Naomi Jacobson News

Theater J, the nation's largest and most prominent Jewish theater, announced that, in light of the ongoing COVID-19 public health crisis, the three productions originally scheduled for fall 2020 are being canceled.

Shakespeare Theatre Company has extended its series of online classes for adults for two additional six-week sessions, with the first session beginning the week of June 15 and the second on the week of July 6.

Today's subject was kind enough to give me an hour of his time in the balcony of the place he lived his theatre life for almost 40 years.  I'm sure there isn't a person here in DC who would argue that Howard Shalwitz was one of the most influential minds in the DC theatre community as the Artistic Director of Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. Under Shalwitz, Woolly Mammoth produced some of the most thought provoking, wild, and sometimes shocking pieces of theatre this area has ever seen. Shalwitz stepped down in 2018 and the company is now run by Maria Manuela Goyanes. Mr. Shalwitz remains as Artistic Director Emeritus.

The doctor is in, as Theater J's 2018 hit production of Mark St. Germain's Becoming Dr. Ruth returns for a four week run before transferring to Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park where it plays for six weeks. Director Holly Twyford again joins forces with actor Naomi Jacobson to bring to life the story of renowned sex therapist and media personality Dr. Ruth Westheimer. Becoming Dr. Ruth runs March 27 - April 19, 2020, with press invited to Opening Night on Tuesday, March 31 at 7:30.

Theater J Artistic Director Adam Immerwahr and Managing Director Jojo Ruf have announced Theater J's 30th anniversary season of five plays and two musicals. The nation's largest and most prominent Jewish theater company, Theater J celebrates its anniversary with a season that features all the elements that have become signature to its work: stories that illuminate the Jewish condition, joyfully celebrate humanity, and challenge us to empathize and think more deeply about the world.

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.

Folger's 2019 Season opener deftly tells the tale of king's reign and the rebellion he faces, a prince burdened by expectations, and the struggles of family, honor, and duty. Rosa Joshi's production enchantingly revives this age-old tale with the help of stunning sets, expert staging, and a phenomenal cast.

Folger Theatre opens the 2019/20 season with 1 Henry IV, Shakespeare's richly layered coming-of-age tale of power, rebellion, honor, and redemption. The production is directed by Rosa Joshi (co-founder of Seattle's upstart crow collective theater company in Seattle; Henry V and As You Like It at Oregon Shakespeare Festival), who makes her DC directorial debut at the Folger.

Folger Theatre opens the 2019/20 season with 1 Henry IV, Shakespeare's richly layered coming-of-age tale of power, rebellion, honor, and redemption. The production is directed by Rosa Joshi (co-founder of Seattle's upstart crow collective theater company in Seattle; Henry V and As You Like It at Oregon Shakespeare Festival), who makes her DC directorial debut at the Folger. 

Today's subject David Muse is currently living his theatre life as the Artistic Director of Studio Theatre. This season marks his ninth in the position. He became only the second Artistic Director in the company's history when founder Joy Zinoman stepped down in 2010.He is currently represented as a director at Studio Theatre with The Children which is now playing through June 9th in the Metheny Theatre space.

Studio Theatre has extended the DC premiere of playwright Lucy Kirkwood's urgent and unsettling disaster drama The Children, directed by Studio Artistic Director David Muse. The production will now run through June 9, 2019.

Studio Theatre's current production of Lucy Kirkwood's contemporary play THE CHILDREN benefits greatly from a strong director (the company's Artistic Director David Muse) guiding three exceptionally talented actors that work together as a singular unit to present the story. Strong production values also enable the cast and audience alike to immerse themselves in the story.

Theater J Artistic Director Adam Immerwahr and Managing Director Jojo Ruf announce the 2019-2020 season, welcoming home audiences to a beautiful and refreshed theater located in the newly renovated Edlavitch DC Jewish Community Center on 16th Street. The season includes four plays and one musical, all being produced for the first time in DC, as well as the triumphant return of a recent Theater J hit. From an intoxicating new musical set in Tel Aviv based on the Song of Songs to the late-career masterpiece by multiple Pulitzer Prize-winner Edward Albee, Theater J's season celebrates journeys of every kind with a provocative and ambitious slate of plays. Of the six shows, three have future runs: two in New York City and one at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park.

Artistic Director Blake Robison announced Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park's 2019-20 season today, which includes plays from Karen Zacarias and Anna Ziegler, a new stage adaptation of a Margaret Atwood novel, a recent Broadway comedy hit and a world premiere from the award-winning, multi-cultural performance ensemble Universes.

In this sharp-edged satire, opportunistic tycoon Harry Brock arrives in Washington with his naive girlfriend, Billie Dawn, to game the political system.

Ford's Theatre Society announceS full casting and design team for a new production of Garson Kanin's 1940s screwball comedy, Born Yesterday.

Today's subject Naomi Jacobson is currently living her theatre life onstage at Studio Theatre in their superb world premiere production of The Remains. The show runs through June 24th in the company's Mead Theatre space.

In The Remains, husband and husband Kevin (Maulik Pancholy) and Theo (Glenn Fitzgerald) throw a dinner party for their family on their 10th wedding anniversary. One of the first gay couples to be married in the US, they are preparing to make a mysterious announcement. Initially, the audience is kept in the dark but it's fairly obvious the 'divorce-bomb' is about to drop. Everyone should know by now that a play about marriage is a play about divorce.

Dr. Ruth K. Westheimer's true life story of becoming "America's favorite sex therapist" is a fascinating and unlikely one. Naomi Jacobson portrays Dr. Westheimer with charm and vigor in the one-woman show BECOMING DR. RUTH at Theatre J, combining autobiography with a broader tale of Jewish origins and identity.

For three nights in July, internationally renowned author James Reston Jr.'s famous biography, Galileo: A Life, will be transformed for stage in Galileo's Torch, and featured at Castleton.