This column is sponsored by Arlington Arts/Arlington Cultural Affairs, a division of Arlington Economic Development.
Since the days of Florenz Ziegfeild and David Belasco, hopeful performers and audiences alike have harbored glittering dreams of Broadway.
But each one of those dreams begins in regional theater, where performers train and grow, while audiences enjoy the magic of live theater in their own community. Part of the fabric of our area’s rich cultural scene since 1949, Arlington’s Dominion Stage has just announced its’ 2023-2024 season.
Known as the Fairlington Players until re-branding in the late 1980’s, their first production was Ayn Rand’s Night of January 16th, an interactive courtroom drama whose ending depends on the decision of a jury of audience members (the play premiered in January of 1949, of course). Dominion Stage’s website offers a fascinating digital program archive, replete with ads and notices that offer a fascinating window on changing times.
Take a peek at Dominion Stage’s current season, which launched last weekend:
BRUTE FARCE
by Craig Houk
August 4, 5, 10, 11, 12, 17, 18, 19, 2023
8 p.m.
Gunston Theatre Two, 2700 S Lang Street, Arlington, VA 22206
Four vengeful, narcissistic actors, with the assistance of a brutish stage manager and a cynical stagehand, abduct and hold captive a theatre critic notorious for shutting down productions and ending careers through his malicious reviews. To confound matters, they intend to carry their plan out during a performance of a show they’re all currently appearing in. Less than an hour before the curtain is due to rise, their scheme begins to quickly unravel; we discover that none of the conspirators are familiar with the actual plan or its designed outcome.
MISERY
A thriller by William Goldman based on the novel by Stephen King
Fall 2023
Misery follows successful romance novelist Paul Sheldon, who is rescued from a car crash by his “number one fan,” Annie Wilkes, and wakes up captive in her secluded home. While Paul is convalescing, Annie reads his latest book and becomes enraged when she discovers the author has killed off her favorite character, Misery Chastain. The irate Annie has Paul writing as if his life depends on it, and it does.
TORCH SONG
A dramedy by Harvey Fierstein
Winter 2024
The life of Arnold Beckoff, a torch song-singing, Jewish drag queen living in New York City, is dramatized over the span of the late 1970s and 1980s. Told with a likable, human voice, Torch Song follows Arnold’s odyssey to find happiness in New York. All he wants is a husband, a child, and a pair of bunny slippers that fit, but a visit from his overbearing mother reminds him that he needs one thing more: respect.
RENT
A musical with book, lyrics, and music by Jonathan Larson
Spring 2024
Based loosely on Puccini’s La Boheme, Jonathan Larson’s Rent follows a year in the life of a group of impoverished young artists and musicians struggling to survive and create in New York’s Lower East Side, under the shadow of HIV/AIDS. The physical and emotional complications of the disease pervade the lives of Roger, Mimi, Tom and Angel. How these young bohemians negotiate their dreams, loves and conflicts provides the narrative thread to this groundbreaking musical.
About Dominion Stage
Dominion Stage will enrich the local arts community by expressing, through live theatrical productions, the different contemporary, traditional, diverse, and historically under-represented stories in our community. Our company will provide an inclusive place for new and continued education and personal development for participants on the stage, in technical roles, and as leaders/administrators behind the scenes.
For more information on the upcoming season, visit the Dominion Stage website.