"How could I lie about who I really am to the person I love the most?" It seems almost a rhetorical question when coming from the mouth of one of the supporting characters in Studio Theater's All That I Will Ever Be. But it's the question that writer Alan Ball, of "Six Feet Under" and American Beauty fame, meditates on throughout the play. Ball has created Omar (Carlos Candelario), a man whose back story, nationality,......

Thank god for the Capital Fringe Festival. The event, now in its second year, makes sure that our July isn’t totally barren when it comes to edgy, exciting theater. We’ll be giving you a more detailed report on what the Fringe has to offer this year (hint: Avenue Q and Harry Potter parodies, Chocolate Jesuses and an operatic Lysistrata are among the choices), but here’s what the less fringified theaters around here will be up......

>> Fort Reno continues tonight with LeJeune, Pup Tent and Engine Room. There's a bit of a chance of isolated showers this afternoon and evening, but nothing that should prevent the free concert from going on around 7:15. >> There's a stand-up comedy benefit show tonight starring Seattle comic Yoram Bauman --"the world's first and only stand-up economist" -- and four local comics: Tyler Richardson, Aparna Nancherla, Jason Weems, and Erin Jackson. Shows at......

It’s definitely not hard to find a postmodern take on a Shakespearean work. But it’s hard to find one injected with as much wit and wisdom as Tom Stoppard’s classic, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Though Studio Theater director Kirk Jackson has assembled a pair of convivial leads, a standout supporting player and an inventive set, the star in their latest production is really the work itself. Stoppard’s famous work focuses on two very minor......

As April was the month of 80 zillion new play openings, we kind of thought things would slow down a bit for the theater community in May. Not the case – we’ve got lots of exciting productions to share with you, from post-modern Hamlet comedies to, well, Hamlet itself. Plus, something new from the guy behind “Schindler’s List”. Here’s what’s playing. Catalyst Theater impressed all its larger competitors by taking home the award for best......

So the big winners at last night’s Helen Hayes awards were… puppets? Indeed, Aaron Posner’s unique vision for Measure for Measure, produced at the Folger this year, where puppets took on many of the play’s roles, earned him a best director trophy (he tied with Michael Kahn, for his zany take on Love’s Labor Lost), as well as the award for Outstanding Resident Play. Signature Theater’s Assassins won the most awards of the night with......

DCist was impressed by the Synetic Theater’s silent MacBeth, but a new production at the Studio Theater is attempting a similarly impressive feat. The stars not only remain silent, but their characters are performed with other people’s voices. Yes Washington, Lypsinka has returned, this time as Joan Crawford. Twenty-five years ago a star was born on Christopher Street as Creator/Performer John Epperson made his theatrical debut as an amalgam of the most glamorous leading ladies......

Valentine's Day is approaching, which means it's a time of passion....the Passion of the Crawford, that is.Yes, the drag sensation Lypsinka's ode to the famed movie star, opening at Studio Theater Feb. 7, may be the closest thing D.C. theater has to Valentine's themed content this month. Well, Arena's doing Frankie and Johnny at the Clair de Lune, a story of lonely, middle-aged people coming together (Feb. 23)...and that's about it. We may be a......

To be a Neil LaBute fan, you have to be a little bit of a masochist. You know that no matter how much you're going to enjoy the work, the overall effect is going to be more of a sucker punch than anything else. This Is How It Goes, the author's latest work making its premiere at Studio Theater, starts off as quietly unsettling, but builds to be just as ultimately devastating as some of......

Studio Theater 2ndstage has a way with loopy sci-fi comedies, it seems. After their triumphant The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow last year, they now bring us tempOdyssey, a goofy, and at times, jarring look into the life of one unique temporary office worker. And while tempOdyssey at times lacks the bite and brilliance of Jenny Chow, it's still a worthy entry into the medium of sharp and sassy sci-fi theater. TempOdyssey tells the story......

It's officially December, so we find our thoughts turning to holiday shopping. Will you be giving the gift of local theater (or hoping to receive it) this season? Here are a couple of things on our wish list for the D.C. theatre community: 1. For tiny companies like Meat & Potato and Natural Theatricals to have their seats filled more frequently, and for small but innovative companies like Rorschach to get Helen Hayes nods this......

Try to think of something you've done every day for the past year. What comes to mind? Obsessively checking email? Brushing your teeth? Buying a no-fat latte at Starbucks? Pulitzer prize-winner Suzan-Lori Parks was a bit more ambitious - she wrote one play each day for an entire year. Now, theater groups across the country will be performing those works, and DC is no exception. The event kicks off this Saturday at Studio Theater, where......

If you've walked down 14th Street NW at night lately you've probably seen this yourself, though everytime I've walked by it's been in lovely shades of blue. After about a week, a sign finally went up — this is "Movement in B Flat," by Renée Marcus Butler, an installation with video and reflective panels. I rather enjoy how the image of the kissing couple on the wall outside Studio Theater across the street is......

Just as it's back-to-school time for area students, it's back-to-the-boards time for the area's theatre community. September brings with it a host of new productions to get you through the lingering heat. Arena Stage bids us Willkommen, Bienvenue and Welcome with their inaugural production of Cabaret (Sept. 8). The presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson was just crying for a Shakespearean take, at least according to American Century Theatre, who will stage Macbird! (Sept. 8). Two......

FRIDAY: Dear organizers of tonight's Cryfest -- Cure vs. Smiths Dance Party on the Black Cat mainstage: Did we go to the same high school? Because, really, I thought I was the only one who spent several nights a week as an awkward teenager perfecting the disaffected side-to-side shuffle that is the only kind of actual "dancing" one can do to this music. Meet me there tonight, OK? I'll be the one in the raccoon......

FRIDAY >> We've long been fans of John Hodgman, the "former professional literary agent" turned "professional writer" who doles out "advice" in his regular column in McSweeney's (and occassional appearances on This American Life). Tonight Hodgmania will take hold at Warehouse Theater, as the writer reads from his new book, The Areas of My Expertise, a sort of compendium of completely made-up "history" and "facts." Listen to Hodgman read the 700 Hobo Names You Requested......