Photo by Erin.
It’s November, and you know what that means: temperatures are plummeting, families are gathering together to definitely eat too much and maybe argue just the right amount, and your intrepid Theater Editor will be pulling a happy light box out of storage to try to trick his brain into forgetting that winter is terrible. It ALSO means it’s time for DCist to make our once-monthly reminder that going out to see a play is decidedly not terrible—and usually a lot more affordable than you might think (especially if you’re eligible for under-30 or under-40 discounts). Here’s some plays we’re jazzed about this month:
LAST CHANCE
>>SALOMÉ: Yaël Farber’s adaptation of Wilde’s tragic adaptation of a biblical story. The original Salome would have fit in well on MTV’s Sweet 16; she’s the princess who asked her daddy for the head of his enemy, John the Baptist, on a silver platter. Our reviewer called the play visually stunning and notably inventive. Plays at Shakespeare Theatre Company through November 8.
>>ALICE IN WONDERLAND. Here’s what we said last month: October Fall is made for companies like Synetic, whose day-glo costumes and foggy sets often leave their stage feeling like a dark ride pastiche. Synetic’s take this month is a gothic-inspired, movement heavy retelling of Lewis Carroll’s classic. Through November 8.
>>LOVECRAFT: NIGHTMARE SUITE. What do you need to know about this show, other than that it’s six short adaptations of H.P. Lovecraft’s sprawling oeuvre of nightmares and monsters? Still, our reviewer found that the show struggles to live up to its intriguing premise. Molotov lobs this horror cocktail. Through November 8.
NOW PLAYING
>>THE DEALER OF BALLYNAFEIGH. A premiere play from Irish playwright Abigail Isaac Fine at Keegan Theatre, this is one of two options in the area for dark Irish comedy this month. This one features a man tasked with scaring/torturing a drug dealer, though of course it all goes quickly wrong. Through November 14.
>>THE CRIPPLE OF INISHMANN And here’s dark Irish comedy option #2, this one from Martin McDonagh and playing at Scena Theater. An apparently appropriately-Irish crew includes costume designer Robert Croghan, who I am probably not related to, maybe. Through November 29.
>>THE NIGHT ALIVE: The latest at Round House Theatre from playwright Conor McPherson is a subtle, bleak drama that our reviewer found to be broken up with just the right amount of comedy and hope. Through November 13.
>>GIMME A BAND, GIMME A BANANA!: Here’s what we said last month: Carmen Miranda, inventor of the original food pyramid (or at least the pyramidal fruit hat). Pointless Theatre will be running this colorful adaptation of Carmen’s life. Through November 14.
>>GIRLSTAR: A world premiere musical and fairytale from Signature, and one apparently brimming with girl power. Through November 15
>>WORLD BUILDERS People are exposed to a substance that drag them out of worlds they build with pure, unbridled imagination. So, you know, the opposite of the 1998 thriller Sphere. This love story probably won’t feature a fight between Samuel L. Jackson and an imaginary/real squid, but you could always just imagine that yourself and make it so. Through November 21.
>>CAKE OFF. Here’s what we said last month: A new musical from the always-opulent Signature Theatre , this comedy focuses on a no-holds-barred bake off. Through November 22.
>>AVENUE Q: Here’s a bit of trivia for you: when Sesame Street re-released its first few seasons on DVD, the disks came with a warning label that the shows were for “adults only” due to the changing sensitivities of “today’s preschool child.” Of course, Avenue Q, a naughty musical satire of Sesame Street, isn’t offensive because of the changing times, but because it was designed that way—and it makes for quite the raunchy romp. Catch it at Constellation Theatre. Through November 22.
>>NO EXIT: The perfect play to take that friend who has a tattoo that says “hell is other people.” Nu Sass recognizes that the target audience for Sartre’s famously bleak drama might be introverts, and is running it as part of a “Small Batch” series, with limited, 20 person audiences each night. Your excuse for not seeing a play because “you have no one to take with you” just became null. Through November 22.
>>WINNERS AND LOSERS: A two man show playing at Woolly Mammoth from Canadian performers Marcus Youssef and James Long. It’s hard to say for sure where the line is between fiction and reality here. The two play versions of themselves, in a show that was initially developed as a theatrical warm up game. Through November 22.
>>UNEXPLORED INTERIOR (THIS IS RWANDA: THE BEGINNING AND END OF THE EARTH): A lot of firsts here. This mouthful of a world premiere is the first play from the brand new Mosaic Theater Company, the result of Ari Roth’s fracture from Theater J. Through November 29.
>>THE APPLE FAMILY CYCLE: SORRY and REGULAR SINGING Sorry and Regular Singing are actually two separate plays, making up the latter half of Richard Nelson’s Apple Family quartet (the first half went up at Studio two years ago). The two plays are staged on alternating nights and with a shared cast, including the never-to-be-missed Sarah Marshall. Through December 13.
>>OLIVER! The intersection between big-budget Broadway shows and children’s theater is a surprisingly small one, but Oliver! has got to be at the very center of it. The Tony-winning musical currently running at Arena Stage calls for almost a dozen young actors, including Dickens’ scrappy titular lead. Through January 3.
Have we omitted any can’t miss shows playing this month? Be sure to sound off with them in the comments.
