Jason Loewith News

Let me admit when I saw MATILDA on Broadway in 2013 (winner of 5 Tony Awards), I did not enjoy it. I just could not understand the character of the buffoon Miss Trunchbell, the Olympian hammer throwing athletic principal of Matilda's school. He was the villain of all villains.

Olney Theatre Center's SummerFest, its annual open house, happens Saturday, July 27 beginning at 11:00am with events continuing all day and late into the evening. This is the fourth edition of the event with several new elements and improvements over past years along with the continuation of perennial favorites.

EVERY BRILLIANT THING at Studio Theatre takes an audience of individuals and transforms them, in 65 short minutes, into a collective. It is theatre in its purest, most primal, form, and it's hilarious to boot. Described by The Guardian as 'one of the funniest shows you'll ever see about depression' EVERY BRILLIANT THING is as compassionate as it is hilarious. The first in Studio Theatre's Showroom series-a curated performance series in the summertime (with spirits)-EVERY BRILLIANT THING is warm, intimate, and inventive.

Tiger Style! by Mike Lew, an outrageous and cutting satire of Asian-American identity, completes Olney Theatre Center's 81st season in the Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab (July 17 - August 18, 2019). The production is directed by the boundary-pushing director Natsu Onoda Power, who recently pulled off the rare feat of winning two Helen Hayes Awards (one for direction, one for design) in a single evening. Invited press night is Saturday, July 20 at 7:45pm.

Everyman Theatre is presenting two plays in repertory: QUEENS GIRL IN THE WORLD and QUEENS GIRL IN AFRICA. Olney Theatre's wonderful MARY STUART could be labeled QUEENS GIRLS IN ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND.

Olney Theatre Center offers its fourth musical production of the 2018-19 Season on the Mainstage, with the Tony Award-winning Roald Dahl's Matilda The Musical (June 21 - July 21, 2019), directed by Peter Flynn, fresh off the rave reviews for his acclaimed revival of Into the Woods at Ford's Theatre. Invited Press Night is Thursday, June 27 at 8:00pm.

 Point Park University's award-winning Pittsburgh Playhouse is pleased to announce its 2019 - 2020 season which features a compelling lineup of new and classic works, including the Tony Award-winning musical Parade directed by Tony Award-winning alumnus Rob Ashford, the world premiere musical Pump Up the Volume, and the Off-Broadway hit, Good Grief. The season runs from Oct. 10, 2019 - May 7, 2020.

Freshman member of the 116th Congress, Jennifer Wexton (VA - 10th) and former Federal Reserve Governor and Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Sarah Bloom Raskin sit down for a conversation about gender, politics, and the exercise of power prior to the opening night of Mary Stuart, a world premiere adaptation of Friedrich Schiller's play Maria Stuart adapted and directed by Jason Loewith on Saturday, May 11 at 5:00 pm at Olney Theatre Center.

The clash between Queen Elizabeth and Mary, Queen of Scots takes on contemporary resonance, exploring issues of gender and power in Mary Stuart, adapted by Olney Theatre Center Artistic Director Jason Loewith from Friedrich Schiller's Maria Stuart. Loewith also directs his adaptation of this retooled classic for a unique 21st Century production staged with 6 actors in the intimate confines of the 150-seat Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab (May 8 - June 9, 2019).

Broadway, TV, and film star Cheyenne Jackson is the headliner at Olney Theatre Center's annual Gala on Saturday, May 18, 2019. The Gala, which raises crucial funds for Olney Theatre Center, will also honor MedStar Montgomery Medical Center on its 100th Anniversary.

Olney Theatre Center and Baltimore Center Stage announced an innovative partnership whereby the two official state theatres of Maryland will collaborate on their separate and independent area-premieres of Miss You Like Hell by Quiara Alegria Hudes and Erin McKeown. 

Let me start this review with a comment by Olney's Artistic Director, Jason Loewith's comment in the program. 'After all my years in this business, many of them championing playwrights and new plays, it takes a lot to knock my socks off. I can count on two hands the experiences that reshaped by understanding of live theater and its possibilities. The world premiere of Ella Hickson's OIL in London two years was one of them. It is a blazingly, ambitious, as intellectually thrilling, as emotionally resonant as most the great works I've seen this century.'

Today, Olney Theatre Center Artistic Director Jason Loewith unveiled a lineup of 16 plays, concerts, and presentations coming in 2019-2020 as part of the company's 82nd season, including the highly-anticipated DC-area premiere of Miss You Like Hell by Quiara Alegria Hudes and Erin McKeown. Included are both classic and contemporary musicals, family fare for the holidays, Tony-winning dramas and work by some of the most innovative American playwrights.

Production at Olney of Tony-winning musical not to be missed.

Today's subject, Sarah Marshall, has had a long and distinguished DC theater career that spans over three decades. You can currently see her in Admissions at Studio Theatre – one of her theater homes. The production runs through March 3rd.

The American Premiere of Ella Hickson's Oil directed by Tracy Brigden begins its Olney Theatre Center run in the Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab on February 27 and runs through March 31.  Invited Press Night is Saturday, March 2 at 7:45pm.

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.

The Trap Door Theatre presents The Old Woman Broods written by Tadeusz Rozewicz

Rodgers and Hammerstein's classic musical if given a memorable presentation.

"Monsieur D'eon is a Woman" is a madcap romp following the extraordinary life and adventures of the Chevailere D'eon, an eighteenth century French diplomat, soldier, spy and a celebrated figure for Transgender and Women's rights.