Pamela Roberts - Page 4

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.

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.

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.

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.

'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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Combine strength and humor, a dash of curiosity, a pinch of whimsy, and a generous dose of inventiveness, mix thoroughly and you have Aura Curiatlas Physical Theatre's compelling brand of storytelling and movement.

Shakespeare's iambic pentameter, the rhythm of his words, echo the human heartbeat: ba-BUM, ba-BUM. But Synetic Theater gets to the beating heart of ROMEO AND JULIET without a single utterance of any of the Bard's famed words. In its innovative merging of drama and movement, Synetic's silent exploration of the classic work is an extraordinary vision of wonder and passion.

Signature Theatre's WEST SIDE STORY brings freshness and exuberance to the classic work. The exceptional production in an intimate space allows us to consider anew the songs and scenes that have been part of our lives for half a century.

PERICLES, on stage at the Folger Theatre, is a gorgeous and focused production - this from a work that travels through decades and around the Mediterranean in a plot that layers incest, mistaken death, pirates, murder plots and selling a woman into prostitution. But in director Joseph Haj's capable hands the lighter moments bring balance and relief so in the end PERICLES reminds us of both the deep challenges and moments of beauty and light in the human experience.

AVENUE Q is an irreverent and big-hearted look at life once you've graduated from Sesame Street and from college but Real Life hasn't quite kicked in quite the way you'd envisioned. Constellation Theatre Company's production is full of fun, featuring a magnificent ensemble of talented and appealing actors.

SALOME is a visually stunning world premiere that brings us deeply complex characters struggling for command and dignity in one of history's most highly contested strips of land. Yael Farber, the award-winning adaptor-director, returns to the Shakespeare Theatre Company. With SALOME she has shaped a compelling work of power and contradiction. This production upends the traditional view of Salome, considering her as principled and calculated rather than a monstrous harlot. Here, Salome uses the tools she has - access, sensuality, brains - to effect change. Even within the limitations society placed on her, Salome sees opportunity.