Shows in DC: Current DC Theatre Productions

This classic, a delightfully dark comedy, feels just as fresh and funny today as it did when it first premiered, blending sharp wit with a macabre twist that speaks to the timeless absurdities of family and facade. Set in a seemingly quaint Brooklyn home, the play follows two sweet, elderly sisters with a shocking secret, a nephew who thinks he’s Theodore Roosevelt, and another with a murderous past—offering a hilariously twisted take on what lies beneath the surface of normalcy. In an age where appearances can be deceiving and truth feels stranger than fiction, ARSENIC AND OLD LACE reminds us, through laughter, how chaos often hides in the most charming places.

Ex-cop and recent widower Walter "Pops" Washington and his newly paroled son Junior have spent a lifetime living between Riverside and crazy. But now, the NYPD is demanding his signature to close an outstanding lawsuit, the landlord wants him out, the liquor store is closed-and the church won't leave him alone. When the struggle to keep one of New York City's last great rent-stabilized apartments collides with old wounds, sketchy new houseguests, and a final ultimatum, it seems that the old days may be dead and gone. "...wonderful...a genuine original, that deserves to be seen...." - Newsday (NY).

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.

Somewhere in America, an army of pre-teen competitive dancers plots to take over the world. And if their new routine is good enough, they'll claw their way to the top at Nationals in Tampa Bay. In this explosive play ambition, growing up, and finding our souls in the heat of it all, more is at stake than a first-place trophy. As the competition heats up, literal fangs come out, and the blood, sweat, and tears get very real in a drama about friendship, rivalry, and girls becoming women.

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.

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.

Freckleface Strawberry The Musical, based on the beloved New York Times best-selling book by celebrated actress, Julianne Moore, is a fun and touching family musical. Freckleface Strawberry will do anything to get rid of her freckles - from scrubbing them with soap to caking on makeup... and even wearing a ski mask to school! Will her schoolmates realize that it's her under the mask? Will Freckleface be brave enough to finally face her complexion in the mirror? With the help of her lovable schoolmates, including an amazingly talented ballerina, a cutie jock, a charming ditz and a totally kooky teacher, Freckleface learns that everyone is different - and that's what makes everyone special.

Young Yeila dreams of being a superstar, but her lack of confidence gives her awful stage fright. With advice from her mother and mentors, Yeila begins her journey to find her roots, get confidence, and be amazing! Travel with Yeila, who visits her grandmother in Cuba to add a salsa flavor to her own hip-hop style! The audience gets to dance along in this dynamic participation play where one actress creates three generations of lively women. Journey with Yeila as she discovers the fun of her multi-cultural heritage.

Hothouse New Works Block Party is exactly what it sounds like—a block party style festival of bold, community-powered new work. Pop-ups, performances, works-in-progress, and creative experiences collide in a high-energy, community-centered celebration of new voices, bold ideas, and real connection. It’s not just a festival—it’s a high-energy celebration of new voices, real connection, and the future of theater.

Based on the real-life Scopes "Monkey" Trial, this electrifying courtroom drama pits two towering legal minds against each other in a small-town battle over science, religion, and the right to think freely. As the town becomes a stage for national attention, personal conviction clashes with public opinion in a trial that transcends its time. Inherit the Wind, the American classic by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, is a searing, deeply human portrait of a country still wrestling with the cost-and courage-of progress.

In an age of voice memos, archives, and digital trails we can’t delete, this play lands hard. We’re all haunted by old versions of ourselves. Beckett understood that before any of this technology existed.

In this modern classic, an authoritarian mother exercises ruthless power over her family until the desire for freedom challenges her. 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.

Matt Rife is bringing his "Stay Golden Tour" to Capital One Arena as part of his highly anticipated 2025 North American tour. Produced by Live Nation, the tour marks another milestone in Rife's rapidly growing career, following the global success of his sold-out performances and viral comedic presence. Rife has become a standout voice in modern comedy, known for his sharp observational humor, quick improvisation, and engaging stage presence. His work has captivated audiences both online and on stage, earning him a massive following. He gained widespread recognition through his viral stand-up clips, appearances on MTV's Wild 'N Out, The Challenge, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

Welcome to the wild world of MIDICULOUS, where middle school banter is reviewed in real-time by publicists, where students psychoanalyze their own teenage hijinks with post-pandemic therapy speak way beyond their years, and where viral TikTok dances can kick off a zombie apocalypse! Inspired by and with input from DC students, MIDICULOUS is a world premiere from spoken-word playwriting duo Drew Anderson and Dwayne Lawson-Brown that explores what it really means to be a middle schooler today. Commissioned by Keegan's Boiler Room Series initiative for new works and education program, Keegan PLAY-RAH-KA.

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!

Nine-year-old Scooter, a boy with an imagination larger than the sky, becomes obsessed with a fantasy book series. To his dismay, author Poppy Carousel never finished the final book. While grappling with his own personal loss, Scooter embarks on a quest to find Poppy and the missing ending. Will Scooter discover the answers he’s looking for? Who else will he meet along the way?

Six strangers find themselves at a silent retreat in the woods, each seeking connection while struggling with their own, silent, inner demons. Both awkwardly hilarious and strangely compassionate, Small Mouth Sounds asks how we address life’s biggest questions when words fail us.

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 a single room, three people slip between fantasy and reality, acting out the moments they’re too afraid to live in real life. What begins as playful role-play becomes a raw excavation of longing, connection, and the emotional legacies passed.

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.