AVANT BARD

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...

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 ...

by Doug Poms - February 16, 2026

What did our critic think of SNAPSHOTS: A MUSICAL SCRAPBOOK at Creative Caudron Stage?...

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...

by Jackson Malmgren - February 15, 2026

What did our critic think of THE HOUSE OF BERNARDA ALBA at Gala Hispanic Theatre?...