Frank Labovitz News

On September 25, the 36th Annual Helen Hayes Awards concluded, after a series of virtual events celebrating Washington's dynamic and diverse theatre community.

The 2020 Helen Hayes Awards, recognizing the outstanding work on Washington area stages in 2019, continued its four-week virtual event series. 

With very few exceptions stage musicals based off of comic books and horror movies are never truly successful. You're a Good Man Charlie Brown and Little Shop of Horrors are two very rare examples where those genres succeeded commercially.

Tonight, at a celebration honoring theatre excellence on stages across the Washington area, theatre artists, administrators, patrons, and special guests gathered in the National Theatre's Helen Hayes Gallery for theatreWashington's announcement of nominees for the 36th Annual Helen Hayes Awards, which will be presented on Monday, May 18 at an event at the Anthem.

Rorschach Theatre's first musical follows Melvin Ferd the Third, who wants to clean up Tromaville, the most polluted town in New Jersey (just off Exit 13B on the Turnpike). Foiled by the mayor's bullies, Melvin is dumped into a vat of radioactive toxic waste, only to reemerge as The Toxic Avenger, New Jersey's first superhero. Affectionately known as Toxie, our new hero is a seven-foot mutant freak with superhuman strength and a heart as big as Newark. He's out to save New Jersey, end global warming, woo the blind librarian in town, and save the world.

Constellation Theatre is closing its season of love stories with a big one from the East. Thankfully 'The White Snake' is not about the 80s English metal band. Instead, it's an ancient, oft-told Chinese folk tale, which was breezily interpreted by Mary Zimmerman originally for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 2014. It's brought to lyrical life in a production directed by Allison Arkell Stockman that combines puppetry, movement and a beguiling, underlying musical performance.

Jump back to a time when flannel was the height of fashion and mix tapes were the language of love. Lyric Theatre presents the regional premiere of this coming-of-age love story - Girlfriend - later this month at Lyric at the Plaza, 1725 NW 16 St.

Due to high demand, Olney Theatre Center is thrilled to announce that their production of Once has been extended through March 17.

Jump back to a time when flannel was the height of fashion and mix tapes were the language of love. Lyric Theatre presents the regional premiere of this coming-of-age love story - Girlfriend - later this month at Lyric at the Plaza, 1725 NW 16 St.

Olney Theatre Center begins 2019 on the Mainstage with its Residential Regional Premiere of Tony Award winning musical Once, running February 6 - March 10, 2019. Marcia Milgrom Dodge, Tony Award Nominee for the Broadway production of Ragtime, makes her Olney Theatre Center debut as Director and Choreographer. Press is invited to attend the performance on Saturday, February 9 at 8:00 pm.

For his fifth and final work with Shakespeare Theatre Company director Michael Khan, the playwright David Ives has not returned to rhyming couplet adaptations of French classics, as he did in 'The Liar,' 'The Heir Apparent,' 'The Metromaniacs' and 'the School for Lies.'

Pointless Theatre's production of Don Cristobal is an inventive send-up to Punch and Judy shows that is unfortunately bogged down by a clunky script which spends too much time trying to set up profundities it doesn't successfully execute.

Don Cristobal is the worst hombre! His puppet show comes to the nation's capital for one final, offensively illuminating performance. Experience the Punch and Judy tradition through the whimsically distorted lens of Pointless puppetry and an original, multilingual story!

Following weeks of high demand and critical acclaim, Signature Theatre is proud to announce that Girlfriend will play for an additional 6 performances between June 12 and June 17.

Signature Theatre presents the premiere of the new musical Girlfriend.

Vietgone by Qui Nguyen is the Vietnamese-American playwright's own creation story-a telling of his parents' 1975 refugee camp romance in a "geek theater" spectacle that's at turns affecting, sage, raucous, and fantastical. A screenwriter for Marvel Studios and founder of Obie Award-winning company Vampire Cowboys, Nguyen's work champions representation and diversity on stage while dripping with pop culture nods, contemporary music, and action-adventure narrative. The production pairs this Studio-commissioned playwright with director and Studio Cabinet member Natsu Onoda Power. Drawing on Vietgone's comic book aesthetics, Studio's Stage 4 is transformed into a garage concert with a live band and original funk-rock-punk-n-roll score, giving audiences a front row seat to this anything-but-typical story of boy meets girl.

If you've ever thought what it would be like to cross an episode of Ru Paul's Drag Race with a searing Middle East drama and set the action to pop hits of the early aughts, Paper Dolls the perfect show for you. Mosaic Theater Company's newest entry to their Voices from a Changing Middle East cycle is a delightful piece of sheer entertainment. The show unfortunately tries to cover too many topics, however, and is thus unable to reach the dramatic heights some of its subject matter calls for.

Signature Theatre is proud to present the DC premiere of Girlfriend. Take a peek at the production with this new trailer!

Signature Theatre is proud to announce the full cast and creative team for the DC premiere of Girlfriend. Directed and choreographed by Signature Theatre Associate Artistic Director Matthew Gardiner (Signature's Crazy for You, Jelly's Last Jam), this coming of age musical features a book by Todd Almondand featuring the music and lyrics of Matthew Sweet.

The sixth production of Mosaic Theater Company's third season will be Paper Dolls, written by Philip Himberg (Producing Artistic Director of the Sundance Institute Theatre Program) and directed by Broadway veteran Mark Brokaw. This uplifting, entertaining, and thought-provoking play with songs illuminates the world of five gay male Filipino nurses in Tel Aviv who care for elderly Orthodox and Chasidic men six days a week-and headline a drag show on their day off!