Rex Daugherty News

Arts on the Horizon, a non-verbal theatre for children ages 0 to 6, is excited to present a new commission by a local DC area playwright. Beep Beep!  will run from March 7th - 23rd, 2019 at The Lab at Convergence in Alexandria, Virginia.

In an age when we are tearing down digital walls and erecting physical ones, Solas Nua brings us Sonya Kelly's brilliant and autobiographical How to Keep an Alien, which tells the story of two people "falling in love and proving it to the government".

For something completely different this holiday season, you might want to consider Signature Theatre's latest offering. Billy Elliot the Musical is not your standard holiday fare by any means. Sure, there are big production numbers, but the story features important underlying themes of labor tensions, economic inequality, and acceptance. In other words, this show follows my philosophy that theater is meant to educate as well as entertain. The production also features some pretty incredible ballet and tap choreography with a cast that performs it beautifully.

Go behind the scenes of Signature Theatre's Billy Elliot with Grant Richards as he takes over the BroadwayWorld Instagram today, November 10th! Follow along as Richards shows you his two show day while performing as Adult Billy! Be sure to tune in today!

Signature Theatre is proud to present Billy Elliot the Musical directed and choreographed by Signature Theatre Associate Artistic Director Matthew Gardiner (Signature's Passion, West Side Story). Based on the powerful and acclaimed film, all 11-year-old Billy wants to do is dance. Initially facing opposition from society and his father, Billy's passion instead unites the community and changes his life in extraordinary ways. The original production with book and lyrics by Lee Hall and music by Tony, Grammy and Academy Award® winner Elton John was universally lauded, sweeping the Tony, Drama Desk and Olivier Awards for Best Musical. Billy Elliot the Musical runs now thru January 6, 2019 in Signature Theatre's intimate MAX Theatre.

Signature Theatre is proud to present Billy Elliot the Musical directed and choreographed by Signature Theatre Associate Artistic Director Matthew Gardiner (Signature's Passion, West Side Story). Based on the powerful and acclaimed film, all 11-year-old Billy wants to do is dance. Initially facing opposition from society and his father, Billy's passion instead unites the community and changes his life in extraordinary ways. The original production with book and lyrics by Lee Hall and music by Tony, Grammy and Academy Award® winner Elton John was universally lauded, sweeping the Tony, Drama Desk and Olivier Awards for Best Musical. Billy Elliot the Musical runs now thru January 6, 2019 in Signature Theatre's intimate MAX Theatre.

BroadwayWorld has a first look at the trailer for Signature Theater's Billy Elliot the Musical directed and choreographed by Signature Theatre Associate Artistic Director Matthew Gardiner (Signature's Passion, West Side Story). Based on the powerful and acclaimed film, all 11-year-old Billy wants to do is dance. Initially facing opposition from society and his father, Billy's passion instead unites the community and changes his life in extraordinary ways. The original production with book and lyrics by Lee Hall and music by Tony, Grammy and Academy Award® winner Elton John was universally lauded, sweeping the Tony, Drama Desk and Olivier Awards for Best Musical. Billy Elliot the Musical will run from October 30, 2018 - January 6, 2019 in Signature Theatre's intimate MAX Theatre.

Signature Theatre announces the full cast and creative team for Billy Elliot the Musical directed and choreographed by Signature Theatre Associate Artistic Director Matthew Gardiner (Signature's Passion, West Side Story).

Arts on the Horizon, an interactive theatre company for children ages zero to six, is excited to present its 6th season. As the first theatre company in the United States to stage completely non-verbal performances for young audiences, Arts on the Horizon shows are performed solely with sound, movement and live music to engage children at any stage of language development and also children whose first language may not be English.

Solas Nua, the DC-based organization bringing Irish contemporary arts state-side, has gone back two hundred years to find inspiration for its upcoming production, The Frederick Douglass Project. Commissioned to commemorate Douglass' bicentennial, the production explores the abolitionist and human rights leader's 1845 visit to Ireland.

Signature Theatre is proud to present the world premiere of 4,380 Nights by DC playwright Annalisa Dias. The production is directed by Kathleen Akerley (Artistic Director of Longacre Lea) and features Ahmad Kamal(Woolly Mammoth's KISS) as Malik Essaid/El Hadj El Kaim, Michael John Casey (Shakespeare Theatre's Othello, Folger Theatre's Henry V) as Bud Abramson/Man, Rex Daugherty (Signature's Shakespeare's R&J) as Luke/Colonel Pelissier, and Lynette Rathnam (Ford Theatre's Death of a Salesman) as Woman (complete cast and creative team bios are below). 4,380 Nights runs from January 16 through February 18 in Signature Theatre's ARK Theatre. 4,380 Nights is Signature's submission to the 2018 Women's Voices Theater Festival.

4,380 Nights is essentially two different plays, which makes it often hard to follow due to the lack of cohesion, but there are still glimpses of a play in which the message of hope rings quietly over fear and hate.

Signature Theatre is excited to announce the cast and creative team for the world premiere of 4,380 Nights by DC playwright Annalisa Dias. The production will be directed by Kathleen Akerley (Artistic Director of Longacre Lea) and will feature Ahmad Kamal (Woolly Mammoth's KISS) as Malik Essaid/El Hadj El Kaim, Michael John Casey (Shakespeare Theatre's Othello, Folger Theatre's Henry V) as Bud Abramson/Man, Rex Daugherty (Signature'sShakespeare's R&J) as Luke/Colonel Pelissier, and Lynette Rathnam (Ford Theatre's Death of a Salesman) as Woman (complete cast and creative team bios are below). 4,380 Nights will run from January 16 through February 18 in Signature Theatre's ARK Theatre. 4,380 Nights is Signature's submission to the 2018 Women's Voices Theater Festival.

'It looks like they forgot to clean up from the last performance!' joked a man in the audience. It's true. The stage at the Dance Loft on 14 looks like the remnants of a bad garage sale. It's littered with cardboard boxes and paper scraps, an old table and chairs, and a huge heap of empty Fanta cans spills from a metal garbage can.

Take a trip in time as you revisit the 1950's to the 1980's with the music of each era to help with the journey (thank you Sound Designer Sarah O'Halloran) with THE HEIDI CHRONICLES at Rep Stage.

The play has aged well. Women are, of course, still grappling with some of the issues that Heidi confronts. But it is not the specific issues that make the play last and lead me to predict that there will be revivals a century hence. One thing is for sure: the pop culture time-stamps like specific songs redolent of particular years will surely almost certainly elude our grandchildren. But the interplay between bright, somewhat idealistic people and their times is bound to continue, and stories about that interplay are bound to go on holding the attention.

In the American premiere Fiona Doyle's COOLATULLY, Kilian (David Mavricos)is stuck in the village of Coolatully and has few prospects. Once the powerful champion of the hurling team, Kilian has watched so many of his generation leave for opportunities abroad that the tiny town no longer has enough young people left to field a hurling team. The garda station is closed and the post office shuttered. When an opportunity to leave presents itself, Kilian must decide if there is enough to tie him to Coolatully when so much seems to indicate that he cannot afford to stay.

The Hub Theatre's THE MAGI is in many ways made for the winter holidays: it is unabashedly about love and sacrifice. Kelsey Mesa directs this two-person acoustic musical featuring impressive original songs by Eli Pafumi.

The Hub Theatre will present a World Premiere musical, THE MAGI from critically-acclaimed and award winning playwright Helen Murray Pafumi with music by award-winning singer/songwriter Eli Pafumi.

Welcome to Theatre Life, Broadway World DC's new interview column that will feature many of the artists that make up the country's second largest theatre community.