Pamela Roberts


April 4, 2018
"A film noir inspired theatrical montage"- the subtitle of Happenstance Theater's CABARET NOIR perfectly encapsulates the richly stylized and wonderfully varied experience. Scandals, pistols, foggy streets, soft shoe, sweet harmonies, and red herrings - this production vividly captures the mood and the moment of those dark, smoky movies. Devised and performed by the Helen Hayes Award-winning ensemble, CABARET NOIR highlights the artistic strengths of the company of six.

February 18, 2018
LIGHT YEARS, a world premiere musical at Signature Theatre, is a moving performance with a beautiful score and an introduction to touching and endearing characters. LIGHT YEARS is a deeply personal story of son and father attempting to understand each other. The relationship is firmly grounded in love and respect. Yet the two have profoundly different ideas about pursuing artistic passion versus creating a stable and consistent life. LIGHT YEARS is a production of great heart and promise that deserves to continue to evolve. It is exciting to be privy to new work in creation.

January 16, 2018
THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH at Constellation Theatre is a thought-provoking, skillfully-rendered reminder that chaos and uncertainty are not unique to our time or to any single time. In the sure directorial hands of Mary Hall Surface, Thornton Wilder's masterpiece is a wild time-traveling, allegorical tragicomedy, without the Pepperidge Farm and Hallmark overtones we've now come to associate with the OUR TOWN playwright.

December 16, 2017
Theatre Prometheus' world premiere, SOLDIER POET, is a compelling work, richly rendered. In an intimate theater space with fresh and compelling actors, a persuasive script, and inspired scenic design, SOLDIER POET aptly and successfully reminds us of our shared responsibilities and human connections.

November 27, 2017
Director Elisa Paloschi's multiple award winning documentary DRIVING WITH SELVI tells the remarkable true story of Selvi South India's first female taxi driver.

November 23, 2017
The Shakespeare Theatre Company's TWELFTH NIGHT is a fresh look at a familiar story a bit darker with less over-the-top mirth. It is well worth revisiting Shakespeare's comedy for a new take on the familiar story.

July 14, 2017
THE ORIGINALIST at Arena Stage introduces Antonin Scalia as "the most polarizing figure in American civic life." When a liberal Harvard Law grad ("I fall in the flaming category") clerks for the justice, she encounters both maddening combatant and sage mentor.

May 17, 2017
Synetic Theater's 'beautifully disturbing' HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME is gripping storytelling at its best. The wordless production conveys the epic tale with movement, spectacle, connection, and artistry.

April 25, 2017
Shakespeare's HENRY V gains new perspective with a retelling by We Happy Few Productions that takes a closer look at the stories and stakes of the everyday foot soldiers. It is a fascinating, resonant, and important new take on a known work that's only around for another week, so make plans now to take it in.

April 5, 2017
BLOOD KNOT is an apartheid-era Cain and Abel tale of half-brothers, Morris and Zachariah, who share a mother and a history, but have been separated by color and opportunity. Morris, whose light skin has allowed him to pass as white within South Africa's codified racial stratification, has benefited from opportunities unavailable to his darker-skinned brother.

March 13, 2017
In the American premiere Fiona Doyle's COOLATULLY, Kilian (David Mavricos)is stuck in the village of Coolatully and has few prospects. Once the powerful champion of the hurling team, Kilian has watched so many of his generation leave for opportunities abroad that the tiny town no longer has enough young people left to field a hurling team. The garda station is closed and the post office shuttered. When an opportunity to leave presents itself, Kilian must decide if there is enough to tie him to Coolatully when so much seems to indicate that he cannot afford to stay.

November 25, 2016
'What voice is God, and what is your own wishful self?' THE CHRISTIANS by Lucas Hnath playing at Theater J examines religion's power to unite or divide us. It delves into what bonds a community in faith. The play looks at houses of worship as institutions guiding faith formation and as businesses.

November 7, 2016
With pure kinetic energy and abounding bravery to boot, it is no wonder the performers of STREB Extreme Action are billed as Action Heroes. The company's three performances of the new work SEA (SINGULAR EXTREME ACTIONS) on November 4-5 at the Eisenhower Theatre marked STREB Extreme Action's Kennedy Center debut.

September 9, 2016
Who knew ecological adversity and failed policy could be so much fun? It's a grim world in Urinetown where a dire water shortage has made it a privilege to pee anywhere but the corporate amenities. Yet the zany humor and high energy of Constellation Theatre Company's URINETOWN (The Musical!) offers a hilarious lampoon of corporate greed, corrupt politics, and earnest populism complete with zingy songs and jazz hands.

June 13, 2016
DISTRICT MERCHANTS, Aaron Posner's new adaptation of Shakespeare's THE MERCHANT OF VENICE, explores the 'other-ness' of being outside the white male stations of power. Setting the work in post-Civil War Washington, D.C., the premiere takes a uniquely American look at race, religion, class and gender. DISTRICT MERCHANTS at the Folger Theatre is an important and compelling work that deftly balances humor among weightier, thought-provoking moments.

May 25, 2016
Mosaic Theater Company of DC completes its whirlwind inaugural year with WHEN JANUARY FEELS LIKE SUMMER, a play that is relevant, engaging and sweetly funny.

May 9, 2016
Like the musical icons who inspired the work, The Washington Ballet's program BOWIE & QUEEN toys with the art form - respectful of classical roots yet pushing forward. The pieces innovate, celebrate and they have fun. While BOWIE & QUEEN is full of heart and poetry, the irreverent and humorous moments remind us all to lighten up and enjoy.

April 29, 2016
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.

April 7, 2016
For a brief moment when the opening night performance of IN A WORD ended there was quiet. A stillness fell as the audience collected itself, took a breath, and processed the intensity of the experience. Then, after a beat, the well-deserved applause began.

March 30, 2016
ANTIGONE NOW is based on the nearly 2,500-year-old Sophocles drama, but in Scena Theatre's hands it could use even more time to gel. From missed lines to erratic pacing, ANTIGONE NOW squanders its interesting potential and never hits its stride.
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