Category Archives: We Love Arts

Entertainment, Life in the Capital, The Features, We Love Arts
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Do DC Millennials Care About Art?

Photo courtesy of
‘(065/365)’
courtesy of ‘kimberlyfaye’

Last night a friend pulled up an article on her phone that she said I simply had to read. It was a piece on the Huffington Post by Michael Kaiser, president of the Kennedy Center, bemoaning the lack of exposure to the arts by Millennials. Among other things, he points out what he calls the “low culture IQ” of twentysomethings who may have achieved a great deal already in their chosen professional fields, but have little knowledge about or even interest in attending a theater performance or going to an art gallery. The bottom line for Kaiser is the fear of what happens when Millenials hit middle age and are in a financial position to help the arts – will they?

As a member of Generation X, I always find the anxiety of the Boomers over whether the Millennials will take care of them to be mildly humorous, considering those fears were also expressed about us, and every generation hits that fear eventually. We’re now finding ourselves being asked to join boards of directors of arts institutions and worthy non-profits. What happened to being called lazy slackers in our crazy clubkid days? After years of being asked to go in the servants’ entrance it’s always funny when they finally let you in the front door.

Joking aside, I definitely feel passionate about the future of the arts and of course I want to help in their support. When I’m out reviewing, to my untrained statistical eye it seems like DC audiences are relatively mixed in age. However, lately I’ve been hearing the same question over and over from different theater companies – how do we get young audiences in? By young, they mean Millennials, though at times they even stretch the age range up to the late thirties, which shows just how dire the lack of attendance might be.

So, I want to hear from you. Here in DC we seem to have an amazing array of opportunities to enjoy the arts. But is Kaiser right in his worry that Millennials have little to no exposure to the arts, and consequently won’t support them? How often do you attend theater performances, art exhibits, concerts – and what makes you choose the ones you do? Is it a question of interest, or of being able to afford it? Please sound off! I’d love to hear what you think of Kaiser’s views and whether, in DC at least, you see it as an accurate crisis.

Update: There’s a backlash growing in the arts community to Kaiser’s post. Read more reactions from 2AMt and Tipping Over Backwards.

Entertainment, The Features, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: Photograph 51

Elizabeth Rich and Alexander Strain in Theater J's "Photograph 51." Photo credit: Stan Barouh.

Biographical plays can be tricky. The best – works like Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus or Hugh Whitemore’s Breaking the Code – have come to brilliantly define the genre but also created conventions that theater audiences now take for granted. There are the poetic monologues illustrating the main character’s motivations, the chorus or narrator trying to shape the life for you (either trustworthily or not), crazy jumps in time, and an overall attempt to make some philosophical sense out of a life. The pitfall is, a life may not necessarily have a theme other than the playwright’s desire for one.

Playwright Anna Ziegler teases some sadly beautiful metaphors out of the life of scientist Rosalind Franklin in Photograph 51, now playing at Theater J. It’s a swift ninety minute production with no intermission, befitting the race it depicts but perhaps also the difficulty in breathing theatrical life into what was an intellectual and lonely pursuit. If you have a young niece or daughter whose interest in science you want to encourage, this may be the play to take her to – or not, considering it’s a deeply discouraging look at the boys’ club Dr. Franklin struggled against in her quest to map the contours of the DNA molecule.

It’s this struggle that Ziegler focuses on, and she makes us feel it keenly. We cringe every time the mature and learned Dr. Franklin is addressed by her backbiting colleagues as “Miss Franklin.” But there’s something else going on here as well, the suggestion that it was this prejudice alone that resulted in her not being the first to win the DNA mapping race. Does Ziegler want us to be convinced of that at the play’s end, or is it simply that Franklin’s pride was the block to success? Continue reading →

Entertainment, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: Liberty Smith

Photo by T. Charles Erickson

With the success of films like Shrek and Toy Story, there has been newfound respect for the “family film”. Gone are the antiquated tales of Princesses and “Happily Ever After”, instead today’s G-rated fare uses satire and pop culture references that hits with a savvier generation of children and their parents.

After attending the world premiere of Liberty Smith at Fords Theatre it doesn’t surprise me that the musical tale of a fictional American Revolutionary hero originally started as a screenplay that almost made the silver screen. Instead the screenwriting team of Marc Madnick, Eric Cohen, Adam Abraham, and Michael Weiner decided to adapt their idea for the stage. The end product is a fresh new musical that is bound to be a hit.

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Entertainment, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs

Photo: Stan Barouh

Mike Daisey wants to start an epidemic, a mind virus as he describes it.

The man behind last year’s The Last Cargo Cult and 2009’s How Theatre Failed America is back at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre with his latest monologue, “The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs“. The show is already in high demand with Woolly Mammoth already extending the show after a week of production. The show has local roots, Daisey developed and previewed the show at Woolly Mammoth during the summer of 2010.

However I didn’t know any of this previously.

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Downtown, Education, Entertainment, Special Events, The Features, We Love Arts
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National Geographic Live: April 2011

Hidden Alaska, ©Michael Melford; used with permission by National Geographic

April brings another full month of programs at NatGeo for their popular National Geographic Live! series. If you’re looking for something to do in the evenings, we highly suggest you check out some of their offerings this season. And to provide further incentive, we are providing two lucky readers with a pair of tickets to an event of their choice this coming month!

To enter the drawing, simply comment below using your first name and a legit email address, listing the two events from the following program list you’d like to attend. (Note that there is one event not eligible and we’ve noted it for you.) Sometime after noon on Friday (April 1) we’ll randomly select two winners to receive a pair of tickets (each) to one of their selections. You’ve got until 11 am on Friday to enter!

(For ticket information, visit online or call the box office at (800) 647-5463.)

Hidden Alaska ($18)
April 5, 7:30 pm
Michael Melford, veteran National Geographic photographer, has documented some of the world’s most pristine places. For a magazine story and new National Geographic book Hidden Alaska, he traveled to Bristol Bay, Alaska—both an important salmon breeding ground and location of enormous copper and gold deposits—where residents are being forced to choose between incompatible futures.
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Entertainment, The Features, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: King Lear

Irakli Kavsadze in Synetic Theater's production of King Lear. Photo credit: Graeme B. Shaw.

There’s a point in the life cycle of a theater company when its style is well-established and admired. Audiences get it, enamored of the new elements that it brings to the city’s art scene. Awards are achieved, a new home is granted. That’s the tipping point, when its time for the critic to stop focusing so much on the uniqueness of the company’s innovation, and for the artists to start thinking about the next direction. In other words – let’s stop looking at the dress, and examine the body underneath.

I am at that point with Synetic Theater, a company I dearly love, and whose success I feel strongly about. But after seeing King Lear, I wonder if it’s time to pause the still well-deserved accolades for their physical style, and highlight where they could use some growth.

It isn’t quite a case of the Emperor’s New Clothes yet. Certainly there’s a ravishingly sick beauty to this production, with its Fellini meets Tim Burton inspiration, and the usual haunting images and moments of physical power we’ve come to expect and indeed demand from Synetic. But, it’s just that – usual. Now that this style is the baseline expectation for Synetic, and because we expect that level of brilliance in the conceptual presentation, the holes with plot interpretation are starting to show.

And with next season full of repeats of popular productions past before debuting a winter program called New Movements: New Directors, New Voices, I wonder if the company itself is beginning to feel its time to take stock.

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Entertainment, The Features, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: Blue Man Group at Warner Theatre

Photo compliments of the Blue Man Group

Don’t let the blue body paint and vow of silence deter you from the Blue Man Group’s mission. There’s more to the chaotic and childish stage show than one might think. In actuality, Blue Man Group’s intentions are anthropological in nature.

When entering Warner Theatre for opening night of the Blue Man Group’s touring show on Wednesday night, patrons were greeted by a blue screen with the following text projected upon it:

“When meeting people from a foreign culture, offer a few gifts that reflect your interests as a gesture of friendship. Better yet, give things you’ve created yourself. Also, explore their interests and their culture. Ultimately, the best way to forge a lasting friendship is to create something together. Whether it’s a meal, an art project or a spontaneous dance party, when you create something with others, you build a connection that lasts a lifetime.” – International Diplomacy Guidebook

Blue Man Group, as a stage show experience, is a real-time lesson that teaches its audience members that using your imagination isn’t just for little kids. It’s okay to act like a goof. It’s okay to play with your food. It’s okay to make a mess. And, most importantly, it’s okay to have fun. Continue reading →

Entertainment, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: The 2011 Fighting Improv Smackdown Tournament


Photo courtesy Washington Improv Theatre

In a month where the words “seeds”, “upsets”, and “winners” are tossed around like a Rebecca Black music video, I found myself in room where several players were gearing up for their own big game in another big tournament.

No I’m not talking about the College Basketball Invitational. I’m talking about Washington Improv Theatre’s Fighting Improv Smackdown Tournament, otherwise known as FIST.

Starting back on March 10th WIT kicked off their 5th annual tournament where teams of Improvisers face off against each other for the ultimate title. Over the course of 31 days, 47 teams made up of 141 performers will face-off in head-to-head matches as well as several “grand slam” matches where four teams compete.

Each match consists of a 12-minute performance from each team. The improv will be fast and furious and won’t be like what you may know from the days of “Whose Line Is It Anyways”. The rules forbid short games, making teams opt for longer forms of improv.

After the each team performs the audience votes for the winner, who then moves one step closer to the FIST title. While the votes are tallied the audience enjoys a performance from one WIT’s six house troops. It makes for a night of comedy that’s guaranteed to be something you’ve never seen before.

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Entertainment, Special Events, The Features, We Love Arts
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Backstage with the Washington National Opera

Photo courtesy of
‘Kennedy Center – JFKC Opera – 03-08-11’
courtesy of ‘mosley.brian’

Touring the backstage of the Opera House at the Kennedy Center for me was rather like being a very small mouse in a very large cheese shop. I’ve been backstage at many theaters, but never one as massive as this one. Photographer Brian Mosley and I joined a private press tour minutes before a Washington National Opera performance of Madama Butterfly earlier this month, and there was an eerie quiet backstage. We were in the proverbial calm before the storm. Technical professionals in black were moving about, readying the stage, and it reinforced just how much goes into a production of that caliber and size.

First off, the stats. When I say the Opera House is massive, I’m not exaggerating. The house seats 2,219 patrons. The stage is 100′ wide by 70′ deep by 100′ tall, with wing space of 50′ on each side – you are also dwarfed by the backstage stage space as two huge fire doors the width and height of the stage, located stage left and upstage, allow for enormous pieces of scenery to be moved on and offstage.

I am going to run out of adjectives to describe size, so just trust me when I say, um, it’s big.
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We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: An Ideal Husband

Cameron Folmar as Lord Goring in the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s production of An Ideal Husband, directed by Keith Baxter.
Photo by Scott Suchman.

It’s easy to write a negative review. Nothing provides material like anger and loathing. Excellent stuff is somewhat harder – there’s a lot of ways something can be good. If you want a real challenge, though, the thing to tackle is purely, simply, boringly middle of the road.

Shakespeare Theater Company’s An Ideal Husband is tough to write about.

There’s stuff to like here. STC’s usually impressive sets are more stunning than ever. The costumes make the average royal wedding look like a fashion show put on with Goodwill rejects. The music is enjoyable, if sometimes a little over-present in the first act. You’ll have plenty of time to appreciate and ponder it all during the first half of the show.

An Ideal Husband is Oscar Wilde’s examination of how an outwardly, exceedingly moral man with a shameful secret deals with the threat of exposure and ruin. The first act drops us into the middle of a party at the Chiltern home, where Sir Robert will soon be confronted with someone looking to blackmail him. The politician who wears a rigidly pious face while having an unpleasant history is certainly one that has potential to resonate with a D.C. audience. But aside from some audience chuckles on the easy lines it never seems to go any deeper.

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Entertainment, Special Events, The Features, We Love Arts
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We Love (Irish) Arts: Penelope

Niall Buggy, Aaron Monaghan, and Karl Shiels in Druid's Penelope by Enda Walsh. Directed by Mikel Murfi. Photo credit: Robert Day

Madly poetic men in speedos, trapped with a broken grill in an abandoned swimming pool. Above them is an unobtainable beauty in a blue dress. While waiting for her to say yes or no to their proposals of love, they’ve gotten fat and old. Now her husband is coming back to barbecue them all.

Did I mention speedos?

The initial sight gag that opens Penelope had the packed theater giggling. An overly bronzed man in an orange speedo grilling up a tiny sausage instantly telegraphs this is an absurd world ripe with comedy. Or is it? There’s a suspicious blood spatter stage right…

Playwright Enda Walsh is brilliant at pulling you through laughs to a sucker-punch of a tragic conclusion. It’s the gift of the Irish bard, perhaps, that superlative facility at weaving language into tales, leading an audience from laughter to tears. Galway’s Druid has brought his genius to Studio Theatre as part of the New Ireland Festival through April 3, and it’s a deservedly hot ticket this St. Patrick’s Day with Walsh speaking after tonight’s performance.

A re-imagining of Homer’s Odyssey from the point -of-view of faithfully waiting wife Penelope’s suitors, it explores what happens to the men when action is thwarted and purpose diverted. Do they gang up together and storm the castle to take Penelope by force? No. They sit around sunning themselves, drinking fruity cocktails. Then they turn on each other like a pack of dogs. Continue reading →

The Daily Feed, We Love Arts
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Dr Horrible’s Sing-along Blog is fun fanservice

Landless Theater Company is putting on a stage production of Dr Horrible’s Sing-along Blog, the one-shot mini-movie that Joss Whedon and others put together during the writer’s strike some years ago. If you’re going to ask the question about “why should this be a stage production” I can’t think of a harder test case than something that you can stream on the internet at any given moment in time. There you get the original stars – Neil Patrick Harris, Felicia Day and Nathan Fillion – recorded and produced music, special effects etc and so on.

But you know what? I think if you love the original work you should go see this. If you previously had an interest in seeing it on stage you should certainly not miss it – Mutant Enemy has recently put a hold on licensing productions and the speculation is that this is because they’re looking into doing their own big-budget stage show.

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Entertainment, The Features, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: The Chosen

Joshua Morgan and Derek Kahn Thompson in Theater J's production of "The Chosen." Photo credit: Stan Barouh.

There’s something old-fashioned about Theater J’s production of The Chosen, presented with a quiet sensitivity in the staging and the acting, echoed in the warm wood of James Kronzer’s set. To call it old-fashioned is to by no means denigrate its power. It has a sepia-toned subtlety.

Theater J first produced an adaptation of Chaim Potok’s novel ten years ago, and is returning to it now under the aegis of Arena Stage. Setting a play of such intimacy in the airy round of the Fichandler is a bit of a risk – a play about the complicated relationships between fathers and sons requires a closer access than that large theater can provide, and sometimes I longed for the smaller confines of Theater J’s usual home. But it’s thrilling to see a company I’ve long admired in the gorgeous space by the waterfront, and it expands the audience capacity to see two Washington powerhouses – Edward Gero and Rick Foucheux – command the stage regardless of its size.

“Acquire a teacher, chose a friend.” This is the advice David Malter (Edward Gero) gives his son Reuven (Derek Kahn Thompson) as essential to start becoming a man. He’s just met his unlikely friend Danny (Joshua Morgan), after a baseball game that turned into a battle between Hasidic Jews and those Jews they consider “apikorsim” – heretics. Unbeknownst to Reuven, Danny has just met his unlikely teacher, Malter himself, whose reading suggestions include Freud and Darwin. Not exactly what his father Reb Saunders (Rick Foucheux) would want his son to be reading in preparation to become a “tzaddik” – the spiritual leader of his community.

The adaptation written and directed by Aaron Posner takes its time exploring the nuances between the four men, building to a shattering moment between a father and the son he raised in silence. Continue reading →

Entertainment, The Features, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: At Home at the Zoo

James McMenamin as Jerry and Jeff Allin as Peter in the Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater production of At Home at the Zoo March 4 – April 24, 2011. Photo by Scott Suchman.

Forty-five years separate the two acts of At Home at the Zoo, though in terms of the play’s action it’s probably only an hour. The second act is The Zoo Story. Written in 1958, it’s the play that assured Edward Albee’s genius. The first act is Homelife, written in 2004 as an exploration of what happened earlier in the older play.

I wish he’d left it alone.

The chief joy of seeing At Home at the Zoo, presented at Arena Stage as part of the Edward Albee Festival, is that second act. Featuring a lightning rod performance by James McMenamin as the mysterious Jerry, it’s a speedy and dangerous duel between action and reaction as he plays off the controlled listening of Jeff Allin’s erudite Peter. The entire stage comes alive with this act, a true evocation of why Albee is still revered today as one of our greatest playwrights.

But you have to get through the first act. I recommend caffeine. If you can make it through without your eyelids drooping too much, your energy will be revived by the tension of a riveting second act. Don’t give up. It’s worth it. Continue reading →

Entertainment, The Features, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

(left to right) Ensemble members Tracy Letts and Amy Morton in Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s production of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Directed by Pam MacKinnon. Photo by Michael Brosilow.

We’ve all had those nights we don’t want to end, when the party moves down the street into the afterhours, only to sputter out around dawn when guests blearily enter back into reality. Sometimes those parties are wildly beautiful, other times they are the stuff of nightmares. Friendships implode, relationships fracture – the whole evening becomes a nuclear bomb which leaves you shaking at the end, repeating to the empty space, “What the hell just happened?”

You could say I’m familiar with those kinds of nights. Which is why I spent most of the three hours at George and Martha’s afterhours alternately laughing and crying in recognition of the ultimate power struggle party. Since its Broadway premiere in 1962, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf has continued to shatter audiences with the ugly truth – we’re all capable of total war in relationships. Some of us may even relish it.

Presented by Chicago’s brilliant Steppenwolf Theatre Company as part of Arena Stage’s Edward Albee Festival, this production is simply not to be missed. There’s a complete dedication to the realism of Albee’s script that makes everything passionately alive, from Todd Rosenthal’s tired living room set, crowded with books and booze, to the acting master class delivered by Tracy Letts and Amy Morton. That dedication sucks the audience in and makes us all culpable. You’ll feel dirty afterwards, like a host surveying the piles of empty bottles and broken glass.

Don’t let that stop you from joining this party. From “Hump the Hostess” to “Get the Guests,” it may be a night in a Machiavellian mine field, but it’s also hilarious.  Continue reading →

We Love Arts
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March 2011: SAAM and NMAI

courtesy Smithsonian American Art Museum

As spring unfolds in DC and the cherry blossoms begin to bloom, the crowds will come to the Tidal Basin area. So if you’re looking for something else to do in town to avoid the tourista hordes, check out some of the great programs at the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum and the National Museum of the American Indian.

This month at SAAM:

Women Building History: Public Art at the 1893 Columbian Exposition
March 3, 7 p.m.
Wanda Corn describes the neoclassical Woman’s Building at the 1893 Exposition in Chicago—which celebrated modern woman’s progress in education, the arts, and science at the end of the nineteenth century—and how the building’s content was used to promote the expansion of opportunities for women. A book signing follows.

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Entertainment, The Daily Feed, We Love Arts
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2011 Helen Hayes Awards Nominees Announced

The gathering at the Helen Hayes gallery at the National Theatre looked like any other networking event. Wine and appetizers were served as people made introductions and small talk. However a pianist playing soft music and a lit podium revealed that this wasn’t an ordinary reception.

It was the nominations announcement for the 27th Annual Helen Hayes Awards, DC’s premiere theatre awards honoring the past year in local professional theatre.

Helen Hayes was a DC-born actress who became known as the, “First Lady of the American Theatre”. Her legacy includes being one of 12 people who has won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony. Besides having the awards named after her there is also a theatre on Broadway that also shares her name.

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The Daily Feed, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: The Seagull

For a play written over 100 years prior, Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull has elements that could would of made for a great MTV Reality Show. Complicated love triangles, affluent families, and a setting that could be described as Russia’s version of The Hills, the Seagull is a story decades before its time.

I recently attended a production done by The Arlington Players and I could see those elements come to life on the stage. An ensemble of tortured souls, yearning to satisfied their unrequited love. It’s so emo I expected Death Cab for Cutie to chime in between the many acts.  While the Chekhov piece has endured the test of time with a vibrant display of human struggle, there are some aspects of the show I would of been better off without, most notably the four act length of the play. The show lasted well over three hours, something I would have cut down like other modern adaptations of the show. However I do respect to homage to the original work in this case.

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Special Events, We Love Arts
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NatGeoLive: March 2011

The Eagle Hunter's Son, ©Eden Film Stromberg Productions, used with permission by National Geographic

First of all, a very big “thank you!” to all our readers. National Geographic took a chance last year with WeLoveDC in letting us give away event tickets through our site and WOW did you guys exceed expectations! So on behalf of WeLoveDC and National Geographic, thank you for supporting the NatGeo Live program.

With that kind of preamble, it’s probably apparent that yes, once again we’ll be doing random drawings every month for our readers to attend a NatGeoLive event of their choice (with exceptions). The 2011 season is packing quite the wallop from what my sources tell me, so get ready for another great lineup of screenings, talks, tastings, and more. (For ticket information, visit online or call the box office at (800) 647-5463.)

To enter the drawing, simply comment below using your first name and a legit email address, listing the two events from the following program list you’d like to attend. (Note that there are a few events not eligible and we’ve noted them for you.) Sometime Monday (Feb 28) in the afternoon we’ll randomly select two winners to receive a pair of tickets (each) to one of their selections. You’ve got until noon on Monday to enter!

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We Love Arts: Fuddy Meers

Photo courtesy 1st Stage

Playwright David Lindsay-Abaire enjoys his plays with a side order of surreality.

Whether it’s the science fiction undertones of Rabbit Hole or the mysterious conditions afflicting his protagonists like in Kimberly Akimbo, the perspective of Lindsay-Abiare’s works are distorted at best.

This holds true in 1st Stage’s production of Fuddy Meers, where the set takes on a jigsaw puzzle motif. That’s because Lindsay-Abaire never makes it easy for the audience, as they join the protagonist in figuring out what’s really happening. As the play goes along not only does the fog dissipate but you can appreciate what the playwright has done in revealing so much through characters that struggle to be heard clearly.

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