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A CurtainUp DC 
Feature
FeatureNew and Noteworthy in DC
January 26th: The Helen Hayes nominations are in. For details see the Helen Hayes website: http://helenhayes.org/sub/nr.cfm
Updated January 11, 2010
January in Washington is prime time for speeches and budgets, but not theatre. Except Studio Theatre where Tarell Alvin McCraney's In The Red and Brown Water, one third of the Brother Sister Plays trilogy, opened last night. Not having seen The Brothers Size when Studio presented it last year, I cannot compare the plays or the productions. When asked whether In the Red and Brown Water can stand alone, I would say yes. . .and no. McCraney certainly has a strong and unusual ear for language. The plot of In the Red and Brown Water, however, is all over the place: ricocheting from African-American heritage, Greek chorus,Yoruba folk tales, contemporary hip hop, making babies, gay love, taking chances and making the most of opportunities when they arise. Something for everyone? Or a playwright whose head is overflowing with ideas and language but without the discipline needed to pursue themes to their fullest?
Studio's production ably directed by Serge Seiden, is engaging with fine performances by Raushanah Simmons as Oya, Jahi A. Kearse as Ogun, and particularly Yaegel T. Welch, a graduate of the Shakespeare Theatre's Academy for Classical Acting, as the seductive Shango. Author McCraney, just 29 years old, a graduate of Yale School of Drama's playwriting program, has already accrued great status. He is the Royal Shakespeare Company's international writer in residence, a Fellow at Princeton University, and winner of, among others, the 2009 New York Times' Outstanding Playwright Award. He has commissions from, among others, the Manhattan theatre Club, the Berkeley Rep, the Donmar Warehouse, Steppenwolf Theatre Company and the McCarter Theatre. Let's hope his raw talent is finely honed by all of the above. For Curtainup's review of the entire trilogy at the Public Theater go here
Opening soon. . .
at Theater J, The Four of Us, a play by Itamar Moses, about friendship and envy, January 20 to February 21.
At Ford's Theatre, Norman Corwin's The Rivalry, a dramatic enactment of the debates between Abraham Lincoln (played by Robert Parsons) and Stephen Douglas (Rick Foucheux), runs from January 22 to February 14.
Terrence McNally's new play, Golden Age, will be at the Kennedy Center, March 12 to April 4, 2010, as part of Nights at the Opera, five weeks of plays by McNally. The cast for Golden Age, includes Jeffrey Carlson and Rebecca Brooksher.
Signature Theatre has received an Edgerton Foundation New American Plays Award for its world premiere (May 18 to June 20, 2010) of Sycamore Trees, book, music and lyrics by Ricky Ian Gordon; Tina Landau of Steppenwolf Theatre directs. "When my father came home from World War II in 1945," says Gordon, "my family lived in a crowded tenement in the Bronx, poor and with bed bugs. Then my parents got the idea to move to the suburbs where the dream of life flowering in a clean and spacious environment promised to be the answer. It wasn't."
The date of Signature Theatre's Gala at the Embassy of Italy honoring Angela Lansbury with the Sondheim Award has been changed to April 12.
Several Washington theatres have updated their websites recently. So has Ticketplace.org, the go-to site for half price tickets.
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