Shows in DC: Current DC Theatre Productions

Taffety Punk brings you the story of Beowulf as it was meant to be told - in the mead hall. Like the bards of old, Marcus Kyd narrates this heroic saga in a pop-up bar. Directed by company member Chris Curtis, the evening's minimalism yields epic depth in this retelling of this classic adventure.

A beautiful, movement-based show that revisits the classic film The Red Balloon and will delight audiences of all ages and speakers of all languages. Nothing can go right for the old man, whose days are gray and dreary, until he is visited by a friendly red balloon. In the playful physical style of 1930’s silent movies, the old man–an adult version of the boy in the film – regains his youthful spirit.

All Rex wants is to protect his family. On one side is a totalitarian government with no regard for its citizens. On the other side is a floundering revolution that desperately wants to topple the despotic monarchy. When Rex meets Yazzy, a young woman who is more than she appears, he unwittingly finds himself tangled in the intrigue spun on both sides of the fight. Now he must take control of the game before he becomes a pawn, but that's hard to do when Rex cannot decipher between what is or isn't real.

Candlelight Concerts in DC are immersive live-music experiences that pair talented local musicians with the warm glow of thousands of candles in some of Washington, DC’s most memorable venues. Created and produced by Fever, the Candlelight series reimagines everything from classical masterworks to contemporary tributes and themed programs, giving you an intimate, atmospheric night out that feels equal parts concert and event.

The year is 1940-something, and Chicago's night scene is sizzling. Enter Joey Evans. A slick-talking, velvet-voiced songster with dreams bigger than the bandstand. But in a city where the right connections mean everything, he is caught between a bright-eyed chorus girl and a wealthy widow who can bankroll his big break-for a price. As the lights dim and the music swells, Joey's got a choice to make: play it straight or risk it all for the spotlight. This classic Rodgers and Hart score, including "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered," "What Is a Man?," and "I Could Write a Book," now includes "This Can't Be Love" and "The Lady Is a Tramp," among others. Co-directed by Tony Award-winning choreographer Savion Glover and actor, director, and producer Tony Goldwyn, the stakes are high, the music is hot, and the game of romance and ambition never sounded so good.

Company follows Bobby, a single 35-year-old New Yorker, as he observes the marriages and relationships of his five closest couples on the night of his birthday party. Through a series of vignettes that jump through time, Bobby grapples with his fear of commitment and questions whether marriage is worth pursuing while his well-meaning but pushy friends try to find him the perfect partner. Stephen Sondheim's groundbreaking musical explores modern relationships, urban isolation, and the challenge of connecting with others in contemporary society, all set to one of musical theatre's most sophisticated and witty scores featuring songs like "Being Alive," "The Ladies Who Lunch," and "Side by Side by Side."

In this world premiere by Tuyet Thị Phạm, author of the acclaimed Dinner and Cake and recognized for her powerful writing on the topics of family, culture and identity, comes a new story about a mother and daughter who confront their legacy of love and loss, set against the backdrop of historical trauma.

Bram Stoker's iconic vampire tale takes on an outrageous new life in Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors - a madcap, laugh-out-loud comedy full of camp, lusty encounters, and hilarious spectacle. With a cast of five actors shapeshifting through multiple roles, the production transforms gothic horror into a feast of physical comedy, surprise, and unhinged seduction.

Can classmates with opposite views on moving up in the world, learn to trust one another? In this horror-comedy, two Black college students are employed to spend summer in the upstate New York home of a white 93-year-old retired professor. The most important task of the job: watch her while she swims. Things take a drastic turn as it becomes clear that something is not right with Professor Renword. As the Professor works to complete her life memoir, she becomes increasingly haunted by her troubled past. ↓D←R←O←W←N←E←R [Renword] unfolds into a nightmare. Will the two young women find their circumstances inescapable, or will they release themselves of the inherited burdens they carry?

From the creators of the hit comedy DRUNK SHAKESPEARE comes The Greatest (Drunk) Love Story Ever Told: DRUNK ROMEO & JULIET! The stage is set in a hidden library speakeasy. One professional actor has 5 shots of whiskey and then attempts to perform a major role in Shakespeare's greatest love story: Romeo & Juliet. Hilarity and mayhem ensue while the remaining sober actors try to keep the script on track. Every show is different depending on who is drinking...and what they're drinking!

Once upon a time, our hero John Cobbler stumbled upon a hidden castle. A beautiful maiden has been transformed into a mermaid! Can John use his wits to free the mermaid and escape from the wicked Lord Fish? This show features elegantly crafted Bunraku-style puppets with elaborately built miniature castle and interior sets. Framed in a beautiful, large black theatre stage, this show was originally built for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Step into 1950s Pittsburgh, where former Negro League baseball star Troy Maxson battles the weight of a dream deferred. Now working the city streets as a trash collector, he finds his simmering regrets threatening to fracture the family he loves. A poignant and powerful exploration of love, responsibility, and the invisible fences that confine us.

Samuel Beckett's critically acclaimed final full-length play, essentially a one-woman tragicomic monologue, has been a tour-de-force for many an actress since its 1961 premiere. Winnie, a woman in her 50s, is inexplicably buried waist-deep in a mound of scorched earth in a bleak landscape, while nearby, her huaband Willie dozes. She spends her day going through familiar routines, endlessly chattering and reminiscing about better days almost as a vaudville routine for one. Then a bell rings, and she starts again. Is she trapped in this cycle or free to leave?

People-avoider Zia suffers from anthropophobia, the fear of people. People-watcher Doe suffers from being dead. And naturally, only Zia can see him. Brought together by chance, fate, or potentially ghostly revenge, the two set out on a journey to uncover Doe's forgotten life while Zia faces perhaps a fate worse than death... socializing. JOHN DOE is a world premiere commissioned through Keegan's Boiler Room Series and brought to vibrant (and haunted!) life in January 2026.

In Garc?a Lorca's modern classic, an authoritarian mother exercises her ruthless power over her family, until the desire for freedom challenges and confronts her authority. A revealing look at the hypocrisy and deception that corrupt human relationships.

Joriah Kwame became a viral TikTok star with his song "Little Miss Perfect," which garnered millions of views and launched this new musical with Broadway aspirations. High school kids are under a lot of pressure. Just ask Noelle, who has lived up to expectations of perfection her whole life, even as she's attempted to blend in as one of the few Black students at a predominantly white school. But now it's senior year, and a scholarship to Howard University is within her reach -if she can demonstrate leadership skills. With an irresistible mix of hip-hop, showtunes, and pop sounds, Little Miss Perfect distills Noelle's journey as she seeks to escape her small Midwestern town. Joriah's hit songs "Little Miss Perfect" and "Ordinary" feature prominently, and you'll be humming the new numbers - like "Black Girl Magic," "Malaya's Words," and "Legendary" by the time the curtain falls.

Brian Curry has a secret. He's going to read your thoughts, predict your future and blow your mind. But what does that make him? A psychic, a mentalist, a magician or a very good liar? Packed with twists and turns and a sneak peak into the techniques of an incredible liar, this 60 minute performance will leave you astounded long after the curtain closes.

Master illusionist Dendy and acclaimed playwright/director Aaron Posner reunite after their smash-hit collaboration on The Tempest for a spellbinding new one-man show. Part dazzling magic act, part deeply personal journey, Nothing Up My Sleeve pulls back the curtain on the history of magic while exploring Dendy's own path to becoming a magician. Prepare to be amazed, inspired, and transported into a world where the impossible becomes reality. Featuring captivating storytelling, jaw-dropping tricks, and mind-bending surprises, this exhilarating experience will leave audiences believing in magic again.

Eight people meet in a church basement and lock their phones in a box. This a capella chamber musical from Dave Malloy (Natasha, Pierre, & the Great Comet of 1812) follows an octet of people struggling with digital dependency, charting their compulsions using only the analog vibrancy of their own voices. Witty, dissonant, and lush by turns, Malloy's score plumbs the darkest corners of the internet alongside these characters' yearning for connection. Staged in the round in the Victor Shargai theatre, Octet asks how-in the face of the many ways to escape into our screens-we can choose to be present with each other.

Tony Award-winning actor and master clown Bill Irwin (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Sesame Street) has spent a lifetime captivated by Samuel Beckett. With little more than a funny hat and a podium, Irwin mines the comedy and tragedy of Beckett's work-including Waiting for Godot, Texts for Nothing, and more-in a nonstop display of jovial verbal and physical comedy that has become Irwin's signature. Whether you're encountering the Nobel Prize winner's writings for the first time or building on a body of Beckett knowledge, the "pure, energizing joy" (The New York Times) of Irwin's dynamic showcase is not to be missed.

Rent by Jonathan Larson is produced in partnership with Anne Arundel Community College, Department of Performing Arts (30th Anniversary of its debut). “Rent” follows a year in the lives of struggling young artists in New York’s East Village as they face love, loss, and the impact of disease. Loosely based on Puccini’s La Bohème, this rock musical is a powerful tribute to creativity, resilience, and the Bohemian life. This production features a contestant from John Legend’s Team on “The Voice,” alongside other professional actors/singers in this highly acclaimed musical, an Award Winner of the Tony Award for Best Musical and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

It’s the 1980’s in Hollywood and a “small town girl living in a lonely world” meets a “city boy, born and raised in South Detroit” on the Sunset Strip and they fall in love to the greatest hits of the era! Playing to packed houses on Broadway for over 5 years, ROCK OF AGES takes you back to the time of big bands, playing big guitar solos and sporting even bigger hair! Featuring: Don’t Stop Believin’, Wanted Dead or Alive, Here I Go Again, The Final Countdown, Can’t Fight This Feeling, Hit Me With Your Best Shot, and many more great classic rock hits!

Based on the hit film, this hilarious new musical follows Dewey Finn, a failed, wannabe rock star who decides to earn a few extra bucks by posing as a substitute teacher at a prestigious prep school. There he turns a class of straight-A students into a guitar-shredding, bass-slapping, mind-blowing rock band. While teaching these pint-sized prodigies what it means to truly rock, Dewey falls for the school's beautiful, but uptight headmistress, helping her rediscover the wild child within. (The New York Times says, "BE WARNED! There's a love story in this one.")

Silent Sky is the story of Henrietta Leavitt (1868-1921), an early twentieth century astronomer whose discovery of how to effectively measure vast astronomical distances led to a shift in the understanding of the scale and nature of the universe.

An original musical featuring the beloved songs from Academy Award-winning composer Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Pippin, Godspell), Snapshots: A Musical Scrapbook is a touching and authentic look into how we fall in love and the poignant power of trusting our hearts and memories. Sue has her bags packed, her farewell note written and the resolution to leave her husband, Dan, after decades of their lives entwined. Finding herself in their dusty, suburban attic for a final goodbye to the life they led, Sue is startled when Dan arrives home early from his all-consuming job. Surrounded by a lifetime of memories and phantoms of their former selves, Sue and Dan embark on a cerebral journey to the past, rediscovering their true love that remained hidden in a lifetime of Snapshots.

The most Tony Award-winning Show of the year. The most Tony Award-nominated Play of all time. Stereophonic mines the agony and the ecstasy of creation as it zooms in on a music studio in 1976. Here, an up-and-coming rock band recording a new album finds itself suddenly on the cusp of superstardom. The ensuing pressures could spark their breakup-or their breakthrough. Written by David Adjmi, directed by Daniel Aukin, and featuring original music by Arcade Fire's Will Butler, Stereophonic invites the audience to immerse themselves-with fly-on-the-wall intimacy-in the powder keg process of a band on the brink of blowing up.

Tambo and Bones find themselves in a fix: they're trapped in a minstrel show. And it's damn hard to know what's real and what's not. The escape plan? Get famous...cash in...and get even. This time-traveling hip-hop fantasia from slam poet turned playwright Dave Harris dares to say the quiet part out loud, wrestling with America's racist past and present and exploding its post-racial future.

In American Ballet Theatre’s The Winter’s Tale, Tony–winning choreographer Christopher Wheeldon brings his visionary eye to Shakespeare’s romantic play of jealousy, redemption, and the passage of time. Wheeldon’s compelling choreography covers a wide spectrum of unraveling emotions, from intense repentance and agonizing heartbreak to loving tenderness and joyful celebration. Audiences venture between worlds: bitter, wintry Sicilia and vibrant, blooming Bohemia—which features a magnificent, heavily-adorned wishing tree. Complete with Bob Crowley’s lush, striking designs and Joby Talbot’s expressive, sweeping score, this cautionary tale ushers in the promise of hope and renewal.

The residents of the SeaBreeze Hebrew Home for the Aging carry on as usual: knitting, playing Scrabble, fighting, and falling in love. As the apocalyptic outside world threatens their way of life, Fanny, Barbara, Ruth, and Hal fight to protect the community they've built together. Even while battling armored nurses, a wild ostrich, strange prophecies, and their ailing bodies, they find joy in each other's company. The World to Come is a surprising new epic that reveals how powerful friendship can be as a form of resistance.