OPENING THIS MONTH
Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Michael Kahn directs
Torch Song Trilogy, Harvey Fierstein’s three short plays about a Jewish drag queen in New York City.
The show won the 1983 Tony Award for best play. September 4 through October 13 at
New York’s Bedlam Theater stages
Hamlet
and George Bernard Shaw’s
Saint Joan
in repertory at
Olney Theatre Center, cross-referencing Shakespeare’s tragedy with Shaw’s account of
Joan of Arc’s life. September 4 through October 20.
In
Potted Potter: The Unauthorized Harry Experience, J.K. Rowling’s seven books about a plucky young wizard get condensed by actors Daniel
Clarkson and Jefferson Turner into just over an hour of family-friendly songs, sketches,
and an onstage Quidditch match. The comedic show received an Olivier nomination in
Britain last year. September 5 through 15 at
Sidney Harman Hall.
Forum Theatre artistic director Michael Dove directs the local premiere of
Agnes Under the Big Top, Aditi Brennan Kapil’s play exploring the immigrant experience. The
New York Times wrote: “This lovely, brooding new play bodes well for the future of the theater.”
September 5 through 28.
Estelle Parsons and Stephen Spinella star in
The Velocity of Autumn, Eric Coble’s new play about an elderly woman who is intent on going out with a bang
and the son who tries to intervene, at Arena Stage. Molly Smith
directs the show in advance of its Broadway engagement.
Read our interview with Parsons
here.
September 6 through October 20.
Amy Herzog’s
After the Revolution
was praised as a “smart, engrossing play” by the
New York Times when it opened in 2010. The local premiere, at
Theater J, stars Nancy Robinette as the matriarch of a politically active family
mired in conflict. September 7 through October 6.
Lisa D’Amour’s
Detroit, a Pulitzer finalist in 2011, comes to
Woolly Mammoth following a hit off-Broadway run. The play features two couples
in an unspecified US city who collide in a way that shakes their foundations. September
9 through October 6.
National Geographic Live hosts a short run
of
Bell,
a new play written by PBS’s Jim Lehrer about Alexander Graham Bell. It stars Rick
Foucheux as the pioneering inventor. September 12 through 21.
American Century Theater presents
Come Blow Your Horn, Neil Simon’s first play, about a sheltered 21-year-old who goes to stay with his
brother in New York City in the swinging ’60s. September 12 through October 12.
Jonathan Munby directs
Measure for Measure, Shakespeare’s drama about a nun torn between giving up her chastity and saving her
brother’s life. September 12 through October 27 at
Shakespeare Theatre Company.
Tony winner and
Cosby Show mom Phylicia Rashad directs a staged reading of
Four Little Girls: Birmingham
1963, a play by Christina Ham about the bombing at the Alabama city’s 16th Street Baptist
Church. The free performance at the
Kennedy Center Family Theater is presented with DC’s Duke Ellington School of the Arts and
the local African Continuum Theatre Company. September 15.
Million Dollar Quartet
, the musical based on a real-life recording session featuring Elvis Presley, Johnny
Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins, returns to the
Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater following its recent holiday run, which a
Washingtonian reviewer
called
“vibrantly animated.” September 24 through October 6.
Moisés Kaufman and the Tectonic Theater Project present
The Laramie Project, 15 years after a young gay man, Matthew Shepard, was murdered. The documentary-theater
production—comprising actual reactions to Shepard’s death in the small community of
Laramie, Wyoming—has been performed more than 2,000 times since its debut in 2000.
September 27 through October 27 at
Ford’s Theatre.
ONGOING/LAST CHANCE
Keegan Theatre’s
A Few Good Men
closes September 7.
Theater Alliance’s
Broke-ology
closes September 8.
Rorschach Theatre’s
Neverwhere
closes September 15.
Round House Theatre’s
The Beauty Queen of Leenane
closes September 15. Read our
review.
Signature Theatre’s
Miss Saigon
closes September 29. Stay tuned for our review, coming soon.
