Matt Torney News

I had the opportunity to meet the DirectorChoreographer of Everyman Theatre's DANCING AT LUGHNASA after opening night at Forno's Restaurant. She was a real delight and I thought would make a good interview. I was so right!

I won't soon forget IF I FORGET. Director Matt Torney adroitly brings to life this incisive examination of modern Jewish life 'for the head and the heart.' Studio Theatre has chosen a local, illustrious playwright's work to kick off its 40th anniversary season: Steven Levenson, of the Tony Award winning Evan Hanson.

Studio Theatre kicks off its 40th Anniversary season by stepping outside its front door as Associate Artistic Director Matt Torney directs Tony Award-winning playwright (Dear Evan Hansen) and Bethesda native Steven Levenson's If I Forget. This observant, political-but-personal family drama set in 2000 centers on the dynamics of a modern Jewish family in DC's Tenleytown neighborhood. Brought together by their elderly father's 75th birthday, the adult children of the Fischer family squabble over what to do with their long-held and now lucrative 14th Street property, igniting debates on religion, politics, and history. The first act opens days after the collapse of the Israel-Palestine Camp David peace talks, and If I Forget considers events of the outside world-and the weight of the turn of a millennium-through a domestic lens, grounding events and issues of the time in personal perspectives, while interrogating what it means to be an American Jew in the twenty-first century.

A solid production worth the effort to see.

Reacting to enthusiastic critical and audience response, Theater J is extending the run of its current production of Neil Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs by one week, to May 14.  

Featuring a cast of seasoned veteran actors working beside some of the DC-area's most gifted young performers, Theater J offers a sublime take on Neil Simon's semi-autobiographical look at growing up poor and horny in Depression era Brooklyn. Through the lens of nostalgia, Simon's 34 year-old play is like a valentine to a hard-scrabble upbringing sprinkled with humor, rather than the laugh riot of THE ODD COUPLE or the later RUMORS.

Starting in the 1950's everyone knew that Neil Simon could write hilarious jokes and craft entertaining comedies. But in 1983, when Brighton Beach Memoirs premiered on Broadway, it became abundantly clear that Simon's heart is as robust as his funny bone. The first of his "Eugene trilogy" of semi-autobiographical plays, Brighton Beach Memoirs runs at Theater J from April 5-May 7, 2017.

The Hard Problem is the brainchild of Czechoslovakian-born British playwright Sir Tom Stoppard. Contrary to all scientific intelligence, Hilary clings to the mysterious. In the spirit of the scientific method, the audience must as: but why? As Dramaturg Lauren Halvorsen notes so concisely, “the tension between knowledge and mystery pervades the play.”

MOTHERSTRUCK touches audiences with a lot of humor and a bit of sadness.

Theater J, the nation's largest and most prominent Jewish theater, announces full casting for the 2016-2017 season, the first season chosen by new Theater J Artistic Director Adam Immerwahr.

Theater J, the nation's largest and most prominent Jewish theater, announces full casting for the 2016-2017 season, the first season chosen by new Theater J Artistic Director Adam Immerwahr.

Theater J, the nation's largest and most prominent Jewish theater, announces its 2016-2017 season, the first season chosen by new Theater J Artistic Director Adam Immerwahr. This lineup of seven diverse plays features Tony Award-winning plays and playwrights, Washington area premieres, and a stellar lineup of directors and artists. The season's plays promise delight, joy, and a thoughtful examination and exploration of pressing ideas about morality, ethics, the role of faith in this country, and the changing face of Jewish identity in this country. Theater J's new season features the work of Deborah Zoe Laufer, Lucas Hnath, Michael Frayn, Sarah Treem, Neil Simon, and Arthur Miller.

On Monday, September 21, 2015 The Innovative Theatre Foundation, the organization who for the past 11 years has been dedicated to celebrating Off-Off-Broadway, announced the 2015 recipients at its annual event. Celebrating eleven years and thousands of nominees, the New York Innovative Theatre awards took place at Mason Hall at Baruch Performing Arts Center.

On Monday, July 20, 2015, The New York Innovative Theatre Foundation, the organization who for the past 11 years has been dedicated to celebrating Off-Off-Broadway, announced the 2015 nominees at its annual event, The IT Party. Celebrating eleven years and thousands of nominees at DIAMOND HORSESHOE, home of Queen of the Night, 235 West 46th Street, 7pm-10pm.

Studio Theatre's latest production depicts an admirably affable band of losers in a script that is well balanced, and a show that is extremely well acted.

In an intimate, site-specific production of Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol' taking place at the American Irish Historical Society on Fifth Avenue next month, Origin Theatre Company is rediscovering Dickens' original performance text. The one-man version of the story features the American television and stage actor Greg Mullavey. Performances are Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday December 8, 9, 11, and 12, all at 8pm.

Loading Dock Theatre presents The Twelfth Labor, a World Premiere play by Leegrid Stevens, directed by Matt Torney. The production runs now through October 11, 2014, playing Wednesdays-Saturdays at 7:30pm; Saturday Oct. 11th at 2pm at The Gene Frankel Theater, 24 Bond Street, New York, NY 10012. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Loading Dock Theatre presents The Twelfth Labor, a world premiere epic family drama by Leegrid Stevens. Matt Torney directs a cast of eleven, including Cynthia Babak*, Amy Bizjak*, Jed Dickson*, Jonathan Draxton, Dennis Gagomiros*, Shelby Hightower, Michael Huston*, Tanis LePore, Lynne McCollough*, Erin Treadway, and Brian White. Performances will be staged at The Gene Frankel Theatre, 24 Bond Street, New York, NY 10012 from today, September 19-October 11, 2014.

PICT Classic Theatre's Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme, by Frank McGuinness, opens just about 100 years after the historical WWI events that are authentically portrayed in the performance. Running today, September 4, through September 20 at the Stephen Foster Memorial, the play, appropriate for ages 12+, leaves audiences with a better emotional understanding of events that changed the course of millions of lives and a sense of the surprising ways that WWI continues to shape the world today.

PICT Classic Theatre's Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme, by Frank McGuinness, opens just about 100 years after the historical WWI events that are authentically portrayed in the performance. Running September 4-20 at the Stephen Foster Memorial, the play, appropriate for ages 12+, leaves audiences with a better emotional understanding of events that changed the course of millions of lives and a sense of the surprising ways that WWI continues to shape the world today.