Jesse Belsky News

In the midst of DC's December winter holidays, Theater J brings to us … a valentine. "This story will unfold as a waltz, a valentine" we are told in the opening monologue - and in the gifted hands of director Aaron Posner, Talley's Folly delivers the beauty and rhythm of a waltz, and the big beating heart of a valentine. Actors John Taylor Phillips and Erin Weaver are well paired, their emotions ebb and flow like the current of the folly's nearby river.

Theater J's new production of Actually, which opened on Monday night, provides new voices to the issue of campus safety and sexual assault. Anna Ziegler's script undoubtedly has important things to say-and Actually is a crucial piece which dives into the intricacies of campus safety. It's tough material that suffers from some uneven pacing but one which, nevertheless, encourages continued engagement and thought.

In The Remains, husband and husband Kevin (Maulik Pancholy) and Theo (Glenn Fitzgerald) throw a dinner party for their family on their 10th wedding anniversary. One of the first gay couples to be married in the US, they are preparing to make a mysterious announcement. Initially, the audience is kept in the dark but it's fairly obvious the 'divorce-bomb' is about to drop. Everyone should know by now that a play about marriage is a play about divorce.

Syracuse Stage concludes its season with an intriguing and mystifying production of The Magic Play. The unique production features a cast of three actors under the astute direction of Halena Kays. It is positively entrancing thanks to the brilliant cast and unique script.

The Winter's Tale-Shakespeare's late play filled with romance, jealousy, reconciliation-concocted landscapes and a bear in pursuit-is next on stage at Folger Theatre at the Folger Shakespeare Library on Capitol Hill. Directed by six-time Helen Hayes Award-winner Aaron Posner, the production is on stage from March 13 through April 22, 2018

The Winter's Tale-Shakespeare's late play filled with romance, jealousy, reconciliation-concocted landscapes and a bear in pursuit-is next on stage at Folger Theatre at the Folger Shakespeare Library on Capitol Hill. Directed by six-time Helen Hayes Award-winner Aaron Posner, the production is on stage from March 13 through April 22, 2018.

While the script is not the most engaging, the acting work is exceptionally strong.

Andrew Hinderaker's stunning theatrical hybrid The Magic Play begins preview performances at The Armory on March 3, opens on March 9 and runs through April 1 on the U.S. Bank Main Stage. The Armory's production brings together the artistic team from the celebrated world premiere at Goodman Theatre/Olney Theatre Center, including director Halena Kays; magic creator/actor Brett Schneider; actor Sean Parris; master illusionist Jim Steinmeyer; scenic designer Lizzie Bracken, costume designer Alison Siple; aerial choreographer Sylvia Hernandez-DiStasi; and flying effects by ZFX, Inc. Portland Center State at The Armory's run of The Magic Play is a co-production with Actors Theatre of Louisville and Syracuse Stage.

Jonathan Safran Foer's 2002 semi-autobiographical debut novel, Everything Is Illuminated, is a riveting portrayal of one man's quest to find the woman who saved his grandfather from the Nazis at the start of World War II. While the journey of the central character, Jonathan, is the focus of the book, and the brilliant adaption playing now at Theatre J, the secondary story of Alex and his grandfather is equally, if not more, poignant.

Artistic Director Les Waters and Managing Director Kevin E. Moore announce the cast and creative team for The Magic Play. Featuring magic created by Brett Schneider, The Magic Play by Andrew Hinderaker will be directed by Halena Kays. Performances begin January 23 and run through February 11 in the Pamela Brown Auditorium, as part of the Brown-Forman Series. Tickets are available at 502.584.1205, online at ActorsTheatre.org or in person by visiting the Actors Theatre Box Office at 316 West Main Street, Louisville, KY 40202.

I first recall watching Tim Mackabee play a policeman in the musical GUYS AND DOLLS while he was in high school in Towson, MD at the Carver Center for the Arts and Technology. I next met him outside the Yale Repertory Theatre where he was studying for his Master's Degree in Set Design. I've been following him ever since as he has risen to be one the most successful set designers in the country. He even made it to Broadway and London where he designed THE ELEPHANT MAN. His work is now ensconced at Baltimore's Center Stage where you can see his masterful job designing the set for SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE (which is a co-production with the Cincinnati Playhouse). I was able to see the show in a preview performance (it opens officially October 26, 2017) and marveled at his work. I caught up with him during tech rehearsals in Baltimore just before he had to leave for Philadelphia.

Staged in tandem, playwright and director Aaron Posner's contemporary original No Sisters and Anton Chekhov's modern classic Three Sisters (1901) fuse the classic and the contemporary in a power move that is calculated to attract theatregoers of all persuasions.

Playwright Jen Silverman demonstrates why she has received an award as an emerging playwright.

Director Gaye Taylor Upchurch makes her Arena Stage debut working with Kathleen Turner (MOTHER COURAGE AND HER CHILDREN, MOLLY IVINS) in the play adaptation of Joan Didion's memoir THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING. Upchurch talked with Broadway World's Jeffrey Walker about directing the play, working with Turner, and the power of the witty and honest look at grief.

One of the failings of human beings is the hesitance to visit those who have lost loved ones. We wonder about the right thing to say when the actual requirement is to be present and to listen. That's all that's asked of audience members for 'The Year of Magical Thinking,' Joan Didion's adaptation of her own award-winning memoir into a one-woman play, now at Arena Stage.

Joan Didion's one-woman drama THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING, adapted from her 2005 bestselling memoir of the same title, just opened at Arena Stage. The production stars Academy Award and Tony Award nominee Kathleen Turner as Didion and is directed by Gaye TaylorUpchurch. The show runs now through Nov 20, 2016 at Arena Stage, and BroadwayWorld has a first look at Turner in action below!

Joan Didion's one-woman drama THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING, adapted from her 2005 bestselling memoir of the same title, just opened at Arena Stage. The production stars Academy Award and Tony Award nominee Kathleen Turner as Didion and is directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch. The show runs now through Nov 20, 2016 at Arena Stage, and BroadwayWorld has photos from the opening night festivities below!

Iconic stage and screen actress and Academy Award and Tony Award nominee Kathleen Turner returns to Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater to star in Joan Didion's one-woman drama The Year of Magical Thinking, adapted from her 2005 bestselling memoir of the same title.

Folger Theatre's 2016/17 season kicks off with an inspired stage adaptation of one of literature's most cherished novels, Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. This all-new production of the critically acclaimed play is adapted by Kate Hamilland directed by the Wall Street Journal's Director of the Year (2014), Eric Tucker, Artistic Director of Bedlam Theater in New York. This DC premiere at the Folger breathes new life into the 200-year old favorite with a whimsical and theatrical staging. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Folger Theatre's 2016/17 season kicks off with an inspired stage adaptation of one of literature's most cherished novels, Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen.