Race Bore: Supremacy, reviewed.

It's a cruel irony that Joe Anderson's performance as an Aryan Nation asshole who takes a black family hostage is the best thing about the grim, dim Supremacy.

My review of Supremacy, Deon Taylor's dreary thriller marketed under that meaningless, catnip-for-dim-people phrase, Based on Actual Events, is on The Dissolve today. It's a deeply unpleasant genre movie that's convinced it's saying something bold about Race in America. I had to resort to quoting the film's press notes. I don't feel good about it, but if you read them you'll see I had no choice.

Reality Chekhov: Life Sucks, or the Present Ridiculous, reviewed.

Sad to the Bone: Eric Hissom and Judith Ingber as Astor and Sonia. (C. Stanley Photography)

I was excited to see Life Sucks, writer-director Aaron Posner's new variation on Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, because my love for Stupid Fucking Bird, Posner's 2013 gloss on The Seagull, was mean and true. And because I tend to like almost everything Posner does. My review is in today's Washington City Paper.

FURTHER READING: My June 2013 review of Stupid Fucking Bird. And my August 2011 review of the Sydney Theatre Company's Uncle Vanya, starring Cate Blanchett and Hugo Weaving.

This Could Be the Beginning of a Beautiful Marriage: We'll Never Have Paris, reviewed.

Writer/codirector/star Simon Helberg and Melanie Lynskey in We'll Never Have Paris.

My review of Simon Helberg's autobiographical romantic comedy – hey there, Buddy, are you sure you want to do this? – We'll Never Have Paris is on The Dissolve today.

Do You Want to Blow a Secret? Washington Stage Guild's In Praise of Love and Studio Theatre's Choir Boy, reviewed.

Julie-Ann Elliott & Conrad Feininger in In Praise of Love.

Jonathan Burke, Eric Lockley, Jelani Alladin, and Jaysen Wright in Choir Boy at Studio Theatre. (Igor Dmitry)

My reviews of Washington Stage Guild's sturdy revival of Terence Rattigan's In Praise of Love and Studio Theatre's gospel song-inflected production of Tarell Alvin McCraney's Choir Boy are in this week's Washington City Paper. Go find a copy; they're free! Or read them here.

DC Theatre: Five Plays to See in 2015

Holly Twyford and Luigi Sottile in Signature Theatre's Sex with Strangers, my favorite show of 2014.

In the Washington City Paper, I highlight a few of the plays I saw in 2014 that linger in my mind at year's end and choose five I'm excited about for the first half of 2015. Happy New Year, Theatregoers.