Teresa Castracane News

Ally Theatre's '#poolparty' is a prime example of discovering a little known chapter of local history, fashioning it into art and creating a more universal statement.

Talk about 'Freaky Friday.' Brett Abelman's new play 'Switch,' at Fringe Logan Arts Space, is more like 'Freaky Pride Weekend.' A straight D.C. couple matched up by their mutual genderqueer friend find themselves in the afterglow of intimacy having switched bodies and hence gender. The balance of the play is exploring the abrupt switch amid Pride Weekend and trying to figure out how or whether they should try to switch back.

Swimming with Whales is joyful, funny, and surprising in all the ways that life everyday can be.

This world premiere production invites audiences into a world of healing, compassion, and renewal. While visiting his family's secluded cottage on the shores of the Atlantic ocean, Owen, a typically urban fifteen-year-old boy, and his fisherman father clash until an unlikely and healing communion with an injured whale awakens in Owen a forgotten boyhood and connection with the sea.

THE FREDERICK DOUGLASS PROJECT is an innovative and ambitious world premiere musical commissioned by Solas Nua. The production blends two fresh and significant dramatic voices, each with a unique perspective on the same time and themes. Staged on a pier jutting into the Anacostia River, the production gains added resonance in the shadow of Douglass' historic home at Cedar Hill and the bridge that bears his name. The site-specific staging heightens the drama and creates a memorable theater experience.

Written and composed by Will Connolly, Michael Mitnick, and Kim Rosenstock, Fly By Night is an appealing mish-mash of rock n' roll, opera, and classic music theater. It is an ode to a doomed love affair and a modern-day fairytale.

 It's 1965 in New York City and the lights are about to go out. But not before a melancholy sandwich maker becomes enchanted with two sisters in this bittersweet romantic tale about finding hope in a world best by darkness. This truly original rock-fable, nominated for 4 Drama Desk Awards, will sweep audiences off their feet and enchant them in an evening under the stars filled with romance, mystery and enchantment… but not a lot of light.

The company that makes great theater for everyone is at it again. Taffety Punk Theatre Company's mission is, and always will be, to put out a good product while making it affordable for everyone. Tickets are $15 and there are also “pay what you can” performances. The current production, well worth the ticket price and then some, is a knockout version of Moliere's tale of the great lover Don Juan. It stars the superb DC actress Tonya Beckman in what, so far, is the role of her career.

Serene in his knowledge of what he has done, and why he had to do it, Jon Hudson Odom's performance of Nat Turner never wavers; the man is determined to die the death of a martyr-unrepentant, unafraid, certain of his reward.

Madeline Joey Rose's solid research and attention to detail set her solo play apart from the myriad of others that have tried to introduce typical theatergoers to cultures (especially religious ones) that might be less familiar to them.

Columbia's Rep Stage takes a leap into the lives of Etta And Claribel Cone in world premiere play by Susan McCully.

As directed by Alex Levy, THE FARNSWORTH INVENTION is theatrically inventive and mostly compelling recounting of of Farnsworth and Sarnoff's parallel stories. The production is also performed by a skillful company of actors who take the audience on this little known historical journey.

In his return to playwriting, celebrated film and television writer Aaron Sorkin's signature style lends itself to the remarkable story of the invention that changed our lives. In 1929, two ambitious visionaries race against each other to invent a device called "television." Separated by two thousand miles, each knows that if he stops working, even for a moment, the other will gain the edge. Who will unlock the key to the greatest innovation of the 20th century: the ruthless media mogul, or the selftaught Idaho farm boy? The answer comes to compelling life in the regional premiere of this "firecracker of a play" (The Chicago Sun-Times).

All She Must Possess does not suggest that the Cone Collection was Etta's work alone, but rather depicts it as the emanation of the entire community, including not only Etta, but her sister Claribel, Gertrude Stein, Gertrude's brother Leo, Alice Toklas, and the artists, for whom Matisse stands in as representative. It was out of that community's joy in creation and discussions of it (Expressionism vs. Cubism, for instance) that the Collection, a thing of transcendent value, is shown as having emerged.

Playwright Susan McCully's original production about Baltimore's famed Cone sisters, 'All She Must Possess,' will premiere at Rep Stage, the professional regional theatre in residence at Howard Community College (HCC). Dr. Claribel and Miss Etta Cone, daughters of German-Jewish immigrants, could have lived tranquil, appropriate lives as respected Victorian ladies. Instead, the iconic duo voraciously collected art and curios from around the world. The unassuming Etta, often overshadowed by her sister, sat demurely among art and literary geniuses of the early twentieth century, while slowly amassing one of world's greatest Modern art collections.

1st Stage, Tysons Corner's award-winning professional theater, announces the extension of their critically-acclaimed production of My Name is Asher Lev written by Aaron Posner, adapted from the novel by Chaim Potok, and directed by Nick Olcott until January 7.

Riddled with anachronisms and enough irreverent potshots to keep your naughty inner child sated through the New Year, The Second City's Twist Your Dickens is just the ticket for a crowd of world-weary Washingtonians.

From the cast to the production design, Theater J's production is as good as it gets. We just wish Uhry's play was the same way.

Today's subject Amber Paige McGinnis is currently living her theater life at Theater J as the director of the Tony Award-winning play The Last Night of Ballyhoo. The production runs through December 31st.