208 stories by "Anne Valentino"
Just when you think there’s nothing new you can bring to the theatrical table when it comes to Shakespeare, Chesapeake Shakespeare Company’s (CSC) “The Tempest” does just that. The p…
It isn’t very often that I leave a play thinking to myself, what did I just see? in the most profound sense possible. Tracy Letts’ highly provocative “The Minutes” is one such play t…
There is something undeniably sophisticated, sharp, and memorable about Wendy Wasserstein's "The Heidi Chronicles." After watching the Vagabond Players' production, it is easy to understand …
Pulling off a one-person show is certainly a complex endeavor. When that one-person show proves a rollercoaster ride of emotionally triumphant highs and rock-bottom lows, it can be an especi…
Genre-bending plays can often be a difficult sell. Accustomed to tragedy, comedy, or a hybrid mashup, the average theatregoer generally likes to "name" their plays. What Austrian-Iranian pla…
When a group of well-meaning parents collide (and collide is the exact right word for the premise of this particular play), what ensues is a calamitous adventure in idea-making, politically …
The twisted tale of Jekyll and Hyde makes for great theatrical fare. With their latest yearly offering, Theatre Du Jour brings Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 novella, The Strange Case of Dr J…
1st Stage has built up a reputation for presenting insightful, timely, and highly evocative shows that profoundly cut to the core. With their current production of Stephen Adly Guirgis' Puli…
"Bardolatry:" the emphatic admiration of William Shakespeare, the one and only "Bard." Arguably the quintessential symbol of British arts and culture, Shakespeare wasn't always the definitiv…
Spooky Action Theater is a company that regularly tests boundaries. They are unafraid to present the entertaining, side-by-side with the disquieting. They've made a name for themselves by do…
One major element that differentiates theatre from other forms of art is that it happens in time and space"real time and real space, seductively unfolding before an audience. The stage is a …
Clare Barron's acclaimed "Dance Nation," a Pulitzer Prize finalist, isn't afraid to tackle some heavy subjects, exposing the rawness and, at times savagery, and the brutal honesty of what li…
This seems to be the season of thriller-style theatre in the DMV region. NextStop Theatre Company joins the horror genre fray with their world premiere production of Nia Akilah Robinson's "…
An admitted horror buff, I was quite excited for the opening of the Shakespeare Theatre Company's "Paranormal Activity." I was still skeptical that theatre could truly deliver the jump scare…
Through wintery weather and freezing cold temps, the show must go on. Facing down a massive January storm, the Folger Shakespeare Theatre's Fourth Annual Reading Room Festival went on as sch…
I have to say, my first theatrical experience at Laurel Mill Playhouse was definitely a memorable one. A true gem, this intimate venue put on an immensely powerful show. Evan Carrington's "S…
As always, the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington, DC (GMCW) delivered a rollicking, lyrical, and highly entertaining evening of song and dance to mark another holiday season in the nation's cap…
Dysfunctional family Christmases have become something of a staple of popular movies, books, and plays. Perhaps this is because, like it or not, they often hit pretty close to home. In Round…
At once both intimate and explosive, 1st Stage's production of Noah Haidle's "Birthday Candles" takes audiences on an extended ride through one lifetime"one very special lifetime of one very…
Possessing a spellbinding theatrical imagination is certainly one way to describe the mind and work of iconic, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paula Vogel. Her plays test the boundaries of…
Samuel D. Hunter is a playwright rapidly on the way to becoming an iconic voice of the blue collar, the downtrodden, and the frequently forgotten. Often based in Idaho (from where Hunter hai…
Henrik Ibsen is on a hot streak in DC. Two high-profile theatres opened their seasons to great fanfare as they each featured an adaptation of Ibsen. Amy Herzog's 2024 reworking of "An Enemy …
AI is everywhere. As a professor, I attend numerous faculty meetings, seminars, and sessions to address the head-scratching dilemma of "what do we do with this thing?" This dilemma has been …
Henrik Ibsen, arguably the forerunner of theatrical realism, did like to take little expressionistic leaps now and then, blending the bleak workaday world with a more surrealist spin on the …
Swiss playwright Reto Finger's "Cold Country" comes across as part folktale, part gothic campfire story, and part dysfunctional family drama. Combined, all of these 'parts' offer audiences a…
