DC Metro Spotlight: July 2005

It’s what’s on top that counts in July, as Arena Stage focuses once again on ladies wearing hats, and the Kennedy Center has women wearing beehives.

The ladies with “hatitude” are back — and they’re making DC theater history. Crowns, Regina Taylor’s musical about a group of African-American women, based on the work of Washington-based photographer Michael Cunningham and writer Craig Marberry, will be vibrating at Arena Stage for the third time in 18 months (July 5-August 7). But unlike the previous two Arena Stage productions of this musical, this version was put together by Studio Arena Theatre in Buffalo, New York. Tony Award winner Gretha Boston leads the cast.

Probably the only show around that could rival Crowns for exuberance is Hairspray. If you don’t believe me, check out the national touring company of the Tony Award-winning musical, which rolls into the Kennedy Center this month (July 13-August 21). Revisit Baltimore, circa 1962, where Tracy Turnblad, the “big girl with big hair and an even bigger heart,” wins a spot on the local TV dance program and goes on to vanquish the program’s spoiled princess, capture the local heartthrob, and integrate the airwaves, all without denting her hairstyle. J. P. Dougherty, a member of the original Broadway cast for over two years, plays Tracy’s big mama, Edna.

More gender-bending awaits audiences at the Actors Theatre of Washington, which is putting on an all-male version of Les Liaisons Dangereuses on the boards (opening July 8). But all-male does not necessarily mean gay, say theater officials. Director Lee Mikeska Gardner and Christopher Henley (who stars as Valmont) are taking time out from their duties at Washington Shakespeare Company to participate in this version of Christopher Hampton’s classic examination of seduction and revenge. And despite Gardner and Henley’s absence, Washington Shakespeare is presenting Peter Shaffer’s historical drama The Royal Hunt of the Sun ( July 21-August 21), about the Spanish conquistadors who conquered the majestic Inca empire in the name of God while really seeking gold.

If history doesn’t attract you, maybe the Ninja Motorcycle Babes will; they are roaring into the H Street Playhouse courtesy of Renegade Theater (July 7-17). Washington’s own Lisa Voss penned this satire about a bunch of black-leather-clad babes who have stunned the fictional Buzz City by storming studios where commercials for feminine products are being produced and stealing the film.

Works by some of the world’s major playwrights also show up this summer. Open Circle Theatre is performing Bertolt Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle at Round House Theatre’s Silver Spring Stage (July 3-24). Dedicated to incorporating artists with disabilities into its productions, OCT earned four Helen Hayes Awards nominations this past year for its unusual presentation of Jesus Christ Superstar. Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company brings their 25th season to a close with Sarah Ruhl’s critically acclaimed drama The Clean House at their new 7th and D Street, NW theater (July 11-August 14). Firebelly Productions is mounting Lillian Hellman’s 1934 lesbian-tinged drama The Children’s Hour (July 20-August 7), and the DC Arts Center has Omaemoda Productions’ staging of the intense and disturbing Agnes of God (July 28-August 7).

And then there’s the very major Martin McDonagh. Keegan Theatre and the new Solas Nua theater company, both of which feature Irish theatre, are collaborating in the presentation of McDonagh’s Tony Award-winning The Beauty Queen of Leenane, about a lonely middle-aged woman who is manipulated by her live-in mother, and Edna Walsh’s Disco Pigs, about two Irish kids who celebrate their 17th birthdays by roaming around Cork City, trying to grow up while drinking, fighting, and stealing. The plays run in repertory through July 27 at the Church Street Theater.

Finally, Studio Theatre’s Secondstage is presenting Rolin Jones’ comedy The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow about a young woman who uses high-tech wizardry as she searches for her birth parents (July 6-August 7). Warehouse Theater has Petticoats and Politics: New Play Festival, presented by Washington Women in Theatre (July 7-10). It features Stella Adler, a biography of the legendary acting teacher, as well as a collection of short works, staged readings, and a new play by local playwright Caleen Sinnette Jennings. Finally, The 1409 Playbill Café, a local theater bar and restaurant, stages Infantry Monologues, a new play composed of monologues by three characters (July 7-24).