Mommy Queerest is comedian Judy Gold’s one-woman, show-length pitch for her own TV series, complete with piano playing, slides and character voices. But if you’re not someone already interested in the life of a remarkably tall Jewish lesbian mom, chances are this bumpy production won’t win you over. Gold’s life from childhood to present is meant to be smoothly stitched together by TV show asides, with high school, college and even parenthood explained in…

A scene from Round House’s 26 Miles. Round House Theatre’s production of 26 Miles will lose potential audience members with its plot synopsis, which features the words “mother,” “daughter” and “heart-warming,” and conjures up thoughts of Steel Magnolias and chick flicks. Yet there’s barely any hugging, crying or any stereotypically feminine gestures iin this intelligent exploration of divorce and estrangement. Thanks to a solid script by Quiara Alegria Hudes, 26 Miles rises well above…

Andy (Ted van Griethuysen) and Bel (Sybil Lines) in Harold Printer’s “Moonlight.” The Studio Theatre made an ambitious move when choosing to open their season with Harold Pinter’s Moonlight. At the performance I attended, the house lights came up to hesitant, confused applause and the most common refrain among those leaving was a simple “I didn’t get it.” Pinter is not a playwright who readily lends himself to “getting”; his name is most closely…

The cast of Washington Shakespeare Company’s “Camille”. In Washington Shakespeare Company’s staging of the comedic drag classic Camille (A Tearjerker), the story centers on Marguerite, a freewheeling but sickly prostitute with an assortment of silly friends, who falls in love with the penniless Armand. The cast is all male, save for one curious exception, and even actors who actually play men often join in with boa-wearing and lip-synching. Director Christopher Henley recreates the original…

“Ancient Rhythms” at the Fringe Festival If you’re a sucker for rainbow headscarves, insistent beats, and sequins, you’ll be instantly charmed by this enthusiastic Fringe Festival contribution from D.C.’s Ancient Rhythms Dance Company. The costumes are dazzling and the performers are all great showmen, though the choreography doesn’t always take advantage of the dancers’ energy. When the narrator promises at the show’s opening to dive into “the transcendent and the mundane,” she delivers. The…