All stories by Amy Kotkin on BroadwayStars

Saturday, June 10, 2017

Review: ‘Jean and Dinah – The Play’ at The Essential Theatre by Amy Kotkin

A disheveled bedroom in Port of Spain, Trinidad — home to the nearly incapacitated Dinah – is playwright Tony Hall’s incubator for an important and wide-ranging drama about the des…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 04:38PM
Monday, April 17, 2017

Review: ‘The Magic Play’ at Olney Theatre Center by Amy Kotkin

In the art of magic, Andrew Hinderaker has found a vivid metaphor for the dynamics of honesty, trust and control that underpin our most important relationships. His immensely entertaining an…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 03:26PM
Saturday, March 18, 2017

Interview: Michael Bloom, Director of Lisa Kron’s ‘Well’ at 1st Stage by Amy Kotkin

Amy Kotkin recently had a chance to interview Michael Bloom about his upcoming production of Lisa Kron’s Well at 1st Stage. Amy: What initially attracted you to this play? Have you d…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 12:15AM
Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Review: ‘Coolatully’ at Solas Nua by Amy Kotkin

In the fictional village of Coolatully, a quartet of characters grapple with the effects of Ireland’s newest mass emigration. The brief and heady era of the Celtic Tiger was over; a mass e…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 08:12AM
Monday, February 6, 2017

Review: ‘The River’ at Spooky Action Theater by Amy Kotkin

Jez Butterworth’s The River does not yield itself to easy interpretations. Uncertainty flows through the story, jostling us repeatedly. Its questions about truth and morality are specific…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 02:59AM
Sunday, January 29, 2017

Review: ‘Last Train to Nibroc’ at Washington Stage Guild by Amy Kotkin

On a train rumbling eastward from Los Angeles in 1940, a young man in uniform invites himself to sit down next to a pretty young woman absorbed in her book. As it turns out, they are both fr…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 01:58PM
Monday, January 16, 2017

Review: ‘The Hard Problem’ at The Studio Theatre by Amy Kotkin

No shrinking violet when it comes to exploring humanity’s most complex questions, playwright Tom Stoppard takes a deep dive into the frontiers of neuroscience, human nature, and the existe…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 04:48PM
Saturday, November 19, 2016

In Context: ‘Six Degrees of Separation’ at The Keegan Theatre by Amy Kotkin

John Guare’s Six Degrees of Separation was widely admired as an ingenious, penetrating look at contemporary society when it premiered in New York back in 1990. Based on a true story, it c…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 07:03PM
Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Review #2: ‘Straight White Men’ at The Studio Theatre by Amy Kotkin

If your empathy for straight white men was strained by last week’s elections, go see Young Jean Lee’s 2014 play at The Studio Theatre. You’ll be privy to a rare, funny and poignant loo…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 01:29PM
Sunday, October 30, 2016

Review: ‘The Night Alive’ at Quotidian Theatre Company by Amy Kotkin

Conor McPherson spins an intricate web of interdependence, horror, and hope among the five damaged, yet intensely human characters in his masterful play, The Night Alive. It takes a hugely t…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 10:23AM
Friday, October 14, 2016

Review: ‘The Year of Magical Thinking’ at Arena Stage at The Mead Center for American Theater by Amy Kotkin

Kathleen Turner is back at Arena Stage, and that is always good news for Washington theater-goers. Having starred in Mother Courage and her Children, and Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 03:17PM
Monday, October 10, 2016

Review: ‘Peter and the Starcatcher’ at St. Mark’s Players by Amy Kotkin

When the cast of St. Mark‘s Players’ new production, Peter and the Starcatcher, charges out from behind deep red curtains for their opening scene, that is your cue. Stop right here and s…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 08:16PM
Friday, September 30, 2016

Review: ‘The Little Foxes’ at Arena Stage by Amy Kotkin

The enduring popularity of Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes offers proof positive that themes of greed, racism, and misogyny continue to resonate with contemporary audiences. Though set …

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 08:47PM
Saturday, September 10, 2016

Review: Angelique Kidjo Concert at The Music Center at Strathmore by Amy Kotkin

The raves never stop pouring in for Grammy Award-winning singer, composer, and humanitarian Angelique Kidjo – nor should they. Called by NPR “Africa’s greatest living diva,” Kidjo�…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 02:27PM
Tuesday, August 23, 2016

‘The 7:30 PM ‘Summer Hummer V: Champions’ at Signature Theatre by Amy Kotkin

Theater folks and fans alike reveled in last night’s Summer Hummer V: Champions –  the Washington Theater Community’s annual one-night-only benefit for theatreWashington’s ‘Ta…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 12:42PM
Tuesday, July 12, 2016

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘How to Give Birth to a Rabbit’ by Amy Kotkin

In this season of our discontent, How to Give Birth to a Rabbit reminds us that bizarre hoaxes and media frenzies are hardly 21st-century inventions.  In fact, one of Western history’s mo…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 03:20PM

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘The House of Yes’ by Amy Kotkin

Think about your worst family Thanksgiving ever, then amp up its bizarre agonies a thousand fold. Even then, you will not come close to the dysfunction displayed by the Pascal family of McLe…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 02:51AM
Friday, July 8, 2016

2016 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Color Theory’ by Amy Kotkin

Magic: The Gathering, a trading card game representing epic battles between wizards, has an estimated 20 million active players worldwide. Judging from the enthusiastic reaction of the audie…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 03:51PM
Saturday, June 11, 2016

Review: ‘Henry IV Parts I & II’ at The Rude Mechanicals by Amy Kotkin

Over 17 years, The Rude Mechanicals, a local theater company specializing in classic works, has made its way through nearly all of Shakespeare’s enduring canon.  After the current product…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 11:52AM
Friday, April 29, 2016

Review: ‘Disgraced’ at Arena Stage by Amy Kotkin

If you think we are over-saturated with passionate discussions of race, gender, nationality, and religion during this chaotic election year — think again.  There is still much to be p…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 02:54PM
Monday, March 14, 2016

Review: ‘Hexagon 2016: Red, White, & Voters’ Blues’ by Amy Kotkin

America’s fascination with mobile phones, drones, and Fitbits were all parodied in the 2016 Hexagon show, but in this year of unprecedented political rancor, the group’s new revue, adept…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 02:10PM
Friday, February 19, 2016

Review: ‘Clybourne Park’ at George Washington University’s Department of Theatre and Dance by Amy Kotkin

There are good reasons why Bruce Norris’  2010 Pulitzer Prize-winning play Clybourne Park has been staged no less than five times in the past four years by local companies.First, it …

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 01:43PM
Saturday, January 16, 2016

Review: ‘Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street’ at St. Mark’s Players by Amy Kotkin

What better place could there possibly be to mount Sweeney Todd than the magnificent late-Victorian St. Mark’s Church on Capitol Hill? And what more capable or inventive local company cou…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 03:46PM
Sunday, December 6, 2015

‘George is Dead’ at The Klunch by Amy Kotkin

The Klunch, a newly formed theater company launched by Ian Allen, former artistic director of Cherry Red Productions,  inaugurated its first season with the DC premiere of George is Dead, a…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 11:35AM

All that Chat

2023-2024 BROADWAY SEASON
May 30, 2023: Grey House - Lyceum Theatre
Jun 26, 2023: Just For Us - Hudson Theatre
Jul 24, 2023: The Cottage - Hayes Theater
Nov 16, 2023: Spamalot - St. James Theatre
Dec 18, 2023: Appropriate - Hayes Theater
Mar 07, 2024: Doubt - Todd Haimes Theatre
Apr 14, 2024: Lempicka - Longacre Theatre
Apr 17, 2024: The Wiz - Marquis Theatre
Apr 18, 2024: Suffs - Music Box Theatre
Apr 25, 2024: Mother Play - Hayes Theater
Jun 10, 2024: The Drama Desk Awards