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 about this free event can be found here.
The National Edgar Allan Poe Theatre and Greedy Reads books will present Doomsday, a 24-hour live-streamed reading of the works of Edgar Allan Poe. The live reading of Edgar Allan Poe stories will begin on Saturday, May 20, 2023 at noon at the Greedy Reads location in Fells Point in Baltimore City, and end at noon on Sunday, May 21, 2023. Doomsday 2023 will feature readings from noted public figures in Baltimore who have agreed to share their time for the event. The reading is free and can be attended in person or via live stream.
Mosaic Theater presents a “Cross-Continental Public Workshop” of Murdered Men Do Bleed and Drip on May 6 and 7. This imaginative new play by Irish-American playwright Jennifer Barclay and Irish-Palestinian playwright Hannah Khalil affirms the strength of women of all nationalities and the universal need for connection. Written by the artists while living half a world apart, Murdered Men spans continents and mediums, with the play’s action taking place simultaneously in two countries. (Produced in partnership with DC’s Solas Nua and Dublin-based Fishamble.) Tickets are free but advanced registration is required.
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.
Signature Theatre presents Inside Signature, a discussion with Passing Strange director Raymond O. Caldwell, taking place Thursday, May 4 at 1 PM in Signature’s lobby. The discussion will also stream online. FREE, no RSVP required. Tickets and information at SigTheatre.org or 703 820 9771.
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
Walking Shadows Reader’s Theater presents a virtual reading of Covenant, a new play by John Minigan with a live Zoom streaming on Friday, April 28th at 8 pm. How do we become entrenched in the beliefs we hold, and what – if anything – can get us to walk away when those beliefs lead to chaos and destruction? Jordan’s mission to infiltrate and report on an apocalyptic religious community has ended in disaster. Questions from an unseen interrogator trigger and inform Jordan’s memories of her time undercover, force her to confront the series of choices she’s made, and decide whether the beliefs that guided her mission are any less dangerous than the beliefs of those in the group. Content Warnings: Violence, Adult Language. Tickets ($10-$50) can be purchased here.
Rorschach Theatre presents an online conversation with DC’s Songbyrd Music House & Byrdland Records Owners Joe Lapan and Alisha Edmonsonas a part of the salon series for Psychogeographies Project: DISSONANT CITY. “DISSONANT CITY digs into the history of music in DC. Chapter 4 takes us into the world of the burgeoning record industry of the 1940s.” This event is free and takes place online on Thursday, August 27th from 7-8 PM. Guests can register here.
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.
Solas Nua and Theater J’s Yiddish Theater Lab present a workshop reading of Caraid O’Brien’s The Rabbi’s House, on April 17th, a new translation and adaptation of Sholem Asch’s Rabbi Doctor Silver by Caraid O’Brien, co-commissioned by Theater J and Solas Nua. Tickets are pay-what-you-can pricing ($10-$100) and can be purchased here.
Keegan Theatre continues its Boiler Room Series with Earth (reading on April 17) and Fire (reading on April 24) both parts of The Elements Cycle by Graziella Jackson. Tickets are free but should be reserved in advance.