DC Metro Spotlight: December 2006

‘Tis the season to be jolly in Washington, especially for Democrats who have already gotten their Christmas present. And the laughter will be loud at Arena Stage, where the madcap comedy Noises Off (December 15-January 28) makes its riotous way to the Kreeger. Michael Frayn, the playwright who gave us the very serious Copenhagen, also wrote this wild comedy that takes us backstage and onstage as members of a third-rate British touring company try to mount an insipid sex farce while battling each other behind the scenes. Local favorites and Broadway veterans Helen Carey and Robert Prosky head the cast.

There are a few laughs as well in the Tony Award-winning musical The Light in the Piazza (December 19-January 7), which makes its local debut in the Kennedy Center’s Opera House. Set in 1953 Italy, the musical stars Elena Shaddow as Clara, a young American who falls in love with handsome local boy Fabrizio, (played by David Burnham) much to the dismay of her mother Margaret (played by Christine Andreas). As Margaret attempts to keep the lovers apart, a secret is revealed that forces all their futures to be reconsidered.

Studio Theatre’s 2ndstage is also going for laughs this holiday season, presenting Dan Dietz’s tempOdyssey (December 6-31). The screwball comedy follows a young temp on her first day at her new assignment, answering the phones at a bomb-making company. The play promises unexpected twists and “fantastical surprises.”

On a more serious note, Lorraine Hansberry’s look at the dreams and conflicts of three generations of an African-American family is also onstage as African Continuum Theatre presents A Raisin in the Sun (December 2-January 7). Keegan Theatre has Faith Healer (December 2-23), a dark memory tale from Ireland’s Brian Friel. Eric Lucas takes on the role of Francis Hardy, a faith healer, who travels around England, Scotland, and Wales offering to heal the sick. The play explores several tragedies through a series of long, moving monologues from Frank, his wife, and his manager.

Local playwright Norman Allen has a seasonally-themed play opening this month. The Christmas Foundling (H Street Playhouse, December 7-30) is inspired by the stories of Bret Harte and incorporates live music. After a baby boy is orphaned in the California Sierras on Christmas Eve, 1850, two curmudgeonly miners raise him until a meddling aunt announces she is taking him back to Boston. Forum Theatre has a baby but is going in another direction with The Skriker (Warehouse Theatre, December 1-23), Caryl Churchill’s dark fairy tale about a shape-shifting gremlin hungry to take possession of a young woman’s infant in present-day London.

There are several disparate takes on Christmas, including A Christmas Carol… Alternative (Church Street Theatre, December 7-31), a dragfest which is being described as “the Golden Girls and Monty Python meet Ebenezer Scrooge.” If more traditional tidings are for you and the youngsters, consider GALA’s A Christmas Story (Tivoli Theater, December 21-December 24), a stage version of Jean Shepherd’s popular film about an eight-year-old who craves a Red Ryder BB Gun for Christmas in small-town America of the 1940s.