'Arabesque' Opens at Kennedy Center in DC

"Arabesque: Arts of the Arab World," the $10 million, three-week festival at the Kennedy Center, began on Monday. It features 800 artists from 22 different countries including Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, Somalia and Sudan, including a production from Kuwait that portrays Saddam Hussein as Richard III. It the largest presentation of Arab arts ever in the United States. Click here for the full program.

D.C. – The New American Theater Center?

Christopher Rawson, theatre critic since 1983 for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, recaps his experience at the recent American Theatre Critics Association gathering in Washington D.C. He give substance to the claim that D.C. is now third in the nation for professional theatre (over San Francisco and Minneapolis) and is quickly on the heals of overtaking Chicago. He give a very good summary of the major players in the Capital district. Check it out here. A personal favorite of mine is the Studio Theatre, run by Joy Zinoman, which produces a number of international works. A stand-out was a production of Vassily Sigarev’s Black Milk back in 2005.