Fountain Theatre Gives Women A Voice With Free Readings of MY BODY, NO CHOICE
Following last summer's triumphant readings of Lisa Loomer's Roe and with the midterm elections upon us, The Fountain Theatre once again jumps into action to give women a voice. The Fountain joins 20 theaters and universities across the U.S. to present two evenings of My Body, No Choice, staged readings of monologues commissioned by Washington D.C.'s Arena Stage.
Mary Hall Ross of The Ross Group Dies
For over 25 years, The Ross Group has strived to provide its clients with the best possible service, achieving top TV/Film placements, PR, and assisting both emerging and established brands take the stage with growth.
BWW Video: Watch Arena Stage's Latest World Premiere Film THE 51ST STATE
Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater’s latest world premiere film, “The 51st State', is now available to stream. You can watch the film by clicking here.
The hyper-local 60-minute docudrama created by Washington, D.C. artists through the voices of 11 residents was inspired by protests and the reignition of a movement after the murder of George Floyd and the quest for creating the 51st state and sovereignty in Washington, D.C. From a first-time protestor to a fourth-generation Washingtonian political scientist, to artists, an attorney, people of faith, and a retired couple moved to take part in the movement despite the COVID-19 risks, these diverse perspectives and real-life stories are vividly told and transformed into affecting narratives by 10 local playwrights.
Arena Stage Debuts Third World-Premiere Film THE 51ST STATE
Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater's latest world premiere docudrama, The 51st State, will receive its world premiere through Arena Stage's Supper Club on September 16 at 7 p.m. Following the premiere, viewers can join artists and creatives for a post-film discussion and after-party on Zoom.
Arena Stage Announces Virtual Fall/Winter Season
Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater has announced its Fall/Winter Looking Forward Season featuring more than 70 virtual events and programs to engage with and respond to audiences in Washington, D.C-metropolitan region and nationally.
BWW Video: Watch Arena Stage's World-Premiere Film May 22, 2020
Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater's docudrama, May 22, 2020 is now live. The film received its world premiere on June 12 through Arena's Supper Club, captures a day in the life of actual Washington, D.C.-Maryland-Virginia residents, ages 18-89, from a beekeeper, a climate change activist to a D.C. police detective. Their rich stories, transformed into monologues by 10 area playwrights, are a stunning look at their lives in the age of COVID-19.
The Keegan Theatre Presents THE RELUCTANT DRAGON
Keegan PLAY-RAH-KA, the education and family programming arm of the Keegan Theatre, continues its season of theatre for young people and families with THE RELUCTANT DRAGON, by Mary Hall Surface and directed by Ricky Drummond, opening May 11 and playing weekend mornings at 11:00 am at Keegan Theatre.
Ode to Man is no Ode to Joy
An ode is a lyric poem devoted to the praise of a person, animal or thing, often written in an elevated style and expressing deep feeling. It's no wonder that Emma Mary Hall called her work 'Ode to Man', as she spends 55 minutes on stage conversing about the history, persona and psyche of the modern man and romantic ambition in which women supposedly dare dream to have it all. Whether she hates or adores men is unclear, but her dedication and hours of research spent on this project indicates that it's a topic close to her chest. Over the course of 55 minutes, Hall takes us through fifteen chapters all focusing on a different aspect of men often linked with one of her previous experiences with men. In partnership with director Prue Clark, Hall has created a very innovative work, with each chapter having its own unique style; some chapters are presented as slam poems, stand-up comedy works, as an interior monologue and often, as your traditional university lecture. But no matter what style, Hall commands the stage with her calming, narrator-esque tone and somehow makes you feel like you are having a one on one conversation with her.
Video and projection artist Lindsay Cox heightens Hall's imagery through transforming it into stunning virtual 3D imagery which plays on the screens behind Hall, as well as a picture frame she holds close to her chest. My favourite image was the projection of a horse above her heart in the final chapter and watching it fly away at the closing of the piece. It was both a beautiful and haunting image which left me wondering as to whether the entire performance was about justifying a personal heartbreak.
But alongside investigating the very definitions of men through an array of psychologies, chief theorists and published works, the piece additionally explores the very definition of performance and what the notion of performance has evolved to in our contemporary, post-dramatic world.
This piece is brutally honest and Hall truly bares her soul on stage each night. Whether you love men or hate men, whether you're a male or a female, this is a piece that will you make think. It will make you think not only about the relationship between men and women, but reflect on our post-dramatic world that we live in.
Ode to Man
Presented by Brisbane Festival and QUT
Performed Theatre Republic - The Loft
Keegan Theatre Announces 2018-19 Season
The Keegan Theatre is proud to announce its 2018-2019 season, a ten-show lineup that includes three musicals, two regional premieres, two DC-area premieres, and two Keegan PLAY-RAH-KA productions for families. "Heading into our 22nd season, Keegan is as vibrant and busy as we've ever been," says Producing Artistic Director Mark A. Rhea. "We are more passionate than ever about engaging with our community as far as the stories we tell and the programming we offer - through our main stage season, our Boiler Room series, and our ever-growing educational branch, Keegan PLAY-RAH-KA."
BWW Review: Skillful and Fun THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH at Constellation Theatre Company
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.