Less Is More: John and Underground Railroad Game, reviewed.

Jennifer Kidwell and Scott R. Sheppard, the writers/performers of The Underground Railroad Game. (Scott Suchman)

Criticism imitating art imitating life: My Washington City Paper review of Annie Baker's John at Signature Theatre is three times as long as my review of the touring Underground Railroad Game at Woolly Mammoth, just as John is three times as long as Underground Railroad Game. And roughly a third as rewarding.

Your mileage, as ever, may vary.

Language Bury Her: Studio's Translations and Folger's The Winter's Tale, reviewed.

British soldiers survey an Irish village circa 1830 in Translations. (Teresa Wood)

I've got reviews of two shows I enjoyed in this week's Washington City Paper: Studio Theatre second-in-command Matt Torney's confident new production of Brian Friel's 40-year-old Irish classic Translations, and Aaron Posner's The Winter's Tale over at the Folger. The former as a lot of superb performers who haven't worked a lot in Washington before. The latter has a bunch of Posner's favorite actors (and mine), but it's Michael Tisdale as the maniacal King Leontes who runs away with the show.

John Brown's Body: The Raid, reviewed.

Marquis D. Gibson and Nicklass Aliff as Douglass and Brown (Theatre Alliance)

As much as like going to Ford's Theatre to see plays about Abraham Lincoln, going to Anacostia to see plays about Frederick Douglass is a rarer pleasure. Here's my review of Theatre Alliance's production of Idris Goodwin's The Raid, from this week's Washington City Paper.

What's Past Is Prologue: The Great Society, reviewed.

All Occasions Do Inform Against him: Jack Willis as LBJ, with Elliott Bales, Brook Berry, Alana D. Sharp and Andrew Weems (C. Stanley Photography)

I wrote about Arena Stage's production of Robert Schenkkan's LBJ play The Great Society in this week's Washington City Paper.

FURTHER READING: My April 2016 review of All the Way.

Notes from the (Dupont) Underground: TBD Immersive's Interactive Gamble

The cast of Cabaret Rising (Tony Hitchcock)

My feature on Cabaret Rising, the latest and most ambitious interactive theatre project from TBD Immersive, is in this week's Washington City Paper. The show runs through March 4.

Enhanced Interrogation: 4,380 Nights, reviewed.

Ahmad Kamal and Rex Daugherty (C Stanley Photography)

Annalisa Dias's world premiere Gitmo detainee drama 4,380 Nights is a strong offering in the Womens' Voices Theatre Festival. My review is in this week's Washington City Paper.

Dry Goods: Hamlet and Sovereignty, reviewed.

I wish I could muster more enthusiasm for Michael Kahn's final Hamlet, starring Michael Urie, or for Sovereignty, an Arena Stage World Premiere entry in the Women's Voices Theater Festival written by Mary Kathryn Nagle, who knows whereof she speaks but not how to make it sing. Those reviews are in this week's Washington City Paper.

Merciless Flight: STC's Twelfth Night, reviewed.

Hannah Yelland and Paul Deo, Jr. as Olivia and Sebastian (Scott Suchman)

Twelfth Night is my favorite Shakespeare play. The Shakespeare Theatre Company's Ethan McSweeny-directed production is cleverly staged on a set made to resemble an airport, but it left me cold. In my Washington City Paper review, I try to unpack why.