What’s Onstage in the DMV February/Early March 2026
Jordan Wright
January 10, 2026
 The First National Tour Cast of Stereophonic. (Photo/Julieta Cervantes)
Broadway at The National www.BroadwayattheNational.com
Stereophonic Feb 10 – Mar 8
The Simon and Garfunkel Story Mar 14 and Mar 15 only
Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Mar 18 – Apr 5
Signature Theatre www.SigTheatre.org
I’m Here: Black Broadway Feb 24 – Mar 15
Safety Not Guaranteed Mar 3 – Apr 12
MetroStage at the Lyceum www.MetroStage.org
Roots & Reverence: The Spirituals That Shaped America Feb 23 only
Workhouse Arts Center www.WorkhouseArts.org/theater-performances
Murder on the Orient Express Mar 6 – April 12
Folger Theatre www.Folger.edu
As You Like It Mar 10 – Apr 12
 Hamnet via Shakespeare Theatre Company
Shakespeare Theatre Company www.ShakespeareTheatre.org
On Beckett Feb 11 – Mar 15
Hamnet Mar 17 – Apr 12
Avant Bard www.AvantBard.org
Two Gentlemen of Killarney Mar 5 – 28
Theatre J www.EDCJCC.org
The World to Come Feb 3 – Mar 1
Eureka Day Mar 11 – April 5
Atlas Performing Arts Center www.AtlasArts.org
INTERSECTIONS Festival Feb 14 – Mar 15
NextStop Theatre Company www.NextStopTheatre.org
Drowner [Renword] through Feb 22
 Little Miss Perfect via Olney Theatre
Olney Theatre www.OlneyTheatre.org
Little Miss Perfect Feb 8 – Mar 8
Appropriate Mar 13 – Apr 19
Studio Theatre www.StudioTheatre.org
Octet through Feb 22
GALA Theatre www.GALATheatre.org
La Casa de Bernarda Alba – The House of Bernarda Alba Feb 5 – Mar 1
Imagination Stage www.ImaginationStage.org
Balloonacy through Feb 15
Havana Hop Feb 14 – Mar 7
Adventure Theatre MTC www.My.AdventureTheatre-MTC.org
Freckleface Strawberry Pajama Party: The Musical Feb 12 – Mar 29
 1776 via Ford’s Theatre (Artwork created from photos by Scott Suchman)
Ford’s Theatre www.MyFords.org
1776 Mar 13 – May 16
Arena Stage www.ArenaStage.org
Chez Joey through Mar 15
Inherit the Wind Feb 27 – April 5
1st Stage www.1stStage.org
Between Riverside and Crazy Feb 19 – Mar 8
Washington Stage Guild www.StageGuild.org
Happy Days through Feb 26
Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company www.WoollyMammoth.net
The World to Come through Mar 1
 Rock of Ages via Toby’s Dinner Theatre
Toby’s Dinner Theatre www.TobysDinnerTheatre.com
Rock of Ages through Mar 15
Round House Theatre www.RoundHouseTheatre.org
Nothing Up My Sleeve Feb 11 – Mar 15
Dominion Stage www.DominionStage.org
Xanadu through Feb 14
Creative Cauldron www.CreativeCauldron.org
Snapshots: A Musical Scrapbook Feb 12 – Mar 8
Twelve Dancing Princesses Mar 13 – 29
Compass Rose Theatre www.CompassRoseTheater.org
Rent Feb 6 – Mar 8
 Back to the Future via Baltimore Broadway
Hippodrome Baltimore www.Baltimore.Broadway.com
Back to the Future Feb 14 – Mar 1
Hadestown Mar 13 and 14
Everyman Theatre www.EverymanTheatre.org
Dawn through Mar 1
Damascus Theatre Company www.DamascusTheatre.org
Company Feb 6 – 22
Little Theatre of Alexandria www.TheLittleTheatre.com
School of Rock Feb 7 – 28
Perisphere Theater www.PerisphereTheater.com
Silent Sky through Feb 14
Keegan Theatre www.KeeganTheatre.com
John Doe through Feb 22
Midiculous Feb 24 – Mar 8
 Tambo & Bones via Spooky Action Theatre
Spooky Action Theatre www.SpookyAction.org
Tambo & Bones Feb 12 – Mar 8
The Welders www.TheConservatory.com
Cake Eaters Feb 5 – Feb 22
Arlington Players www.ArlingtonPlayers.org
Peter and the Starcatcher through Feb 15
Providence Players of Fairfax www.ProvidencePlayers.org
Crimes of the Heart Mar 13 – 22
Maryland Ensemble Theatre www.MarylandEnsemble.org
Small Mouth Sounds Feb 13 – Mar 15
What’s Onstage in the DMV – October 2025
September 14, 2025
Jordan Wright
 Julius X: A Re-envisioning of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar via Folger Theatre
Folger Theatre – Julius X: A Re-envisioning of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar – through Oct 26 www.Folger.edu
Washington Stage Guild – The One Good Thing – or “Are ya’ Patrick Swayze?” – Oct 2 – Oct 19 www.CI.OvationTix.com
Signature Theatre – Strategic Love Play – through Nov 9 www.SigTheatre.org
Cirque du Soleil – Luzia – through Oct 19 www.tickets-center.com
 Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit via Dominion Stage
Dominion Stage – Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit – Oct 24 – Nov 8 www.DominionStage.org
Round House Theatre – The Inheritance – through Oct 19 www.RoundHouseTheatre.org
Olney Theatre – Red Pitch – through Oct 19 www.OlneyTheatre.org
MetroStage at the Lyceum – Love Notes and Blue Notes with Aaron Myers and Yvette Spears – Oct 6
A Cabaret with Lisa Vroman – Nov 10 www.MetroStage.org
 The Wild Duck via Shakespeare Theater Company
Shakespeare Theatre Company – The Wild Duck – Oct 18 – Nov 16 www.ShakespeareTheatre.org
Everyman Theatre – ‘Art’ – Oct 19 – Nov 16 www.EverymanTheatre.org
Woolly Mammoth – The Great Privation (How to flip ten cents into a dollar) – through Oct 12 www.WoollyMammoth.net
The Little Theatre of Alexandria – Grease – Oct 25 – Nov 15 www.TheLittleTheatre.com
 The Outsider via Aldersgate Theatre
Aldersgate Theatre – The Outsider – Oct 3 – 19 www.ACCTonline.org
IN Series – St. John the Baptist – through Oct 12 www.inseries.org
Compass Rose Theater – Annie – through Oct 19 www.CompassRoseTheater.org
1st Stage – Fair Play – Oct 16 – Nov 2 www.1stStage.org
 Lizzie the Musical via Keegan Theatre
Keegan Theatre – Lizzie the Musical – Oct 31 – Nov 30 www.KeeganTheatre.com
Arena Stage – Damn Yankees – through Nov 9
Freemont Ave. – Oct 8 – Nov 23 www.ArenaStage.org
Toby’s Dinner Theatre – Saturday Night Live – through Nov 7 www.TobysDinnerTheatre.com
Providence Players of Fairfax – The Mousetrap – Oct 10 – Oct 25 www.ProvidencePlayers.org
GALA Hispanic Theatre – Héctor, The Electric Kid – Oct 18 – Nov 1 www.GALATheatre.org
 The Last Five Years via Next Stop Theatre
Next Stop Theatre – The Last Five Years – Oct 30 – Nov 23 www.NextStopTheatre.org
Silver Spring Stage – Friends With Guns – through Oct 12
Witch – Oct 31 – Nov 16 www.SSStage.org
Adventure Theatre – Not Your Mother Goose! – Oct 3 – Nov 2 www.AdventureTheatre-MTC.org
Studio Theatre – The Heart Sellers – through Oct 26 www.StudioTheatre.org
Spooky Action Theatre – The Dragon – through Oct 19 www.SpookyAction.org
 The Turn of the Screw – The Musical via Creative Cauldron
Creative Cauldron – The Turn of the Screw – The Musical – Oct 2 – 27 www.CreativeCauldron.org
National Theatre – PlayStation – The Concert – Oct 17 & 18 – Twilight – In Concert – Oct 24 and 25 www.BroadwayAtTheNational.com
Hippodrome Baltimore – The Rocky Horror Show – Oct 17 – Nov 2 www.TheHipp.org
Taffety Punk – Cyrano – through Oct 11 www.TaffetyPunk.com
Rorschach Theatre – So Late Into The Night – Oct 7 – Nov 2 www.rorschachTheatre.com
 Evil Dead – The Musical via Workhouse Arts Center
Workhouse Arts Center – Evil Dead – The Musical – through Nov 2 www.WorkhouseArts.org
ExPats Theatre – Cold Country – through Oct 19 www.ExPatsTheatre.com
The Colonial Players – Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors – Oct 24 – Nov 15 www.ColonialPlayers.org
Bethesda Little Theatre – French Cupcakes – Oct 10 – 19 www.BLT-online.org
Synetic Theatre – Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus – Nov 1 – 23 www.SyneticTheatre.org
 Furlough’s Paradise via Theater Alliance
Theater Alliance – Furlough’s Paradise – through Nov 23 www.TheaterAlliance.com
Theatre J – This Much I Know – through Oct 19 www.EDCJCC.org
Avant Bard Theatre – The 9th Annual Scripts in Play Festival – Oct 4 – Oct 20 www.AvantBard.org
Prince William Little Theatre – The Woman in Black – Oct 10 – Oct 18 www.HyltonCenter.org
Jordan Wright
March 4, 2020
There’s something rather quaint about Tennessee Williams now. His sultry Southern romances no longer seem shocking, though the stories are like listening to a fine storyteller spinning a yarn on the veranda of an old house on a steamy summer night. They’re always captivating and, though we know it will not turn out well for the characters, we wait breathlessly to hear how they navigated turgid waters.
 Erik Harrison as George Holly and Megan Morgan as Mrs. Holly in Avant Bard’s ‘Suddenly Last Summer.’ Photo by DJ Corey. Set in New Orleans in 1935, Suddenly Last Summer reflects a time when electroshock therapy and lobotomies were still in style, when women got the vapors and took laudanum or cocaine and could be committed to an asylum by their husbands for postpartum depression. Were they crazy or just “handled” in order to be disposed of?
In this story the beautiful and captivating Catherine Holly is holding up the dispersal of a large family inheritance with the telling of a shocking tale about how Mrs. Violet Venable’s son died in a rural Mexican beach town. The problem is no one wants to hear it. They hold a high position in society and, if the family doesn’t squelch her story, their reputations will be forever tarnished. Nowadays there’s not so much attention paid to a few black sheep in a family. But in that time, and in that place, one’s entire social standing in a community rested on their good name.
 Sara Barker as Catherine Holly. Photo by DJ Corey. Violet fancies her son, Sebastian, an aesthete – a poet and gardening enthusiast with little time for carnal pleasures. They travel the world together and she becomes accustomed to the attention he garners for his looks and charm. When Catherine replaces the sickly woman on his stylish adventures, Violet becomes enraged. Catherine reveals to the others, the Sebastian’s dark side that Violet knew about, and even indulged, but was not willing to acknowledge. Tragically, Catherine’s future as a free woman is at stake if she reveals the truth of the horrific way he died. Jealousy and greed drive William’s extraordinary characters and remind us of how brilliant a playwright he was.
Under the fine direction of Christopher Henley, the play crackles with a terrific cast, most especially Cam Magee and Sara Barker who we loved in Avant Bard’s production of Emilie: La Marquise du Chatelet Defends Her Life Tonight.
The play is preceded by a little-known, twenty-minute, two-person production also written by Tennessee Williams and called Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen.
With Cam Magee as Mrs. Violet Venable; Matt Sparacino as Doctor Cukrowicz; Miss Kitty as Miss Foxhill; Erik Harrison as George Holly; Megan Morgan as Mrs. Holly; Sara Barker as Catherine Holly; and Christine Hirrel as Sister Felicity.
Scenic Design by David Ghatan; Lighting Design by Ian Claar; Costume Design by Anna Marquardt; and Sound Design by Clay Tuenis.
Through April 5th at Avant Bard Theatre, Gunston Hall Arts Center, Theatre Two, 2700 South Lang Street, Arlington, VA 22206. For tickets and information visit www.AvantBard.org/tickets or call the box office at 703.418.4808.
Jordan Wright
June 6, 2019
Warning: Extremely high doses of wacky irreverence could result in uncontrollable hilarity.
Playwright Matt Minnicino’s adaptation, he calls it a new “distillation”, of Molière’s classic The Misanthrope tore the house down at its world premiere last night. A re-interpretation of the 17th century farce skewering French aristocracy, Minnicino delivers in spades with a band of frivolous, self-centered snobs, oblivious to the hoi polloi (Tag yourselves, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kim Kardashian, James Franco, Russell Crowe, Tom Cruise, et alia). This booze-swilling brat pack speaks in rhyming couplets, mixing formal dialogue and philosophical musings with modern American slang. Set in the posh environs of the South of France, it is fall-down-dead hilarious and monumentally clever.
 (l-r) Hannah Sweet (Basque), Elliott Kashner (Alceste), Thais Menendez (Celimene). CREDIT: DJ Corey Photography Alceste is a cynical, smitten preppie whose target is the alluring, and self-adoring Celimene. He hates deceit yet craves the company of the most deceitful of them all. Swanning luxuriantly around the pool deck in luxuriantly revealing garb, she teases and taunts the men while insulting her female competition, especially the prudish Arsinoe, a woman of a certain age who’s got the hots for Alceste. “I’ve been programmed to pussyfoot around,” she admits.
 (l-r)Patrick Joy (Clitandre), Thais Menendez (Celimene), Jenna Berk (Philinte), Chloe Mikala (Eliante) ~ Photo credit JD Corey Unfortunately, Miss C. prefers her trendy pals and glam lifestyle far more than an angst-ridden, lovesick dweeb and pits him against Oronte, a sophomoronic wannabe poet who’s got plenty of dough to satisfy Miss C. and is suing Alceste for slander. For those wondering if Alceste will get his comeuppance (although we secretly cheer his irreverence) there is Philinte, Alceste’s gal pal and reality check, who challenges his insincerity at every turn. “We are living in a society of vacuity, fatuousness and folly,” she admonishes.
 Sara Barker (Arsinoe), Elliott Kashner (Alceste). Photo credit DJ Corey Minnicino’s earlier forays into classical adaptations have included Chekhov, Strindberg, Shakespeare, Homer, and Sophocles (no mean feat). But you needn’t have read any one of these literary titans to enjoy this snarky funfest.
 (l-r) Matthew Sparacino (Oronte), Thais Menendez (Celimene), Patrick Joy (Clitandre), Tendo Nsubuga (Acaste), Elliott Kashner (Alceste). Photo credit DJ Corey Director Megan Behm expertly wrangles this fierce cast led by Elliott Kashner as Alceste, Thais Menendez as Celimene, Jenna Berk as Philinte, Matthew Sparacino as Oronte, Sara Barker as Arsinoe and Patrick Joy as Clitandre. with Tendo Nsubuga as Acaste, Chloe Mikala as Eliante and Hannah Sweet as Basque/DuBois.
Costumes by Alison Samantha Johnson, Set Design by Megan Holden, Lighting Design by Elizabeth Roth, Properties Design by Liz Long.
A veritable verbal slugfest with a mountain of the funniest zingers since the Marx Brothers took on high society in “A Night at the Opera”.
Highly recommended.
Through June 30th at Gunston Arts Center, 2700 South Lang Street, Arlington, VA 22206.
Avant Bard tickets are $40.00, and available online at avantbard.org/ticketsor by calling 703-418-4808. For every Avant Bard performance, a limited number of tickets are Pay What You Will, which means you can name your price. You can reserve PWYW tickets online the Monday before each performance for a small service minimum, or at the door with no minimum. All Avant Bard tickets including PWYW are General Admission; seating is first-come first-served.
Saturday matinees are followed by Unscripted Afterchats with members of the creative team.
Jordan Wright
March 23, 2019
Playwright Suzan-Lori Parks’ Top Dog/Underdog is a tale as old as Cain and Abel. Two brothers, abandoned as children by their parents, find cold comfort in fraternal discord. The mean streets of New York City provide the setting. Their names provide a clue to the irony that defines their lives. Booth and Lincoln. Lincoln, the elder, works in a rinky-dink arcade where, in top hat and frock coat as the former president, his days are filled with a crush of tourists who fake-assassinate him for a small fee. He is black, so there’s that ironic twist, though he’s grateful for the steady employment after living the fraught life of a hustler grifting tourists with the shady confidence game of Three-card Monte.
 Louis E. Davis (Booth) ~ Photo credit DJ Corey Photography The problem is Lincoln was good at it. Very good. And his dissolute brother wants him as a partner in the easy money game while also teaching him the tricks of the trade. “Schemin’ and dreamin’,” Booth calls it. For a time, they reminisce about the old days when they were flush from hustling or stealing and the streets were filled with “marks” out on the town with a pocketful of cash. But Lincoln’s refusal to return to a life of crime causes constant friction between the two men, and Booth threatens to throw him out if he won’t buddy up. The men are constantly scamming each other like the hustlers, lookouts, shills and ‘sticks’ from Lincoln’s old gang.
 Jeremy Keith Hunter (Lincoln) and Louis E. Davis (Booth) ~ Photo credit DJ Corey Photography Their lives are base, their language baser, yet their bickering and challenging one another make for some of the most viscerally powerful theater. Set Designer Nephelle Andonyadis gives us the perfect witness box to view the intensity. Rows of seats are situated on two sides of a long stage mimicking the railroad flats so popular in early city buildings. Walls are papered with cardboard and egg cartons creating an environment that the audience experiences immediately upon entering.
 Jeremy Keith Hunter (Lincoln) and Louis E. Davis (Booth) ~ Photo credit DJ Corey Photography The acting is astonishing. Both Louis E. Davis (Booth) and Jeremy Keith Hunter (Lincoln), who reminds this reviewer of a young Sidney Poitier, turn out some of the most tremendous performances I have ever seen in a two-hander. As a side note, Hunter got the role one week before opening night, when the cast member dropped out. We just saw him in MetroStage’s The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek.
In the more than capable hands of Director DeMone Seraphin this provocative drama stuns at every turn.
Gripping, exhilarating and brilliantly acted, it will leave you breathless. Highly recommended.
Krysta Hibbard, Associate Director; Costumes by Danielle Harrow; Lighting and Projections by John D. Alexander; Composer and Sound Design by e’Marcus Harper-Short; and Fight Director Casey Kaleba.
Performance schedule – Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:30pm and Saturday and Sunday at 2pm matinee – through April 14th at Gunston Arts Center, 2700 South Lang Street, Arlington, VA 22206. For tickets and information visit www.AvantBard.org/tickets or call 703 418.4808.
Jordan Wright
October 20, 2017
Special to The Alexandria Times
 (l-r) Sara Barker (Emilie), Brit Herring (Voltaire) ~ Photo credit: DJ Corey Photography The story of Émilie, La Marquise du Châtelet, a woman of science lightyears ahead of her time, is yet another thrilling play by Lauren Gunderson, the most-produced living playwright in America this season. It’s an intellectually-minded comic drama that delivers both wit and passion in spades. Based on the true story of the noted physicist and her decades-long collaboration with Voltaire, the 18th C poet, historian, and political rabble rouser, it appeals to an audience longing for representations of women of substance – especially those pioneers of science who fought hard for recognition in a male-dominated society. The latest to have been brought to our attention is Katherine Johnson, the African-American mathematician whose story was depicted in the Oscar-nominated movie, Hidden Figures.
 (l-r) Lisa Hodsoll (Madam), Billie Krishawn (Soubrette), Sara Barker (Emilie), Steve Lebens (Gentleman) ~ Photo credit: DJ Corey Photography In the role of a lifetime Sara Barker as Émilie provides us with a breathtaking, woman-in-full performance. Barker’s uncanny ability to get into the skin of the famed scientist and author is nothing less than spectacular. In defending the Marquise’s theory, a departure from Newton’s original, ‘Force, Motion, Mass Squared’ (“The squaring adds Life,” she concludes), Barker more than adopts Émilie’s brain, she appears to viscerally inhabit it.
In this plot, Émilie is eloquently matched by Voltaire, a mercurial romantic with an egotistical intellect, played admirably by Brit Herring. Together they form an alliance of ideas, “You’re a stunning woman, and an impressive man,” he tells her backhandedly. Until, ultimately, when she proves she is the true scientist of the two, he defames her, portraying her to the men of the Academy of Sciences as an insignificant female dilettante.
 (l-r) Billie Krishawn (Soubrette), Sara Barker (Emilie), Brit Herring (Voltaire) ~ Photo credit: DJ Corey Photography Director Rick Hammerly has Émilie keeping score of both her scholarly and romantic successes on framed panels of glass. She is fiercely competitive! When she wins an argument, or one-ups Voltaire, she makes white chalk marks to indicate her triumphs. Other furnishings combine 18th century elegance, like a curved leg writing desk and sparkling crystal chandelier, with modern day chrome and Lucite used in a madcap scene of musical chairs. Female actors wear corsets and paniers with denim jeans to parallel modern day misogyny. Especially noteworthy is Joseph R. Walls dramatic lighting and Frank DiSalvo Jr.’s sound design incorporating period music and striking sound effects.
Gunderson uses hilarity to depict their quixotic love scenes as when Voltaire aims to distract her with words of love. “Be my muse,” he implores. “Stop wooing, I can’t think,” she replies.
If I gave out stars (which as you know I don’t), this one would have five! Go!
With Lisa Hodsoll as Madam, Billie Krishawn as Soubrette, and Steve Lebens as Gentleman.
Through November 12th at Gunston Arts Center, Theatre Two – 2700 South Lang Street, Arlington, VA 22206. For tickets and information call 703 418.4808 or go online at www.AvantBard.org/tickets
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