News Stories

DC Rock Live
David Hintz

Sabrina Elayne Carten has the daunting task of performing as several of the musical influences of Janis Joplin in the returning musical, One Night with Janis Joplin… Read more

FORMER ‘THE VOICE’ CONTESTANT
HITS ARENA STAGEJune 9, 2013

The Washington Examiner
Alicia M. Cohn

One Night with Janis Joplin, a concert-as-theatre tribute to the iconic singer, is headed back to the District, where it sold out Arena Stage in its first run last fall… Read more

REVIVING A TRIBUTE TO ROCK ‘N’ ROLLJune 5, 2013

The Washington Examiner
Barbara Mackay

One of Arena Stage’s most successful shows in the 2012-2013 season was One Night With Janis Joplin, a musical tribute to the “Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll.” In fact, the show was so successful that Arena Stage is bringing it back as its summer show… Read more

E. FAYE BUTLER AND NOVA Y. PAYTON TO START
IN SMOKEY JOE’S CAFÉ AT ARENA STAGEJune 5, 2013

Broadway World
BWW News Desk

Two area favorites E. Faye Butler and Nova Y. Payton will unite to star in Smokey Joe’s Café - The Songs of Leiber and Stoller in Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater’s 2013/14 season… Read more

ONE NIGHT WITH JANIS JOPLINJune 1, 2013

On Tap Magazine
Monica Boland

Mary Bridget Davies is Janis Joplin personified. The Cleveland-based blues singer has spent the last seven years capturing the spirit of the first queen of rock ‘n’ roll, and on June 21st, Davies will take DC by storm with the return of One Night with Janis Joplin at Arena Stage’s Kreeger Theater… Read more

OTHER DESERT CITIES BRINGS DELIGHTFUL DRAMA, DYSFUNCTION TO ARENA STAGEMay 13, 2013

WTOP
Rachel Nania

Washington loves nothing more than a story involving politicians and a carefully-guarded secret. Throw in some unresolved family conflict and Reaganite references, and voilá: a true D.C. classic… Read more

IN OTHER DESERT CITIES, A FAMILY HISTORY
LUSH IN SECRETSMay 10, 2013

PBS NewsHour
Jeffrey Brown

When Jon Robin Baitz’s family drama Other Desert Cities closed on Broadway last June, it concluded a strong run and had been showered with high praise for showcasing its creator’s talents… Read more

ARENA PROVIDES A STAGE
FOR THE STAGES OF GRIEFMay 10, 2013

Washington Post
Jessica Goldstein

Present Tense begins with a heartbeat. Six teenagers, all of whom have experienced a death in the family, create what the Arena Stage Voices of Now program calls “a group breathing tableau…” Read more

INTERVIEW WITH OTHER DESERT CITIES
CAST MEMBER LARRY BRYGGMANMay 9, 2013

WUSA 9
JC Hayward

Actor Larry Bryggman joined WUSA 9 anchor JC Hayward to talk about his role in the dysfunctional family drama Other Desert Cities, now playing at Arena Stage through May 26. Read more

FOR JON ROBIN BAITZ, ALL POLITICS IS VERBALMay 3, 2013

Washington Post
Peter Marks

In the expansive living room of their bright Tribeca apartment, Jon Robin Baitz and his friendly, three-legged dog Trip both pad about restlessly, looking for comfortable places to alight… Read more

OTHER DESERT CITIES CELEBRATES
ITS OPENING NIGHT AT ARENA STAGEMay 3, 2013

TheaterMania
Hayley Levitt

Last night, Arena Stage celebrated the opening of Other Desert Cities, a contemporary family drama written by Pulitzer Prize finalist Jon Robin Baitz… Read more

A QUICK 5 WITH KYLE DONNELLYMay 1, 2013

Maryland Theatre Guide
Elliot Lanes

Kyle Donnelly is the director of Other Desert Cities which is currently playing at Arena Stage. Kyle was the associate artistic director at Arena Stage from 1992 to 1998… Read more

Other Desert Cities at Arena StageApril 30, 2013

Washington City Paper
Caroline Jones

How much are we willing to sacrifice to appease our families? Should we swallow our complaints, even if it hurts us? The characters in Jon Robin Baitz's Other Desert Cities, now playing at Arena Stage, frequently grapple with this issue… Read more

Other Desert Cities—It’s all in the family
for Helen Carey and Emily DonahoeApril 30, 2013

Woman Around Town
Charlene Giannetti

Two strong women face off in a mesmerizing family drama by Jon Robin Baitz. There are hidden secrets and a struggle to keep those secrets buried. The play, which had a very successful run at Lincoln Center and on Broadway in 2011, calls for two female actors with stage presence and "chops." Arena Stage has found those leads in Helen Carey and Emily Donahoe… Read more

Arena’s Other Desert Cities, begins April 26April 26, 2013

Playbill
Adam Hetrick

Tony Award nominees Larry Bryggman and Helen Carey play Republican parents whose secrets are to be revealed in their daughter's memoir… Read more

John Robin Baitz’s
Other Desert Cities at Arena StageApril 25, 2013

Washington Examiner
Emily Cary

Jon Robin Baitz’s knack for unearthing and reconciling family secrets was rewarded with a 2011 Pulitzer Prize nomination for Other Desert Cities. The play merging humor and drama gets its Washington debut at Arena Stage with a cast headed by Tony Award nominees Larry Bryggman as Lyman Wyeth and Helen Carey as his wife, Polly… Read more

A conversation with Joaquina kalukangoApril 19, 2013

Keeping it Reel with Film Gordon
Tim Gordon

On the latest episode of Conversations, Tim Gordon sits down with one of the stars of the acclaimed theater production of The Mountaintop, Joaquina Kalukango. Hailed as daring, rousing and provocative, The Mountaintop is playwright Katori Hall's bold reimagining of the last night of the historic life of Dr. Martin Luther King… Learn more

Wright, at his Mountaintop, playing MLKApril 18, 2013

The Georgetowner
Gary Tischler

It isn’t easy portraying an icon, especially when that icon is the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Just ask actor Bowman Wright. Wright stars as King in playwright Katori Hall’s The Mountaintop, now in the Kreeger Theater at Arena Stage’s Mead Center for American Theater through May 12… Read more

Was Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. a regular guy?April 11, 2013

NPR—Tell Me More
Michel Martin

The Mountaintop is an award-winning play about the night Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. died. But some critics don’t love playwright Katori Hall’s portrayal of the civil rights icon as a regular guy. Hall tells host Michel Martin why she found it important to focus on the man, not the myth… Read more

MLK Jr. Lives Again on Arena StageApril 7, 2013

Washington Examiner
Alicia Cohn

On the anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., notables in Washington gathered at Arena Stage for opening night of a play depicting the hours before his death… Read more

Katori Hall’s Story of Martin Luther King Jr.,
The Mountaintop, comes to WashingtonApril 5, 2013

Washington Post
Brett Zongker via the Associated Press

A Memphis motel where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated 45 years ago has been transported to the city where the civil rights hero led his March on Washington… Read more

PHOTO FLASH: KATORI HALL AND MORE
ON OPENING NIGHT AT THE MOUNTAINTOPApril 5, 2013

Broadway World

Last night, April 4, was the opening night celebration for The Mountaintop at Arena Stage. Opening night fell on the 45th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination. Scroll down for photos from the festivities, featuring notable guests playwright Katori Hall, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg… Read more

Arena Stage Unveils The MountaintopApril 4, 2013

Capitol File
Leslie Wooldridge

On the evening of April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated while standing on the balcony of his Memphis motel room. He'd been planning to lead a protest march in sympathy with local workers on strike. Instead, his life was taken… Read more

The Humanity of MLKApril 4, 2013

Washington Blade
Patrick Folliard

Early in playwright Katori Hall's The Mountaintop (now at Arena Stage), Martin Luther King, Jr., smokes a cigarette and audibly uses the restroom. “Quickly this iconic figure of history is defined as very human,” says the play's director Robert O'Hara*hellip; Read more

The little-told story of Elizabeth Keckly
and Mary Todd LincolnApril 1, 2013

Ms. Magazine
Holly Derr

As the DVD of Spielberg's latest epic, Lincoln, hit shelves last week, Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. was telling a different Lincoln story: that of Mary Todd Lincoln and her dressmaker, former slave Elizabeth Keckly… Read more

Mary T. and Lizzy K. at Arena StageApril 1, 2013

Capitol File
Leslie Wooldridge

The best theater makes us think and makes us feel. Mary T. & Lizzy K., Arena Stage's latest offering, seeks to do both. The production explores the unlikely friendship between former First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln (Naomi Jacobson) and her skilled dressmaker, Read more

Climbing The MountaintopApril 1, 2013

Woman Around Town
Charlene Giannetti

As a student at the Juilliard School, Joaquina Kalukango was familiar with Katori Hall's work. “She was a playwright and I was a first year drama student,” Joaquina said… Read more

The Mountaintop offers inspiring view of
MLK at Arena StageMarch 31, 2013

Washington Examiner
Barbara Mackay

April 4 is the official opening date of Arena Stage's next play, Katori Hall's The Mountaintop. That's an important date in reference to the play, as it was on April 4, 1968, that Martin Luther King was assassinated… Read more

Arena Stage premieres Mary T. & Lizzy K.March 29, 2013

Playbill
Kenneth Jones

Mary T. & Lizzy K., Tazewell Thompson's drama about two unique women of the Lincoln White House, officially opens March 29 in a world-premiere production directed by the author at Arena Stage's intimate Arlene and Robert Kogod Cradle in Washington, DC… Read more

Robert O’Hara tweaks The Mountaintop
for Arena Stage co-productionMarch 29, 2013

Washington City Paper
Abdul Ali

The Mountaintop, Katori Hall’s award-winning play about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. the night before he was killed at Memphis' Lorraine Motel, is enjoying a post-Broadway life at Arena Stage… Read more

Arena’s Other Desert Cities to be
populated by Larry Dryggman, Helen Carey,
Emily Donahoe and moreMarch 28, 2013

Playbill
Kenneth Jones

Tony Award nominees Larry Bryggman and Helen Carey will play Republican parents whose secrets are to be revealed in their daughter's memoir, in Arena Stage's in-the-round production of Other Desert Cities, playing April 26-May 26 in Washington, DC… Read more