Guantanamo: Honor Bound to Defend Freedom
(Photo © Carol Pratt)
The 2005-2006 theater season is fully underway, and many of the area’s theaters are on to their second and third round of productions — including a pair of worthwhile world premieres.
Arena Stage is offering the world premiere of Cuttin’ Up, “a play with music” written and directed by Charles Randolph-Wright, and adapted from Craig Mayberry’s book Cuttin’ Up: Wit and Wisdom from Black Barber Shops. Using the same story-telling concept as he did in the popular Crowns, Marberry traveled to barber shops across the country, where he collected stories, anecdotes, superstitions, and community lore from barbers and their customers. Cuttin’ Up tells these stories through three generations of African-American barbers (November 4-January 1).
The struggles of a generation of Southern black women are spotlighted in the world premiere of S.M. Shephard-Massat’s Starving at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre. Directed by Seret Scott, this dramedy takes us back to Atlanta in the 1950s, and the beginnings of massive social and sexual upheaval. Shakespeare Theatre regular Craig Wallace stars alongside Woolly company member Doug Brown (November 14-December 18).
The Shakespeare Theatre takes a crack at The Comedy of Errors, the Bard’s comic tale of two sets of twins who are separated at birth, leading to mistaken identities and other complications of love and life. Doug Wager directs a cast of local favorites including Tana Hicken and David Sabin (November 15-January 8). Speaking of Shakespeare, England’s Propeller Theatre Company, directed by Edward Hall, will present their all-male version of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale at The Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater (November 15-17).
Signature Theatre serves up Yemaya’s Belly. Fast-rising playwright Quiara Alegria Hudes’ coming-of-age tale, set in the Caribbean, includes poetry, songs, and movement drawn from the Santerian religion. Director Rick DesRochers promises characters will move “between the real and surreal with a striking visual style.” (November 8 -December 18). Meanwhile, Studio Theatre is also focused on the Caribbean with Victoria Brittain and Gillian Slovo’s Guantanamo: Honor Bound to Defend Freedom, the true story of four British residents held at the notorious American detention facility. Serge Seiden directs this tense docudrama, based on actual letters, government documents, and spoken evidence. The production is likely to stir particularly impassioned debate here in the nation’s capital (November 2-December 11).
The Trumpet Vine Theatre Company in Arlington, Virginia will present Douglas Carter Beane’s Off-Broadway hit As Bees in Honey Drown about a young man who falls prey to the world of celebrity and glamour (November 8-December 3). Meanwhile, Keegan Theatre Company has a veritable Tennessee Williams festival going on this month: a double bill of Portrait of a Madonna and Suddenly Last Summer at Arlington, Virginia’s Gunston Arts Center Theater II (November 19-December 17), even as they continue their production of A Streetcar Named Desire at Washington’s Church Street Theater (through November 26).
For family fun, head over to Bethesda’s Round House Theatre, which is presenting A Year with Frog and Toad. Robert and Willie Reale’s musical version of Arnold Lobel’s children’s book on the unusual friendship between a cheerful Frog and a grumpy Toad who learn life’s biggest lessons theater delighted Broadway audiences. Here, Signature Theatre mainstay Will Gartshore stars with Steven Tipton under Nick Olcott’s direction (November 16-December 11).
