Dexter Hamlett and the Ensemble in Forum Theatre's The Shipment.

C.StanelyPhotography

Sun King Davis in NextStop Theatre's A Man for All Seasons.

Traci J. Brooks Studios

Susan Lynskey and Michael Russotto in MetroStage's The Letters.

Chris Banks

Sofia Jean Gomez and Steven Epp in The Shakespeare Theatre Company's Tartuffe.

Kevin Berne

Cam Maggee in WSC Avant Bard's The Madwoman of Chaillot.

Courtesy of WSC Avant Bard

Each week, theatreWashington offers a thematic take on the weekend’s offerings. This week's Roundup features seven shows that venture into the complex worlds of civil unrest and political instability. These socially charged productions promise to intrigue and enlighten as they delve into issues that influence our shared future. Check it out.

A Man For All Seasons | NextStop Theatre Company
What is a good man to do when he believes serving his country requires him to serve God first?  The true story of Sir Thomas More, who was put to death by Henry VIII for refusing to endorse the King’s marriage to Anne Boleyn.

The Good Counselor | 1st Stage
Vincent seeks truth, not only for his client, a mother accused of killing her three-week old son, but also for himself and his haunted past with his own neglectful mother. Both riveting and poetic in the same breath, this vibrant new play is not just another courtroom drama but a thoughtful and thought-provoking examination of human failing and redemption.

Las Polacas - The Jewish Girls of Buenos Aires | GALA Hispanic Theatre
Through the stories of Rachel, told in lively Slavic melodies and haunting tango, we experience the dreams, losses, and struggles of thousands of Polish-Jewish girls ured into prostitution in Argentina by slave traders in the early 1900s. This original musical is a tribute to their spiritual strength and their impact on Buenos Aires’ society and culture. (In Spanish and English with surtitles).

The Letters | MetroStage
The Letters by John W. Lowell, and directed by John Vreeke, takes place in an office in 1930’s Soviet Union. The Director calls Anna, a bureaucratic functionary, into his office, and a tense verbal and psychological cat and mouse game ensues. It represents a vivid slice of paranoid life under Stalin and the effort to edit/suppress/censor the writings of prominent artists. Based on the real life Soviet efforts to edit the sexually frank letters of Tchaikovsky. An intense psychological drama: still timely, still universal, perfect for our intimate theatre setting. Featuring two of MetroStage’s favorite actors: Susan Lynskey seen at MetroStage in The Girl in the Goldfish Bowl and Ghost-Writer (Helen Hayes nomination), and Michael Russotto seen in Rough Crossing, and Lonely Planet.

The Madwoman of Chaillot | WSC Avant Bard
Four eccentric women and their outrageous street friends conspire to save the world from rapacious capitalists.

The Shipment | Forum Theatre
Staged through a series of theatrical vignettes, The Shipment is in an irreverent look at African-American identity, challenging stereotypes in a not yet post-racial society. Using a veil of humor including politically-charged standup, sketch, short drama, music, and movement, director Young Jean Lee confronts that which makes her most uncomfortable and shines a subversive, engaging light on the racial filter through which we perceive the world.

 

Tartuffe | Shakespeare Theatre Company
Orgon has fallen under the spell of the pious fraud Tartuffe, at great cost to his family, in Molière’s crowning achievement and scathing indictment of religious hypocrisy. Only by conspiring, hiding in closets and climbing under tables (in true French farce fashion) can the family reveal Tartuffe's fake divinity in director Dominique Serrand’s impassioned revival.

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