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.

Apprentice v Apprentice: Vicuña & The American Epilogue, reviewed.

John de Lancie, Brian George, and Haaz Sleiman (Mosaic Theatre)

My Washington City Paper review of Jon Robin Baitz's already-anachronistic Trump satire Vicuña, which is getting a lavish second production at Mosaic Theatre after premiering in Los Angeles last year, is here.

Rome, If You Want To: Folger’s Antony and Cleopatra, reviewed.

Robbie Gay, Cody Nickell, Nigel Gore, Chris Genebach, and Anthony Michael Martinez as Roman soldiers. (Teresa Wood)

My Shakespeare professor at James Madison University, Ralph Cohen, told us Antony and Cleopatra was his favorite Shakespeare play. Robert Richmond's new production for the Folger Theatre, with Cody Nickell and Shirine Babb in the title roles, took me back to my salad days. I reviewed the show in this week's Washington City Paper. Individual issues are free but the paper is currently for sale. It's all very confusing.

No Jacket Required, Apparently: Talking Death of a Salesman, In the Heights, and The Wild Party on Around Town

You can see for yourself what a business-casual mood I was in the day Robert Aubry Davis, Jane Horwitz, and I convened at WETA to shoot a fresh batch of Around Town segments. Perhaps you are correct that I should have chosen a shirt that is not the same shade as our studio backdrop. Hey, I don't tell you how to do your part-time job.

I reviewed Ford's Death of a Salesman and Constellation's The Wild Party for the Washington City Paper. For In the Heights, the musical I herein refer to as "Lin-Manuel Miranda's THX-1138," I didn't write about it. I just bought four more tickets the morning after to take my folks.

Information Overload: Forum’s Love and Information & Constellation’s The Wild Party, reviewed.

Farrell Parker (center) is the best reason to see Constellation's The Wild Party. (AJ Guban)

A surfeit of arts coverage in last week's Washington City Paper means it took my reviews of Forum's Caryl Churchill experiment Love and Information and Constellation's Jazz Age musical The Wild Party 'til now to appear. They're in the paper this week.

Mercy Is For Closers: Ford's Death of a Salesman, reviewed.

Craig Wallace, Kim Schraf, Danny Gavigan, and Thomas Keegan as the Lomans. (Carol Rosegg)

What can you do with Death of a Salesman, a play that has never really fallen out of circulation since it debuted almost 70 years ago? Just stay out of its way. Here’s my Washington City Paper review of Ford’s Theatre’s new Craig Wallace-starring production, which I loved.

Wake Up: Studio's Skeleton Crew and Theatre Alliance's Word Becomes Flesh, reviewed.

Caroline Stefanie Clay and Tyee Tilghman in Skeleton Crew. (Teresa Wood)

You've got two, two, two big shows written by and starring people of color up in the District just now: Skeleton Crew, the third entry in Dominique Morisseau's Detroit series, has the same concerns as Lynne Nottage's Pulitzer Prize-winning Sweat but it's a better play, and Studio Theatre's production is built to last. And Psalmayene 24's multi Helen Hayes Award-winning production of Marc Bamuthi Joseph's Word Becomes Flesh is back at Theatre Alliance for a remount starring the same superb cast it did last year. I review both in this week's Washington City Paper. For which I also wrote the cover story, for some reason. It's not like I get paid by the word, people.