their 2018-19 season closer, is not complacent to simply let the natural charms of this show lure in its audience. They've built a showcase for a dynamic ensemble of on and offstage talent, and the work put into every single moment is palpable and dazzlingly joyful.

There's several places to see Greek theatre in DC right now. It's not uncommon for artists to find relevance in the centuries-old works of Aeschylus and Sophocles and use their stories as a way of examining our lives today. But Klytemnestra: An Epic Slam Poem, now playing at Theater Alliance, does more than simply find truth in an ancient work: it tells a story existing in many places and many times, of now and then, not one or the other but both living and breathing at once.

WSC Avant Bard's Script in Play Festival, started in 2016, has been an opportunity to test out shows for full production treatment through the guise of a series of staged readings and post-play discussions. Written and performed by rising professional talent, these readings have led to some memorable productions, including new versions of Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew and Twelfth Night and Lauren Gunderson's hit Emilie: La Marquise Du Chatelet Defends Her Life Tonight. In 2017, a reading of playwright Matt Minnicino's 'distillation' - not 'adaptation,' as we get into below - of Moliere's The Misanthrope was performed. Written entirely in rhyming couplets, it follows a professional cynic who falls in love with an ingenue, and finds his devotion to insincerity tested. Now, it's the capper of Avant Bard's 29th season. I spoke to Minnicino about his career thus far, the adaptation process, and why audiences should be excited for this show.

Every year, hundreds of theatre artists and patrons gather to honor the work done on stage from the previous year. But just as important as getting the chance to acknowledge the craft of their peers are the many reunions that take place. Though the 35th Annual Helen Hayes Awards began at 7:30pm on May 13, the celebrating started much earlier as collaborators from productions both big and small started reuniting on the Waterfront, then quickly bled into The Anthem. Things got underway quickly; after hosts Felicia Curry and Rick Hammerly provided a snappy intro, the winners of the 47 categories were unveiled in a timely fashion, though never at the expense of the acceptance speeches. The Helen Hayes are never a short show, but last night, they ended just a hair after 10:30pm, a relatively early end before the afterparty. These are theatre artists we're talking about - pacing is everything.

The model that We Happy Few Productions has built and perfected over the last seven years is, for my money, one of the most admirable and sustainable of any theatre company in DC. Their goal is to make classical stories (traditionally Shakespeare, though they've wisely branched out of late) accessible to audiences by way of simple, direct storytelling. By utilizing smaller, versatile casts, succinct text preparation and adaptation, and straightforward yet dynamic design elements, they hone in on what makes a story endure by working the imagination. Every show by We Happy Few feels like an event, and I am especially fond of the energy they're bringing to Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, their first-ever traveling production - an apt format for this particular tale. This review covers the performance on Monday, May 6th at 7:30pm at Capitol Hill Arts Workshop.

Two years ago, lying on a couch in the #9 Lounge at the Evening Star Cafe in Alexandria, VA, I was eulogized. I had watched other audience members receive secret family recipes, help rehearse a marriage proposal, even destroy a speed limit sign with a hammer. But the card I drew was Death. So, naturally, I was eulogized in front of the rest of the audience. The thing my funeral had in common with all these other short vignettes was the sense that, without my involvement, none of this could happen. I mattered. When it was done, I opened my eyes, took the flower offered to me, and found my seat. The oration was by Quill Nebeker, my Medium for the evening.

There's a burgeoning sense of paranoia throughout The Burn, the first show of The Hub Theatre's 2019 season. Written by Philip Dawkins as something of an analogue to Arthur Miller's The Crucible - itself an acknowledged allegory for McCarthyism - The Burn is a sharp and deeply felt look at how fear grows and manifests itself in the pain of others. Its contemporary high school setting handily provides both a relatable set of characters and a convenient grapevine through which said fear makes its journey: social media. This is not a new trend, but The Burn has more on its mind than our over-use of social media; it's accepting of the reality social media has given us, and explores what sort of choices it leads us to.

One of the most important parts in a child's development is the power of choice. Presenting children with options engages their minds and allows them to take ownership. This is the driving idea behind Escape from Peligro Island, the latest offering from Imagination Stage. It's their first production using a choose-your-own-adventure element - every time our hero Callaway (Dallas Tolentino) is presented with a choice, the audience is asked to vote by holding up paddles - one side blue, one side red. As evidenced by their press performance this weekend, it's a fruitful device on both an artistic and marketing level - with 70 different ways the show can go, the possibilities are nearly endless.

You'll know the second you hear the title if Reina Hardy's Annie Jump and the Library of Heaven is your kind of play. It's the sort of title that immediately imbues cosmic levels of joy and wonder, fills you with light, and promises a journey not to be missed. You'll be delighted to know that Rorschach Theatre's production, a Rolling World Premiere from National New Play Network, delivers on that promise in an adventure that takes you to the very edge of existence and back. Though wide in scope, Hardy's script is a vessel for director Medha Marsten, along with her dynamic cast and crew, to tell an intimate story about the potential that lies in all of us.

Right on the heels of the closing of Queen of Basel, a Miami-set rebirth of Strindberg's Miss Julie, Studio Theatre is breathing new life into another classic. Most audiences are familiar with Shaw's Pygmalion - or, more likely, its musical counterpart My Fair Lady - in which a low-born member of society is taught how to fit in with the upper class. In P.Y.G. or The Mis-Edumacation of Dorian Belle, playwright and director Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm brings Shaw's play right to the eye of our cultural hurricane, centering the relationship between race, fame and cultural appropriation. Dorian Belle, a Canadian pop superstar, idolizes hip-hop group Petty Young Goons, and hires them to help 'toughen up' his image - all while being filmed for television, of course. Chisholm and two of his actors, Gary L. Perkins III (as Alexand Da Great, ½ of Petty Young Goons) and Simon Kiser (Dorian Belle), were interviewed separately over e-mail about their experiences during the rehearsal process and to provide their perspectives on what P.Y.G. can offer audiences.

'I like this place, and willingly could waste my time in it.' This line, spoken by Celia (Rebecca Speas) early in As You Like It, is an appropriate way to describe the vibe of Brave Spirits Theatre's new production of Shakespeare's comedy, directed by Jessica Aimone. It's an amiable production of one of the most laid-back plays in the canon, led by a charismatic cast whose chief concern is our entertainment. On that front, it's a success.

Noel Coward's charming and witty Fallen Angels, first performed in 1925, had a bit of a sordid beginning. Prominently featuring two women who admit to premarital sex and contemplate adultery, it very nearly didn't make it past the censors. The Lord Chamberlain allowed it - with small edits - considering it an unrealistic, harmless farce. The reviews were horrified by the subject matter; naturally, it became a hit. Surprisingly, NextStop Theatre Company's production, now running through April 7th, is the first time Fallen Angels has been performed in the DC metro area.

From the second we step through the doors of Anacostia Playhouse, we're asked to join the world of Dominique Morisseau's Blood at the Root - not just as observers but participants. Every corner of the lobby has been decked out like the hallways of a high school - in this case, Cedar High, located somewhere north of New Orleans. We glance upward and see a banner prominently featuring their mascot, the Pelican. There's a bulletin board littered with flyers and posters - Keep Calm and Wear Your Uniform. And just next to the entrance of the theater is a pair of lockers covered with real-life photographs of the young cast in their natural habitats - school, church, family reunions, summer camp. There's a lot to explore.

It was only a matter of time before a Hilary Bettis play received a full production in DC. Her work has brought her to Orlando Shakes PlayFest, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, O'Neill National Playwrights Conference, New York Theatre Workshop, Cape Cod Theatre Project and La Jolla Playhouse, among many, many others. She is one of the newest members of The Kilroys and was a writer for FX's The Americans. In her Artistic Statement, she tells us that "through Story we can climb inside others' lives, and quite possibly find understanding, empathy, unity and forgiveness." Her plays - which include Alligator and The Ghosts of Lote Bravo - reveal a writer who cares deeply about the possibility of change through human interaction.