Law and Border: District Merchants and El Paso Blue, reviewed.

Seth Rue, Dani Stoller, William Vaughn, and Maren Bush in District Merchants. (Teresa Wood)

Andrés Talero, Lawrence Redmond, and Verónica del Cerro in El Paso Blue. (Stan Weinstein)

District Merchants, Aaron Posner's new Reconstruction-era DC gloss on The Merchant of Venice for the Folger Theatre, is an intriguing muddle; GALA Hispanic Theatre's production of Octavio Solis' El Paso Blue is a surrealist hoot. Both reviews appear in this week's Washington City Paper, available wherever finer alt-weeklies are still hanging on.