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Running time 2:30 - one intermission
t A Potomac Stage pick for a superbly acted two man(?) show
Click here to buy the script

Storyline:  Proving that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, the story centers around the lives of Felix, a pretentious unpublished writer, and Doris, an extroverted call girl. Their lives intertwine after Felix reports Doris’s nocturnal business to her landlord resulting in her eviction. She moves in with him and the story begins.

The Actors’ Theater of Washington bills itself as “DC’s Premier Gay Lesbian Bisexual and Transgender Theater Company.” Sometimes when an organization identifies itself in such a way they tend to go overboard in proving it. Seeing the name of a man in the female lead’s role in the playbill prior to the show’s start could raise the question “Did they really need to do this or are they just trying to make a statement?” It becomes apparent moments into the opening that the choice was made to make the Pussycat role into a cross-dressing man who truly is more comfortable being the woman in a relationship. The Owl is also transformed from the simple intellectual prig into an intellectual prig who is gay, but hasn’t even come out of the closet to himself yet. This subtle shifting of the roles is further amplified by setting the play in San Francisco in 1968, two years after the Compton Cafeteria riots. Watching this reinterpretation as a whole gives the feeling that this is how this show was meant to be.

It is hard to say who gave the better performance this night. Helen Hayes award winner Rick Hammerly’s portrayal of the owlish Felix is a case study in method acting. Every nuance of the pretentious intellectual who is insecure both professionally and emotionally, needing logic to deal with every situation, is brought out in the posture, facial expressions and vocal tones of his performance. His glances share with the audience his exasperation with the limited intellect of Doris without seeking their approval. His angst and torment over giving into his desires and then trying to deal with the guilt he feels comes across clearly without words. Johnson’s performance is the more flamboyant, yet it somehow is equally as subtle as Hammerly’s. Johnson’s entire body assumes the mannerisms that one would expect from a woman. These aren’t fake personifications but rather the yearnings of someone who needs to be needed and is tired of being alone. Combining the two actors’ excellent performances provides the foundation without which the daring casting would have failed.

The set, lighting and sound are good but the true power of the show come across in the performances of the two leads. This play should not be missed just due to the labeling of the company as a GLBT venue. This is excellent acting, great comedy, and a perfect example of the world class theater that is available here in the Potomac region. Performances like these are the kind that should reverse the flow of traffic that takes DC theater lovers to NYC and instead show the drama community of the big apple that a road trip is in order for them.

Written by Bill Manhoff. Directed by Lee Mikeska Gardner. Design: Greg Stevens (set), Erin K. Sutton (costumes), Robert Brown (lights), Jonathon Powers (sound), Ray Gniewek (photography), Jesse Shipley (stage manager). Cast: Rick Hammerly, Jeffrey Johnson, (with voice work by Lee Mikeska Gardner, Ray Hagen, and Jonathon Powers).

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Running time 2:10 - one intermission
t A Potomac Stages Pick for an unorthodox approach to a powerful crime and punishment play
Performances at Source Theatre
Click here to buy the script

Storyline: Drawn partially from the actual trial transcripts, the play details the 1924 thrill crime of Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, two Chicago college students who killed a 14 year-old boy in 1924, both for the fun of it and to prove that they were so superior to the rest of humanity that they could do so with impunity. When their own mistakes resulted in their arrest and trial, legendary defense counsel Clarence Darrow took on their case in order to have the opportunity to fight against the death penalty.

The play by John Logan is a challenge to any director, for it has all the elements of "knock-your-socks-off" theater, but carries the trap of being either preachy or glib. The  vaunted Signature/Rep Stage production of 1997 masked some of that preachiness with ever tighter focus on the three principals. Here Johnson accomplishes some of the same with shifting the focus to the staging. In his notes in the program he says he had written his own Leopold and Loeb play, titled Vaudevillian Rhapsody or the Trial of the Century, before he discovered this script. With Logan's script he is still using the vaudeville technique, even going to the extent of having all three actors don straw hats and tripping through the headlines in patter style.

In real life, Leopold and Loeb were undeniably fashionable young blades. Ivey and Brack strike the same stylish pose. Each manages to maintain a distinct personality even as the vaudeville conceit starts to blur the lines between the characters. Their bond is more complex than simply a pair of infatuated lovers. They manipulate each other, assuming roles of dominance and submission with a fascinatingly fluid give and take. John C. Bailey does some really first class work in a number of scenes, especially when giving voice to the views of Clarence Darrow, which are clearly the views of playwright John Logan. However, he is also called upon to switch rapidly from reporter to confidant, citizen to stenographer and lawyer to observer. It does get to be a bit much.

Erik Diaz provides the good looking one-ring set, and a good deal of visual impact comes from projections designed by Johnson and assistant director Jason Beagle. They provide both context for the story and a period feel that pervades the evening. It is rare that we single out a properties designer, but mention should be made of Suzen Mason's solution to the age old problem of period newspapers on stage - she has provided newsprint paper without any print on it, which gives a theatrical feel to the scenes involving the "trial of the century" headlines, which are projected on the screen at the back of the stage, but aren't belittled by being either exaggerated or apparently too tiny type on actual papers. Jonathan Powers pulls out some vintage recordings which would have been effective had they not been quite as intrusive. The snappy "rich-boys" costumes by E. Spears are spot-on, especially the blue three-piece with bow tie for Brack's Loeb.

Written by John Logan. Directed by Jeffrey Johnson. Design: Erik Diaz (set) E. Spears (costumes) Suzen Mason (properties) Ayun Fedorcha (lights) Jonathan Powers (sound) Ray Gniewek (photography) Jesse Shipley (stage manager). Cast: John C. Bailey, Joe Brack, Ashley Ivey.

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Reviewed February 23
Running time 2:00 - one intermission
t A  Potomac Stages Pick for wit à la Wilde deliciously delivered
Click here to buy the script

Storyline: Two women live together in a town house in "a prominent New England City" at the end of the nineteenth century. Within the privacy of their home they are lovers. (The title resurrects a slang term of the era meaning two women who live together in something approximating a marital relationship.) Financial pressures have caused one to take on the role of mistress to a wealthy man who is married ("If he didn't have a wife, why would he need a mistress?") The other has developed a crush on younger woman. Can their "Boston Marriage" survive the pressures of jealousy?

The sign on the side of the stage says this drawing room comedy with its literate verbal fireworks is by David Mamet. Mamet? The same Mamet who carved the acerbic verbal explosions of Glengary Glen Ross? The same Mamet who crafted the underworld jibes of American Buffalo? Yes, the man who is famous for saying so much in so few syllables. But remember, the same Mamet could make the transition to the more refined verbiage of the British boys school students in The Winslow Boy and even the more image-laden vocabulary of the Russians in The Cherry Orchard. Of course, there he was translating and adapting Chekhov for the version that played the Round House a few years back. Here he is in full command of sharp-tongued, witty verbal combat between two educated, intelligent women.

Norris is nothing short of superb in the role of the woman with the sharpest tongue. She has a sense of timing that assures that every one of her character's barbs, assertions, asides, rejoinders and bons mots land solidly on the funny bone. The music hall conceit that Johnson has adopted works mostly to her advantage and, oh, does she take it to the very edge of excess without going one step too far. Deal, on the other hand, is more in the role of, you should pardon the expression, straight man. She has no shortage of zingers and memorable assertions but she is at her best when reacting to Norris' fusillade with the short rejoinder. When Norris demands to know if she believes in God, she gets every possible drop of humor out of the exhausted reply "If you would shut up, I would." The two are so good together it is possible to overlook the solid support of Miss Elizabeth Simmons who, as the maid every Victorian household had to have, is a fine foil for the pair.

The Victorian's didn't necessarily accent the possible lesbian aspects of a Boston Marriage relationship, but this author and this production leave no doubt as to the connection between these two women. Just in case you miss it, however, the pre-show and intermission routine of Rachael Ann Warren in gay 90s bustier is played with a gay touch of another kind. (Just why she also sports a discrete but definitely modern nostril ring is not explained, however.) The message is further highlighted as the drawing room in which this comedy plays out is decorated exclusively with pictures of women, not all of them fully clothed.

Written by David Mamet. Directed by Jeffrey Johnson. Design: Greg Stevens (set and properties) Leigh Ann Chermack (costumes) Ayun Fedorcha (lights) Meredith Spisak (stage manager). Cast: Jenifer Belle  Deal, Kate Eastwood Norris, Elizabeth Simmons, Rachael Ann Warren. Pianist: Lauren Aycock-Parmenteir.

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Performances at Source Theatre
1835 14th St NW

Reviewed August 6
Running time 2:50 - one intermission
t A Potomac Stages Pick for superb direction
 and acting by an all-male ensemble
** Admission limited to ages 18 and above
due to nudity and simulated sex acts
Click here to buy the script

Storyline: This stylish bedroom comedy of high society intrigue in the days before the French Revolution is the stage adaptation of the eighteenth century novel by Pierre Choderlos De Laclos. Former lovers, the Marquise de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont plot, plan, parry and play in the dual seduction and manipulation of others in their circle, and of each other.

The play by British playwright Christopher Hampton takes the novel's 175 letters and turns them into a linear story of temptation, seduction and betrayal. It was Hampton's most successful stage effort - at least until he translated Yasmina Reza's Art in 1998. Les Liaisons earned him the Tony Award for best play of 1987 and went on to be filmed with Glenn Close and John Malkovich in the key roles. His text is as loaded with as many quips, flippantries and bon mots as you would want, but it is the richness of the characterizations that make the package irresistible. Every one of the major characters is fascinatingly complex and, in director Mikeska Gardner's staging, every one of the minor characters is given mannerisms and quirks to match.

Gardner begins with the entire all-male ensemble pairing up and circling each other in a courtly dance during which each actor adopts the persona he will maintain all evening long. No one leaves the stage during the performance so each takes a place at the edge of the scene and watches as their character would watch. As a result, there are always many interesting things at the periphery and you find yourself sneaking a peak at the posture or attitude of the actors around the edges while trying to pay close attention to the events center stage. It's not that anyone is hamming it up. Far from it. But the slouch of Jay Hardee, the self-possession of Michael Way and the disapproving glance of Ray Hagen are all too good to miss. The events they are watching are always compelling and frequently amusing. The extensive nudity and simulated sex acts are handled with flair approaching flamboyance, which makes the show appropriate for only the most adventurous adult audience. However, this is a grand piece of serious theater, not a peep show.

The cast includes a frighteningly cunning Jeffrey Johnson as the Marquise and an absorbing Christopher Henley as the Vicomte. Henley does his best work since The Night of the Iguana two years ago. He's simply mesmerizing as he proceeds through his character's conquests while Johnson gives just as impressive a performance, adapting the mannerisms typically attributed to the feminine gender to the machinations typically attributed to the male. Peter Klauss and Brent Stansell are terrific as the two ladies in the Vicmpte's sights even when they are on the sidelines.

Written by Christopher Hampton based on the novel by Pierre Choderlos De Laclos. Directed by Lee Mikeska Gardner. Design: Greg Stevens (set, costumes and properties) Marianne Meadows (lights) Jeffrey Johnson (sound) Ray Gniewek (photography) Meredith Spisak (stage manager). Cast: John C. Bailey, Daniel Eichner, Ray Hagen, Jay Hardee, Christopher Henley, Jeffrey Johnson, Peter Klaus, Joe Mancuso, Brent Stansell, Michael Way.

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Reviewed July 11
Running time: 1:45 with no intermission
Click here to buy the CD

Storyline: Squeaky clean youngsters Brad and Janet are stranded with car trouble in a storm. They seek shelter in the castle of Dr. Frank 'n' Furter, the "Transsexual from Transylvania," who has been constructing a perfect boy-toy from spare body parts. When his creation, Rocky Horror, comes to life it triggers a series of events reminiscent of every b-grade horror flick of the 1950s but with a rock-inspired score and a sexual adventurousness more reminiscent of the subculture of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The headliner here is Rick Hammerly, Helen Hayes Award winner for his superbly gender-bending strut as Hedwig in Signature Theatre's production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Here Hammerly is again in the highest of heels in some of the skimpiest of costumes, but the role of Dr. Frank 'n' Furter doesn't have the undertone of tragedy that Hedwig did. As a result, Hammerly is confined to something he does extremely well: camping it up. From the moment of his entrance from a coffin he is in command of the show and of the stage. At times he's also in command of the audience but his hold on the crowd comes and goes with the opportunities presented by the script and the staging.

This is not, however, a Rick Hammerly concert. It is a show with a fairly large cast of principals and there are some very strong performances to enjoy, most specifically Jordan Price's Brad. He makes the transition from button-down, up-tight proper young man to teddy-bedecked rocker with a sense of fun and enthusiasm, and his voice is perhaps the best in the cast. His Janet is Meagan Flannery, who makes the same journey from demure to demonic, but with a bit of hesitancy at the start, but shorn of her blond wig and stripped of her outer garments she really lets loose. Peter Klaus is more than an exceptional physical specimen as the Doctor's creation, he captures the innocence of the newly-created with a brain not yet programmed with much of the information others supposedly amass before puberty. Rubber faced Ray Hagen is droll as the narrator and Meghan Touey does a mean tap routine which inspires him to yell "Eat your heart out, Ann Miller!"

Performing the show in a rock club gives it an environment that is perfectly suited to the material. Director Jeffrey Johnson attempts to take full advantage of the venue but a few things seem to resist the transition to a theatrical presentation. Matt Rowe's sound design certainly uses the high-volume capacity of the system to crank out every ounce of Richard O'Brien's score, but it lacks the variation needed to support the quieter moments that set up the big effects. Kevin Clark uses almost as many computerized movable lights as does Mamma Mia!, but they fail to add much excitement to the event. The projection of moving shapes of light onto the stage floor seemed to be using stuff left over from a previous concert rather than the insertion of an effect dictated by the show. Still, there is an atmosphere of excitement that permeates this rock club that helps this Rocky be another in a long line of good time events.

Music, lyrics and book by Richard O'Brien. Directed and choreographed by Jeffrey Johnson. Musical Direction by Stephen McWilliams. Design: Mark Wujcik (set) Michele Reisch (costumes) Epiphany Spears and Christie Kelly (properties) Kevin Clark (lights) Matt Rowe (sound) Scott Hendrichson (photography) Lauren Aycock (Stage Manager). Cast: Nick Blaemire, Meagan Flannery, Ray Hagen, Rick Hammerly, Elish Healy, Maxwell Hessman, Peter Klaus, Andrew Mitchell, Jordan Price, Matthew Schleigh, Eric Thompson, Courtney Tisch, Meghan Touey, Rachel Anne Warren, Briana Zakszeski. Musicians: Adam Elliott, Jon Jester, Matt Midgette, Brad Ulreich.

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Reviewed March 7
Running time 1 hour 35 minutes
Mature content and brief nudity
Performed at The Warehouse Theater
Joint Production with Washington Shakespeare Company
t A Potomac Stages Pick for extraordinary staging
 and emotional intensity

Storyline: Three men share a prison cell as one awaits execution, one awaits release and one avoids contemplating a future exposed to the dangers outside their cell.

The confining space of the tiny back room adjacent to the Warehouse Theater on 7th Street NW has had only a few productions to date but it is hard to imagine how another scenic designer could use the space better. A prison cell is a space defined by four walls. Here all four are created, the one between the audience and the cell being a semi-transparent scrim which doesn't distance you from the environment but, rather, accentuates the confinement of  the prisoners. Lit with unforgiving neon as well as more traditional theatrical equipment, the space is a concrete box containing human beings which is further defined by a jagged row of concrete blocks which John Francis Bauer as the guard paces across in a haunting slow-motion. Images are projected onto the scrim which amplify and comment on some points in the play but, sitting on the right side of the house, they were obscured to my view by the lights inside the playing space. An equally disturbing soundscape accentuates the harshness of this world.

Gardner uses the space with claustrophobic passion, with the prisoners retreating to corners or gathering in groupings center stage. The prisoners taunt each other from the sides, approach each other in the middle in anger or friendship, form alliances down stage, gratify each other in common spaces or challenge each other up stage. Gardner and Griffiths open the performance with a series of tableaus of prison life separated by intensely dark blackouts  - prisoners playing checkers, prisoners exercising, prisoners sleeping and, yes, prisoners having sex with each other. By the time the first word is spoken, not only do you know what this world is like, you know a good deal about the dynamics of the interrelationship between these three prisoners who share this particular cell.

These prisoners are sharply defined characters, each given memorable portrayals by this superb cast. Peter Klaus is the dominating force, a murderer called "Green Eyes" who is awaiting execution by guillotine. He is steely in a way that makes clear how he clings to his strength for fear of cracking into tiny pieces if he allows even one moment of weakness. Jeffrey Johnson is the submissive, manipulative prisoner panicked by the impending absence through execution of his former protector. Christopher Henley is the newest cellmate, one who has been placed in the cell only temporarily as he is slated for release in a few days. He's the game player, taking care not to overstep his bounds so far that he wouldn't survive to his release date, but enjoying the final opportunity to play with the minds of his new cellmates. Their world is compelling, frightening and immediate.

Written by Jean Genet. Directed by Lee Mikeska Gardner and Matty Griffiths. Design: Kim Deane (set) Michele Reisch (costumes) Matty Griffiths and Maxwell Hessman (projections) Marianne Meadows (lights) David Crandall (sound) Ray Gniewek (photography) Maxwell Hessman (stage manager). Cast: John Francis Bauer, Christopher Henley, Jeffrey Johnson, Peter Klauss.

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Reviewed October 17
Running time 2 hours 5 minutes
For mature audiences - nudity

Storyline: The history of the relationship between two young men who fall in love in their teens is viewed as a flashback by these same men in old age. One has advanced in the Catholic Church while the other has found much less success in life and he confronts the other with the truth of their past.

The text allows connections to be made between the two lovers in their youth, between the two of them in their older age and also presents alternative views of their history. It can be convoluted and requires a steady hand by a director. In this staging, the time is always clear but just whose view of reality is being acted out is not. Also, the fact that there is a play within a play (the two young lovers meet during rehearsals for a passion play) is a twice-complicating factor. Add in artistic excursions such as the staging of the martyrdom of St. Sebastian (is that Debussy we hear in the background) and it becomes a classic case of “where are we going with all of this?” The answer isn’t always kept in sight.

The cast is quite strong where it counts. Maxwell Hessman and Patrick O’Neill are particularly good as the young lovers. O’Neill, in particular, brings a haunting quality to the role of the young man caught up in a beguiling brew of religiosity and sexuality, while poor Tom Neubauer does his best in a role that requires him to spend long spans of time simply watching and reacting to events.  The most impressive performance comes from Brian McMonagle in a role that could descend into drag camp but is, instead, a marvelously effeminate tour de force. 

Giorgos Tsappas’ set design is striking at the start and gets better in the early scenes. It features a number of platforms surrounded by a floor which the cast sprinkles with colored fall leaves. As the events begin to unfold the cast raises steel bars into position, creating a prison cell. It is a space that calls out for dramatic events but its flexibility is over-used as the platforms are moved into more and more combinations. Ayun Fedorcha provides evocative lighting for the events which are always compelling if they aren’t always comprehensible.

Written by Michel Marc Bouchard. Directed by Jeffrey Johnson. Design: Giorgos Tsappas (set) Michele Reisch (costumes) Ayun Fedorcha (lights) Jeffrey Johnson (sound) Christopher O. Banks (photography) Kathleen Thompson (stage manager) Cast: Frank Britton, Gus Demos, Joshua Drew, Maxwell Hessman, Richard Mancini, Brian McMonagle, Paul McWhorter, Tom Neubauer, Patrick O’Neill, Doug Sanford.

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Reviewed May 17
Running time 1 hour 25 minutes
Playing at Source Theatre

Storyline: A gay man and a lesbian woman who are roommates and seriously committed life partners, but not sexual partners, decide to have a baby through artificial insemination. The play explores the impact of the stresses of conception, pregnancy and parenthood on their relationship and on their relationship with the man’s siblings.

Beswick, a successful casting agent for theater and films, is relatively new to the role of playwright. His previous full length work, Club Hell, was produced in Los Angeles by the company that had a great success with a gay version of Gilbert and Sullivan’s H.M.S. Pinafore. His script is well structured and, at least in director Jeff Keenan’s staging, clear in its storytelling. His characters are not tremendously complex but they have a bit more depth than being merely defined by their sexuality. The two central characters are genuinely likeable and their situation is understandable, even admirable. Angst isn’t what this play is about: love, nurturing and parenting is.

Lynn Chavis and Louis Cupp play the platonic parental couple with an earnestness that only occasionally overdoes the charm. Chavis builds an empathetic portrait slowly. At the start she seems preoccupied and self centered but her characterization softens as the play progresses, as a reflection of a burgeoning maternal instinct. Cupp has a nice way with a quip as well as the ability to communicate insecurity as an honest human emotion, not a weakness. Of the siblings, James O. Dunn has the most to do in the show and does it well while Jennifer Phillips makes the most of her time on stage. The four make an effective ensemble.

Beswick uses dream sequences to illustrate some of the concerns of the would-be-father. A simple but effective device of switching the color scheme of Dan Covey’s lights on a large window structure in R. Cary Blackwelder-Plair’s set helps the audience keep dreams and reality straight but if they need additional help, sound designer Mark Anduss provides audio cues to help including chirping birds backed by the hum of the city for a dream set in an urban park. Anduss also provides the sound of the baby crying using a nice stereo effect as the parents walk their newborn from side to side. It is attention to details like this that give the entire production a well thought out feel.

Written by Jordan Beswick. Directed by Jeff Keenan. Design: R. Cary Blackwelder-Plair (set) Brandon McWilliams (costumes) Craig Kelley (properties) Dan Covey (lights) Mark Anduss (sound) Troy Plair (photography) Jeff Klotz (production management). Cast: Lynn Chavis, Louis Cupp, James O. Dunn, Jennifer Phillips.

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Reviewed November 16
Running time 2 hours 5 minutes
t Potomac Stages Pick

Written by Steve Kluger. Directed by Charles Boyington. Design: Grant Kevin Lane (costumes) Marianne Meadows (lights) Mark Anduss (sound). Cast: Peter Wylie, Michael Francis O’Connor.