Bitches Be Cray: Saint Joan and The Small Room at the Top of the Stairs, reviewed.

Eric Tucker and Aundria Brown in Saint Joan (Teresa Wood)

My reviews of Bedlam's visiting production of Saint Joan at the Folger and of Spooky Action's local premiere of Carole Fréchette's The Small Room at the Top of the Stairs were in last week's Washington City Paper, but for mysterious reasons took a few extra days to surface online. Enjoy.

Thoughtcrime Doesn't Pay: Scena's 1984, reviewed.

Oscar Ceville (seated) and Ron Litman as Winston Smith and O'Brien. (Jae Yi Photography)

My review of Scena Theatre's production of the the Duncan MacMillan/Robert Ickes adaptation of Nineteen Eighty-Four that I saw at the Shakespeare Theatre two years ago is in this week's Washington City Paper. In the years since I saw this script staged the first time, I have acquired a copy of Eurythmics' Greatest Hits on LP, which includes the unfortunate "Sexcrime (Nineteen Eighty-Four)" that accompanied the release of Michael Radford's 1984 movie version.

Honey, Believe Me: Girlfriend, reviewed.

James Lukas Miller (standing) and Jimmy Mavrikes sing Sweetly to one another in Signature's Girlfriend.

My review of Signature Theatre's production of Girlfriend, wherein book writer (and songwriter, though not here) David Almond takes a (then) 20-year-old album Matthew Sweet wrote about his divorce and retcons it into a minimalist musical about two boys falling in love in Nebraska the summer after high school, is in this week's Washington City Paper. A fine little show. Nothing wrong with that sort of appropriation. But everyone I've heard from who really loves it has never heard the album from which Almond borrowed its music.

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.