José Rivera’s play “Your Name Means Dream” doesn’t live up to its promise.

One new play focuses on Gertrude and Ophelia. Another on Queen Margaret. Only one succeeds.

Reviews of Theater Alliance’s “The Garbologists,” NextStop’s “Native Gardens” and Scena Theatre’s “Ajax.”

BBC For all the digital gimmickry and drool-worthy gadgetry deployed in the British TV anthology “Black Mirror,” it’s an image as old and organic as storytelling itself that lingers for me after a quick binge-watch: A solitary artist pushes back from…

“This Much I Know” at Theater J is about psychology, decision-making and Joseph Stalin’s daughter but is way more entertaining than that sounds.

Let us stipulate at the outset that at 57 Stephen Fry is a world-class wit, unquestionably a learned fellow and surely a decent one — because really, anyone of whom Emma Thompson is that fond can't be entirely irredeemable, can he? That said, the…

This article, from this week’s print edition, expands and updates a blog post from last week. The email came just a few weeks ago. The header said “A Huge Favor.” For Gaurav Gopalan, Heather Haney would probably have done two. She was that fond of…

The solo musical “Penelope” at Signature Theatre shifts the focus of the ancient epic and has the feel of a cabaret show.

After several days of heavy rain in Los Angeles, the sun came out just as the 86th annual Academy Awards got underway at the Dolby Theater. The big award of the night, for Best Picture, went to 12 Years a Slave. The film tells the harrowing tale of…

New York Post theater columnist Michael Riedel proffers anecdote after juicy backstage anecdote in Razzle Dazzle, which is just what you'd expect from Broadway's most venomous observer. Oddly, though, he doesn't bother proffering them until roughly…

Michael Urie is the kind of charmed storyteller who can get away with laughing at his own jokes. As an underemployed L.A. actor with a decidedly unusual day job, he’ll drop some gem-sharp absurdity, pause to let the audience guffaw, widen his eyes in…

Think about what a mask brings to the party—its distancing power, its distracting allure, the way it both conceals and reveals. It can disguise the individual and suggest the universal. It can deceive; it can pierce a veil to uncover truth. Masks are…

Come Monday, you’ll probably read in the Washington Post that at long last, the Studio Theatre has announced a replacement for retiring Artistic Director Joy Zinoman. But if you’re like me, your Mondays can be hectic, so let me save you a little…

WETA's cultural critics discuss Phoebe Rusch's debut play, in its world-premiere production at Washington, D.C.'s Theater Alliance

Yes, the Studio Theatre added a theater and an atrium to its complex, and yes, a half-dozen other troupes are readying new auditoriums for debuts in 2005. And sure, this theatrical edifice complex probably signifies a vibrant, healthy cultural…

Washington City Paper blogs the inaugural Capital Fringe Festival

In “Sunset Baby” at Anacostia Playhouse, a long-imprisoned father confronts a daughter and his past.

Ken Ludwig’s “Lend Me a Soprano,” staged at Olney Theatre Center, only sometimes sings.

ASTAIRE AND ROGERS By Edward Gallefent Columbia Univ. 256 pp. $24.95 A peculiar addiction takes hold sometimes among the scholarly class, a kind of deconstructive jones that drives a certain breed of overly specialized academic to produce the…