Barbara Johnson News

Originally earning 11 Helen Hayes nominations and audience acclaim in 2014, Synetic Theater's silent 1920s-style take on TWELFTH NIGHT is re-staged this season - which is not a moment too soon. In a winning blend of quirky vintage comedy and surprising emotional depth, this production manages to reinvent Shakespeare in a way that's so energetic, it could never be called tired.

For those who think they can easily spot a liar (especially in this city), PERFECT LIARS CLUB returns to Capital Fringe Festival and offers an opportunity to pick one out of a lineup. The show includes four storytellers who each present a personal tale that seems stranger than fiction. Only three are telling the truth, and it's the audience's job to scrutinize the facts and expose the liar.

Capital Fringe Festival's PLAY CUPID is a crowdsourced dating app in which we, the audience, decide who gets paired up as we watch the action unfold. The choose-your-own adventure matchmaking format of this performance makes it better than this season of 'The Bachelorette.' Or at the very least, it feels more authentic. Its surprising humanity and sometimes painful awkwardness might summon not-too-distant memories of your own first dates.

'Life's not worth a damn 'til you can say, 'Hey world, I am what I am!' In a world where so many are still struggling to be who they are, LA CAGE AUX FOLLES, as well as its iconic anthem of authenticity 'I Am What I Am,' is as relevant today as it was on Broadway in 1983. It's a gift that Matthew Gardiner is directing Harvey Fierstein and Jerry Herman's award-winning musical as Signature Theatre's season finale.

What a time for THE TAMING OF THE SHREW. It's a brave choice given its divisive, misogynistic text, but Shakespeare Theatre Company pulls it off under the bold direction of Ed Sylvanus Iskander. With an all-male cast, and featuring the contemporary pop music of Tony winner Duncan Sheik, this is Shakespeare with a decidedly modern sensibility.

This week, we go around our Broadway World to feature stories in Washington, DC, Phoenix, Singapore and more. Check out our top 10 stories around our Broadway World below, which include a 'bold, new' THE TAMING OF THE SHREW in DC, HOSTAGES in Phoenix, and an interview with Simon Gleeson on the Singapore return of LES MIS, just to name a few.

Change takes many forms in CAROLINE, OR CHANGE: dramatic historical change, personal change, pocket change. The word itself is used frequently in Tony Kushner's Tony-nominated musical, which takes place in 1963 amidst the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights movement, and the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Matt Conner directs Creative Cauldron's production, an apt choice given the piece's enduring thematic significance and a phenomenal turn by Iyona Blake as the unflappable Caroline Thibodeaux.

Edward Albee's WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? has long been considered an American masterpiece, with some of the best dialogue in the history of drama. The current production by the City of Fairfax Theatre Company, directed by Ed Zakreski, presents this classic material with startling effectiveness.

This week, we go around our Broadway World to feature stories in Chicago, St. Petersburg, Sydney and more. Check out our top 10 stories around our Broadway World below, which include the World Premiere of Ike Holter's SENDER in Chicago, SPAMALOT in St. Petersburg, and SHUT UP AND DRIVE in Sydney, just to name a few.

There are a variety of mysteries explored in Bathsheba Doran's new play THE MYSTERY OF LOVE AND SEX. The DC-area premiere at Signature Theatre, directed by Stella Powell-Jones, bravely tackles themes of family, identity, and unconditional (and unconventional) love.

"War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength." Most of us are familiar with the slogans of the bleak, dystopian society George Orwell constructed in his novel 1984. The inventive production of 1984 at Shakespeare Theatre Company takes these phrases and makes them more relevant than ever to a contemporary Washington, DC, audience.

The premise of THE LION is simple and honest: one actor accompanying himself on guitar as he tells his story. The stage is spare, with painted walls, a radiator, a couple of chairs, and six guitars (one electric with an amplifier). It starts out innocently enough as writer and performer Benjamin Scheuer walks onstage in this touring production, dressed in a crisp blue suit and tie, rocker coif hairsprayed in place. As if playing an acoustic set in a small New York City concert venue, Scheuer launches into the opening song, 'Cookie-Tin Banjo,' with a charming smile, singing, 'My father has an old guitar and he plays me folk songs.' Thus begins his detailed coming-of-age story, which he tells in song as he cycles through each guitar.

From the first darkly comic scene, Spooky Action Theater's COLLABORATORS plunges its audience into a tension between hilarity and terror. As the play unfolds, there is laughter at the absurdity of the situation and simultaneous dread over what will happen next. A revisionist account of Mikhail Bulgakov's writing of a play about dictator Joseph Stalin in 1930s Moscow, COLLABORATORS is inspired by fact but considers what could have happened behind the scenes.

The second installment in Creative Cauldron's 'Bold New Works for Intimate Stages' initiative, the new musical MONSTERS OF THE VILLA DIODATI transports audiences to a famous gathering of 19th-century writers on Lake Geneva during a dark and stormy summer. This atmospheric production reveals the origin story of two legendary Gothic monsters, John Polidori's The Vampyre and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, while exploring their creators' own inner monsters.

Produced by iTheatrics and sponsored by music theatre international and disney musicals, the junior theater festival is the biggest and best festival dedicated to young people and musical theatre. Check out photo highlights below!

The holidays are not only an occasion to give to others, but also to give time to yourself.

In her new novel, 'Heirs of Abraham' (published by WestBow Press), Barbara Johnson Witcher blends historical and biblical fact to show how one man's actions caused the world to turn out the way it did.

WE ARE HAVING AUDITIONS FOR THE UPCOMING PLAY 'TIME FOR A CHANGE' ON SAT FEB.27TH AT THE PLAZA MIDWOOD LIBRARY FROM 1-3.

WE ARE HAVING AUDITIONS FOR THE UPCOMING PLAY 'TIME FOR A CHANGE' ON SAT FEB.27TH AT THE PLAZA MIDWOOD LIBRARY FROM 1-3.

Pittsburgh CLO and the University of Pittsburgh are proud to announce the nominees for the Gene Kelly Awards for Excellence in High School Musical Theater. The awards show will take place on Saturday, May 24, 2008, at 7:30 p.m. at the Benedum Center in downtown Pittsburgh.