Evann Normandin

We never can seem to catch a break from the president, and a night out at Woolly Mammoth's American premiere of Anne Washburn's SHIPWRECK is no exception. A history play about 2017, SHIPWRECK follows a group of liberals who gather at a remodeled farmhouse, a young man adopted from Kenya reckoning with his connection to his family and his country, and the fallout from Trump's firing of FBI director James Comey. 

A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS at Arena Stage is a breathtaking production that will stay with you long after curtain call. Adapted by Ursula Rani Sarma based on the beloved novel of the same name by Khaled Hosseini, A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS tells an unflinching story of the lives of two Aghan women bound together in war-ravaged Kabul. Despite the brutality of life in Kabul, both women exemplify the resil

I have to hand it to Scena Theatre- they consistently elevate interesting, international work. Director Robert McNamara brings Jon Fosse's SEA to DC for its US debut performance at the intimate DC Arts Center, and the performance will surely leave you thinking. Norwegian playwright Fosse, one of Europe's most performed dramatists, has been translated into over 40 languages and, in 2010, won the biggest prize in global theatre- the Ibsen award. There were moments on opening night when all the stars aligned: persuasive acting, poignant dialogue, precise movements, and inspired casting. There were also moments when pacing, language, and the play's inherent incomprehensibility made engaging with Fosse's work difficult.

There are just a few seats left for The Improvised Shakespeare Company's last few performances during its limited run at The Kennedy Center, and you're going to want to buy a ticket. A group of five outrageously talented performers takes one audience suggestion for the title of a play that is yet to be written and transforms it into a riotous, 90-minute Shakespearean masterpiece before your eyes. If your experience is anything like mine, you will enter the theatre contemplative and work-weary and leave smiling ear to ear, sharing knowing looks with other theatre-goers as if to say a?oedid we all really just witness that?!a?? If this sounds effusive, it's meant to. The Improvised Shakespeare Company is an experience not to be missed. 

The phenomenon that got its start in DC at the Arena Stage in 2015 has come home to DC for a five week, sold out run at the Kennedy Center. DEAR EVAN HANSEN is the story of an anxious young man desperate to fit in, and the powerful musical is opening the conversation to a wider audience as it launches a 50-city national tour of the United States, with international productions in Toronto and, next year, London. In an age when it's easy to feel increasingly disconnected, the revolutionary DEAR EVAN HANSEN reminds us in myriad, potent ways that we are not alone.

EVERY BRILLIANT THING at Studio Theatre takes an audience of individuals and transforms them, in 65 short minutes, into a collective. It is theatre in its purest, most primal, form, and it's hilarious to boot. Described by The Guardian as 'one of the funniest shows you'll ever see about depression' EVERY BRILLIANT THING is as compassionate as it is hilarious. The first in Studio Theatre's Showroom series-a curated performance series in the summertime (with spirits)-EVERY BRILLIANT THING is warm, intimate, and inventive.

The 2019 Kennedy Center Arts Summit, The Human Journey: Creating the Story of US, explored, unpacked, layered, and spun questions like "How do more inclusive and diverse stories-stories beyond the dominant narrative-help build a more equitable society?", "How can radical listening foster empathy and 'stitch' together the tears in our social fabric", and "How can we use storytelling as an art, a tool, and a strategy for moving us forward?" The day-9am to 7pm-moved fluently through three parts: INSPIRATION, a morning filled with dynamic conversations, performances, and keynotes with artists and experts, EXPLORATION, deeper dive breakout sessions, and ACTION, performances by exceptional artists and performers including the Kennedy Center's brilliant 2018-2019 Citizen Artist Fellows.

Peter Flynn tackles Sondheim's darkly imagined INTO THE WOODS at Ford's Theatre and the result is sensational. Flynn leads an exceptional cast and, with support from Michael Bobbitt's choreography, Milagros Ponce Leon's set design, and Wade Laboissonniere's costume design, has a hit on his hands.

Aziza Barne's BLKS is a stop-you-in-your-tracks, laugh-out-loud comedy that is about to take DC by storm. Barnes' electric writing powerfully celebrates, queerness, sisterhood and the implications of being 'Black and alive.' With director Nataki Garrett at the helm, the cast brings Aziza's words to life with infectious joy. My cheeks still hurt from smiling.

Second City's SHE THE PEOPLE at Woolly Mammoth delivers some sorely needed cathartic joy in the heart of the nation's capital. The Second City improvisational theatre troupe is famed for producing the likes of Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Steve Carell, and Stephen Colbert, so you can be sure that when their name is involved you are in for high quality laughs. The stellar all female cast of Second City's SHE THE PEOPLE had me in stitches. I wouldn't be surprised to see any one of them follow in the footsteps of other Second City prodigies. And if you're one of those people who think women can't be funny, do us all a favor and buy yourself a ticket to SHE THE PEOPLE ASAP.

I won't soon forget IF I FORGET. Director Matt Torney adroitly brings to life this incisive examination of modern Jewish life 'for the head and the heart.' Studio Theatre has chosen a local, illustrious playwright's work to kick off its 40th anniversary season: Steven Levenson, of the Tony Award winning Evan Hanson.

Director Alan Paul is bringing Lerner and Loewe's CAMELOT to a new generation, and his efforts couldn't be timelier. This stunning Shakespeare Theatre Company production at Sidney Harman Hall is a beacon of light in a city besieged by political unrest and uncertainty. Lerner and Loewe's enduring story- a hallmark of the 'Golden Age' of musical theatre- sets the love triangle between King of Arthur (of the infamous sword in the stone), Queen Guenevere, and the knight Lancelot against the backdrop of Arthur's struggle for civilization and goodness in a world of violence, barbarism, and hatred.

Studio Theatre is serving up a spectacle of a show that mashes satire and high emotion. VIETGONE, directed by Natsu Onoda Power, presents a truly diverse story with the potential to challenge entrenched ideas about the Vietnam War and the immigrant experience. Playwright Qui Nguyen's fresh voice bounces off the rafters and finds its fullest embodiment in the company's impressive and expressive physicality.

THE BIG APPLE CIRCUS is stopping at the National Harbor during its historic 40th anniversary season, with an aim toward modernizing for contemporary audiences while still maintaining its ethos. THE BIG APPLE CIRCUS (which filed for bankruptcy in 2016 only to make its triumphant return) features global artists, Guinness world record holders, and a famously egalitarian set up-no seat is more than 50 feet from the ring. This circus is something special.

Keegan Theatre's UNNECESSARY FARCE is the comedy we all need in these troubling times. Written by Paul Slade Smith and adroitly directed by Ray Ficca, this D.C. premiere will make you really, truly, laugh.

Soaring vocals, stunning costumes, weepy theatre goers: these are all things you expect at a production of LES MISERABLES. But a pace that leaves you reeling and energized? I didn't realize that was possible. The pacing, oh the pacing! This touring production of Cameron Mackintosh's production of Boublil and Sch nberg's LES MISERABLES, directed by Laurence Connor and James Powell, is fresh, immediate, and wildly entertaining.

Mosaic Theater Company's Production of Vicu a and the American Epilogue is in high demand and for good reason. If you're in DC and you meander to work every day in a cloud of existential dread wondering how we all got here and where our country could possibly be going, then I can't recommend this Trump-inspired satire highly enough. Written by Pulitzer Prize finalist John Robin Baitz (Other Desert Cities; Brothers and Sisters) and directed by Robert Eagan, this star-studded production has already been extended until December 3rd. Vicu a was originally produced to great critical acclaim during the 2016 election. The context of its incubation and inception is important, as at times the show feels disconnected from our current political reality. A new epilogue set 12 years in a dystopian future pulls the strands of past, present, and future together. It is sobering, eerie, and altogether necessary.

Do you ever feel like we're all just sitting around watching the world burn? If you would like to do that in the presence of like-minded theatre goers, then head down to Woolly Mammoth and experience the sensation that is THE ARSONISTS. Written by Max Frisch in 1958 and commonly interpreted as a metaphor for the rise of Communism and Nazism, this new translation by Alistair Beaton directed by Michael John Garc s feels frighteningly contemporary.

Back by popular demand (and just in time) WORD BECOMES FLESH is theatre worth doing more than thinking about. This encore presentation written by Marc Bamuthi Joseph with additional dramaturgical compositions by Khalil Anthony and Dahlak Brathwaite and directed by Psalmayene 24 is an arresting composition of dance, hip-hop, music, and spoken word performed by an indefatigable five man ensemble. Louis E. Davis, Chris Lane, Clayton Pelham Jr., Gary L. Perkins III, and Justin Weaks, with nary a weak link among them, move with one heartbeat as they perform a series of letters from a young black man to his unborn son and explore what it means to grow up black in the 21st century. Sneakers squeak, sweat drips, music blares, voices reverberate around every corner of the intimate theatre. It's clear a rebellion is taking shape.