Play readings and workshops offer a chance to see exciting new work at various stages of development. Want to see the next big thing while it’s still being crafted? Get in on the ground level and see the creative process in action. Featuring new plays and musicals by local and national artists, here are the upcoming play readings and workshops in the DMV. MAY African American Collective Theater (ACT) marks its 32nd anniversary with its 2024 DC Black Pride Weekend Showcase, Sunday, May 26 at the Undercroft Theatre, 900 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC. Over 25 talented local “ACT’ers” pre ..read more

Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff, and Lindsay Mendez, stars of the Broadway revival of Merrily We Roll Along, announced the 2024 nominations for the Outer Critics Circle Awards for outstanding achievements in Broadway and Off-Broadway productions at 3:30 this afternoon (Tuesday, April 23), in a live event at the Museum of Broadway that was also livestreamed by BroadwayWorld. Founded by theater critic and historian John Gassner in the 1949-50 Broadway season as the official organization for writers on NYC theater for out-of-town publications, the Outer Critics Circle (of which I am an active v ..read more

Nu Sass Productions announces a year of celebrations for its 15th season, featuring the DC premiere of a new play, a new look at their first production, a revival of one of their most popular shows, and exciting new partnerships that deepen the company’s ties to the DMV arts community. Nu Sass starts the celebration of their 15 years in DC with a return to their roots by presenting a new production of their inaugural 2009 play, Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, with a new cast and crew. From its first performance at the 1966 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, to Nu Sass’s first pr ..read more

The 40th Helen Hayes Awards will take place on Monday, May 20, 2024, at The Anthem, on the District Wharf, with a celebratory party to follow. Esteemed Washington theater artists Felicia Curry, Rayanne Gonzales, Maria Rizzo, and Tom Story will host an evening showcasing the vibrant and diverse community of professional theater artists in the Washington region. They will be joined by an ensemble of DC-based performers, including Quadry Brown, Carolyn Burke, Victoria Gomez, Sarah Anne Sillers, and Wood Van Meter. Tickets for the event are $75 (+$10 venue ..read more

If a human sings to a whale, does the whale hear it? The mystical relationship between nature’s largest mammal and its most enigmatic one is central to Islander, an engaging, two-person musical fable imported from Scotland and running at Olney Theatre Center through April 28. While the human preoccupation with the biggest fish in the sea is an age-old one — think Jonah and his whale or Captain Ahab and Moby Dick — Islander presents it in a fresh, music- and vocals-inspired myth about relationships, care for nature, and time-honored tradition. Islander is not your ordinary musical, though; eve ..read more

In an event held at 10:00 this morning (Monday, April 22) at Lincoln Center’s New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and livestreamed by BroadwayWorld, two-time Tony winner (Cabaret; Chicago) and two-time Emmy recipient (Cheers; Frasier) Bebe Neuwirth joined Grammy, Emmy, and Tony nominee Vanessa Williams (Ugly Betty; Into the Woods) as co-host for the announcement of the 2024 Drama League Awards nominations. First presented in 1922 and formalized in 1935, the Drama League Awards, the oldest theatrical awards in America, are a core service of The Drama League, founded in 1916, with a ..read more

Avant Bard is excited to introduce a groundbreaking project to conclude its season: the open filming of Homeless Garden. Audiences will have the unique opportunity to witness and engage in an evening of filming, followed by an exclusive preview of the final product before its official release. Written by Matt Minnicino, Homeless Garden was originally planned for a theatrical staging as part of Avant Bard’s 2023/24 season finale. However, due to unforeseen staffing challenges, this became unfeasible. Director Kathleen Akerley, instead of canceling the production, proposed creating a film adapt ..read more

Who could be luckier in love than the Goddess of Love herself? Well, in his epic poem Venus and Adonis (1593), Shakespeare says otherwise. Venus, the Roman goddess of love and sex (Aphrodite to the Greeks) had numerous lovers, divine and human. Her husband was the lame blacksmith Vulcan (god of fire); among her lovers were Mars (god of war), Mercury (winged messenger of the gods), and many mortals as well. Her son with Mercury was Cupid (you’ve heard of him). Based on an account from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Venus and Adonis was Shakespeare’s first work in print, and wildly popular. The Taffety ..read more

As audiences enter the University of Maryland’s black-box Kogod Theatre for Mikhail Durnenkov’s Are We at War Yet?, an airport flight display appears on a screen above centerstage. Flight times, destinations, and statuses flicker past while a digital clock counts down (to what?) and mysteriously starts over. Occasionally, grainy black-and-white CCTV footage appears on the screen, just long enough for me to peer into it wondering if I have been captured by the surveillance camera—only to disappear before I can positively identify the images. The screen returns to the flight display and countdo ..read more

Four eccentric Broadway stars are in desperate need of a new project as their play closes on the same night it opened. When Emma’s story pops up on Twitter, they descend upon her small Indiana town and wreak havoc — along with the idea that joining the cause will boost their reputations as caring, get-involved activists. Emma just wants to bring her girlfriend to the prom, but parents and even most of the student body have other ideas. The show is based on an actual court case in 2010 involving 18-year-old Constance McMillan, who had requested permission to bring a same-sex date to the prom b ..read more