DCist's September Theater Preview
Plays by women; plays about women. The fairer sex captures the imagination of many D.C. theaters this September, offering works by celebrated female authors and performing plays that focus on female characters. And if that's not your thing, well, there's always Kafka.
Two area theaters present works by Caryl Churchill -- Studio Theatre performing A Number beginning Sept. 7, and Fountainhead Theatre staging Top Girls, which opens Sept. 8. The former show explores ethical issues behind cloning, while the latter concentrates on the personal sacrifices women must make to achieve success.
Also of the female persuasion, Ford's Theatre performs Leading Ladies, a Ken Ludwig play starring Gomez himself. The play opens Sept. 23 and follows two swindlers in drag who attempt to cheat a dying woman. Meanwhile, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company showcases the work of playwright Gina Gionfriddo with the reality TV-themed satire After Ashley, opening Sept. 5.
Fans of La Traviata, the Dumas novel, or even Moulin Rouge will find the story of Camille, staged by Roundhouse Theater beginning Sept. 14, just a bit familiar.
Two local theaters will stage works by avant-garde artist Franz Kafka, as Catalyst Theatre does Metamorphosis Sept. 8, and Scena Theatre takes on The Trial Sept. 10.
Also This Month
Some tried-and-true productions performed for the more traditionally-minded folks.
- Labor Day weekend at Wolf Trap features the classic musical My Fair Lady.
- Shakespeare Theatre opens its 2005 season with Othello.
- Arena Stage's provocative Passion Play, a cycle, opening Sept. 2, places the story of the Passion in three settings: Elizabethan England, Nazi Germany and post-Vietnam America.
- Washington Improv Theater offers three shows this month, including the one-woman Oracle and the new Season Six.
- Husband-and-wife comedy team Renee Taylor (that's the Nanny's mom to you couch potatoes) and Joe Bologna's romantic comedy, It Had To Be You, is performed by American Century beginning Sept. 8.
- The Arlington Players close out the month with the only musical in which a pea plays a pivotal plotpoint, Once Upon A Mattress, beginning Sept. 30.
Still Playing
There's still time to catch three shows DCist reviewed for you in August -- Actors' Theatre Of Washington's gender-bending Les Liasons Dangereuses folds Sept. 4; Sept. 11 marks the close of the Helen Keller-inspired The Miracle Worker at Olney; and the courtroom drama Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde takes a bow Sept. 18. Signature's uproarious Urinetown will close close on the month's heels, Oct. 9.
And, finally, don't forget the Kennedy Center's Page To Stage festival this weekend!