Chez Joey
Jan 30 – Mar 15, 2026
Chez Joey is a vibrant reimagining of the Rodgers and Hart musical Pal Joey, directed by Savion Glover and Tony Goldwyn. The production features a...
Review: NOTHING UP MY SLEEVE at Round House
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....
Review: BEOWULF, A RETELLING at Taffety Punk Theatre Company
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. ...
Review: Scena Theatre's KRAPP'S LAST TAPE a Moving Tribute to Beckett, Mortality
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...
Review: CHEZ JOEY at Arena Stage
by David Friscic - February 17, 2026
An embarrassment of theatrical riches, bordering on sensory, stimulating overload, is on display in an exceptionally bold and satisfying reimagining of the very influential musical Pal Joey—now reconceived as Chez Joey. The show still takes place in the 1940’s Chicago music/nightclub scene, but ...
Review: SNAPSHOTS: A MUSICAL SCRAPBOOK at Creative Cauldron Stage
by Doug Poms - February 16, 2026
What did our critic think of SNAPSHOTS: A MUSICAL SCRAPBOOK at Creative Caudron Stage?...
Review: TAMBO & BONES at Spooky Action Theater
by Jake Bridges - February 16, 2026
With TAMBO & BONES, Spooky Action Theatre takes on a satirical and biting piece that refuses to play by the rules, whether it be of narrative, of genre, or of comfort. What starts as a minstrel show quickly mutates into a centuries-spanning interrogation of race, capitalism, and the hunger for auton...
Review: THE HOUSE OF BERNARDA ALBA at GALA Hispanic Theatre
by Jackson Malmgren - February 15, 2026
What did our critic think of THE HOUSE OF BERNARDA ALBA at Gala Hispanic Theatre?...
Review: THE WORLD TO COME at Woolly Mammoth
by Pamela Roberts - February 15, 2026
Friendship as Resistance in a Powerful World Premiere - The World to Come, a world-premiere co-production by Woolly Mammoth and Theater J, delivers powerful, honest performances and an intriguing story in an extraordinary, deeply touching production that shouldn’t be missed....
Review: ABT'S THE WINTER'S TALE at Kennedy Center Opera House
by Emily Berger - February 16, 2026
American Ballet Theatre, the country’s great ballet company of theatrical stars and story ballets, returned to DC this week to present Christopher Wheeldon’s retelling of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale. A star vehicle with six leading roles, the ballet succeeds in delivering sumptuous danci...
Review: ON BECKETT at Shakespeare Theatre
by Mary Lincer - February 14, 2026
What did our critic think of ON BECKETT at Shakespeare Theatre?...
Past Shows
A Wrinkle in Time
Jun 12 – Jul 20, 2025
A world-premiere musical of the classic young adult novelMeg Murry's father was experimenting with time travel and the fifth dimension when he mysteriously disappeared. Now, Meg, her...
We Are Gathered
May 16 – Jun 15, 2025
A new play about queer love and forest magic from the Oscar-winning screenwriter of MoonlightWilson and Free met in a dark park searching for fun not expecting to...
We Are Gathered
May 16 – Jun 15, 2025
A new play about queer love and forest magic from the Oscar-winning screenwriter of MoonlightWilson and Free met in a dark park searching for fun not expecting to...
Fake It Until You Make It
Apr 3 – May 4, 2025
In Larissa FastHorse's uproarious comedy, a collision of friends and foes within the non-profit sector sets the stage for a whirlwind of competition, chaos, and...
The Age of Innocence
Feb 28 – Mar 30, 2025
Against the lavish backdrop of 1870s New York, where hypocrisy thrives and hidden passions simmer, Karen Zacarías brings Edith Wharton's timeless masterpiece, The Age of Innocence,...
The Bedwetter - A Musical
Feb 4 – Mar 16, 2025
COMEDY LEGENDS AREN’T BORN. THEY’RE MADE…IN MIDDLE SCHOOL.
Death on the Nile
Nov 30 – Dec 29, 2024
In Ken Ludwig's thrilling adaptation of Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile, Hercule Poirot becomes entangled in a web of deceit and desire aboard a cruise...
Magical Musical Holiday Step Show
Dec 13 – Dec 22, 2024
Step Afrika!'s Magical Musical Holiday Step Show returns to Arena Stage, blending the dynamic art of African American stepping with festive holiday cheer. Audiences can...
Data
Oct 31 – Dec 15, 2024
Data is Matthew Libby's intriguingly suspenseful and relevant new play that takes you behind the locked doors of Silicon Valley. Its protagonist is Maneesh, a brilliant...
The Other Americans
Oct 18 – Nov 24, 2024
Emmy Award winner John Leguizamo stars as Nelson Castro, a Colombian-American laundromat owner grappling with a failing business and buried secrets. When his son Nick...
The Other Americans
Oct 18 – Nov 24, 2024
The Other Americans is a world-premiere drama written and starring John Leguizamo, directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson. The play follows Nelson Castro, a Colombian-Puerto Rican laundromat...
Jaja's African Hair Braiding
Sep 6 – Oct 13, 2024
Step into the vibrant world of Jaja's African Hair Braiding, a riotously funny yet deeply resonant play by Jocelyn Bioh. Set in the pulsating heart of...
Jaja's African Hair Braiding
Sep 6 – Oct 13, 2024
Jaja's African Hair Braiding is a comedic play by Jocelyn Bioh set in a bustling Harlem salon, exploring themes of cultural identity and the immigrant...
Jaja’s African Hair Braiding
Sep 7
Jaja’s African Hair Braiding is a vibrant exploration of community and culture set to open in September 2024 at Arena Stage. This production features insightful...
Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater
Aug 16
Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater has announced the appointment of Judy Leventhal as Chief Financial Officer, effective August 12, 2024. Leventhal...
The Migration: Reflections on Jacob Lawrence
Jun 6 – Jul 14, 2024
Using its hallmark style of percussive dance-theater, Step Afrika!’s The Migration: Reflections on Jacob Lawrence tells the story of one of the largest movements of people in United...
Unknown Soldier
Mar 29 – May 5, 2024
Cleaning out her grandmother’s home, Ellen Rabinowitz discovers the photograph of an anonymous soldier tucked away in a box of keepsakes. And so begins Unknown Soldier, a...
Tempestuous Elements
Feb 16 – Mar 17, 2024
Born into slavery in North Carolina, Anna Julia Cooper was a visionary Black feminist and educator in the late 19th/early 20th centuries, and only the fourth...
Mindplay
Jan 19 – Mar 3, 2024
Drama Desk Award–nominated theatermaker and mentalist Vinny DePonto guides us on an entirely new theatrical event in which your thoughts play a leading role. A...
Swept Away
Nov 25 – Jan 14, 2024
When a violent storm sinks their whaling ship off the coast of New Bedford, Mass., the four survivors face a reckoning: how far will they...
Step Afrika!'s Magical Musical Holiday Step Show
Dec 8 – Dec 17, 2023
The world’s first holiday show incorporating the African American tradition of stepping, Step Afrika!'s Magical Musical Holiday Step Show is a feast for the eyes and ears. You’ll laugh, you’ll...
POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive
Oct 13 – Nov 12, 2023
When the Commander-in-Chief publicly calls his wife a “See You Next Tuesday,” all H-E-Double Hockey Sticks breaks loose. In this searingly funny Broadway hit, POTUS follows how...
Cambodian Rock Band
Jul 19 – Aug 27, 2023
It’s 2008 and a father-daughter duo are heading to Phnom Penh; she to prosecute a notorious Cambodian war criminal, he 30 years after escaping then-Communist...
Exclusion
May 5 – Jun 25, 2023
A reluctant historian is thrown out of her element when her acclaimed book about the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 is optioned by a larger-than-life...
Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches
Mar 24 – Apr 23, 2023
Tony Kushners Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning drama Angels in America is one of the great epic American plays of this past century. We meet...
The High Ground
Feb 10 – Apr 2, 2023
More than a century after the Tulsa race massacre killed hundreds and destroyed the prosperous Greenwood District, a Black man in army garb still stands...
Ride the Cyclone
Jan 13 – Mar 5, 2023
In Ride the Cyclone, the lives of six teen chamber choir singers are cut short in a freak roller coaster accident. Stuck in the afterlife, a...
Sanctuary City
Oct 21 – Nov 27, 2022
Pulitzer Prize winner Martyna Majok brings us the powerful story of two young DREAMers who fight to establish a place for themselves in America, the...
Holiday
Oct 7 – Nov 6, 2022
An up-and-coming Wall Street lawyer from a working-class family aspires to quit and enjoy life once hes made enough money, a prospect that doesnt thrill...
My Body No Choice
Oct 20 – Nov 6, 2022
In My Body No Choice, Molly Smiths final directorial venture for Arena Stage, eight of Americas most exciting female playwrights share what choice means to...
American Prophet
Jul 15 – Aug 28, 2022
Charles Randolph-Wright (Arenas Born for This: The BeBe Winans Story, Broadways Motown the Musical) returns to Arena Stage with a groundbreaking musical powered by Frederick...
American Prophet
Jul 15 – Aug 28, 2022
Charles Randolph-Wright (Arena’s "Born for This: The BeBe Winans Story", Broadway’s "Motown the Musical") returns to Arena Stage with a ground-breaking musical about Frederick Douglass,...
American Prophet: Frederick Douglass in His Own Words
Jul 15 – Aug 28, 2022
Drumfolk
May 31 – Jun 26, 2022
Electrifying percussive dance fused with contemporary art forms fuels Step Afrika!’s latest production, "Drumfolk," inspired by the Stono Rebellion of 1739 and the Negro Act...
Cambodian Rock Band
Apr 12 – May 15, 2022
Catch Me If You Can
Mar 4 – Apr 17, 2022
Humor, music and dance drive this rousing musical based on true events and a critically acclaimed film. See how charming, young con man Frank Abagnale...
Change Agent
Jan 21 – Mar 6, 2022
August Wilson's Seven Guitars
Nov 26 – Dec 26, 2021
The lives of seven friends are irrevocably changed when their old friend and blues singer Floyd Barton reappears with a chance of a lifetime. Infused...
Celia and Fidel
Oct 8 – Nov 21, 2021
Can one woman change the mind of a man and the fate of a nation? Fidel Castros most trusted confidant and political partner, Celia Snchez,...
Toni Stone
Sep 3 – Oct 3, 2021
History is filled with trailblazers and Toni Stone was one of them. Considered a pioneer, Toni Stone is the first woman to play baseball in...
Waiting Room: A New Film by Voices of Now Ensembles
Jun 6 – Jul 5, 2021
Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater is pleased to announce the premiere of Waiting Room: A New Film by Arena Stages Voices...
Fannie Lou Hamer, Speak On It!
Oct 23 – Oct 30, 2020
Fannie Lou Hamer, Speak On It! is a captivating call to action and look at the impassioned freedom fighter who became one of the most...
Jubilee
Apr 26 – Jun 2, 2019
The world-renowned Fisk Jubilee Singers shattered racial barriers in the U.S. and abroad, entertaining kings and queens. For centuries, the bold a capella African American...
Junk
Apr 5 – May 5, 2019
As the brilliant and calculating Robert Merkin prepares a hostile takeover of a family-owned manufacturing company, he is not concerned about crossing the line to...
JQA
Mar 1 – Apr 14, 2019
Complicated, passionate and difficult, John Quincy Adams was a brilliant diplomat, ineffectual one-term President and congressman known for his eloquence, arrogance and integrity. This unique,...
Kleptocracy
Jan 18 – Feb 24, 2019
It is one of the most pivotal moments in history?—?the Soviet Union has collapsed. In the ensuing rampage of hyper-capitalism, the Oligarchs, a new class...
Camp Open House
Jan 12
Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater will host its second annual Camp Arena Stage Open House on Saturday, January 12, 2019 from...
Indecent
Nov 23 – Dec 30, 2018
In 1923, the Broadway debut of Sholem Asch’s Yiddish drama God of Vengeance set the stage for an explosive moment in its theatrical history. The...
Anything Goes
Nov 2 – Dec 23, 2018
The SS American has set sail from NY to London. Aboard, the lovelorn Billy has stowed away on a mission to stop the marriage of...
Turn Me Loose
Sep 6 – Oct 14, 2018
This intimate and no-holds-barred drama chronicles Dick Gregory’s rise as the first Black comedian to expose audiences to racial comedy. His comedy spared no one...
The Pajama Game PJ Party & C*CKtail Hour
Dec 2
Wear your pajamas and join Arena Stage and 94.7 Fresh-FM for a special cocktail hour after the performance of The Pajama Game – hosted by...
26 Pebbles
Aug 24
26 PEBBLES explores the power of community in the face of unimaginable tragedy. On December 14, 2012, 20-year-old Adam Lanza fatally shot 20 children and...
Other Desert Cities
Apr 26 – May 26, 2013
The Fichandler Stage: - Jon Robin Baitz; dir: Kyle Donnelly....
Mary T. & Lizzy K.
Mar 15 – Apr 28, 2013
Writer-director Tazewell Thompson (dir. M. Butterfly, Yellowman) stitches together an insider's look at the unlikely friendship between First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln and her talented...
The Grand Parade (of the Twentieth Century)
Feb 6 – Feb 10, 2013
The Arlene and Robert Kogod Cradle: - music: Alexander Bakshi; dir: Stacy Klein....
My Fair Lady
Nov 2 – Jan 6, 2013
The Fichandler Stage: - Alan Jay Lerner; book: Frederick Loewe; lyrics: Alan Jay Lerner; dir: Molly Smith....
Pullman Porter Blues
Nov 23 – Jan 6, 2013
Pullman Porter Blues A world-premiere co-production with Seattle Repertory Theatre By Cheryl L. West Directed by Lisa Peterson In the Kreeger Theater November 23, 2012...
Long Day's Journey into Night [Part of Eugene O'Neill Festival]
Mar 30 – May 6, 2012
Ah, Wilderness! [Part of Eugene O'Neill Festival]
Mar 9 – Apr 8, 2012
Elephant Room
Jan 20 – Feb 26, 2012
A Time to Kill
May 6 – Jun 19, 2011
Ruined
Apr 22 – Jun 5, 2011
In war-torn Congo, Mama Nadi keeps the peace between customers on both sides of the civil war by serving everything from cold beers to warm...
At Home at the Zoo
Feb 25 – Apr 24, 2011
American master Edward Albee has outdone himself once again with a riveting new drama that expands on The Zoo Story, the one-act that launched his...
The Edward Albee Festival
Mar 5 – Apr 24, 2011
In addition to Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and At Home at the Zoo, Albee enthusiasts can experience a never-before-attempted feat: a festival featuring staged...
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
Feb 25 – Apr 10, 2011
You’re invited for drinks with George and Martha. As wickedly hilarious today as when it first shocked audiences, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is an...
The Chosen
Mar 8 – Mar 27, 2011
A Theater J Production An Award Winning Adaptation The much beloved story of two boys, two fathers, and two very different Jewish communities in Williamsburg,...
The Arabian Nights
Jan 4 – Feb 20, 2011
In ancient Baghdad, a courageous young girl postpones her execution by weaving magical tales for the troubled king. Genies and jesters, lovers and thieves spring...
Let Me Down Easy
Dec 31 – Feb 13, 2011
Called “the most exciting individual in American theater” by Newsweek magazine, Anna Deavere Smith (Fires in the Mirror, Twilight: Los Angeles) explores the power of...
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