Psychiatr News March 21, 2008
Volume 43, Number 6, page 17
© 2008 American Psychiatric Association
The Play—and the Musical—Is the Thing in D.C.
Ken Hausman
Take your seats, theater aficionados. Whether you like musicals or
drama, light fare or adventurous new plays, you'll find a wealth of choices
during your visit to Washington, D.C., this spring.
Washington, D.C., has gained fame for a lot of reasons other than
its array of theater offerings. But in fact, it is often considered to have
one of the liveliest and most abundant theater scenes in the country,
following only on the heels of New York and
Chicago.
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In a dramatic riverfront setting, the Kennedy Center for the Performing
Arts stages world premieres and traveling companies of plays and musicals, as
well as the world's leading symphony, ballet, and opera companies. The
National Symphony and Washington National Opera will have performances during
the annual meeting.
Credit: Washington, D.C., Convention & Tourism Corporation (WCTC)
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The most famous of the theater venues is the Kennedy Center, a five-theater
complex that showcases pre- and post-Broadway productions of musicals and
dramas, and sometimes offers world premiers of works by famous playwrights and
the most respected names in musical theater. It is also the home of the
National Symphony Orchestra and the Washington National Opera.
In early May, as in every month for the last 20 years, "Shear
Madness" will be playing in the center's Theater Lab. This murder
mystery takes place in a unisex hair salon in Georgetown after the murder of
the concert pianist who lives above the eponymous salon. Of course, all of the
people in the salon have a motive to kill the musician. Its popularity no
doubt derives from its inclusion of the audience in solving the mystery. It is
now the second longest running play in the United States, following only its
sister production in Boston.
The symphony will have concerts on May 3 and 8, and the opera will be
performing Handel's "Tamerlano" on May 4, with Washington National
Opera Director Placido Domingo in one of the lead roles.
Also there are free performances every evening on the Millenium stages in
the Kennedy Center lobby.
Washington is also justly proud of the nationally known Shakespeare Theatre
Company, whose mission "is to present classic theatre in an accessible,
skillful, imaginative, American style that honors playwrights' language and
intentions while viewing their plays through a 21st-century lens."
During the annul meeting the company is staging "Julius Caesar"
and "Antony and Cleopatra." Expect innovative takes and several
surprises.
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The Shakespeare Theatre in Washington D.C.'s trendy Penn Quarter
neighborhood mounts innovative takes on plays by the eponymous writer as well
as rethought versions of plays by other classical playwrights.
Credit: Washington, D.C., Convention & Tourism Corporation (WCTC)
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The Shakespeare Theatre has been so successful that last year it built an
additional venue, the Harman Center for the Arts, a block away, which presents
plays by local, national, and international companies.
One of Washington's unique theater experiences can be had at Theater J,
which is part of the Washington D.C. Jewish Community Center. Theater J has
gained international fame for presenting new and always thought-provoking
works and rethinking older ones. It describes its mission as the
"development and production of new work by major writers and emerging
artists exploring many of the pressing moral and political issues of our
time." Its repertoire celebrates the "distinctive urban voice and
social vision that are part of the Jewish cultural legacy."
During the annual meeting week Theater J will be presenting the world
premiere of an innovative new musical, "David in Shadow and
Light," which the theater describes as "an epic retelling of King
David's astonishing trajectory from boy shepherd to superstar ruler to aging
king as he wrestles with the lowest and the purest of human
impulses."
Another of the city's theatrical gems is Arena Stage, which has won a Tony
Award for best regional theater. This May, as part of its Arthur Miller
Festival, Arena Stage will present "Death of a Salesman." On
Monday evenings the theater holds readings, screenings, and lectures that will
delve into other of Miller's plays. As the theaters in its Southwest
Washington complex are being renovated, Arena will perform for the next year
at the Forum in the Crystal City Marriott in nearby Arlington, Va. The theater
is next to the Crystal City Metro stop, about a 10-minute ride from
downtown.
The always surprising Studio Theater in the Logan Circle neighborhood never
stages the traditional or the expected. For those staying a few days after the
meeting, Studio will be presenting "The Internationalist,"
developed by New York's innovative theater company, 13P. The play
"follows an American businessman lost in translation in this mysterious,
multilingual romance."
Another of the genuine treasures of the local theater scene is Signature
Theater in Arlington, Va. Signature made its reputation by restaging musicals
in creative, scaled down, and often startling ways, particularly those of
Stephen Sondheim, the most honored Broadway composer of the last 50 years.
Each year it stages one of his musicals, and Sondheim is a trustee of the
theater.
This May Signature will present one of the triad in its celebration of the
Broadway composing/writing team of John Kander and Fred Ebb. The pair is most
famous for writing "Chicago," "Cabaret," and
"Kiss of the Spider Woman." In early May theater lovers can enjoy
one of their rarely seen works, "The Happy Time." It's the story
of "a world-traveling photographer, Georges Bonnard, who returns home to
French-Canadian St. Pierre in search of his happy youth. Along the way,
Bonnard fires up the romantic spirit of his home-town's inhabitants and tempts
his godson with dreams of escape," according to Signature. The theater
is a 10-minute cab ride from downtown D.C. Those staying in town until May 13
have a real treat in store—Kander and Ebb's "The Visit" will
be staged and will star two-time Tony Award winners Chita Rivera and George
Hearn.
MORE INFORMATION
Kennedy Center
New Hampshire Ave. at the Potomac
Washington,
D.C.
(202)
467-4600
http://kennedy-center.org
Shakespeare Theatre
450 Seventh Street, N.W.
Washington,
D.C.
(202)
547-1122
www.shakespearetheatre.org/about/index.aspx
Theater J
16th and Q streets, N.W.
Washington, D.C.
(202)
777-3210
http://washingtondcjcc.org/center-for-arts/theater-j/
Arena Stage
1800 S. Bell Street
Arlington, Va.
(202)
488-3300
www.arenastage.org
Signature Theater
4200 Campbell Avenue
Arlington, Va.
(703)
820-9771
www.sig-online.org
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