By Mark Edelman
September marks the beginning of the DC theater season—time to get back into the habit and enjoy the great theater the DMV has on offer. If that’s not enough to get you to click off Netflix and hit the streets, check out this year’s Theater Week at www.theatreweek.org. From September 18 to October 5, there are good deals to be had at some of these venues:
PLAY ON!
Signature Theatre
Now thru Sep 15
The Duke gets his due in this sensational production with impressive performances all around under the nimble direction of Lili-Anne Brown. Greg Watkins channels a smooth Nat King Cole in his portrayal of the Duke, reigning composer at Harlem’s famed Cotton Club, who’s stricken with writer’s block when the woman he loves (a formidable Awa Sal Secka) won’t love him back. Enter Violetta (cute as pie Jalisa Williams), a songwriter herself, who gets disguised by Uncle Jester (non-stop Wesley Jr Barnes) to cheer up the Duke. Instead, Violetta (now Vy-Man) falls in love with the guy. If this sounds a bit like Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, you got dat right. Kanysha Williams scats up a storm as Miss Mary and Chuckie Benson’s Rev shows the romantic potential in Malvolio, if only the Bard had given him the shot. All that and timeless classics from “Take the ‘A’ Train” and “Mood Indigo” to “I Got it Bad and That Ain’t Good” and “It Don’t Mean a Thing,” combine to make for a most joyful noise. Play on! Indeed. Tickets at http://www.sigtheatre.org
HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD
National Theatre
Now thru Sep 7
Holy Hogwarts! Harry and his pals are all grown up, but—wouldn’t you know it—there are still dark forces at work, compliments of he who shall not be named (Voldemort, not the guy in the White House). It’s nineteen years after the last book and Albus Potter, Harry’s son, somehow gets sorted into Slytherin, where he fails to live up to his famous father’s legacy. Magic and wizardry make this stage version of J. K. Rowling’s oeuvre one more money spinner. Tickets at http://www.broadwayatthenational.com
FIRE WORK
Theatre Alliance
Now thru Sept 21
By day, Eleanor and Bartholomew toil in the glass factory. By night, they light up the skies with fireworks. But when sweeping reforms threaten their already-precarious reality, Eleanor becomes the unexpected leader of a ragtag band of revolutionaries determined to send a message to the powers that be. Tickets at http://www.theateralliance.com
THE INHERITANCE
Roundhouse Theatre
Now thru October 19
Inspired by E. M. Forster’s celebrated novel Howard’s End and winner of the Tony Award and London’s Olivier for Bes Play, this two part, seven hour tour de force chronicles the life and times of a group of young gay men wrestling with love, legacy and the shows of the AIDS crisis. Tickets at http://www.roundhousetheatre.org
THE ADDAMS FAMILY
Capitol One Theatre
September 19-21
The touring company of this Broadway hit lands in Tyson’s Corner for a weekend engagement. The devilishly delightful musical comedy finds Gomez, Morticia, Wednesday, the Hand and all of the wacky Charles Addams crew up to their old spooky antics. Tickets at http://www.capitolonehall.com
KISS OF THE SPIDERWOMAN
Gala Hispanica Theatre
Sep 4-28
In an Argentine prison cell, two polar opposites discover that love can grow in the most unlikely places. Valentin, a Marxist revolutionary, and Molina, a movie-enthralled gay man, escape the harsh reality of their confinement by recounting the tale of their favorite film noir classics starring the glamorous eponymous leading lady. En espanol with English subtitles. Tickets at http://www.galatheatre.org
DODI AND DIANA
Atlas Theatre
Sep 4- Oct 5
While commemorating the 25th anniversary of Princess Diana’s and Dodi Fayed’s tragic deaths, Egyptian actress Samira and her financier husband are forced to reckon with their own complicated relationship and how their fate may already be written in the stars. A taut new play by Kareem Fahmy, Dodi & Diana blends astrology with the allure of the royals to ask thought-provoking questions about identity, sexuality, and the power of finding your own freedom. Tickets at www.mosaictheater.org
LOST IN YONKERS
Alexandria Little Theatre
Sep 6- 27
Neil Simon’s Tony® Award winning Best Play tells the moving story of three generations of survivors, making their way thru the bombed out landscape of their emotional hardships. Thru it all, love, tears and — most important – laughter enable two young brothers to survive 1940s American life with a cold and intolerant grandma, petty gangster uncle and the tragic Aunt Gert, whose disability reminds us that Laura in Glass Menagerie isn’t the only broken character in the Great American Theater library. Tickets at http://www.thelittletheatre.com
DAMN YANKEES
Arena Stage
Sep 9- Nov 9
Dusted off and spit-shined for a new generation, Arena Stage opens its 75th season with a big Broadway musical which reminds us that, as bad as the Nationals look this season, the Washington Senators played worse. What to do back then? Have your star hitter Joe Hardy (think Aaron Judge) make a deal with the devil and his sexy femme fatale. What could go wrong if we beat those damn Yankees? A Golden Glove cadre of Broadway big hitters—director/choreographer Serge Trujillo, “additional” lyricist Lynn Ahrens and Tony® and Pulitzer Prize winner Doug Wright—fill out a line up of adapters and updaters that promise to make this one and Fall Classic in its own write. Tickets at http://www.arenastage.org
MERRY WIVES
Shakespeare Theatre Co
Sep 9- Oct 5
William Shakespeare’s suburban farce gets a contemporary spin from Jaja’s African Hair Braiding playwright Jocelyn Bioh when that odious character Falstaff meets two sharp-witted West African ladies who get the better of him. As their proud husbands’ suspicions rise, the merry gals cook up a scheme to shame the would-be homewrecker and prove that “wives may be merry, and yet honest too.” A hit at NYC’s Shakespeare the Park, this version, this time starring DMV faves Felicia Curry and Oneika Phillips, continues STC’s long, successful streak of making the Bard a gas. Tickets at http://www.shakespearetheatre.org
THE GREAT PRIVATION
Woolly Mammoth
Sep 11 – Oct 12
It’s Philadelphia circa 1832. A mother and daughter guard the grave of husband and father to deter scientists from desecrating their loved ones’ remains. Cut to the present day, on the grounds of a summer camp, when another mother and daughter work as counselors. Timelines collide, reminding us to find joy in our present even as we exhume our nation’s buried past. Tickets at www.woollymammoth.net
EVERYTHING IS WONDERFUL
Keegan Theatre
Sep 13 – Oct 5
What happens when forgiveness collides with deeply buried grief? Playwright Chelsea Marcantal and the folks at this DuPont Circle area theater offer a moving exploration of Reconciliation, faith and family. After a tragic accident, a young woman returns to her Amish roots to confront the people she left behind. As wounds reopen and secrets surface, the boundaries between forgiveness and forgetting are tested. Tickets at www.keegantheatre.com.
THE AMERICAN FIVE
Ford’s Theatre
Sep 19- Oct 12
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his inner circle imagined a pluralistic society in which equality and justice is guaranteed for all. In the face of surveillance, intimidation, arrests and life threats, five giants form a powerful coalition to advance civil rights and shape a defining moment in American history. Together, Dr. King, Coretta Scott King, Bayard Rustin, Stanley Levison and Clarence B. Jones plan the March on Washington and craft the speech that would galvanize the nation and inspire generations to advance America’s efforts to turn a dream into reality. Tickets at http://www.fords.org
MARK TWAIN TONIGHT!
National Theatre
Sep 20- 21
Emmy Award ® winning actor Richard Thomas brings to life the Sage of Hannibal, MO, a monodrama originally written and performed by Hal Holbrook. Now more than ever we need Twain’s caustic wit, shining the light of truth on the empty-headed Luddites calling themselves “the Leaders” of our great nation. Comedians—they get things done! Tickets at http://www.broadwayatthenational.com
STRATEGIC LOVE PLAY
Signature Theatre
Sep 23- Nov 9
Succession scribe Miriam Battye offers up this not-quite-romantic comedy about the absurdity of modern dating in the seemingly endless quest to find “the one.” After matching online, a man and a woman meet for a date, Starting off on the wrong foot, they slowly begin to let down their guards in the hope that this time they’ve found something real. Tickets at http://www.sigtheatre.org
JULIUS X
Folger Theatre
Sep 23- Oct 26
Sub-titled : A Re-envisioning of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare. award-winning writer, journalist, and podcast host Al Letson harmonizes with the Bard’s retelling of the story of the Roman Cesar. Just as Shakespeare chronicled history to create a means of understanding the events of his day, Letson highlights and reflects on contemporary challenges by blending Shakespeare with the story of Civil Rights leader Malcolm X, highlight the cyclical nature of societal strife and shared human experiences of ambition, betrayal, and brotherhood. Tickets at http://www.folger.edu
THE HEART SELLERS
Studio Theatre
Sep 24- Oct 26
Gregarious Filipina Luna meets the more cautious South Korean Jane in a near-empty grocery store on Thanksgiving Day, 1973. Alone in a country they don’t know, the women join forces to celebrate this most American holiday together. Over wine and a stubbornly frozen turkey, they bond over Soul Train and Jane Fonda, chart the shape of their homesickness and muse upon the cost of pursuing The American Dream. Tickets at www.studiotheatre.org
About the Author: The writer is a playwright who loves writing about theater. He is a lifetime member of the Broadway League and a Tony® voter. Catch his monthly podcast at http://www.onstagemdv.org.
Photo credits: Play On! By Daniel Rader. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by Matthew Murphy. Addams Family by Meredith Mashburn. Mark Twain Tonight by Julia Cervantes