Opening This Month
Washington Improv Theater’s
FIST (Fighting Improv Smackdown Tournament)
is the March Madness of improv—a bracketed tournament pitting performers against each
other in three-person teams and relying on the audience to choose who wins over a
five-week time period. March 14 through April 13.
Arena Stage presents the world premiere of Tazewell Thompson’s
Mary T. and Lizzy K., a drama based on the friendship between Mary Todd Lincoln and her black dressmaker,
Elizabeth Keckley. Thompson, who was nominated for an Emmy for his production of
Porgy and Bess at Lincoln Center, directed the Virginia Opera’s production of
The Pearl Fishers in October. March 15 through April 28.
Keegan Theatre presents Martin McDonagh’s
A Behanding in Spokane, the 2010 black comedy about a man looking for his missing hand and the two con artists
who try to sell him one. March 16 through April 6.
Studio Theatre founder and longtime artistic director Joy Zinoman returns to direct
4,000 Miles, Amy Herzog’s wry drama about a young man who bonds with his aging grandmother. “Ms.
Herzog’s altogether wonderful drama . . . illuminates how companionship can make life
meaningful,” wrote the
New York Times. March 20 through April 28.
Signature Theatre and
Ford’s Theatre join forces to present
Hello, Dolly!, Jerry Herman and Michael Stewart’s adaptation of Thornton Wilder’s
The Matchmaker. Broadway veteran Nancy Opel stars with Edward Gero; Eric Schaeffer directs. March
15 through May 18.
Orson Welles was 20 when he directed
Voodoo Macbeth, a version of the Shakespeare tragedy set on a Caribbean island, presented as part
of the post-Depression Federal Theatre Project. Kathleen Akerley directs a new staging
at
American Century Theatre. March 22 through April 13.
Mike Daisey returns to
Woolly Mammoth with his new show,
American Utopias. The monologue describes Daisey’s experiences at three distinctly American attempts
to find paradise on earth: Disney World, Burning Man, and Occupy Wall Street. March
25 through April 21.
Also at
Arena Stage, Robert O’Hara directs Katori Hall’s
The Mountaintop. A co-production with Houston’s Alley Theatre, the drama that imagines Martin Luther
King Jr.’s last night alive stars Bowman Wright as King and Joaquina Kalukango as
a maid at Memphis’s Lorraine Hotel who brings him room service. The 2009 London production
won an Olivier Award for best new play. March 29 through May 12.
Last Chance
The Convert
at
Woolly Mammoth closes March 10. Read our
review.
Good People
at
Arena Stage closes March 10. Read our
review.
Henry V
at the
Folger closes March 10. Read our
review.
Metamorphoses
closes at
Arena Stage March 17. Read our
review.
Shakespeare Theatre Company’s
Hughie
also closes March 17. Read our
review.
Race
at
Theater J closes March 17. Read our
review.
The
Washington Stage Guild’s
Inferno
closes March 17.
The Motherf***er With the Hat
at
Studio Theatre closes March 24. Read our
review.
Synetic Theater’s
The Tempest
also closes March 24.
MetroStage’s production of
Ladies Swing the Blues
closes March 31.
