Jordan Wright
April 12, 2018
We are waiting. For an answer. Three and a half hours including two intermissions later with a slowly dwindling audience after the first two acts. Ah well, it is a weekday night. And though given the title of the play we have a fairly good guess John will be involved, we are still waiting for an explanation as to why we have slogged through the sucking sound of a surfeit of red herrings. All clues lead to nowhere. The only explanation I can deduce is that this is some sort of exercise in existentialism. There is no note in the program from the award-winning playwright Annie Baker and nothing from director Joe Calarco either, so we can only speculate.
 Nancy Robinette, Anna Moon and Jonathan Feuer in John at Signature Theatre. Photo by Margot Schulman. One reason you may want to sit through this mystery, is the superb acting by Nancy Robinette and Ilona Dulaski. They are stellar! Two veteran actresses of note who, given the puzzling plot, still manage to keep us curious enough to await the denouement. Hint: It’s a single word at the close of the play.
Robinette as Mertis, aka Kitty, is the off-kilter proprietress of a Bed & Breakfast in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Her blind, mentally deranged friend, Genevieve (Dulaski), imagines noises in the house. The duo have latched onto mysticism for reasons not made clear. Perhaps to explain why the lights flicker and the electricity frequently fails or why Kitty’s husband never appears. “He’s not well.” But we discover he was working on the historic home’s electrical system. Is this a clue? To what? Credit lighting designer Andrew Cissna for the blackouts and the plethora of antique lamps. Are we spooked? It’s a stretch to be frightened when there’s no murder.
Anna Moon and Jonathan Feuer in John. Photo by Margot Schulman.
Certainly the creepiest part is Paige Hathaway’s set design chockfull of dozens of dolls, tchotchkes (a huge collection of china cats!!!), and an abundance of Christmas décor. One of the dolls, perched atop a player piano, is the target of attention from Jenny (Anna Moon) – one half of the couple that is staying at the B&B. Jenny had the same American Girl doll and is overwhelmed with guilt that as an adult she has relegated the doll to a box in her mother’s attic. She shares with Kitty an obsessive attachment to objects and the imparting of human emotions to them. Her passive-aggressive, jealous boyfriend Elias (Jonathan Feuer) is coming off anti-depressants and is in meltdown mode. There are ferocious fights that result in them sleeping in separate rooms.
But back to the red herrings. Kitty frequently changes the time on a grandfather clock and writes down her daily reflections in an unknown language. At one point the lights go out in the theater and we hear a chuckle. Who or what? Kitty tells Elias not to ask about a portrait of a woman. This is never resolved. Kitty tells the couple she doesn’t drink. She chugs a glass of wine. Elias visits the Gettysburg battlefields and claims he has taken a photo that has a ghostly image. Also, he hates B&Bs, “The tragedy of B&Bs is to be homey and cute and filled with tchotchkes.” Why are they staying at one? They insult the others’ cultural backgrounds – he’s Jewish, she’s Asian. There’s a reference to the house being a former Civil War hospital – arms and legs were tossed out the windows. No ghosts arrive. Genevieve is fixated on the husband she abandoned. This never comes up again, though a lot of dialogue is spent on how he invaded her thoughts for years. His name was John. Elias was kissed by a man when he was a child. We never learn if any of this is relevant.
Nancy Robinette, Jonathan Feuer and Ilona Dulaski in John. Photo by Margot Schulman.
I don’t think I’m giving anything away. There are plenty more contrivances that never add up. If this is meant to be like Get Out, this year’s Oscar-nominated horror film, they lost this reviewer amid the smokescreens in a B&B in Gettysburg.
With Costume Design by Debra Kim Sivigny and Sound Design by Kenny Neal.
Through April 29th at Signature Theatre (Shirlington Village), 4200 Campbell Avenue, Arlington, VA 22206. For tickets and information call 703 820-9771 or visit www.sigtheatre.org.
Jordan Wright for the Alexandria Times
April 9, 2018
 Photo credit: by Jackson Landers and Brian Wimer Last Sunday at the Beatley Library in Alexandria the Board of the Alexandria Film Festival invited filmmaker Jackson Landers to appear at a screening of his powerful new documentary Charlottesville: Our Streets.
Jackson Landers takes questions at the Alexandria screening of his film. Photo credit Jordan Wright
Using never-before-seen footage from citizen journalists, Landers and co-producer and film editor Brian Wimer constructed the movie in timeline fashion beginning with the tiki torch-wielding Neo-Nazi march on August 11, 2017 at the University of Virginia through the following days’ activities in Charlottesville where thousands of white nationalists converged from around the country to protest the expected removal of a statue to Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Dubbed Charlottesville “Summer of Hatred”, the violent “Unite the Right” rally brought alt-right, neo-Nazi, neo-Fascist and Ku Klux Klan groups together in a show of force unprecedented in a rural university town. They were armed to the teeth with knives, guns, pepper spray, chains, bats, shields and tear gas, shouting “Jews will not replace us” and “blood and soil”. The police stood down.
Charlottesville native, Landers, who writes for Slate, Smithsonian Magazine, The Daily Beast, Rewire.News and the Washington Post, and who conducts a Monday evening round table radio show on WPVC-FM, describes himself as an author and hunter who travels around the country hunting and eating invasive species. He’s even written a book about his adventures entitled “Eating Aliens” and appeared on the Travel Channel’s Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern. This is his first film – finished in two months to beat the entry deadline for this year’s Virginia Film Festival. He made it as a way of setting down a record of the events. “This isn’t an activist film,” he explained. “I just wanted to show what happened.”
 Photo credit: by Jackson Landers and Brian Wimer The homegrown 90-minute film gives a chronological account of the events leading up to and during the rally and marches in Charlottesville. With no filmmaking experience of his own, Landers admitted his most difficult challenge was finding someone to put all the pieces together (he found Wimer) and conduct video interviews with counter protestors and local residents who had experienced a terrifying outpouring of anti-Semitic and racial hatred in their rural university town. Having been pepper sprayed five times while in the thick of it, he witnessed the two-day events, including the fatal crash on Fourth Street and that of the fatal downing of a police helicopter. While he and Wimer are still tweaking the film based on audience reaction, the filmmakers claim to have verified every statement given by witnesses. Remarks that could not be proven, were edited out, though many video clips of interviews as well as remarks by Cornell West in the lead up to the rally are included. Thirty cameras spread out across the area, give the documentary both extensive coverage and an intense immediacy.
Landers also spoke about the aftermath of the bloody events in Charlottesville. He has continued to seek FOIA documents through the courts in regards to the police activity, as well as their strategy, but finds himself up against an army of lawyers.
 Photo credit: by Jackson Landers and Brian Wimer Attendees were afforded a Q & A with Landers after Sunday’s screening. Several who had been at the rally wanted to know why it wasn’t shown that counter protesters were assaulted on side streets on their way to the rally. Landers said, “The genesis of the film was to show the perspective of the people of Charlottesville,” and suggested there would be other films that would approach it from different perspectives. One attendee, who cited a CIA report calling 9/11 “ a failure of imagination” by security forces, saw the hands off approach by the University and the Virginia State Police as the same problem. It’s been reported that a police captain told his force to prepare for an event similar to the annual UVA “block party”.
Although this seminal event that resulted in the deaths of counter protester Heather Heyer and two police helicopter pilots, as well as dozens of injuries, did result in the subsequent removal of countless Civil War statues and confederate flags around the South, the bottom line is, could this happen in our town? And the answer is yes.
One of the more familiar faces of the white supremacists movement, Richard Spencer, lives in the heart of Old Town. As they did on that fateful day, he and cohort David Duke, former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, organize these rallies and give fiery speeches to their followers. Last Sunday, sitting quietly in the audience was Spencer associate and National Policy Institute’s Director of Operations, Greg Conte, aka Greg Ritter. He has been quoted as saying he plans to start his own white nationalist movement. Stay woke, Alexandria.
Jordan Wright
April 6, 2018
Victor Vazquez and Kaitlin McIntyre have assembled a cast so perfect that the actors wear their roles like a second skin. Spend two hours in Memphis Lee’s diner with Wolf, a hustler and numbers runner (Reginald André Jackson); Risa, an emotionally bereft waitress (Nicole Lewis); Holloway, a philosophical realist (David Emerson Toney in a scene stealing performance); West, an opportunistic undertaker (William Hall, Jr.); Hambone, a man denied his fair compensation (another exceptional performance from local actor Frank Riley III); and Sterling, an optimistic, lovesick ex-con (the very impressive Carlton Byrd), and you will come to know them well.
 (L to R) David Emerson Toney (Holloway), William Hall, Jr. (West) and Eugene Lee (Memphis Lee) in August Wilson’s Two Trains Running. Photo by Nate Watters for Seattle Repertory Theatre. Two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning American playwright August Wilson’s Two Trains Running affords a fly-on-the-wall view of a period and place in African American history, when the trains were moving but not everyone could board.
It was a time of frustration and economic disparity when arguments might be settled at the muzzle end of a gun. But lest you imagine the story is moralistic or depressing, it’s far from it. It’s actually hilarious with most of the setups provided by Holloway who also has one of the play’s most prophetic lines, “You got love and you got death. Death will find you. It’s up to you to find love.” So is there room for love here? There is. Sterling works his charm on Risa and the group shows concern and affection for Hambone.
 (L to R) Nicole Lewis (Risa), Carlton Byrd (Sterling) and Eugene Lee (Memphis Lee) in August Wilson’s Two Trains Running. Photo by Nate Watters for Seattle Repertory Theatre. For this superb production, Arena’s Artistic Director Molly Smith has partnered with Seattle Repertory Theatre and its Artistic Director Braden Abraham, bringing in Director Juliette Carrillo who marshals the ensemble into giving some of the finest and most synchronistic performances we’ve seen in a long time.
 (L to R) Frank Riley III (Hambone) and Carlton Byrd (Sterling) in August Wilson’s Two Trains Running. Photo by C. Stanley Photography. Eugene Lee, a veteran actor most recently at Arena in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, breathes fire and ice into the role of Memphis, a man toggling between hope and despair. Lee gives an outstanding multi-dimensional and nuanced portrait of the brash dreamer seeking redemption. In fact, the theme that most resonates throughout, is redemption – even if the path steers believers to the home of a 322-year-old psychic Aunt Esther (unseen) or a local charlatan who goes by the name of the Prophet Samuel (also unseen).
 Eugene Lee (Memphis Lee) in August Wilson’s Two Trains Running. Photo by Nate Watters for Seattle Repertory Theatre. Here religion and the occult are given their due in equal measure. It takes a limitless leap of faith to see through the fog of disappointment and despair, but they are clearly up to the challenge.
Set Designer, Misha Kachman, has scored August Wilson’s personal 1955 Rock-Ola jukebox to complete the chrome-and-naugahyde luncheonette look to go with Costume Designer Ivania Stack’s outfitting of the cast in 50’s clothing, most notably Holloway’s array of street-slick polyester shirts.
With Lighting Design by Sherrice Mojgani and Music/Sound by David R. Molina.
Superb and highly recommended.
Through April 29th 2018 in the Fichandler at Arena Stage, 1101 Sixth St., SE, Washington, DC 20024. For tickets and information call 202 488-3300 or visit www.ArenaStage.org.
Jordan Wright
April 4, 2018
Are you ready to plunge headlong down a rabbit hole with a cross-cultural mash-up led by five Filipino “lady boys” aka drag queens called the Paper Dolls? No, it’s not part of the far-out Fringe Festival, but it is edgy, hilarious, mind-bending and heartwarming. It’s a caution and a small miracle alive and kicking with hope, kindness and transformation.
 Lise Bruneau, Chris Bloch, and Ariel Felix ~ Photo credit Stan Barouh First, suspend reality. Start by allowing yourself to forgo the day-to-day grind of American politics and pop culture, then travel, vicariously that is, to Israel – the land of Yiddish, the Shabbat dinner, daily bombings and tradition with a capital ‘T’. There’s not much milk and honey for the temporary Filipino workers whose jobs are caring for elderly Jews. It’s their off-hours that provide the story with its humor.
Set in 2004 after the second intifada, and faced with the problem of caring for its aging population, Israel brought in 30,000 foreign workers from the Philippines. Some of these were home health aides. Hired through recruitment agencies to care for elderly Orthodox and Chasidic men, the workers were forced to work until they could pay off their unreasonably high agency fees.
 L to R: Evan D’Angeles, Kevin Shen, Rafael Sebastian ~ Photo credit Stan Barouh Many of these were gay men looking to send money back home to their own aging parents. Some formed strong, familial bonds with kindly employers. Others were badly treated and fled, or were arrested and deported. Think this isn’t happening today? Think again. In some Asian and Middle Eastern countries foreign workers are kidnapped or trafficked and forced to work in life-threatening conditions with no chance of escape.
Playwright Philip Himberg, who adapted the play from the 2006 documentary film by Israeli-born Tomer Heymann, weaves these wildly disparate elements into an engaging comic drama driven by the relationship between Chaim (Christopher Bloch in a standout performance as a rheumy, wheelchair-bound Jew) and Sally, short for Salvador, a Paper Doll charged with his care.
 Ariel Felix (Sally) and Chris Bloch (Chaim) ~ Photo credit Stan Barouh Ariel Felix’s Sally gives an exceptionally tender portrayal of a someone who learns the culture and cuisine of his/her adopted country in order to show respect and kindness to her employer who adores and accepts Sally for what she is.
Beneath the surface of the glitz and glamour of the quintet’s drag act, are the everyday challenges they face living in Israel – homophobia, racism and exploitation – in a culture as foreign to them as to a fish on land. Paper Dolls is about pride, fantasy as survival, activism, unexpected human connections and personal sacrifice. It’s a hilarious stick-in-the-eye against social and religious conventions – not exactly what you might expect from a play-with-music, though the music portion ranges from what you’d expect to hear from a Tel Aviv DJ at a Miss Philippines-Israel Beauty Pageant (Yes, this happens!) to traditional Israeli songs and pop music.
Bold, entertaining and timely.
Additional cast members – Evan D’Angeles, Jon Norman Schneider, Rafael Sebastian, Kevin Shen, John Bambery, Lise Bruneau, Chris Daileader, Brice Guerriere, Dallas Milholland, and Elan Zafir.
Directed by Mark Brokaw, choreography by J. M. Rebudal, musical direction by William Knowles, vocal arrangements by Howard Breitbart, set design by James Kronzer, lighting by Brittany Shemuga, costumes by Frank Labovitz, sound by David Lamont Wilson and projections by Sarah Tundermann.
Through April 29th in the Theresa and Jane Lang Theatre at the Atlas Center for the Performing Arts, 1333 H Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002. For tickets, info on post show discussions, special rates and discounts visit MosaicTheater Online or call the box office at 202.399.7993 ext. 2. Valet parking at 1360 H Street, NE.
 On Floor: John Bambery ~ L to R: Jon Norman Schneider, Evan D’Angeles, Ariel Felix, Rafael Sebastian, Kevin Shen ~ Photo credit Stan Barouh
Jordan Wright
March 29, 2018
If you blinked you missed it. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In The Heights blew into the Kennedy Center for a few days and just as quickly fled. Shades of things to come as the arrival this June of his blockbuster musical Hamilton hits a feverish pitch. This was just the teaser.
 In The Heights Cast ~ Photo by Teresa Wood The Kennedy Center’s production starred a wealth of Broadway’s In The Heights original cast members like Blanca Camacho as Camilla; Eden Espinosa as Daniela; Eliseo Roman as Piragua Guy (Drama Desk Award); and tons of other notable Broadway stars including Ana Villafañe who plays Nina the Puerto Rican girl who goes off to Stamford to prove there’s a way out of the barrio if you’re willing to sacrifice love. Villafañe originated the role of Gloria Estefan in On Your Feet which played the Kennedy Center in January.
 Arianna Rosario, Ana Villafane, Eden Espinosa, and Vanessa Hudgens ~ Photo by Teresa Wood Other cast members from Broadway’s Hamilton are J. Quinton Johnson who plays Benny Nina’s African-American love interest. He currently stars in Hamilton as Hercules Mulligan and James Madison; and Grammy Award-winning musician and actor Anthony Ramos as the lead character Usnavi. Ramos originated the roles of John Laurens and Phillip Hamilton in Hamilton. Miranda likes to re-cast his actors. A lot!
 Lin-Manuel Miranda and Vanessa Hudgens_Photo by Yassine El Mansouri The audience went wild for the adorable Vanessa Hudgens of Broadway’s Gigi and also of the High School Musical movies. Here she plays Vanessa, the hairdresser who dreams of a better future. Squeals could be heard throughout the chandeliered theatre for Anthony Ramos who has his own adorable factor as well as a killer voice. Yet, most captivating to this reviewer was newcomer Mateo Ferro as Sonny. If there’s a scene stealer here, it’s this 16-year old who had been cast as Usnavi in In The Heights in Strathmore theatre’s Young Artists of America summer theatre and who played Sonny at Clarksburg High School in Montgomery County, Maryland. We need to see more of him.
 J Quinton Johnson, Anthony Ramos, and Mateo Ferro ~ Photo by Teresa Wood There was a huge refresh in terms of dance and musical delivery. There’s more rapping by Usnavi and even pop-locking by a bevy of dancers who salsa their tail feathers off.
Miranda himself showed up on the final night of the show to thunderous applause. If we have a National Hero in the theatre it’s this.
If you haven’t seen In The Heights yet, try to catch a production somewhere in the area. It augurs Miranda’s rap/ballad style which has revolutionized musical theater and will prepare you for the Kennedy Center’s production of Hamilton – should you have been fortunate enough to be one of the lucky ones who snagged a ticket.
Seen at the Kennedy Center on March 22nd.
Jordan Wright
March 13, 2018
Special to The Alexandria Times
 Catherine Flye as British Comedian Joyce Grenfell ~ Photo credit Christopher Banks If you were unfamiliar with famed British comedienne, Joyce Grenfell, you won’t be any longer with Catherine Flye’s tribute performance to Grenfell’s long and notable career. In the second show of MetroStage’s Spring Solo Series, British-born Flye brings to life the singer, actress and monologist, and one of England’s most beloved entertainers.
 Catherine Flye as British Comedian Joyce Grenfell ~ Photo credit Christopher Banks The show is a series of pastiches illustrating Grenfell’s best loved characters interwoven with songs and spoofs and remembered moments of humor and pathos. You’ll even spot echoes of Gilbert & Sullivan. Veteran performer Flye is accompanied delightfully by musical arranger and pianist Joseph Walsh playing music written by Richard Addinsell as well as standards like “Fly Me to the Moon”, “Don’t You Know” and “The Girl From Ipanema”. Narrator Michael Tolaydo provides backdrop to the period.
 Catherine Flye as British Comedian Joyce Grenfell ~ Photo credit Christopher Banks Flye, who devised the production, dons Grenfell like a second skin weaving the best of Grenfell’s British music hall follies as effortlessly and cheerily as Mary Poppins would. This was the style of the day and audiences familiar with this era will have fond memories of the music and this particular form of humor. She reminded me of Patricia Routledge’s character, Hyacinth Bouquet, in PBS’s long-running series Keeping Up Appearances.
 Catherine Flye as British Comedian Joyce Grenfell ~ Photo credit Christopher Banks The show has been performed throughout the U. S., including the British Embassy in DC, East Africa and across the United Kingdom.
A treat for Anglophiles.
The second in a trio of one-woman shows at MetroStage through March 25th . 1201 North Royal Street, Alexandria, 22314. For tickets and information visit online.
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