MAY
Prologue Theatre presents a reading of Monsters by Michael Mobley on Friday, May 19 and Saturday, May 20 as part of its FOREWORD New Works Series. Selected playwrights are paired with a creative team of artists, including a director, performers, and dramaturg, to work together for two weeks on their script and then present a reading to our community. More information can be found here.
Prologue Theatre presents a reading of A Wake At Singh’s by Aeneas Hemphill on Friday, May 5 and Saturday, May 6 as part of its FOREWORD New Works Series. Selected playwrights are paired with a creative team of artists, including a director, performers, and dramaturg, to work together for two weeks on their script and then present a reading to our community. More information can be found here.
UrbanArias presents a staged reading of the new musical Inbox Zero by the acclaimed composer and librettist team Peter Hilliard and Matt Boresi. Inbox Zero will be performed on May 4, 2023, at 8 PM at Keegan Theatre in Washington, D.C. (1742 Church St NW). Inbox Zero is the story of Jackie, a man whose desire for monetary gain supersedes his understanding of human nature. As he struggles to provide for his wife and child, an internet scam captures his imagination and attention, and he is soon embroiled in an imagined international intrigue that convinces him to drain the family bank account in hopes of a million-dollar get-rich-quick scheme. The monodrama features baritone Keith Phares, with members of the Inscape Orchestra conducted by UrbanArias Artistic Director Robert Wood. Dennis Whitehead Darling directs. Tickets are available here ($25).
APRIL
Fickle Theatre Company, (a new company to the DMV) is producing a workshop production of Joan at Woolly Mammoth’s Rehearsal Hall on April 24th at 7:30 PM. Joan is a musical with a book, music, and lyrics by Al Carmines. Carmines was a five-time Obie Award winner and a huge figure of the Off-off-Broadway movement of the ’60s and ’70s. This will be the first production of the rarely produced work since 1975. Ticket details coming shortly.
Prologue Theatre presents a reading of The Brehon by Eoin Carney on Friday, April 21 and Saturday, April 22 as part of its FOREWORD New Works Series. Selected playwrights are paired with a creative team of artists, including a director, performers, and dramaturg, to work together for two weeks on their script and then present a reading to our community. More information can be found here.
The IN Series presents a Director’s Salon for I Was Looking at the Ceiling and then I Saw the Sky with Composer and pianist Adrienne Torf on April 18 from 6:30-7:30 at the Georgetown Historic Public Library. Torf was, for almost 20 years, the artistic and life partner of June Jordan. She is currently nominated for a Helen Hayes award for “Poetry for the People”, presented last season by Theatre Alliance and IN Series, and which explored the life and legacy of this tremendously powerful and luminous American poet. Now she returns to DC to be in conversation again about June and her contribution to I Was Looking at the Ceiling and then I Saw the Sky. Join Adrienne in conversation with librettist and poet Anna Deeny Morales and Artistic Director Timothy Nelson about Jordan, John Adams and all that went in to make this remarkable work unlike any other. Artists from the production will perform selections led by Music Director Emily Baltzer. Tickets(here) are free but registration is required.
Arena Stage, Angels in America Part Two: Perestroika, a reading. In addition to its fully staged production of Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches, Arena Stage will also host a one-night-only reading of Angels in America, Part Two: Perestroika, on Monday, April 17, at 7:00 p.m. in its Arlene and Robert Kogod Cradle, that will be free and open to the public. This event is now sold out.
Pipeline Playwrights presents a Zoom reading of Ann Timmons’ play Saltwater Farm on April 3 at 7 PM. Saltwater Farm is a family comedy that asks serious questions, as an old Maine family’s wealth is disappearing and siblings face hard choices while confronting their own past in a changing world. Directed by Patricia Connelly. The reading is free. Click here to register for the zoom code.
Rorschach Theatre announces staged readings of three new plays for the 2023 Magic in Rough Spaces New Play Lab. American Dream by Trish Cole directed by Rebecca Rovezzi on April 1, 2023, at 2:30 PM; Even When the World Burns I Am Still With You by Elizabeth Shannon, directed by Madeleine Regina on April 2, 2023, at 2:30 PM; and Human Museum by Miyoko Conley, directed by Randy Baker on April 2, 2023, at 7:30 PM. Each public staged reading, will include a designer’s presentation of a theoretical design and a post-show discussion with the playwright, director, and performers. The staged readings return to the Atlas Performing Arts Center for the first time since 2019, and take place on the set of Rorschach’s upcoming production, Sometimes the Rain, Sometimes the Sea, which itself was workshopped in 2022’s Magic in Rough Spaces. Launched in 2018, Magic in Rough Spaces develops new plays that utilize magic realism or otherwise present “impossible” theatre. The readings are free and tickets can be purchased here.
Shakespeare Hour Live returns once more this season for The Jungle on Saturday, April 1 at 5:15 p.m. in The Forum at Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Sidney Harman Hall. Join moderator and STC Resident Dramaturg Drew Lichtenberg for Beyond The Jungle—a live discussion with professors, leaders of NGOs and D.C. Cultural Centers exploring immigration around the world through the lens of The Jungle. Free seating but reservations are required. Shakespeare Hour Live events are also livestreamed on YouTube.
Woolly Mammoth Theatre presents “The Jungle VR Experience,” a free, VR experience of the Calais refugee camp, the community that inspired the production of The Jungle which is playing at Shakespeare Theatre Company (March 28-April 16 in a joint production with Woolly Mammoth). Oculus headsets available at Woolly Mammoth offer a 360-degree VR experience of the short film: Home: Aamir. Home: Aamir is a collaboration between the National Theatre, Surround Vision, and Room One. Directed by Rufus Norris, Director of the National Theatre, Toby Coffey, Head of Digital Development for the National Theatre, and Erfan Saadati of Surround Vision, the film follows 22-year-old Aamir, who begins a journey across Sudan, Libya, the Mediterranean, Italy, and France whilst escaping the threat of murder in Sudan. Advanced reservations for a 30-minute time slot (5 spaces open at each time) are highly recommended. The VR Experience is available on April 1, 2, 8, and 15 from 2:30-6:30. Further information can be found here.
MARCH
Walking Shadows Readers Theatre presents Spittles, a new play by Maximilian Gill, streaming Friday, March 31 at 8 PM. Plot summary: Tracy has one dream: Make it big playing country music. She is all set for an important audition at Spittles, her local country and western bar in southern Maine. Unfortunately, the venue has been remade into a heavy metal bar overnight. Now Tracy has a potential disaster on her hands as her brand of acoustic string music will not go over well with an audience expecting head-banging metal. Tickets can be purchased here ($10-$50).
The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center presents a special work-in-progress reading of Tony Award-winning poet and performance artist Lemon Andersen’s When Aliens Fall From the Sky on Friday, March 31 at 7 p.m. This powerful and provoking spoken-word piece marks Andersen’s long-awaited return to the stage and shares stories and experiences of Latinx communities “that are the bone marrow of the nation.” “ALIENS is a rallying cry for the melting pot of Latinidad to speak and act on the identity crisis in America, and join in a collective path forward. Brown-fisted, black-skinned.” Tickets are pay-what-you-wish and can be purchased here.
Molly’s Salon: Edgar Dobie, Monday, March 27, 7-8 PM. During her final months as Arena Stage artistic director, Molly Smith will sit down – live and in person – with the industry’s brightest thinkers, creators, and doers for intimate conversations about theater’s past, present, and future. While the conversations are free and open to the public, tickets must be reserved in advance here.
The DC History Conference presents The Repersaissance: Honoring DC’s First and Last Professional Black Theater Company on Saturday, March 25 from 10:15-11:30 am at the Martin Luther King Public Library. The event is part of the annual DC History Conference taking place from March 23-25. In the District today there is no major theater institution under Black ownership. But in the 1970s, Black theater had its heyday in DC. Members of the DC Black Repertory Company Alumni Association gather to discuss the city’s first and last professional Black theater company. Founded by Robert Hooks in 1971, the DC Black Repertory Company provided free theater classes and presented productions about African American life. Forced to close its doors in the 1980s, this panel details the Black cultural movement in the second half of the 20th century, the legacy of the DC Black Repertory Company, and its role in shaping Washington, DC into a world-class city.
PRESENTERS: Rev. Rhonda Akankè Mclean-Nu, Griot Storyteller, Actress, President, DC Black Repertory Company Alumni Association, Lyn Dyson, Former Member, DC Black Repertory Company, The Rep, Inc. James Early, Scholar, Smithsonian Institution. For more information go here.
Studio Acting Conservatory presents an in-person workshop entitled Working in DC Theatre on Saturday, March 25 (in person, 2-6 pm). The theatre industry is very competitive, so come learn from DC’s preeminent casting director Jenna Place and Helen Hayes Award-nominated actress Deidre Staples about how the local industry works! To register, please call 202-232-0714 or register online here. ($75)
Molly’s Salon: Tazewell Thompson, Monday, March 13, 7-8 PM. During her final months as Arena Stage artistic director, Molly Smith will sit down – live and in person – with the industry’s brightest thinkers, creators, and doers for intimate conversations about theater’s past, present, and future. While the conversations are free and open to the public, tickets must be reserved in advance here.
Psalm’s Salon at Studio Theatre will feature Ben’s Chili Bowl and the artists behind Clyde’s on Monday, March 13th at 7:30 PM. Psalm’s Salons highlight the work of Black creatives, signal boost local and Black-owned businesses, kick back to live music, and promote a sense of community. At this Salon, Psalmayene 24 will be talking with some of the cast and crew of Studio’s current production, Lynn Nottage’s Clyde’s, including director Candis C. Jones, costume designer Danielle Preston, and cast members Dee Dee Batteast (Clyde) and Kashayna Johnson (Letitia). This event is free and no registration is required. More details are here.
Rorschach Theatre invites the public to an online salon with John Fenn from the American Folklife Center on Monday, March 13 from 7-8 PM on Zoom. The event is part of Rorschach’s Psychogeographies Project: Dissonant City which digs into the history of music in DC. Chapter 3 takes us into the world of ethnomusicologist Alice C. Fletcher and the occasion on which she made the first recording of an Arirang (Korean Folksong) performed by a group of young Korean men causing quite a stir at Howard University in 1896. Join the talk on zoom here.