Thursday, April 10, 2025
By Mark Edelman
April showers may come your way—a great opportunity to get out that umbrella and traipse over to one of the many theaters in our metro where you’ll find great theater just pouring down.
April 2-27
Bad Books
Round House Theatre
Kate Norris and Holly Twyford, so wonderful in Studio Theatre’s recent production of “Summer, 1976,” return to a DMV stage for this new play about “appropriate” reading material in the public library. Reasonable discussion quickly turns into heated confrontation, sparking a dramatic chain reaction of unintended consequences. Can the characters see past political divisions to what it means to care for our children? Tickets can be found here.
April 3- May 4
Fake It Until You Make It
Arena Stage
Renowned playwright Larissa FastHorse’s comedy is about a collision of friends and foes, ensnaring colleagues and bystanders and unraveling secrets that highlight the absurdities of ambition and authenticity. Amidst the laughter, genuine connections form, emphasizing the value of unexpected paths to success. Tickets can be found here.
April 5-19
Beowulf: A Retelling
Capitol Hill Arts Workshop
D.C.’s favorite avante-garde theater company Taffety Punk makes the old new again, unearthing the original English epic poem to examine the idea of the hero. A bar-like environment provides the intimate setting for this new ensemble, capturing the compelling voice of the bards of old in the process. Tickets can be found here.
Now thru April 13
American Fast
Theater Alliance
March Madness meets Ramadan when a basketball phenom finds herself in the spotlight as a young Muslim balancing the pressures of faith, fame and family. In the process, she takes a few steps in the paint to examine what it means to be true to oneself. Theater Alliance continues its tradition of modern, socially conscious theater in its new, temporary home around the corner from the Waterfront Metro stop. Tickets can be found here.
Now thru April 13
Charlottesville
Keegan Theatre
Award-winning solo artist Priyanka Shetty’s tour-de-force performance about the power of witnessing, constructed from interviews with residents of Charlottesville impacted by events surrounding the infamous “Unite the Right” rally and counter-protests. Tickets can be found here.
Now thru April 19
Much Ado About Nothing
Little Theatre of Alexandria
The Bard’s favorite rom-com pits sharp-tongued Beatrice against her suitor Benedick, this time set in the Big Easy. Will their playful banter hide the growing affection between them as their friends conspire to bring them together? Find out when LTA becomes Stratford-on-Potomac for this updated classic. Tickets can be found here.
April 11-20
Annie
National Theatre
Everybody’s favorite red-headed mop top returns to D.C., where she was born oh so many years ago at the Kennedy Center (Ken Cen honcho Roger Stevens was a producer, lucky him). She’s right on time, with what’s going on in the District. I know I’d sleep better knowing “the sun will come out tomorrow”—you, too? Tickets can be found here.
Now thru April 20
Uncle Vanya
Shakespeare Theatre Co
Chekov’s classic, adapted by award-winning Irish playwright Conor McPherson, stars Hugh Bonneville of Downton Abbey fame as the elderly owner of rural estate who returns home one day with a new young wife. Chaos erupts, marriages reach their limits, confessions—and vodka—flow freely, and weapons are drawn in this heartbreaking comedy about the eternal battle between futility and change. Tickets can be found here.
April 15- June 22
Hedwig & The Angry Inch
Signature Theatre
Welcome to a seedy club somewhere on the great unwashed Plains, where a girl from Communist East Germany laments her botched sex change operation (hence the title) and love affair with a G.I. who stole her songs and made it big. And she rocks! Tickets can be found here.
April 25- May 25
Charlotte’s Web
Adventure Theatre MTC
Take the kids and celebrate the power of friendship and the enduring impact of kindness—a virtue sorely missing in public life these days—as eight-legged Charlotte saves her friend Wilbur with her miraculous web. Tickets can be found here.
Now thru May 4
In the Heights
Signature Theatre
Before Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda celebrated his Washington Heights heritage with this tuneful treasure, which earned him his first Tony ® Award. Settle back with this tale of his ‘hood, cause Hamilton ain’t comin to the Kennedy Center anytime soon. Tickets can be found here.
Now thru May 17
Sister Act
Ford’s Theatre
Based on the hit 1992 Whoopi Goldberg film, a nightclub singer takes refuge with a group of nuns to escape retribution from a couple of goodfellas (i.e. mobsters). Cooped up in the convent, she helps her new sisters discover their powerful voices while, inevitably, finding her own. Tickets can be found here.
Mark Edelman 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 www.onstagedmv.org.