46 stories by "Nancy Blum"
Who knew how many people would remember Mickey Rooney? Child star turned adult character actor, Rooney first appeared on the vaudeville stage before he turned two. In his lifetime, he appear…
"Find the heart…not the art." Olympe de Gouges (Mary Wakefield) needs to write a play "that's good and important and annoyingly prescient." In "The Revolutionists," playwright Lauren Gunde…
About halfway through the joyful opening night performance of "Nate the Great" at Imagination Stage, I noticed three young children seated a few rows ahead of me engrossed in Tyler Dobies' p…
In his interview in Woolly Mammoth's playbill, playwright Dave Harris says, "How do you separate what you're doing because of your own free will and your own choice, or what you are doing be…
There are no casual or accidental moments in Marsha Norman's "'night, Mother." For both characters, every word spoken and every action are chillingly intentional"there are no "throwaway" lin…
Earth receive an honored guest;William Yeats is laid to rest:Let the Irish vessel lieEmptied of its poetry. Â " W.H. Auden, 1939 With Scena Theatre's production of "Three by Yeats," we may…
There was a sense of excitement among the crowd at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company for the opening night of "The Nosebleed," written and directed by Aya Ogawa. I seldom think of D.C. has havi…
At first glance, the silhouette of a Gothic castle on the set of "Beauty and the Beast" seems to signal a journey to Disney's Magic Kingdom. The thought is quickly dispelled as the castle cr…
This world premiere of "Ghost/Writer," written by Dane Figueroa Edidi and directed by Danielle A. Drakes, is the penultimate production by Rep Stage at Howard Community College. The first ac…
"The wrong facts get in the way of the story," claims writer John D'Agata (Colin Smith) in the midst of a heated discussion with fact checker Jim Fingal (Iván Carlo) in "The Lifespan of a…
Everyman Theatre's production of "Jump" by Charly Evon Simpson opens with a young woman vaping while gazing off into the distance from upon a high bridge. She drops the vape into the water a…
Lumina Studio Theatre, a youth theater company based in Silver Spring, is celebrating its twenty-fifth year with an adaptation of Shakespeare's "Love's Labor's Lost," set in the Old American…
Based on the 19th-century folktale "Snegurochka" by Alexander Ostrovsky, "Snow Maiden" is a new production created and directed by Helen Hayes Award-winning choreographer and Synetic Co-Foun…
What does assimilation into U.S. culture mean for immigrants from different Latin American countries and economic classes? The points made in "Fade" by Tanya Saracho may break no new ground …
"Legally Blonde," with music and lyrics by Laurence O'Keefe and Nell Benjamin and book by Heather Hach, is an energetic, feel-good story where the worst character is justly punished and all …
James Goldman's problematic "The Lion in Winter" is a well-known vehicle for actors to show off their command of language, rhythm, and sharp emotional turns. It is, in large part, a duet for…
 Synetic Theater has raised Bram Stoker's "Dracula" to terrifying life in a reanimation of their 2009 Kennedy Center production, a thrilling triumph of Gothic horror. In his pre-show gre…
Adapted in 1973 by Neil Simon from Anton Chekhov's short stories, most of the vignettes in "The Good Doctor" hold up surprisingly well and still evoke laughter and tears from a modern audien…
Chesapeake Shakespeare Company (CSC) kicks off its year-long celebration of their 20th anniversary with a re-staging of their very first production as a professional company"William Shakespe…
Baltimore's Everyman Theatre launches its new season with a savory world premiere, "Dinner and Cake" by Tuyết Thị Phạm. Director Paige Hernandez skillfully guides an excellen…
Best Medicine Rep Theatre Company kicks off its sixth season with "The Trip" by Crystal V. Rhodes. Four life-long friends take two road trips, 20 years apart. The play looks at how fragile f…
