"But wait...there's a second act?" When the lights go out an hour and a half into Washington Shakespeare Company's Red Noses, it's a surprise when the curtain call doesn't follow. Though not every loose end has been tied up in the play, a humorous send-up of a religious troupe who turns to comedy to combat the devastation of the Black Plague, it's difficult to figure out what else the work has left to say.......

FRIDAY >> The legendary Patti Smith is at the 9:30 Club tonight, and tickets are incredibly still available for $25. Doors at 9, show at 10 p.m. >> The idea of attending a lighting display, particularly after Christmas, might sound a bit cheesy. But the Garden of Lights in Wheaton might just change your mind. The designer tours the county gardens each year for inspiration for his display; this year, it invokes the four seasons.......

Who knew the image of Jackie Kennedy could be so disturbing? The icon is central to the proceedings of The House of Yes, the dark, intriguing, and frequently funny play being staged by Washington Shakespeare Company. The piece is being done in repertory with another contemporary work, Kafka's Dick, at Clark Street Playhouse. Dysfunctional families are hardly untapped territory for artistic exploration, but the snobby Pascals definitely have more than the usual set of quirks.......

Good news in time for Christmas this year; the Warehouse Theater will continue to operate through next summer, according to the institution. The venue is currently hosting Scena Theater's The Maids and will have new shows in February and March. That also means it remains a venue for next year's Fringe Festival. The Warehouse is still looking for a new home. Despite the usual winter doldrums that December brings, there are still a number of......

Watching ex lovers bicker and slap each other silly may not sound like the most relaxing way to spend the evening, but Washington Shakespeare Company’s production of Noel Coward’s Private Lives makes for a surprisingly breezy, relaxing evening at the theater. Setting helps. WSC has chosen Playbill Café’s tiny black box theater to stage the work, and between lovely set pieces and the atmospheric addition of a singing chanteuse behind a lazy veil (Barbara Papendorp),......

There’s a great Canadian TV show called Slings and Arrows about the backstage sound and fury at a fictitious Shakespeare company. In one memorable episode, the director of a troubled production of MacBeth — and theatrical superstition holds that there can be no other kind — tries to turn things around by making the blowhard actor he’s been forced to cast in the title role perform his first scene with Lady MacBeth in the......

Simmer down, all you Edward III haters out there. Washington Shakespeare Co.’s production of the sort-of classic is nothing to scoff about. Truth be told, though the recently-christened Shakespeare play is often met with disdain in literary circles, D.C. audiences are probably more likely to react along the lines of “Wait, Shakespeare wrote about an Edward?” than anything else (to our credit, even scholars aren't sure). Washington Shakespeare Company's production does a nice job of......

Well, they don’t call it Shakespeare in Washington for nothing. This month brings quite the selection of Bard-tastic choices. We’ve got Titus Andronicus at Shakespeare Theater (April 3), The As-You-Like-It-inspired She Stoops to Comedy at Woolly Mammoth (April 1), and The Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Coriolanus at the Kennedy Center (April 13). Plus, Edward III just opened this week at Washington Shakespeare Company, and even Lord John Marbury's in DC this weekend, doing the......

Rape is an inarguably powerful subject matter for drama. Throw in the fact that one particular rape was, according to legend, responsible for the fall of the Roman empire, and you've got quite the weighty subject for a play on your hands. Such is the backdrop of The Rape of Lucrece, now being staged by Washington Shakespeare Company. The Shakespeare in Washington festival thus far has been impressive not only for showing us seasoned performances......

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......

What Jay Hardee's performance as the disturbed teen Alan Strang may lack in authenticity, it makes up for in sheer gutsiness. Hardee is completely out there, whether he is writhing in agony or girlishly taunting his self-absorbed psychologist (Christopher Henley). It's spectacle, for sure, but it's riveting spectacle to watch. The same can be said for most of Washington Shakespeare Company's production of Equus, now being staged in Crystal City. Equus, to be frank, is......

Sure, with Free Night of Theater on the horizon, it may be hard to justify shelling out for a ticket to a stage show, but trust us — with all the intriguing offerings that local companies have in store, you'll want to see more than one show this month. Previously at the Fringe Festival, Round House Silver Spring presents Bushwa: A Modern Ubu, about an intellectually-challenged king. Hmm. Wonder what it's like to have your......

If you're the type who turns to your friends haughtily when they're jonesing for some Hamlet or Othello and replies contemptuously, "I don't pay for Shakespeare," it's almost your time of year. That's right, while companies like Folger Shakespeare Theatre and Washington Shakespeare Company are wrapping up their productions, and we'll have to wait until 2007 for the amazing Shakespeare In Washington extravaganza, we still have options to get our Bard fix, and we don't......

FRIDAY >> The folks over at MN8 have put together a Masquerade Ball at Black Cat, featuring prolific Venezuelan alt-rockers Los Amigos Invisibles (right) and DJ Afro. DCist's request to the band: For one night only, please change the lyrics to the song "Bruja" from "No eres ni bruja (ni santera)," to "Tu eres una bruja..." It's a masquerade party, after all. And we want to be your bruja. 9:30 p.m., $18. >> Never in......

Labor Day is just around the corner, a time of relaxation, barbecues, final trips to the beach, heavy traffic and...dozens of plays crammed into one weekend? The Kennedy Center hopes it can lure theater-lovers away from their family functions and jaunts to the shore, and get them to take advantage of the Fourth Annual Page-To-Stage New Play Festival, held from Sept 3-5. The free event's lineup was announced this week, and it is brimming......

Sexual intrigue, Hellen Keller and urine; that's what area theaters have to offer us during the slow month of August, the dead time between the close of the '04/'05 season and the beginning of the new one. In all seriousness, August still has plenty of offerings for D.C. theatergoers, as a bunch of well-received shows take final bows and a few exciting new productions make their debuts. People can't stop tinkering with Les Liasons......

"I've gone God-hunting and caught one," the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizzaro marvels during the second act of The Royal Hunt Of The Sun. So he has...now what? That dilemma drives the brooding, compelling play now being staged to grand effect by Arlington's Washington Shakespeare Company. The great, cynical leader Pizzaro (James Foster Jr.) is looking for one last shot at fame before he dies, despite his professed disdain for lofty ideals of glory and chivalry.......

Editor's note: The following preview was written by Missy Frederick "Bard-37" ... What does this phrase bring to mind? A punk band? A brand of malt liquor? A series of all of Shakespeare's plays read in chronological order at a local Arlington playhouse? All snark aside, option C is correct. Washington Shakespeare Company has been performing each of the playwright's works as part of its Bard-37 Canon Cabaret. Tonight, they will read King Lear at......

If you were hoping to catch the latest production of the Washington Shakespeare Company time is running out. Their engagement of "The Tempest" at the Clark Street Playhouse" ends Sept. 5. Although the Washington City Paper called the production (in print only) " ... often pretty, occasionally moving, alternately intriguing and infuriating ... It is, to say the least, rather uneven," DCist enjoys a little Shakespeare now and again. It might also help to keep......