All stories by John Stoltenberg on BroadwayStars

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Review: 'The Body of an American' at Theater J by John Stoltenberg

A true story that begins with the desecration of a dead body becomes, before our eyes and hearts, a living and breathing buddy story. Dan O'Brien's The Body of an American is an intimate …

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 03:48PM[SHARE]
Monday, May 2, 2016

Review: 'Transmission' at The Welders by John Stoltenberg

You know you're having an unorthodox experience in theater when there's a near absence of dramatic action in front of you but an epic interplay of ideas happening in your brain. So it goes i…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 01:02PM[SHARE]
Saturday, April 30, 2016

In the Moment: 'Lord of the Flies' at Imagination Stage by John Stoltenberg

When Randy Baker told me he had directed a production of Lord of the Flies with a cast of mostly teenage girls, I knew I had to see it. William Golding's classic about British schoolboys who…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 10:51AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Review: 'The Electric Baby' at Rorschach Theatre by John Stoltenberg

At the center of this beautifully ambiguous and hauntingly honest play is a sick infant. The baby is peculiar, perhaps mythically so, in that it glows like the moon. As we enter the theater,…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 10:52AM[SHARE]
Saturday, April 23, 2016

Review: 'C.S. Lewis Onstage: The Most Reluctant Convert' at Shakespeare Theatre Company's Lansburgh Theatre by John Stoltenberg

Believe it or not, this is one terrific piece of theater. It's a one-man play about an influential, world-class thinker that's every bit as smart, fascinating, and satisfying as the best suc…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 03:21PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, April 19, 2016

'Talking Shop and Taking Stock With Ari Roth' by John Stoltenberg and David Siegel by John Stoltenberg

There was a buzz of high energy as we walked into Ari Roth's office at the Atlas Performing Arts Center to meet with the Founding Artistic Director of the Mosaic Theater Company of DC. We wa…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 11:19AM[SHARE]
Saturday, April 16, 2016

Review: 'Cloud Nine' at Gallaudet University Theatre and Dance Program by John Stoltenberg

Caryl Churchill's Cloud Nine, which premiered in London in 1979, is rightly considered a landmark play. It's pivotal for me personally as well, ever since I saw the legendary Tommy Tune prod…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 10:40PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, April 13, 2016

'My Queer Body' at The Rainbow Theatre Project by John Stoltenberg

Inside the beltway bubble of local theater making, it's easy to forget how many U.S. citizens are indifferent, if not antipathetic, to live theater. Mainly they express this by voting with t…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 07:25PM[SHARE]
Saturday, April 9, 2016

Magic Time! 'The Nether' at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company by John Stoltenberg

Playwright Jennifer Haley has seen the future and it's The Nether, her cerebrally chilling thriller about future tech and future sex. Just opened at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in a fanta…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 10:05PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Magic Time! 'After the War' at Mosaic Theater Company of DC by John Stoltenberg

A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house," said a certain prophet of Nazareth long ago. Subtract the word "prophet," swap in "p…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 02:41PM[SHARE]
Monday, March 28, 2016

Magic Time! The Cathartic Comedy of Martin McDonagh: A Q&A with Yury Urnov, Director of Forum Theatre's 'The Pillowman' by John Stoltenberg

Martin McDonagh is one my favorite living English-language playwrights and I'm not really sure why. His plays are hilarious and horrific at the same time. And I experienced that counterintui…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 08:22AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Magic Time! 'Falling Out of Time' at Theater J in Verse by John Stoltenberg

There is so much sorrow in this show Nine fine actors playing nine parents All mourning dead children Searching to see them again Seeking to be with them one more time Speaking words of unsp…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 11:59AM[SHARE]
Monday, March 21, 2016

Magic Time! "Moment' at The Studio Theatre by John Stoltenberg

"All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way," as Leo Tolstoy famously said. Had Tolstoy seen Studio Theatre's penetrating production of Deirdre Kinahan's lac…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 12:20PM[SHARE]
Saturday, March 19, 2016

Magic Time! '1984' at Shakespeare Theatre Company by John Stoltenberg

Shakespeare Theatre Company has missed no opportunity to issue advisories to audiences about to attend the spectacularly intense Headlong production of George Orwell's 1984, now on stage at …

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 12:44PM[SHARE]
Friday, March 11, 2016

Magic Time! OpenStage New Works Showcase by John Stoltenberg

The theater term "packed house" took on all new meaning for me the night I caught this month's OpenStage New Works Showcase. Not only was there no empty folding chair; the show went on stage…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 02:44PM[SHARE]
Monday, March 7, 2016

Magic Time! 'They Don't Pay? We Won't Pay!' at Ambassador Theater by John Stoltenberg

In politics, the expression "Marxist farce" could well be a slur hurled by some puerile and petulant presidential hopeful (you never know these days). In theater, however, the term "Marxist …

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 03:19AM[SHARE]
Thursday, March 3, 2016

Review: 'Sarafina!' at Howard University by John Stoltenberg

Even if you already know how inspiring and moving this show is, from seeing the film or the musical on stage, you are in for a spirit-lifting, heart-leaping, foot-stomping thrill when you ex…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 03:11PM[SHARE]
Monday, February 29, 2016

Review: 'Word Becomes Flesh' & 'for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf' at Theater Alliance by John Stoltenberg

There is a critical conversation going on in Anacostia right now that may be one of the most  urgent and honest exchanges between black women and black men the American theater has ever k…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 04:14PM[SHARE]
Saturday, February 20, 2016

Review: 'RIOT' at The Highwood Theatre by John Stoltenberg

Last night in a small, tucked-away space in Silver Spring, I watched a "real time" drama so exciting and original, so drop-dead funny and knock-out suspenseful, that I left the theater dazed…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 10:40AM[SHARE]
Friday, February 19, 2016

Magic Time! 'Promised Land' at Mosaic Theater Company of DC by John Stoltenberg

At a point in Mosaic Theater's Promised Land"a powerhouse of a play performed inside an intimate space that's more like a concrete bunker than a black box"we see the searing image of people …

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 03:43PM[SHARE]
Monday, February 15, 2016

Magic Time! A Conversation with Manu Kumasi About 'Lost in the Stars' by John Stoltenberg

"The situation in 1940s apartheid South Africa is very similar to what was seen in 1940's America, 1960's America, 1980's America, and even what we see in the present day." I was talking wit…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 05:42PM[SHARE]

Magic Time! 'Constellations' at The Studio Theatre by John Stoltenberg

We enter a mini coliseum and take our seats on cushions of many colors on one of several rows of blue benches encircling the blank stage. The dim lighting feels hallowed; the music, reverent…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 12:47PM[SHARE]
Thursday, February 11, 2016

Review: 'Marcus; Or the Secret of Sweet' at Howard University by John Stoltenberg

Last night I had the great satisfaction of watching Howard University students take on the challenge of a certifiably risk-taking play"Tarell Alvin McCraney's Marcus; Or the Secret of Sweet"…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 01:43PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Magic Time! 'Backstage with the Women of 'The Sisters Rosensweig' at Theater J' by John Stoltenberg

When I recently read Wendy Wasserstein's The Sisters Rosensweig, which opened in 1992, I sensed it was written in response to the women's movement at the time. Wasserstein's 1988 The Heidi C…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 08:34PM[SHARE]
Sunday, February 7, 2016

Review: 'When the Rain Stops Falling' at 1st Stage by John Stoltenberg

This play by Andrew Bovell in this 1st Stage production burned so many astounding images onto my brain"and sent into my ears so many searing exchanges"that my head is still spinning. For ins…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 04:08PM[SHARE]
Thursday, February 4, 2016

Magic Time! 'Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3)' at Round House Theatre by John Stoltenberg

The production of Suzan-Lori Parks' acclaimed three-part saga now having its regional premiere at Round House Theatre is some of the most amazing storytelling I've seen on stage. Amazing on …

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 06:57AM[SHARE]
Sunday, January 31, 2016

Magic Time! 'The Glass Menagerie' at Ford's Theatre by John Stoltenberg

What's the best way to stage a modern classic that is both reverential and revelatory? How does one mount a production that is respectful of the author's intent yet freshly insightful. How c…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 08:17AM[SHARE]
Thursday, January 28, 2016

Review: 'I Shall Not Hate' at Mosaic Theater Company of DC by John Stoltenberg

It was a record-setting blizzard, not prescient season planning, that resulted in Mosaic Theater Company's rescheduling the opening of I Shall Not Hate to last night, International Holoca…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 05:23PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Magic Time! An Interview With Kieyontaye D. Johnson-Carter, Author of 'Love in Time of HIV' by John Stoltenberg

When I first saw Love in Time of HIV in May 2012, I was deeply impressed. Giving voice to a young generation's encounter with the health crisis left them by their elders, the play by Kieyont…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 10:00AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Magic Time! 'The Critic & The Real Inspector Hound' at Shakespeare Theatre Company by John Stoltenberg

I just love it when theater laughs at itself. Who can forget the clockwork guffaws of Michael Frayn's Noises Off, or Shakespeare's enchanting send-up of theatrical conceits in the "Pyramus a…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 02:04PM[SHARE]
Friday, January 8, 2016

Magic Time! A Look at 'Wrestling Jerusalem' at Mosaic Theater Company of DC by John Stoltenberg

"It's complicated." So begins"on a note of supreme understatement"Writer/Performer Aaron Davidman's captivating and insight-rich solo show, Wrestling Jerusalem, the third provocative product…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 06:42PM[SHARE]

All that Chat

2025-2026 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 12, 2025: Call Me Izzy - Studio 54
Sep 16, 2025: Art - Music Box Theatre
Oct 08, 2025: Beetlejuice - Palace Theatre
Nov 13, 2025: Oedipus - Studio 54
Nov 16, 2025: Chess - Imperial Theatre
Mar 23, 2026: Giant - Music Box Theatre
Apr 06, 2026: Becky Shaw - Hayes Theater
Apr 16, 2026: Proof - Booth Theatre
Apr 26, 2026: Drama Desk Cut-Off