Rising Star: A Profile of the Washington, DC Theater Community

Here is a little something I wrote to be considered for publication as a feature article.

One of the best-kept secrets in the world of performing arts is the collection of high-quality theaters in the Washington, DC, area. This article examines the ways one small but powerful community of theater professionals has established a name for itself and changed the future of American theater.

When driving by the National Mall, you’ll see an impressive view: this heart of our nation’s capital carries a spectacular weight that is unparalleled in distinction. Of course Washington, DC, is known for being the epicenter of federal government and US history. But what many people don’t realize is that spanning from Arlington to DC to Baltimore, there is a community of professional theater artists that has grown exponentially in acclaim and popularity over the past three decades.   

aerial view of the US National Mall. photo from pva.org. no copyright infringement intended

        

The Washington, DC, metro area may be home to a lot of high-profile, high-rolling professions related to public policy and economics. But, when heading southwest across the Potomac or northeast to Baltimore, instead of finding professionals armed with legal briefs and congressional proposals, you’ll find professionals armed with scripts and sheet music. Because of the long shadows cast by theater towns like New York City and Chicago, most people don’t normally think of Washington, DC, when you mention professional theater—but there’s a lot of exciting, innovative, and electrifying work going on here. Not only is DC a great theater town, it’s also a rising star.

Making a Name

Here’s the thing you need to know about professional theater: Not all good (or even great) shows are always found on Broadway. Many regular theater-goers have seen astonishing works of stage in regional theaters across the United States. For example, the Signature Theatre (Arlington, VA) received the highest theatrical recognition there is when it won the Tony Award for Regional Theatre in 2009; so did the Shakespeare Theatre Company (Washington, DC) in 2012. Live performance is and has always been essential to the vitality of US culture: after all, most people have seen or at least heard of Les Misérables, Wicked, and Phantom of the Opera (which is now in its twenty-fifth year of performance), to name a few.  According to IBISWorld, a comprehensive collection of industry market research, the live theater industry grosses at about $4.6 billion per year nationwide, with at least 1,909 associated businesses at any given time.

outside view of Signature Theatre. photo courtesy of liftoph.com. copyright infringement not intended

Many successful Broadway shows have gotten their start in DC, being “doctored” and developed before making it to the Great White Way. Arena Stage, a powerhouse theater in the area, helped revise the musical Next to Normal after it tanked in Off-Broadway venues. This show later went on to see huge popular and critical success nationwide after its Broadway debut, garnering several Tony Awards and a Pulitzer Prize. Million Dollar Quartet, which got its first legs at the Signature Theatre, saw similar success in 2010.

outside view of Arena Stage. photo courtesy of buildipedia.com. copyright infringement not intended.

Forming Connections

According to Actors’ Equity Association—the nationwide labor union for actors and stage managers in theater—New York City has about 17,000 members at any given time, while DC has closer to 1,000. But whatever DC may lack in quantity, it makes up for in quality.  Every year, many nonprofit theaters (which comprise the majority of DC theaters) host community fundraising events—providing not only funds for their operating budgets, but also a deeper sense of community by connecting with locals. Instead of sacrificing innovation to produce strictly crowd-pleasing shows for the sake of ticket sales, community donations allow nonprofit theaters to foster the creation of interesting works that challenge audiences and blaze new trails. New plays and musicals are often considered risky business ventures because they have not yet been “tested” in front of audiences, yet they are still conceived and premiered at theaters like the Rorschach Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, and many others. It’s a hard job, but somebody has to do it. For example, the Rorschach is currently producing a stage adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s bestselling novel Neverwhere, and Signature’s upcoming 2013–14 season will produce no less than four world premieres in its eight-show season.

a production of God of Carnage at Signature Theatre, 2012. Actors (from left to right) are Naomi Jacobson and Paul Morella. photo from washingtonian.com. no copyright infringement intended

Not only is DC a great place to see new kinds of theater, it’s also a place that provides opportunities for aspiring young artists. Many if not most well-established theaters house educational outreach programs for children, teenagers, and even adults. Case in point: The Adventure Theatre (Glen Echo, MD), in addition to mounting professional-quality productions for young audiences, also provides intensive workshops, classes, and performing opportunities for children of all ages. Some local actors even give seminars and private coaching on public speaking to nontheater professionals. David Zobell, education director at Signature, said this about educational outreach programs: “It engages the theaters with the community. We at Signature get a subject that the students are learning in school, like history or other nontheater-related subjects, and use theater exercises to help the kids study and learn their subject. Most regional theaters are recognizing now that just reaching out to kids interested in theater is not enough; they need to reach out to everyone.” Zobell also asserts that this reaching out aspect is important to introducing people to an art form (theater) that they might not have ever thought about exploring or enjoying in their adult lives. Some educational programs hire newly established playwrights to go into high schools, write a play with the students about a subject they’re interested in, and teach them about playwriting, while also hiring actors to perform what the students have written.

Establishing a Community

As far as numbers of theaters go, DC is smaller than New York. One DC-based choreographer with several credits and awards to her name, Karma Camp, said this: “Next to New York City, DC has more regional theaters than any other city in the United States. It continues to grow and flourish in the theater world.” And she’s right. According to the League of Resident Theatres (LORT), a nationwide organization well-established professional theaters, six LORT theaters reside in the DC area, which is more than most cities could say. It’s only one less than New York and three more than—surprise!— Chicago. Everyone knows everyone, and the community is very warm and friendly.

            Despite the growth and success, the community has its challenges. Many share the same sentiments as Dan Pruksarnukul, casting director at the Arena Stage, when he says, “We do have a chip on our shoulder; we know we’re not seen as a huge city yet.” He goes on to explain that there are many who sometimes view DC as a “stepping stone to Broadway,” without intending to work in the area for very long. “A lot of people are sensitive about the competition with NYC and Chicago, so [we] pick up on that attitude,” he continues. However many actors, choreographers, and directors have made a living from staying in DC.  Andy Brownstein, Nancy Robinette, and Andrew Long, all DC-based actors with Helen Hayes Awards (awards that are given locally) to their names, echo each other when it comes to working here. Their experience has been that after receiving local recognition for their work over the years, they now rarely (if ever) have to audition for more work in DC, receiving job offers instead. Since DC is only a three-hour drive from New York, there are also many who divide their work between the two regions, two of the most principle examples being Eric Schaeffer and Michael Kahn. They are the artistic directors of Signature and Shakespeare Theatre, respectively, who have frequently directed Broadway productions.  Overall, the community here is described best by Janine Sobeck, former artistic associate at the Arena Stage: “DC is just a great town; there are lots of very educated, cultured people. It’s a very sharp and intelligent, got-their-lives-together kind of community. . . . DC already is a great theater town, and they just want people to know it.”

exterior of Kennedy Center for the Arts. photo from dctheatremetroarts.com. no copyright infringement intended

So. If you’re ever in town, take a trip down to the Studio Theatre, the Metro Stage, or the Roundhouse Theatre for exciting, daring new works. Visit the Shakespeare Theatre Company, Ford’s Theatre, or the Folger Theatre for something familiar with a new twist. Or go see a show at the Kennedy Center if you’re looking for a Broadway national tour or large-scale production. Each theater’s season often features classic musicals or plays, new works, and reimaginings of old works. Every year, you are guaranteed to find a range of performances from fun, uplifting shows like Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! and Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream to enthralling, visceral shows like Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd  and Miller’s All My Sons. The Washington, DC, area has a repertoire of high-quality live theater (the original 3D) that will leave you wondering why you’ve never visited this part of town before.

Check out these useful websites for show reviews, ticket purchasing, and local theater news.

www.theatrewashington.org

www.dctheatrescene.com

www.washingtonpost.com

Movie review: Jeff, Who Lives at Home (yes, I know it's not in this year's season)

Jeff, Who Lives at Home captures the individual lives of family members who are coincidentally reconnected at the end. The story itself is less-than-realistic, yet the technique of documentary-style photography and camera movement makes a semi-crazy story more believable. The subgenre that this would fit into is called mumblecore, but I’m too lazy to explain what that is. Overall I found this movie charming, multi-leveled, and satisfying.

The premise is found in the title. Jeff (Jason Segal) is thirty and living in his mother’s basement. His character is introduced with him sitting on the toilet, speaking into a self-recorder about how much he’s fascinated by the movie Signs. He loves signs, and really believes that the universe is perfectly interwoven with supremely complex threads that make up the meaning in each person’s life: in other words, everything really does happen for a reason in Jeff’s world. His mother, Sharon (Susan Sarandon), just wishes that Jeff would get off the couch and do something useful with his life, like, say, helping out around the house for a start. Pat (Ed Helms), who is Jeff’s brother, is somewhat of a careless alpha male, working at a paint company, who doesn’t listen to his wife, Linda (Judy Greer).

The smartest thing about this movie was its honesty combined with crazy circumstantial hilarity. The characters are often found in rather unusual situations—riding on the back of candy vans, sitting in hotel room tubs, playing b-ball with random guys and smoking weed, and receiving strange, secret-admirer messages—yet they handle it with complete honesty. This is mostly because of the admirable performances of the cast, though I have to say that Ed Helms’s pathos resembled very closely his role Andy from The Office, especially the big-time-jerk Andy that we get to know in seasons 8 and 9.  The performance that stole the show was, of course, Susan Sarandon’s. Her moments of (later than)mid-life crisis are handled very gracefully: there was no detectable indication or affectation, yet her thought processes were crystal clear. Judy Greer, whom I recognized from her role as Kitty in Arrested Development, pleasantly surprised me as well, handling her role with a lot more emotional consistency that I would have expected from an actor who has appeared sporadically on television. Though, it seemed she lacked depth in some moments, especially where the urgency of her character’s failing marriage was concerned. Jason Segal was just great, as far as I’m concerned.

The film was shot in a not-so-high resolution, giving it a gritty cinéma vérité feel, similar to an artsy documentary. In fact, the musical score underneath was very much like a quirky soundtrack to an art film. Normally I don’t fall for gimmicks like this very easily, but for some reason I did this time—mainly because the hyper-realistic photography and whatnot balanced out an otherwise hypo-realistic script. The writing is strong, but only because the directors (Jay & Mark Duplass) make it work. The use of deus ex machina—though somewhat overused for my taste as it’s one of my least favorite literary devices— was really the point of the script. Though Jeff’s theory about the universe sending him signs seems hokey to most people, his theory is bizarrely proven true through small yet significant signs that put him (and his family) in coincidental situations, therefore furthering the action.  

My main complaint with this film is that it seems to have a genre-identity crisis, a crisis that often dissatisfies audiences and (therefore) box offices. (For reference of other films that have had a similar plight, see Rango, basically most of the Pirates of the Carribbean sequels, and Lone Ranger.) This disparity between what audiences expect and what they get is what creates problems, understandably so. If I just want to be entertained, not necessarily enlightened or scared, then I will watch Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. If I feel like watching something with a little more depth and meaning, I’ll watch Capote. But when I get a Bill & Ted that suddenly transforms into something way unexpected (a la The Village), it's hard to handle and sometimes alienates the viewer. Jeff, Who Lives at Home promises to be a fun comedy about a bunch of goofy yet believable characters, yet it goes through some strange spiritual journey toward the end, when (*eye roll* get ready for it) Jeff finds a car that has fallen off of the bridge and decides to rescue whoever was trapped in the sinking car. While I’m cool with serious crises in comedies, it really changed the film’s purpose in a split-second. The crisis ended up involving Pat diving in after he sees that Jeff hasn’t surfaced; they both live and the near-death experience brings the family closer than ever before. Even though I thought this was a cheap device that the writers threw in to resolve their own crisis of writer’s block, it was still enjoyable to see the results, at least: Linda and Pat reattempt to jump-start their marriage, and Sharon sees the good in her sons, whom she practically despised not one hour before.

Despite a few hitches in the writing and other small, subjective errors, this flick is worth watching. It’s got a lot of great moments of catharsis and truth that come out, causing me the viewer to ask myself, How often do I just wait to fix things in my life until there’s a crisis that prompts me to do so? How often must I take my relationships for granted until I’ve depleted them? It’s a very fun film, and if you can stand the abrupt change in tone toward the latter third, you’ll find it very rewarding.