The Feminine Critique: Rapture, Blister, Burn, reviewed.

February 11, 2015Chris Klimek

Maggie Erwin & Michelle Six represent two different generations (Danisha Crosby/Round House).

When I saw Round House Theatre's production of Becky Shaw two years ago, I found in Gina Gionfriddo a playwright whose humor and unpredictability made me want to read everything she'd written. I got the scripts for After Ashley and U.S. Drag, and I read them both during the same flight. My review of Round House's new production of her latest – 2012's Rapture, Blister, Burn – is in today's Washington City Paper.

categories theatre
tags Washington City Paper, Round House Theatre, Shirley Serotsky, Michelle Six, Gina Gionfriddo, Maggie Irwin, Tim Getman

On Around Town, talking Choir Boy, Life Sucks, and The Widow Lincoln.

February 09, 2015Chris Klimek

Three new Around Town play reviews means three new opportunities to attempt to smile on command and to speak in concise sentences that end rather than trail off. (I'll keep working on it.) This time, host Robert Aubry Davis and Washington Post arts writer Jane Horwitz and I discuss Studio Theatre's Choir Boy, Theater J's Life Sucks, Or the Present Ridiculous, and Ford's Theatre's The Widow Lincoln. That's two shows I liked a lot, respectively, plus one I liked, well, more than many others did. (My Washington City Paper reviews are here, here, and here.) I am informed that one of these aired on WETA right after Downton Abbey last night, which I am certain is the best lead-in I shall ever get. We're the A Different World of public broadcasting!

There're Two Things About Mary: The Widow Lincoln and Mary Stuart, reviewed.

February 04, 2015Chris Klimek

Mary Bacon & Caroline Clay as Mary Todd Lincoln and Elizabeth Keckley in The Widow Lincoln. — Mary Bacon & Caroline Clay as Mary Todd Lincoln and Elizabeth Keckley in *The Widow Lincoln*.

My reviews of The Widow Lincoln, a world premiere play from writer James Still at Ford's Theatre, and of the Folger Theatre's new production of Mary Stuart, are in tomorrow's Washington City Paper, and also right here.

FURTHER READING: My review of Still's prior Lincoln play for Ford's, The Heavens Are Hung in Black, from 2009. And my 2010 review of WSC Avant Bard's Mary Stuart.

categories theatre
tags Washington City Paper, Folger Theatre, Ford's Theatre, Friederich Schiller, Peter Oswald, James Still, Stephen Rayne, Holly Twyford, Cody Nickell, Kate Eastwood Norris, Richard Clifford, Queen Elizabeth I, English history

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

January 21, 2015Chris Klimek

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.

categories theatre
tags Theater J, Aaron Posner, Washington City Paper, Eric Hissom, Kimberly Gilbert, Judith Ingber

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

January 14, 2015Chris Klimek

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.

categories theatre
tags Washington City Paper, Washington Stage Guild, The Studio Theatre, Tarell Alvin McCraney, Terence Rattigan, Conrad Feininger, In Praise of Love, Choir Boy

On Around Town, talking In Praise of Love and Diner

January 07, 2015Chris Klimek

New year! Lightly refurbished attitude! Same old trouble smiling when announced and speaking in complete sentences!I am always happy to be invited to join host Robert Aubry Davis and Washington Post arts writer Jane Horwitz to talk theatre on WETA's Around Town.

In these two mini-sodes, when share our impressions of Washington Stage Guild's revival of Terence Rattigan's In Praise of Love (for more words, see my Washington City Paper review here) and Signature Theatre's new musical version of Barry Levinson's classic 1982 film Diner, featuring songs by Sheryl Crow.

DC Theatre: Five Plays to See in 2015

December 29, 2014Chris Klimek

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

categories theatre
tags Washington City Paper, Aaron Posner, Theater J, Arena Stage

On Around Town, talking Beauty and the Beast and Famous Puppet Death Scenes

December 23, 2014Chris Klimek

For further evidence of how hopeless I am at looking into a camera and smiling when someone says my name, we take you once again to the studios of WETA, where I was delighted as always to join Around Town host Robert Aubry Davis and Washington Post arts writer Jane Horwitz last week for ultra-concise discussions of two shows I recently reviewed for the Washington City Paper. We covered Synetic Theatre's fresh adaptation of Beauty and the Beast and Old Trout Puppet's Workshop's surreal Famous Puppet Death Scenes.

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