This popular American musical is an insightful, vibrant and humorous take on our founding fathers' determination to do the right thing for their fledgling nation. As members of the Second Continental Congress struggle to reach consensus, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson argue for independence from the British monarchy. The ensuing debates defined our country. As we explore this historical moment through the evolving identity of America today, this robust, award-winning musical boldly brings our country's beginnings to blazing life.
Shows in DC: Current DC Theatre Productions
Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' searing satire of a family digging through their recently deceased patriarch's crumbling estate is both gut-splittingly funny and shocking in its confrontation of conveniently forgotten family history. DC-luminaries Kimberly Gilbert (Angels in America) and Cody Nickell (Ink) star as siblings battling over the possession and meaning of their father's dark patrimony. As the rest of the family descends on the ancestral property in rural Arkansas, old rivalries and grudges are eclipsed by the moral weight of what they find. Staged in our black box Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab, this will be a unique staging of one of the most important American plays of the past 15 years.
reative Cauldron's "Bold New Voices" initiative supports the development of new plays or musicals written by women or women identifying writers. Join Creative Cauldron for a series of professionally staged readings and help choose the final selection for the Cauldron's 2026/27 Season "Bold New Voices" production.
Under an Egyptian moon, the aging Julius Caesar meets teenage Cleopatra by chance one night. With turmoil afoot as Cleopatra and her younger brother vie for the throne, Caesar helps the young queen grow into a great ruler favoring wisdom, honor, and clemency. With the palace under siege by insurgents, Caesar might not be able to keep the country together or even escape alive-- let alone manage the headstrong Cleopatra.
Various Locations
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.
A group of teenage girls creates mass hysteria as they accuse fellow villagers of witchcraft in the rigid Puritan society of Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. The accused face the choice of maintaining their ideals or conforming in order to survive in this play about the dangers of unchecked fear, the fragility of justice, and the consequences of history.
What do you get when Don Lemon, award-winning journalist, and DL Hughley, one of the original Kings of Comedy, and highly recognized stand up comedians come together for a night of conversation? Expect the unexpected from these two brilliant minds doing their public service while taking you on a journey exploring topics spanning everything from social issues, race, pop-culture and current events. Nothing is off limits!
A circle in the snow. The smell of sulphur. The beating of wings. Here be dragons, as two stories of love and longing intertwine in a mystical tale of humanity and transformation.
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!
Everything, Devoured is a searing theatrical event that channels rage, humor, and ritual into a reckoning with the systems that shape our lives. The show follows Ronald Reagan, who is a demon. Ronald Reagan is a drag queen. Ronald Reagan is here, queer, and ready to eat you alive. In a world already burning, Kore tells her lover Julian, her best friend Dante, and Michael (a ghost who died in 1989) that she wants to summon a demon. They assume it's a metaphor. A coping mechanism. A joke. Then Ronald Reagan arrives as a demon, as a drag queen, and refuses to stay symbolic.
Barack Obama’s election changed history. And as we can clearly see, it also ended racism forever! But 44: The Musical is the story of Obama you won’t read about in history books... because history books are now banned in most states. But also because 44 is the story of Obama as Joe Biden kinda sorta remembers it...
Drama Desk Award-winning actor Lameece Issaq teams up with two-time Obie-winning director Lee Sunday Evans on her wildly candid new play, which centers on the chaotic life of a 40-something dental lab tech who gets fired and moves into a woman's rooming house run by nuns. While there, she must come to terms with her unfulfilled path to motherhood and the untimely death of her younger sister, all while fending off her unpredictable and sometimes deranged cohabitants. A Good Day to Me Not to You is a deeply human and comedic one-woman show that "opts for all-out vulnerability, dissecting the psyche as if the stage were an operating table" (The New York Times).
In this brand-new show, very young children will discover the beauty of the world during daytime and nighttime. They will watch–and help–Winnie and August work the “day shift:” waking the birds, putting dew in the grass, and baking fresh clouds; and the “night shift:” releasing the fireflies, shining the stars, and banishing nightmares. Using gentle, multi-sensory storytelling and incorporating audience participation.
At what point do you follow morals over orders? This darkly comic play explores how unexamined adherence to leadership can drive you to stifle what makes you most human. Set in a fictionalized 1648 India, two Imperial Guards watch from their post as the sun rises on the newly-completed Taj Mahal for the first time-an event that shakes their respective worlds. When they are ordered to perform an unthinkable task, the aftermath forces them to question their very ideas of beauty, loyalty, and even their own friendship. A wry and haunting examination of blind obedience.
A fierce and funny solo show devised by Perisphere Co-Artistic Director, Gerrad Alex Taylor. I Know How To Curse: a re-blackening of shakespeare confronts the legacy of minstrelsy in American theater. Using the structure of a minstrel show to critique the casting politics of the classical canon, the play interrogates how Black actors are seen-and unseen-onstage. A radical blend of Shakespeare, satire, and self-reflection, it reclaims space for Black artists in the roles we're too often denied.
Ana is on her own, a scholarship student at a boarding school, until she meets day-student Jonah. But what begins as an exploration of new and joyful desire shifts into more complex negotiations of intimacy and survival, covering decades in one woman’s life. Critically lauded in New York, Jonah is a story of rage, resilience, and the radical possibilities of trust by Studio favorite Rachel Bonds.
Celebrate America's 250th Birthday with this Civil War period story of love and family that stands the test of time based on Louisa May Alcott's American classic, Little Women. Follow the adventures of sisters, Jo, Meg, Beth and Amy March. Jo is trying to sell her stories for publication, but the publishers are not interested. Her friend, Professor Bhaer, tells her that she has to do better and write more from herself. Begrudgingly taking this advice, Jo weaves the story of herself and her sisters and their experience growing up in Civil War America.
The Capital Hilton
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.
Various Locations
Two demographically diverse, snarky sleight-of-hand experts battle live and onstage, for the title of DMV's Best Magician in The Magic Duel. Packed with fast-paced, seriously funny magic, audience members choose the contest's magical challenges and vote electronically for the winner of the coveted 'Golden Wand.'
Night falls on Big Cherry, USA - a seemingly ordinary town with secrets festering beneath its folksy charm. As the city council meeting unfolds in real time, tensions rise, alliances shift, and a routine agenda veers into chaos. What begins as civic procedure spirals into a gripping unmasking of buried truths - and a chilling question: How far would you go to protect your version of the truth? From the razor-sharp pen of Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy Letts (AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY), THE MINUTES is a darkly hilarious, slow-burning thriller that peels back the patriotic veneer of American identity. Part biting satire, part psychological mystery, it exposes the rot at the heart of institutional power and the stories we tell to survive it.
A Mirror by Sam Holcroft begins with Joel and Leyla's wedding, but where it ends will take your breath away. Gradually, fact and fiction begin to blur, it becomes unclear who or what to trust, and not a single person is safe - not even the wedding guests. Remember, attending a play that does not have ministry approval is not without some risks.
Set in modern day Messina, Sicily at a luxurious boutique hotel, Shakespeare's treasured story of love-games, loyalty, and assumptions is given a heightened glow up with the Fools' signature theatrical style: Commedia dell'Arte.
Tortured by his bland and conservative life, Dr. Henry Jekyll concocts a mixture that can transform his physical being, unleash his suppressed yearnings for depravity and evil, and return to his old self whenever he wishes. But when an unknown protegee is named as the beneficiary of his will, inheriting his entire estate in case of his "death or disappearance," his oldest friend suspects nefarious intentions and determines to uncover the identity of one Mr. Edward Hyde. The exhilaration and pleasure of Jekyll's alter ego becomes irresistible, and as its power grows, the Doctor's diminishes. He must make a choice, or will it be made for him?
L. Frank Baum’s beloved story of a Kansas farm girl who travels over the rainbow to the Land of Oz has thrilled audiences for generations. This delightful musical adaptation of the classic tale features the iconic score from the MGM film. Follow Dorothy, Toto, and friends down the yellow brick road to the Emerald City to find brains, heart, courage, and the magical power of home!
Joe and Jenny, a young immigrant couple, embark on a cross-country drive to their new home, bonding over roadside landmarks, motels, and surprisingly memorable stops at IHOP. Two decades later, Joe retraces that same journey with their 19-year-old daughter, Lucy. As these parallel road trips unfold-separated by twenty years-a vivid portrait of a family, their past, and the lengths we go for the people we love begins to unfold.
Focusing on the Congressman's formative years of ages 18-28, Young John Lewis reveals the humanity and heart of this mighty historic figure. The musical explores how the murder of Emmett Till motivated Lewis to pursue a life of service, including leading the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, fighting for Civil Rights with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and working for nearly two decades in Congress.