Angel Torres and Sara Barker in Washington Shakespeare’s production of Lulu. Photo by C. Stanley Photography. Lulu is bad news. Don’t believe me? Just take a glance at the couch that resides immediately in front of front row, center, in Washington Shakespeare Company’s production of this Nicholas Wright-penned mashed-up adaptation of two notorious Frank Wedekind plays. There you’ll find the trail of broken hearts and broken bodies the seductress leaves in her wake, in…

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…

The nudity may surprise you. The masturbation scene could distract you. The casting might throw you. Actually, it probably won’t. If you’re going to check out the “all- male, yet not necessarily gay” intepretation of Les Liaisons Dangereuses now being staged by the Actors’ Theatre of Washington, you probably know you’re in for something a little edgy. You’re also in for good, gutsy, even groundbreaking theater. Liaisons manages to question your assumptions about gender…