Summer’s here, and appropriately there’s a lot of romance and fun in store for D.C. theater audiences. But it isn’t all froth and festiveness — in our June theater preview, we provide a few highlights among what’s opening around local stages.
ONCE UPON A TIME IN NOLLYWOOD: Nollywood Dreams, Round House’s romance about a young aspiring actress involved in all the drama that comes with Nigeria’s film industry sounds like a blast — and it’s the play’s regional premiere after a successful New York debut. (June 8-July 3)
TOO SOON? OR NOT SOON ENOUGH: There’s something just a little bit topical right now about Maz & Bricks, Solas Nua’s reproductive rights-centered story of two unlikely friends who meet one day in Dublin. (June 9-26)
ALL HAIL THE KING: Everything was going great for Cordell and his fry crew — until one disastrous night. This new comedy, The Hot Wing King, from Studio Theatre won the Pulitzer for drama last year. (June 22-July 31)
IS HIS PRINCE IN ANOTHER CASTLE?: In His Hands is another rom-com to consider. This one from Mosaic involves video game whiz and aspiring pastor Daniel and his love interest Christian. Believe it or not, things are getting complicated. (June 26-July 17)
Also opening this month
- A touring production of the Chicago-based classic A Raisin in the Sun stops at Olney. (Through June 4)
- The final months of World War II in Europe are seen through the eyes of Ernest Hemingway in Eyes of the World: From D-Day to VE Day at the Kennedy Center. (June 4)
- One-woman marvel Anna Deveare Smith’s documentary play Fires in the Mirror at Theater J looks at how the Crown Heights neighborhood copes with the death of a Black child and the resulting retaliation death of a white Jewish scholar.(June 9-July 3)
- Kids and adults who can’t resist the siren song of that dude who lives underwater in a pineapple can catch Spongebob the Musical at Toby’s. (June 10-July 31)
- Local rap artist O-Slice puts on an autobiographical show/concert called 19 from Woolly and THEARC Theater. (June 10-12)
- Big girls don’t cry — because they ended up with tickets to Jersey Boys at the Kennedy Center. (June 14-26)
- The life of an antique repair shop owner gets upended in Sophisticated New Ones from Unexpected Stage. (June 15-July 3)
- It’s 1833 in Shakespeare Theatre’s Red Velvet, and a Black actor has just been cast as Othello. (June 16-July 17)
- If you can’t spring for the big bucks to catch Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster on Broadway, there’s always the Olney production of The Music Man, also in American Sign Language. (June 17-July 24)
- It’s not just a movie with Gwyneth Paltrow anymore; Keegan brings Shakespeare in Love to the stage. (June 18-July 16)
- Aaron Sorkin’s acclaimed (if controversial) recent Broadway adaptation of To Kill A Mockingbird makes a stop at the Kennedy Center. (June 21-July 10)
- Childhood staple Mr. Popper’s Penguins gets the Imagination Stage treatment. (June 22-Aug. 7)
- Ok, I had to Google the educational toddler favorite Blippi, but this is likely just evidence I don’t have a five-year-old. For the parental crowd, Blippi the Musical is stopping at the National for one day only. (June 25)
- Silent Shakespeare is back this summer — Synetic has a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in store. (June 30-July 24)
Still playing at D.C.-area theaters
Woolly’s sexual assault-centered There’s Always The Hudson, GALA’s Estefan musical On Your Feet!, and movie adaptation Rocky! The Musical at Toby’s close June 5... the June 11 weekend means the end for NextStop’s comedic musical Lucky Stiff, We Happy Few’s Othello riff Desdemona, Olney’s tense The Joy That Carries You, the classic Our Town from Shakespeare Theatre, the creepy A Monster Calls at the Kennedy Center, afterlife-focused The Upstairs Dept. from Signature, the Crucible-centric John Proctor is the Villain at Studio, and new play Do You Feel Anger? from Theater Alliance… June 18 is the last chance for Nu Sass’s marriage meditation To Fall In Love, and Avant Bard’s Williamsfest Suddenly Last Summer and Talk To Me Like the Rain… you’ve got until the June 25 weekend to catch Nu Sass’s spooky Twigs & Bone and Arena’s celebratory Drumfolk.
