46 stories by "Nancy Blum"
You need a pretty good reason to mount a 75-year-old play about a century-old historical event. The new production of "Inherit the Wind" at Arena Stage makes its case for revival based on th…
Dystopian futures have long fueled books, film, and TV, but today they resonate more than ever as political and business leaders ignore history's warnings, show little regard for human digni…
As the director (and co-founder of Synetic Theatre) Paata Tsikurishvili says in his playbill note, creation always demands a price and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is a classic example. Famil…
Omz, Bilal, and Joey are friends and three young footballers at the center of "Red Pitch" at Olney Theatre Center (OTC). Acceptance by a local professional club, like the Queens Park Raiders…
What is Shakespeare without words? While you might think the notion absurd, that poetry is impossible without words, the Synetic Theater company has repeatedly shown audiences that pure move…
"They ask about jobs, not family planning," complains Dr. Sam (charmingly played by Matthew J. Murray) about his patients, "They see the future in the faces of their children." Silver Spring…
Written and directed by Navajo playwright Rhiana Yazzie (and dramaturg Steven Paul Judd, a Kiowa/Choctaw filmmaker), the world premiere of "The Other Children of the Sun" graces the Famil…
A winning production of Robert Harling's "Steel Magnolias" blossoms in Creative Cauldron's new theatrical home in Falls Church, VA. Guests are welcomed to the comfortable black box space via…
"Don't you deserve a life?" Pato Dooley (Bill Dennison) asks Maureen Folan (Gené Fouché) in a letter he writes to her from England. In Martin McDonagh's bleak worldview, the answer appears…
A pale Ophelia (Maryam Najafzada), dressed in neutral taupe with roses in her now-loosed red hair, picks waterlilies from the fingertips of the ensemble as she wades into the river of their …
There's something risky about going to a show billed as improvisational and includes audience participation. The press release states: "Audiences can expect an entirely different show every …
As luck would have it, on the evening of the presidential debate, I was comfortably seated in the Kennedy Center Opera House enjoying the Broadway revival of "Funny Girl" starring Katerina M…
Directors Meg Lebow and Sophie Cameron have attempted to solve the discordant plot of Shakespeare's "The Winter's Tale," which travels from unfathomable tragedy to slapstick comedy to an ine…
"What does memory look like to you?" asks director Jason Tamborini. We have things that help us preserve our memories:Â photographs, scrapbooks of past adventures and accomplishments, spe…
Inda Craig-Galván's "A Jumping-Off Point" makes its world premiere at Bethesda's Round House Theatre as the centerpiece of the theatre's third annual National Capital New Play Festival. D…
For the love of peat. Luke Casserly, a performance artist from the rural midlands of Ireland, invites us to imagine the environment, the earth itself, as a living being and a friend. Commiss…
Directed by co-founder and Artistic Director, Paata Tsikurishvili, "Romeo & Juliet" is Synetic Theater's final production in their Crystal City home of the past fifteen years. In our…
Processing the death of Stephen Sondheim continues in the theatre community across the nation. Testaments to his genius are represented locally this winter by several productions: two of…
Long considered one of Shakespeare's "problem plays," Folger Theatre's production of "The Winter's Tale" embraces the discordance of the plot elements and takes us on an invigorating romp fr…
The anticipatory buzz surrounding David Ijames' "Fat Ham" was apt prelude to its arrival at Studio Theatre. It had a sold-out run at the Public and then a stint on Broadway. This production …
"Nothing means more than being together," says a young and pregnant Nawal bidding farewell to her lover Wahab, a refugee fleeing the militia as the country dissolves into civil war. This sen…
"Hearing an actor speak in her native language is a natural outgrowth of this play's quest for a more authentic engagement with another culture," writes David Muse, Artistic Director of Stud…
"It started with the trial," Scout Finch (the delightful Maeve Moynihan) tells us in the opening moments of Aaron Sorkin's adaptation of Harper Lee's famous novel, "To Kill a Mockingbird," i…
"Music is the soul of Cambodia," says a character in Arena Stage's long-awaited production of "Cambodian Rock Band" by Lauren Yee (in association with Alley Theatre, Berkeley Repertory…
