This is a spoooooky picture, unlike most plays happening in D.C. this month. Photo by Caroline Angelo.
Halloween offers a chance for us all to be actors: a chance for the average Joe to don costumes, act a part, and drink a little too much. Just like actors. Despite the unsettling chill in the air settling over D.C. this month, October’s theater round-up features a lot of shows that aren’t so spooky (come on, Spooky Action Theater! Nothing until 2015?!).
Your best bet for thrills and and screams will still be to check out any of the area’s myriad haunted houses and hayrides. For a dose of culture in between your chills, though, look no further than this month’s theater offerings:
NOW PLAYING
>>MARIE ANTOINETTE: This weekend is your last chance to see Woolly Mammoth’s rollicking and irreverent modern take on the young Queen who’s just trying to keep her head on straight. Be sure to check out our interview with longtime company member Sarah Marshall, who spoke with us about the play and Woolly’s continuing 35th anniversary season. Closes October 12; Tickets start at $35.
>>TOAST: The latest experimental offering from the always-playful dog & pony dc challenges audience members to dream up inventions to save the world from destruction, and provides a toaster as a jumping off point. If you just felt a jolt of inspiration for a revolutionary idea from that last sentence (our reviewer didn’t), take it to the patent office one of the remaining venues the show will play before closing. Closes October 18; Ticket prices vary including freebie and pay-after play performances.
>>EVITA: If all you know of the classic Andrew Lloyd Webber musical is the Simpsons parody version, expect the Kennedy Center to knock your socks off with their characteristically opulent sets and production. Also, if any of you know how “The President Wore Pearls Medley” got on my ipod or how to delete it, please send help. Closes October 19; Tickets $39-130.
>>AWAKE AND SING!: Despite the peppy title, Olney Theatre’s play is kind of a downer: the plot concerns a poor Jewish family “trying to make ends meet during the Depression”. The means they go about to achieve that end include parents scheming to destroy their childrens’ dreams to keep the family together. Spoiler: it’s not a musical. Closes October 19; Tickets $48-63.
>>THE SHOPLIFTERS: DCist reviewed Arena Stage’s world premiere of this comedy is peopled with a few familiar tropes (hotshot rookie/one-day-from-retirement security guard, crass old lady) and sets them loose on a set that looks like your worst big box store nightmare. Closes October 19; Tickets $45-100.
>>THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU: Your best bet for a spooky show this month comes via Synetic Theatre; the press release warns of gore and strong violence not suitable for children under 16. If the show is like any of Synetic’s others, expect tightly choreographed and dazzling dancing, but know that you’re rolling the dice on the quality of any segments with dialogue. Closes November 2; Tickets $35-60.
>>ELMER GANTRY: The latest musical from Signature Theatre is one of the more recent stage adaptations of a 1927 Sinclair Lewis novel of the same name, about a salesman getting tangled up in the world of Evangelical revivals. The show shares an interesting pedigree with Side Show, a re-imagined Broadway flop brought back to life by a Voodoo curse by California’s La Jolla Playhouse. Side Show leapfrogged spectacularly from a summer run at The Kennedy Center to a Broadway opening later this month. That said, Gantry’s buzz has been simmering since 1991, so hold off on shouting “Testify!” for now. Closes November 9; Tickets $40-105.
>>ABSOLUTELY! {perhaps} Constellation Theatre’s playfully-punctuated season opener is another show re-animated from deep slumber. The show is a re-imagining of the Italian comedy Cosi e (se vi pare) from 1917, adapted here to 1960’s Italy to capitalize as much as possible on Mad Men chic, as you will no doubt be reminded at several points in the show’s program. Expect an Olive Garden-sized serving of the comedic tropes of secrets, gossip, and mistaken identity. Closes November 9; Tickets $20-45.
COMING ATTRACTIONS
>>THE WOLFE TWINS: DCist got the scoop on Studio Theatre’s first-ever commissioned play, which went from concept to stage in under a year. Not to be confused with the movie The Skeleton Twins, the show is about neither spooky skeleton nor werewolf siblings; that said, you can still expect a fair amount of brooding tension to be lurking beneath the play’s quotidian setting at a cozy Roman bed and breakfast. Runs October 15 through November 2. Tickets $20-25.
>>VISIBLE LANGUAGE: In partnership with Gallaudet University’s Theatre and Dance Program, Avant Bard is premiering this musical for the Deaf. Yes, you heard me correctly. The show is performed both in spoken language and signed ASL, and focuses on a sea change that occured in the Deaf community in 1890’s Washington, D.C. Runs October 21 through November 16. Tickets $30.
>>OUR WAR: In a move reminiscent of high publicity musical supergroups like USA for Africa, Arena Stage is hosting the National Civil War Project’s collection of short Civil War vignettes from some big name playwrights, with various performances getting an extra dose of starpower with D.C. celebrities like Justice Ruther Bader Ginsburg and Mayor Vincent Gray. Runs October 21 through November 9. Tickets $40-50.
>>HEDDA GABLER: This adaptation of the classic 1891 Ibsen play opens at Quotidian Theatre,bringing the story to 1963 Georgetown. Runs October 24 through November 23. Tickets $30.
>>AS YOU LIKE IT: Performed by, of course, Shakespeare Theatre Company this comedy contains one of Shakespeare’s strongest female roles, and features plenty of cross-dressing antics and misunderstandings. Runs October 28 through December 7. Tickets $20-110.
>>HOW WE GOT ON: Idris Goodwin’s love song to late-80’s rap marks its D.C. area debut care of Forum Theatre. The show is purportedly a DJ’s re-mix of the lives of three kids who use music as a lens for understanding their lives, as teenagers are apt to do. Runs October 30 through November 22. Tickets $30-35 or pay-what-you-can at the door.
>>FIDDLER ON THE ROOF: Rounding out the month, Arena Stage presents the Halloween-night debut of the classic horror story of a Jewish father haunted by nightmares of family and friends rising from the grave. Okay, it’s not really a horror show, but that dream sequence happens, people. Runs October 31 through January 4.
Did we leave out a can’t-be-missed show running this month? Let us know in the comments
