A Theatre-Goer's Thoughts

Aarian Mehrabani, Chloe Palmer, and Sam Brewer in It's a Motherf**king Pleasure  at Washington's Woolly Mammoth Theatre. Photo credit: Lucas Ibanez - Fæhn. When I saw that Woolly Mammoth Theatre’s season would include a play titled It’s a Motherf**king Pleasure , and knowing nothing about the play’s content, my first thought was, this is obviously a Woolly Mammoth kind of show. I have previously referred to their goal of producing “badass theatre.” The phrase “ripped from the headlines” comes to mind, though when this season was planned, there was no way of knowing that acknowledgement and discussion of diversity, equity, and inclusion would be banned in the current presidential administration. Those three principles remain essential commitments for Woolly. Though the principles are now derisively referred to (in some circles) as “woke,” Woolly assures us all that, by programming plays like this one, embracing those values ensures that Woolly will remain at the forefront of act...

  A. J. Shively as Newland Archer and Shereen Ahmed as Countess Ellen Olenska in the Arena Stage production of  The Age of Innocence . Photo credit: Daniel Rader. The Age of Innocence , a new adaptation by Karen Zacar í as based on Edith Wharton’s 1920 novel (which made her the first woman ever to receive a Pulitzer Prize for Literature), is given an elegant production under the direction of Hana S. Sharif in the Fichandler Theatre at Arena Stage, through March 30.    A fascinating glimpse into the lives of a handful of socially-elite, “old money” New Yorkers,  The Age of Innocence  is set in the 1870s during what has become known as the “Gilded Age.” We see and learn the mores and social conventions of the aristocratic class, focusing on one particular couple who are navigating the spoken and unspoken “rules” of the upper class. Newland Archer is a well-heeled, up-and-coming aristocratic lawyer who is engaged to May Welland, a woman who has been brought up...