Capitol Hill

Past

Loose Rhinoceros About—What’s a Person to Do?

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Eugene Ionesco’s play Rhinoceros (1959) grew from his increasingly lonely witness to the attraction that Nazism held among the circles he traveled in during World War II. Ionesco (b. 1909, Slatina, Romania—d. 1994, Paris, France) and many of his friends would have been around 20 in 1939, the prime age for idealist fervor.

Strawberry Theatre Workshop intentionally produced this play to highlight the challenges of our current presidential election climate. Jess K. Smith’s direction found the play’s

Past

Shooting the Stars

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Mixed Reaction Reunion with ex-Lover

Shooting the Stars, an In the Moment Theatre production, opened this past weekend at Eclectic Theatre. It was full of nostalgia, for those of us who went to college in the 1970’s in quintessential activitist college towns like Madison, Wisconsin, where it took place. However, the script played on stereotypes and clichés so much that even two very fine actors and a competent director could not rescue it from sit-com and soap-opera predictability.

Past

The Things are against Us

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The Script was against Us

One of the big problems with a lot of modern playwrighting is that it is influenced by screen-writing. As a result, plays are rendered into too many short scenes, taking place in vastly different interior and exterior spaces. The results are virtually un-stageable unless you have the resources of Disney on Broadway. WET’s new production The Things Are Against Us, was one of these scripts.

Past

Theatre22 Presents Annapurna

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Theatre 22 mounts a sensitive and touching production of the one-act play Annapurna featuring two local talents: John Q. Smith and Teri Lazzara. Sharr White’s work debuted in LA in 2014 and has already had a Broadway run starring Ned Offerman and Megan Mullally. White writes of a long separated couple coming to terms with their individual pasts and each other. Hard truths are faced, old disputes are replayed, new fears arise and yet a grudging love and respect somehow emerge by the final blackout. The two-person piece is skillfully performed and deftly directed by Julie Beckman.

Past

The Motherf**ker with the Hat Has Plenty to Say

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When you intentionally produce “dangerous works” as Washington Ensemble Theatre describes their mission, with dangerous titles, one is well advised to do them well. And the short verdict is: yes, This show is very well done. The credit goes to everyone involved with the three producing companies (Washington Ensemble Theatre, The Hansberry Project, and eSe Teatro) working together for the first time.

It helps that they have an airtight script by Stephen Adly Guirgis.

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