Margaret Adams News

Upon entering the Rubicon opening night, I first remarked the bare stage with four chairs against a solid color background that would serve as a sort of screen for projections (Mike Billings-set, lighting, projection designer). This kind of setup usually indicates that there is no set for the play and that the actors will sit and move about to create the scenarios. This can be a good thing or bad depending on the content and framework of the play. In this case Incognito, a west coast premiere by British playwright Nick Payne presents on the surface quite a bit to swallow. The message beneath, however, is much more simplistic and the ensemble of actors under the supremely intelligent direction of Katharine Farmer make the play worth a trip to Ventura to the Rubicon Theatre now through October 1.

Summer in DC brings great opportunities to celebrate and discover new plays, the first of which is CulturalDC's Source Festival, which opened June 5 and runs through June 28 with varied offerings of full-length plays, 10-minute plays and artistic blind dates. Based on Love & Botany, a collection of six 10-minute plays, the Source Festival gives audiences a refreshing range of voices riffing on the intersection of relationships and plant life with plays taking us from a backyard garden to across the universe.

Interscope Records and The Weinstein Company (TWC) announce the release of Big Eyes Music From The Original Motion Picture available at all digital partners today