1ST STAGE

by Doug Poms - March 09, 2026

What did our critic think of TREEMONISHA at Washington National Opera At Lisner Auditorium?...

by Roger Catlin - March 08, 2026

The sign of a good play is that it can ring out its truth through different eras and still seem utterly relevant to the moment. ...

by Elliot Lanes - March 06, 2026

The third production of Adventure Theatre MTC’s 25/26 season Freckleface Strawberry The Musical keeps up the company’s winning streak with a show that features a stellar cast, a good message, superb direction, and more....

by Audrey Cahak - March 04, 2026

The Washington Ballet’s Artistic Director, Edwaard Liang, has added another ballet to his repertoire of re-imagined classics. Giselle through Liang’s eyes is a dramatic, whimsical rework which raises the stakes and strips back the stage to show the heart of the hauntingly stunning piece....

by Aidan O'Connor - March 01, 2026

How far would you go to keep your loved ones happy? To ensure the very thing that binds you when all else fails, has a satisfactory ending? In the Kennedy Center’s World Premiere Commission, The Sea Beyond the Ocean, 9-year-old Scooter (Ty’Ree Hope Davis) tests those limits to help his sick fath...

by Mary Lincer - February 26, 2026

Yes, Rent opened on Broadway thirty years ago. Having seen its final preview with a rapt and frequently weeping audience, it was fun to share it with an audience that knows the score (and when to moo)....

by Itai Yasur - February 19, 2026

Master illusionist Dendy gives you the gift of a stone in your shoe. See what our critic had to say....

by Laurie Sara Oliver - February 18, 2026

“So I’ve got a story to tell you. It’s a good one.” Marcus Kyd paces the small stage of the black box theater at Capitol Hill Arts Workshop where the house has been arranged like a comedy club. ...

by Audrey Cahak - February 22, 2026

As part of their self-ascribed “year of world premieres,” Olney Theatre Center is debuting the profoundly peppy, wonderfully messy, coming-of-age celebration Little Miss Perfect, written by Joriah Kwamé. The musical has been in development for more than five years, originally based on the catch...

by Andrew White - February 17, 2026

Krapp’s Last Tape is Scena Theatre’s contribution to a mini-Beckett festival that has popped up in our midst this past week, and it’s a poignant reminder of how Beckett foresaw demise—his, ours, everyone’s—with a combination of wry humor, and a resignation that sometimes borders on relie...