Shakespeare Academy graduates charge the stage thru Saturday

From left, Kendall Kent, Kimberly Colisch, and Julian Cividanes star in Shakespeare Theatre Academy's Macbeth/Shakespeare Theatre Co.

Two Shakespeare plays for $40! Unbelievable!

Almost as unbelievable as the dazzling acting seen on the Shakespeare Theatre Company's Klein Theatre. 

But hurry! Remaining tickets are few.

 

They are the ending performances by graduates of the Master of Fine Arts program the Shakespeare Theatre Academy offers in conjunction with George Washington University.

 

“If music be the food of love, play on!” They did.

From left, Bridget Campbell, Robert Kittler, and Michael Girts star in Shakespeare Theatre Academy's Twelfth Night/Shakespeare Theatre Co.

The graduates are completing their year of extensive training in the fine arts of stage combat, classical language, acting, text, voice, speech, movement and combat experience, taught by accomplished actors and trained crew.

Lest anyone think these are amateurish shows because they are performed by “new” graduates,  not only have these students graduated college with each boasting a string of performances ranging from off Broadway to local companies to regional theatres throughout the U.S., they are, in the words of Malvolio:

 

“not afraid of greatness” for 

“some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ‘em.” 

They all perform in both the comedy, Twelfth Night and the tragedy, MacBeth and who's to say which is better?

The sets are minimal, the costumes (by Cidney Forkpah, assisted by Lily Komarov) are contemporary, but the sounds, the sounds!  (By Matt Nielson who composed original scores) are outstanding: 

The thunder!  

The clashing of helmets! 

The lightning (sound?), 

The waves crashing upon the shore while the Twelfth Nighters bend from their waists and sway with the waves before the shipwreck off the coast of Illyria and the ensuing mix-ups. (In Shakespeare?  Mix-ups? ‘Tis cannot be!) 

The scariest ghouls made up in the most divine (?) ways! They move, they float, they come at your throat!  

(The orchestration of the stringed instruments was most pleasing to the ear.)

Puppet Designer Ksenya Litvak’s puppets are magnificent. (Andrey Stuurman was consultant.)

 

And who can pass up opportunities to hear words of the master spoken on stage as in:

“O, full of scorpions is my mind!”

“Out, damned spot! out, I say!”

“Double, double, toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble!”

“Fair is foul, and foul is fair, hover through fog and filthy air.”

 

The graduates are Bridget Campbell, Julian Cividanes, Kimberly Colisch, Kira Cornell, C.J. Craig, Michael Girts, Sofia Hernandez Morales, Claire Hilton, and Cameron Holder.

Also, Kendall Kent, Robert Kittler, Anna Marzullo, and Lenny Mendez Terceros, Matilda Musser, and Olivia Potter.

 

Jess Chayes directs Twelfth Night; Alec Wild, Macbeth.

 

Other artistic team members are:

Minjoo Kim, lighting; Robb Hunter, fight director; Bess Kaye, intimacy coordinator; Lisa Beley,
voice and text coach; Cammiel Hussey, Twelfth Night, and Katie McDonald, Macbeth, assistant directors; Maddie Caldis, production manager; Regina Vitale, stage manager; Maria Mills,  
assistant stage manager.  

Applause to all, especially to Emma Crane Jaster, movement director.

 

Remember, there is always: 

“To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.”

And

“What's done, is done”

What:  Twelfth Night and Macbeth

 

When:  In repertory through Saturday, July 25, 2026 at 7:30 p.m. and one Twelfth Night matinee at 2 p.m., July 25.

 

Where:  Shakespeare Theatre Company, Klein Theatre, 450 7th Street NW, Washington, DC 20004

 

How much:  $25 each performance or $40 for both

Duration:  Twelfth Night runs almost three hours with one intermission; MacBeth, about 2.5 hours with an intermission.

For more information:  Box Office, 202-547-1122, 12 – 6 p.m. and open until curtain on show days.

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For couples only: 'The Invite'

 

This film is good for couples' therapy, but maybe not.  It's got humor but not nearly enough. The ending is way too long, like double what's needed. It drags in places.

It's a foursome or a sixsome (sicksome?) and maybe more. Whatever floats your boat, jump in!

Acting is superb by all the stars save that of Edward Norton who's a trifle weak and not totally convincing.  

Director Olivia Wilde (the main female lead) does an outstanding job but there's only so much you can do with a middling script that needs lots more amusement. 

Wonder of wonder (thank you Ms. Wilde), for excluding the de rigueur bare breasts! So much opportunity at that.

The Invite can be termed an updated and more serious version of 1969's Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (if anyone's old enough besides me to remember it) with underpinnings of, yes, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.  It's that sad and depressing.

One (the?) of its greatest redeeming social values is the music and inflection by Devonté Hynes. That bass! Oh, my. Just take a listen.  Can instruments receive Best Supporting awards?  This one deserves it as much as I detest the word, "deserve." 

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Jill Dougherty's 'My Russia' is a must for Russophiles

 

For all the Russophiles (like me) who enjoy reading about the country’s history and culture, Jill Dougherty's My Russia:  What I Saw Inside the Kremlin is one for your reading list: A curiosity seeker’s background into contemporary Russian history and culture.

 

It may be too lengthy (330 pages; I skipped most of the chapter on vodka) and the font size, too small, but the content is a must.

That the few pictures are not chronologically arranged is a wonder and confusing. 

The book has lots of background on Vladimir Putin, now in his second term as Russia's president and maybe president for life.  (In 2013 in St. Petersburg, a Russian guide laughingly told my tour group of mostly British citizens: "I am sure Putin will be leader for life.") 

Ms. Dougherty and her twin sister, Pamela, studied Russian in high school, and the book goes on to detail Jill's ascent at CNN becoming its Moscow bureau chief for almost a decade.

She mentions Mr. Putin's autobiography, written many years ago with some falsehoods contained therein. She provides her psychoanalysis of him and why he is as he is, perhaps having a Napoleonic complex (he is 5'7") or an inferiority complex. 

His quirks (we all have) and more are outlined. 

To make him more of an "average guy," a p.r. campaign was instituted.

She mentions three times, I think, the mysterious kiss Putin planted on her for... why?  It was anyone's guess, but he is another Mr. Macho, after all.  

Ms. Dougherty recounts the decline of Boris Yeltsin (1931-2007) who served as Russia's first popularly elected president (1991-1999) before Yeltsin named his favorite deputy, Mr. Putin, to succeed him when Yeltsin retired six months early. 

Remember the Kursk?  Putin didn't want to.  August 12, 2000 brought the explosion of Russia's nuclear sub, the Kursk, and the deaths of 118 sailors in the Barents Sea, a tragedy which Putin initially ignored, vacationing on the Black Sea but finally appearing several days later to recognize the deaths and the accident... wearing a golf shirt. 

Ms. Dougherty describes the evolution of U.S./Russian relations since 9/11, and their graduation deterioration with the growth of NATO, Russia always blaming the West, particularly the U.S., for its problems.

About the time of Ted Turner's death (May 6, 2026) was about the time I got to the chapter on his visit to Russia in 2000, there to meet with Putin and discuss business and Turner's possible purchase of a stake in the NTV, the Russian-owned free television channel, now owned by Gazprom, a purchase Putin shot down.

She ended her stay in Russia on March 6, 2022, sadly, she writes, probably the last time she'll be there. (I feel the same, Jill!  How can we visit Russia again?) 

Amanda Wilson's jacket design is exceptional, better than most covers, drawing attraction from bookstore browsers, no doubt. It contrasts the author's photo and her white hair with a dark cover and colorful Russian domes, dominated by the title in white. 

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Make haste! Shakespeare saves a life at the Folger

Jacob Ming-Trent talks to God in Folger Theatre's How Shakespeare Saved My Life/Photo by Erika Nizborski

Jacob Ming-Trent wants to save another life, like Shakespeare saved his, to inspire at least one person, one artist to create, to make, to help, to forgive.


At the Folger Theatre, it's the world premiere of How Shakespeare Saved My Life which Mr. Ming-Trent wrote and performs in the most energetic, gripping solo show I have seen.


In a fast 90 minutes, the actor/playwright describes his youthful struggles for survival, his encounters with the law, with teachers, men on the street, men in the pulpit.

Jacob Ming-Trent in Folger Theatre's How Shakespeare Saved My Life/Photo by Erika Nizborski.

He portrays several different characters, his parents, a preacher man, the guys under the bridge, and many more, all realistically presented with distinctive mannerisms, vocal pauses and inflections. 

Director Tony Taccone has Mr. Ming-Trent moving from stage right to stage left and back again, speaking non-stop, leaving the audience breathless and hungry for calm which they hope he (and they) will find.

When he was a teen, his mother threw him out of the house, refusing to let him back in despite his many pleas over the years, she, a cruel and heartless person who told her only child at his father’s funeral, that she felt absolutely nothing, nothing for her son when he was born. 

One can't help but wonder how she feels now or where she is, if she'd let him back in the house since he's found success, but her story is not his or this story which includes forgiveness.

His dad told his son that the best thing for a man to be was a good listener, and his child followed his advice, quoting Shakespeare in his show: ”To thine own self be true.”

Shakespeare rescues Mr. Ming-Trent from a life of crime, from homelessness, despair, thoughts of suicide.

Combining his script with hip hop, and the fantastic music by Jake Rodriguez, Takeshi Kata's rapidly changing scenics and Alexander V. Nichols' projections, and it’s another greatness thrust upon Mr. Ming-Trent’s canon, with a supporting cast, the audience becoming the congregation in Mr. Ming-Trent's church, hungry for inspiration and the hope he bestows.

This Life ends abruptly before we hear about Mr. Ming-Trent’s star rising, his many shows listed in the program attesting to his success.

"Play on," Jacob Ming-Trent, play on.

Other Life creative team members are Tiffany Rachelle Stewart, choreographer; Danielle Preston, costumes; Alan C. Edwards, lighting; Taylor Kiechlin, production stage manager; Miranda Korieth, assistant stage manager.


The Folger and Red Bull theatres commissioned the play with co-production by the Berkeley Repertory Theatre.

In an interview with American Theatre this year, Mr. Ming-Trent said: “Shakespeare is a rule-breaker, and I’m a rule-breaker. I love tearing down the classical theatre’s ivory tower and using the scaffolding and bricks to rebuild a place where we all are welcome.”


Who: Jacob Ming-Trent

What: How Shakespeare Saved My Life

When: Evenings through July 5 at 7:30 p.m. (8:00 p.m., Friday) plus matinees Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday at 2 p.m. No performance on July 4.

Where: Folger Theatre, 201 East Capitol Street, SE Washington, DC 20003

How much: Tickets start at $20 with discounts for military members, veterans and their families; those 35 and under; public servants; seniors; students; first time Folger attendees; pay-what-you can; groups of ten or more; and rush tickets at half price, if available, one hour before performances. Check the website.

Closest Metro stations: Union Station and Capitol South

Recommended for ages 13 and up. Mature language and adult situations and conversations.

For more information: folgerboxoffice@folger.edu or 202-544-7077

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Make haste! Bold 'Othello' departs June 28

 

From left, Ben Turner is Iago and Wendell Pierce is Othello at Shakespeare Theatre Company/Photo by Theresa Castracane


The acting is as superb as all that’s been told.

After the performance, a father and daughter told me that they couldn’t wait to bring other family members to the show.

Wendell Pierce is the Broadway star who is Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Othello, a bold showman whose role in the first act is moderate compared to the demands of the second.

And whatever act it is, the dastardly Iago (Ben Turner) commands the stage, a forceful and stronger villain than other Iagos I have witnessed.

Casting director Danica Rodriguez took no shortcuts choosing the actors for one of the bard's best.

Iago is angry that he’s been overlooked for a promotion by General Othello who chooses Cassio (Lucas Iverson) for the position, and what’s this? Has the general has been trifling with Iago’s wife, Emilia (Melanie Field)?

All the more reasons to act on Iago’s suspicions!

Says Iago to Othello: "O, beware, my lord, of jealousy! It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on."

Iago unceasingly feeds hints of imaginary betrayal to Othello by his wife, Desdemona (Olivia Cygan), a frail and delicate flower who never professes anything but faithfulness to her husband.

She has eloped with Othello, much to the shock of her father, Brabantio (Joey Collins) who disowns his daughter and hints of future infidelity to his new black son-in-law.

Alas! When it came to the marriage bed, I did indeed think Othello had smothered Desdemona in the lifelike murder scene when Desdemona fights for life under the sheets, kicking her legs and wailing, Othello’s heart having turned to stone.

Melanie Field is Emilia the handmaid for Desdemona (Olivia Cygan) in Othello at Shakespeare Theatre Company/Photo by Theresa Castracane

The victim’s handmaid, Emilia, in a spellbinding delivery, comes to the aid of her mistress too late! Emilia berating her deplorable spouse, she soon to be slain when the truth is revealed before the star kills himself.

So little time, so many murders.


Scenic designer Susan Hilferty places the few props in strategic locations, more, unnecessary since the play’s jealousy and revenge are all consuming, leaving audience members who eavesdrop on Iago’s plans, breathless and tense, most already aware of the outcome.


Daniel Velez, Todd Schofield, Derek Garza, Giovanna Drummond are other cast members with the Ensemble: Jon Beal, C.J.Craig, Sofia Hernandez-Morales, Claire Hilton, Anna Marzullo, Vish Shukla, Cole Sitilides, James Whalen, Em Whitworth.

STC's artistic director, Simon Godwin, directs the play in a tight presentation.  It's Othello, after all.


The artistic team includes Shiloh Coke, composer; Hilferty and Sarita P. Fellows, costume designers; Amith A. Chandrashaker, lighting; Christopher Shutt, sound; Jonathan Goddard, choreographer; Everett Judd, assistant director; Laura Smith, production stage manager; Robb Hunter, fight choreographer.

Heritage Foundation presents Marxism v. Conservatism

Dr. Paul Kengor at the Heritage Foundation, June 4, 2026/By Patricia Leslie

The program was billed as "Communism at America 250," the third annual Lee Edwards Lecture in Conservative Leadership at the Heritage Foundation.

Dr. Paul Kengor spoke on the principles of Marxism versus Conservatism.

He rarely used the word "communism" other than to say (a couple of times) that communists do not permit elections.

Dr. Lee Edwards's daughter, Dr. Elizabeth Edwards Spalding, the chairman of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, served as moderator.  

Dr. Paul Kengor and Dr. Elizabeth Edwards Spalding at the Heritage Foundation, June 4, 2026/By Patricia Leslie

Dr. Kengor is the author of 20 books, including The Devil and Karl Marx, and teaches separate classes on Marxism and Conservatism at Grove City College, both, quite popular classes, it seemed from his remarks.

He began his talk with Gallup statistics which says that 67% of American college students have a positive or neutral attitude towards socialism while only 40% have a positive view of capitalism. 

Dr. Paul Kengor at the Heritage Foundation, June 4, 2026/By Patricia Leslie

No two philosophies present a clearer contrast than Marxism and Conservatism, he said, describing Marxism in one sentence: “the abolition of private property” requiring “gulags and guns to take away."

He presented a 10-point plan of Marxism, and said, with the assistance of a student, he had conducted a content analysis of the Communist Manifesto. 1998  was the 150th anniversary of its publication.

In their study, they never found the word "love," but they found the most popular word to be "abolition" as in, Marxism seeks to take away inheritances and spread population so that people are equally distributed between town and country. 

Marxism requires a forcible withdrawal of all existing social conditions to achieve its goals, including the necessity of separating children from parents.

“Communism begins where atheism begins“ and "it's hard to be a conservative if you are an atheist."

He featured Ronald Reagan and the principles of conservatism which is the opposite of progressivism. 

While conservatives believe in an enduring moral order, progressives believe in an evolving moral order.  The principles of conservatism are unchanging.

Reagan believed that “every person is a sacred reality and the individual is superior to the state.”

Republicans are grounded by moral laws.

Reagan was pictured on the big screen with some of his famous quotes, followed by photos and quotes of Russell Kirk, Edmund Burke, and G.K. Chesterton.

In the question and answer session, Dr. Spalding said conservative curriculum has been developed for elementary through college level students.

That's where the Heritage Foundation comes in, according to Kengor, because it comes down to "education and education and education." 

The first time Trump’s name came up was when Kengor talked about the likeability of Ronald Reagan and how happy he was. Reagan was not an angry man; he was not hated by the majority and he carried 49 of 50 states in 1984.

Trump’s name came up again when Kengor quoted Reagan‘s “peace through strength“ which he said Trump uses a lot.

Surprisingly, the speaker devoted quite a bit of time to Pope Leo XIV whom he called a Republican but, when it comes to peace and the pope's opposition to war, well, maybe he's a liberal in that aspect, after all.  

He said 108 of the 133 electors voted for Pope Leo (a confidential number, he said). The Catholics wanted a return to normalcy, while the Italians favored Leo because he was “the least American of Americans.”

Dr. Paul Kengor at the Heritage Foundation, June 4, 2026/By Patricia Leslie

Dr. Spalding invited all present to a candlelight vigil and the third sponsored anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre at Massachusetts and New Jersey avenues at 8 p.m. that night (June 4).

A reception with beer, wine, and hors d’oeuvres followed the presentation. Security was tight.

From its press release: "The Heritage Foundation established the annual Lee Edwards Lecture in recognition of Dr. Edwards’s long service as a Distinguished Fellow in Conservative Thought at The Heritage Foundation, during which he wrote most of his 25 books about the leading individuals and institutions of the modern conservative movement. In addition to biographies of President Ronald Reagan, Barry Goldwater, William F. Buckley Jr. and Edwin Meese III, Dr. Edwards wrote histories of The Heritage Foundation, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, and the conservative movement."

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Recommended (with reservations): 'Surreal: The Extraordinary Life of Gala Dali'

Oh, the places they went! The people they saw! The people they knew! The oohs and the ahs!

Readers:  You may think you've known a wild life but I doubt you’ve experienced anything like the lives of Gala (1894-1982) and Salvador Dali (1904-1989).  If so, you must be in an unusual contest. 

What fun is was to read about the young in Paris during Dada!

Except for all the many confusing names and sometimes helter-skelter mixed-up paragraphs and subjects which jump all over the place and the need for better (or some) editing, this is a good read by Michele Gerber Klein for art enthusiasts.  

Gala's nickname was bestowed on her by her first husband, Paul Éluard, whom she met at a sanatorium in Switzerland when they both were 17 and she was being treated for tuberculosis.

They married in 1917 and their only child, a daughter, Cecile was born in 1918 (d. 2016); Gala was never a good mother and did not like the role. 

Her relationship with Dali began while she was still married to Paul (1917-1929), but she remained close to Paul for the rest of his life (1895-1952), he providing her with financial advice. 

Paul became a renowned poet and was one of the founders of Surrealism.

Meanwhile, Dali was ten years younger than Gala and a virgin (at age 25).  His father disinherited him because Gala was born a Russian and married.  Father and son did not speak for five years. 

Salvador Dali credited Gala with most parts of his artistic life, his life support, he called her whose name he signed to his paintings, she, the subject of many.

She was much more than his business manager:  She edited and skillfully marketed his works, monetizing every product she (and they) could conceive, much like Trump markets his name today on many and various things. 

Gala taught Dali how to dress, take the stairs (!), how to eat without throwing chicken bones to the ceiling, how to recognize enemies and how to stop losing money. 

The Dalis traveled all over Europe and the U.S., visiting in the homes of friends, often during the late 1930s as Hitler began his invasion of Austria.

Their bizarre lifestyles made them Paris‘s hot couple and when they came to the U.S. for the first time in 1934, “the cameras went wild” (p. 123). After all, Gala wore two lamb chops on her shoulder which were tied to Dali's coat.

They socialized with the very rich, but they struggled financially, a condition Gala tried to hide. 

The designer, Chanel, with whom they remained lifelong friends, recognized a good model when she saw one and loaned Gala clothes to wear and to market.  (The trio is pictured on p. 61 in this month's copy of Elle.) 

It was not surprising to read that Dali “always made work in order to disturb as many people as possible" (p. 120) and he and Gala delighted in novelty.

 Some have called them, the inventors of performance art.

Despite their open marriage especially in later years, they maintained a strong relationship and Dali had her remains interred in a Spanish castle he bought for her 14 years before her death, he outliving her by seven years. 

If you can wade through all the names or just ignore many of them and the confusing editing, you'll get through this like I did.  

It seems like another good movie in the make!  A book sure to open eyes and wonder about what all you've missed. 

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