"THE CLEAN UP WOMAN" tells the story of Terri, a newlywed and journalist struggling to balance home and work. In order to focus on her career and please her husband, Terri hires a cleaning woman. And how exactly the cleaning woman goes about pleasing Terri's husband helps form the play's central tension.
Written, directed and produced by playwright J.D. Lawrence — who also stars (as a few different folks) — "The Clean Up Woman" debuted on stage in 2008 to raves. The hit dramedy is at Warner Theatre this weekend, and Express talked to Lawrence about his career and what it's like to wear so many hats at once.
Continue Reading "The Multitasker: J.D. Lawrence, 'The Clean Up Woman'" »
IN ITS STAGING of Charles L. Mee's "Full Circle," the Woolly Mammoth Theater Company not only breaks down the "fourth wall" — it builds entirely new rooms. Throughout the course of the play, the cast guides audience members throughout Woolly's facility, performing scenes in every nook of the venue including the theater lobby.
Set in Germany during the fall of the Berlin Wall, the principal plotline of "Full Circle" follows an American socialite (Naomi Jacobson) and a young German protester (Jessica Frances Dukes) who set out to save an abandoned baby amid the turmoil.
"Rather than sit in the theater and watch this voyage, we're staging the production throughout the Woolly building, inviting audiences to navigate the story with us and have their own experience of changing rules and shifting perspectives," said director Michael Rohd.
WITH HER FIRST major project, "The Hijabi Monologues," writer and performer Sahar Ullah has created a space in which Muslim women can share their lived experiences. She invites others into that space on Sunday at the Kennedy Center, where she'll perform the work and lead a post-performance discussion.
The South Florida native says such a forum is needed to help a post-9/11 American public see the humanity behind the hijab, or headscarf, worn by many U.S. Muslim women.
An episodic play styled after Eve Ensler's "The Vagina Monologues," "The Hijabi Monologues" uses 12 true-to-life stories.
"The project's purpose is to humanize one of the most viably noticeable minorities in America — women who wear the hijab," said Ullah.
ONGOING: Shakespeare's comedies can be a little jarring — when the Greek gods show up, the newbies tune out — but "As You Like It" offers some of the Bard's most famous speeches and most intriguing and three-dimensional female characters.
As with all Elizabethan comedies, there's a lot of cross-dressing, people falling rapidly in and out of love, and similarly ridiculous plot twists.
» Sidney Harman Hall, 610 F St. NW; through Dec. 20, $20- $82; 202-547-1122, Shakespearetheatre.org. (Gallery Place)
ONGOING: "The Fantasticks" ran off-Broadway for 42 years, which is longer than many of you reading this have been alive. It's a simple story — boy meets girl, girl goes out to experience the world but decides she really loves boy and returns, to the great relief of all concerned.
Arena Stage's production is set in an amusement park, which should add a new, cool-looking dimension to this chestnut.
» Lincoln Theatre, 1215 U St. NW; through Jan. 3, $10-$74; 202-488-3300, Thelincolntheatre.org. (U St.-Cardozo)
Photo by Scott Suchman
ONGOING: Woolly Mammoth Theatre morphs from a polite (and often not-so-polite) sit-down theater space into a raucous all-the-building's-a-stage with "Full Circle," Charles Mee's play about a struggle of wills in postwar East Germany. The audience moves from the rehearsal room to the lobby and even the theater itself to experience this exploration of fealty and ideology fully in the round.
» Woolly Mammoth Theatre, 641 D St. NW; through Nov. 29, $40-$62; 202-393-3939. (Gallery Place)
Photo by Stan Barouh
DIRECTOR TIMOTHY DOUGLAS gives Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing" an update in the Folger Theatre's current production -- it's set in modern-day D.C. and is inspired by the city's annual Caribbean Carnival.
"Much Ado About Nothing" is about two couples -- Claudio (Alexis Camins) and Hero (Roxi Victorian), who are about to be married, and Beatrice (Rachel Leslie) and Benedick (Howard W. Overshown) won't admit they love each other. Claudio and Hero try to trick their friends into admitting their feelings, and they conspire with Don Pedro (Tony Nam), a prince, to get them together. As if that's not complicated enough, the prince's brother Don John (Joel David Santner) is jealous of Claudio's favor with the prince and decides to undermine the wedding.
Continue Reading "Shakespeare Goes to Carnival: 'Much Ado About Nothing'" »
TUESDAY: Christian Siriano made a reality show splash on "Project Runway," with his bewildering catchphrases and startling, bold designs.
Now he's written a book, "Fierce Style: How to Be Your Most Fabulous Self," and he's stopping by the Corcoran to give tips in person. Feel like you can't pull off a giant ruff or cigarette jeans at the office? Siriano will convince you otherwise. Send us pictures of the ensuing fashion-forward and office-ridiculous hilarity.
» Corcoran Gallery of Art, 500 17th St. NW; Tue., Nov. 3, 7 p.m., $20; 202-639-1700. (Farragut West)
Photo by Frazier Harrison/Getty Images
FRIDAY: Not every talent is ripe for public display, like that thing Uncle Robert used to do with his trick knee. But if you've got a flair for something palatable, bring it to Busboys & Poets Live!, a new talent show hosted by Ne'a Posey, a local R&B singer, and held the first Friday of every month at the shop's 14th Street location.
Whether you're a dancer, musician, comedian or mime, you're welcome at the open mic, which starts at 11 p.m. Not that mimes need mics. Well, maybe really bad mimes.
» Busboys & Poets, 2021 14th St. NW; begins Nov. 6, 11 p.m., free; 202-387-7638. (U St.-Cardozo)
Written by Express' Sarah Mimms
Photo by Susan Biddle/The Washington Post
THE NUMBERS IN "Adding Machine: A Musical," by Joshua Schmidt and Jason Loewith, aren't the kind likely to become breakaway hits or even stick in your head.
Certainly not "The Party," in which a group of neighbors displays unusual facility with racial epithets. Or "Zero's Confession," in which the musical's lead character unleashes the inner turmoil, then rage, that spurs him to violence.
But Studio Theatre 2nd Stage's production (directed by Loewith) of the darkly comedic update of a 1923 play features bravura performances from its actors, who are tasked with playing some truly despicable people.
Addison Road