20 stories by "Kate Mattingly"
Even though Underneath the Lintel has been attracting crowds and winning awards on the Fringe circuit (voted Best Solo Show, 2011 Minnesota Fringe Festival; voted Best Solo Show, 2012 London…
In Sandaya: Burmese Lessons, singer and actress Meghan McCall played the role of Catherine, an American who travels to Burma during its financial crisis in 1987. Catherine persists in learni…
I didn't really understand the greatness of Arthur Miller's The Crucible until I learned that he wrote the play in 1953 at the time of McCarthyism, and that the House of Representatives' Com…
When The Atlantic published Anne-Marie Slaughter's article "Why Women Still Can't Have it All" in 2012, I had just finished a year of coursework for my doctorate and her perspective triggere…
The best shows that are "recommended for all ages" appeal not only to younger generations but also to their parents, aunts, and uncles. The show heady collectables by Deep Vision dance compa…
Traffic cops, tourists, a policeman, families, bystanders, Fringe goers, Delta Sigma Theta sisters, and Borealis Theatre. This was the cast of performers who created Tickets to an Event spon…
Experiencing a rock concert can be transformative: part entertainment, part sporting event, part fashion show, and part religion. Tia Nina knows this well. They are three rockers —…
The Elephant in My Closet has already appeared in festivals in Cincinnati, Dallas, and Charleston, South Carolina, but the Capital Fringe could be the ideal place to see this one-man show: i…
Some Fringe shows grab their audiences with techniques that are humorous or shocking, others move in more mysterious ways. The Clocks belongs in this "other" category. Both spare and surreal…
If you enjoy shows that make you jump out of your seat, then you should have been at  Mark Twain's Riverboat Extravaganza! on Friday night: it featured both an extravaganza and an evacuat…
Volitional experiences are popular with audiences today, particularly shows that maximize opportunities for you the theatergoer to decide what to watch, where to go, and who to listen to. Re…
"Ceremony and ritual sweeten sadness and touch it with awe." This is one of several personal and poignant observations in Ellouise Schoettler's Arlington National Cemetery: My Forever Hom…
[Editor's note: Much has been written about the extraordinary production of Oklahoma!, now enjoying a return engagement at Arena Stage. We've asked our dance reviewer to look at it from her …
I haven't been to many Fringe shows that ended with everyone in the audience asking for a picture of the performers. Then again Hello, Hedgehogs! deviates from the norm in a bunch of ways. I…
If Bruce Lee had played Lite-Brite as a youngster, Illuminate is the kind of show he may have conceived. Instead kudos go to Johnny Shryock, producer, director and composer of Illuminate, wh…
The premise is enticing: A Day at the Museum is a wordless glimpse of various characters passing in front of three images in a gallery. The set design creatively positions three frames where…
Picture this: there's an artist (painter/actor/musician/dancer) you admire and one day you hear about less savory details of their private life. Does it change your opinion of their work? Do…
Fifteen minutes into Illuminopolis I was happy I had chosen a seat far away from the front row: it meant there was more room between me and the woman licking fire on stage. Plus I could watc…
To borrow a phrase from Gene Kelly in "Anchors Aweigh”, The 2nd Annual Fool for All, directed and devised by Matthew R. Wilson, is not for grouchers, groaners, cranks, and moaners. …
SLAM tap tap tap tap… SLAM tap tap tap tap…. Like a shot from a gun or a huge book crashing to the ground, the SLAM defies description. It's a sound not so much heard as felt. The imp…
