Theater Here and Now


The Georgetowner just previewed what the Washington theater scene is bringing us in its upcoming spring season, but here are a few plays and shows running in the here and now that are worth a look:

Red

If you have a passion for art and the mind of the artist, this is the play for you. “Red,” at Arena Stage through March 11, stars Edward Gero, a local star who seems to be just hitting his peak, as the troubled, intense abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko as he struggles with a series of murals while taking on a new assistant. Smart and powerful, the play, written by John Logan and directed by Robert Falls of Chicago’s Goodman Theater, is a must-see.

ArenaStage.org

Peter Pan, the Boy Who Whated Mothers

Just by the title alone, you know you’re not quite in Disney’s Never Never Land. Adapted and directed by Michael Lluberes from J. M. Barrie’s original play, it is being called “a dark re-telling,” another edgy piece from the No Rules Theater Company now at H Street Playhouse at 1365 H Street NE through March 3.

HStreetPlayhouse.com

The Gaming Table

Written by Susanna Centivre with additional material by David Grimm, this Folger Theater offering centers around elegant long-ago English ladies at the gambling and card tables. It also features an all female design team and is directed by Elizabeth Holdridge in the Folger’s Elizabethan Theatre through March 4.

Folger.edu

The Water Engine

Spooky Action Theatre is bringing us David Mamet’s play about an inventor who created an engine that runs exclusively on water. The play is set during Chicago’s 1933 – 1934 World’s Fair and Century of Progress Exhibition, with veteran character actor Ian LeValley playing inventor Charles Lang. The play is being performed through March 11 at the Universalist National Memorial Church 1810 16th St NW.

SpookyActionTheatre.org

Civilization (All You Can Eat)

Woolly Mammoth Theatre is continuing its apocalyptic season with this new play by Jason Grote, which follows the trail of six ambitious and very hungry city dwellers. With a play described as a vaudevillian romp of corruption, consumption and enterprise at the dawn of the Obama age, and featuring Sarah Marshall (as a character named Big Hog), as well as Danny Escobar and Naomi Jacobson, you know you’re in Woolly territory. Through March 11.

WoollyMammoth.net

Astro Boy and the God of Comics

Good words have gotten out about this new show, created and directed by Natsu Onoda Power, receiving its intergalactic premiere at the Studio Theater, now through March 11, kicking off Studio’s 2nd Stage Season. The show is based on the 1960s animation series “Astros Boy” and the life of its creator Osamu Tezuka. Director Power also helmed last season’s haunting “Songs of The Dragons Flying to Heaven.”

StudioTheatre.org

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