Washington, D.C.
Every stage.
Every opening night.
The complete guide to theater, dance, performance art, and visual arts in the nation's capital. Curated descriptions, honest recommendations, one click to tickets.
Now Playing
42 shows
Sponsored
Damn Yankees
Sep 9 – Nov 9
If you love classic musicals but find yourself bored by reverent revivals, this is the antidote—it's got enough theatrical wit to satisfy serious theater-goers while remaining genuinely fun. Baseball fans will appreciate the premise, but you don't need to care about sports; this is really about the Faustian bargains we make for our obsessions.
Imagining Shakespeare: Mythmaking and Storytelling in the Regency Era
Oct 4 – Aug 2
If you're interested in literary history, Romantic-era aesthetics, or how canonical works get reinterpreted by different generations, this is essential. It's less essential for those seeking straightforward character studies or plot illustrations, but valuable for anyone curious about the visual culture surrounding Shakespeare and the politics of artistic adaptation.
Fremont Ave.
Oct 8 – Nov 23
If you trust Arena Stage's curatorial instincts more than marketing copy, this one's worth investigating. Best suited for theatergoers who appreciate discovery over certainty—bring patience and an open mind, but not high expectations based on hype (there isn't any).
Step Afrika!'s Magical Musical Holiday Step Show
Dec 5 – Dec 23
If you've experienced stepping only in high school or college contexts, this professional production reveals its full theatrical potential. Dance enthusiasts will appreciate the technical mastery, while those seeking holiday programming with genuine artistic substance (rather than nostalgia-driven sentiment) will find something that respects both the tradition and the season.Advertiser Creative / Image
Pendry Washington D.C.
The Wharf's new luxury hotel. Book a pre-theater stay with complimentary champagne & waterfront views.
Special Theater Packages →
Closing Soon
OCTET
Jan 14 – Feb 22
This is essential viewing for anyone exhausted by their own relationship with technology—especially if you're skeptical that theater can say something original about the subject. If you prize intimate, ideas-driven work over spectacle and find Logan Circle's independent theater scene refreshing, *Octet* justifies your faith in Studio Theatre's artistic vision.
Chez Joey
Jan 30 – Mar 15
This is essential viewing for those drawn to character-driven drama with psychological depth—particularly audiences interested in stories about performance and identity that avoid easy sentimentality. If you're looking for spectacle or uplifting narrative arcs, look elsewhere; if you appreciate productions that sit with uncomfortable truths about ambition and loss, Arena Stage's intimate Southwest Waterfront setting makes this a worthwhile investment.
The World to Come
Feb 3 – Mar 1
This is for audiences who prize character work and understated emotional truth over plot mechanics. If you're drawn to plays about overlooked populations and find beauty in small moments, you'll connect here. Skip this if you need broad comedy or dramatic fireworks—the rewards are in observation and nuance.
On Beckett
Feb 11 – Mar 15
If you've always found Beckett's reputation for bleakness a barrier to entry, Irwin's physicality and genuine warmth might be your gateway. Skip this if you want conventional narrative momentum, but if you appreciate watching a master performer think through complex ideas in real time, this is essential.
NOTHING UP MY SLEEVE
Feb 11 – Mar 15
Ideal for viewers who appreciate craft and technical mastery as entertainment, and who enjoy being intellectually engaged by *how* they're being deceived. Skip this if you prefer traditional narrative or need emotional catharsis; seek it out if you're fascinated by the mechanics of perception and want to experience genuine astonishment in a live setting.
THE BONNIE HAMMERSCHLAG NATIONAL CAPITAL NEW PLAY FESTIVAL
Feb 11 – Mar 15
Seek this out if you're interested in where theater is heading rather than where it's been. This is essential for playwrights, theater professionals, and audiences who want to engage with new work before it becomes canonized elsewhere—expect unpolished edges alongside genuine discoveries.
On View: Mandy Cano Villalobos
Feb 20 – Apr 5
This is essential for viewers who appreciate conceptual rigor and aren't looking for decorative art. If you're interested in how contemporary artists engage with colonialism, environmental justice, or the politics of domestic space, this will reward close looking. Skip it if you prefer work that declares its meaning upfront.
Inherit the Wind
Feb 27 – Apr 5
If you value substantive drama that treats intellectual conflict as genuinely dramatic—not just as a vehicle for preaching—this is essential. This is also smart for anyone wrestling with how institutions should balance tradition and progress. Fair warning: if you're looking for a cozy, apolitical evening, look elsewhere.Safety Not Guaranteed
Safety Not Guaranteed
Mar 3 – Apr 12
If you love character-driven comedies with genuine emotional stakes and don't mind theatrical logic that favors the heart over plausibility, this lands squarely in your wheelhouse. This isn't for audiences needing everything explained or characters they can easily pin down—it requires a willingness to meet the material's gentle weirdness halfway.
Blackwork Embroidery with Heidi Henderson
Mar 7 – Mar 13
This is ideal for people who want to actually *do* something rather than passively observe—bring comfortable clothes and expect to sit for a while. It'll appeal to embroidery enthusiasts and fiber artists, but also to anyone curious about early modern women's history who learns best with their hands. Skip it if you're looking for a polished performance; come if you want conversation, concentration, and a tangible keepsake.
As You Like It
Mar 10 – Apr 12
Perfect for Shakespeare enthusiasts who appreciate linguistic playfulness over heavy drama, and for anyone curious about gender and performance in early modern comedy. If you're drawn to romantic entanglement but tired of heavy-handed emotion, this is your play—the humor is sharper than the heartache.
Jonah
Mar 11 – Apr 19
If you appreciate playwrights who treat psychological complexity as seriously as plot, and you're drawn to work that mines spiritual and emotional conflict without neat resolutions, this is essential. Skip it if you prefer entertainment that leaves you feeling lighter than when you entered.
1776
Mar 13 – May 16
History buffs who want their patriotism complicated rather than reinforced will find plenty to engage with here. This is also an excellent entry point for anyone skeptical of historical musicals—the humor prevents reverence from curdling into stuffiness. Fair warning: if you need uncomplicated heroes and straightforward narrative momentum, the deliberate pacing and moral ambiguity won't work for you.
All the Folger’s a Classroom: Teacher Weekend Intensive on Shakespeare’s Comedies
Mar 13 – Mar 14
Essential for high school and middle school English teachers who regularly teach Shakespeare but want to deepen their understanding of comedic technique and classroom engagement strategies. Skip this if you're looking for entertainment; attend if you're responsible for making *Much Ado About Nothing* come alive for teenagers.
Sasha Velour's TRAVESTY
Mar 24 – Apr 12
This is essential viewing if you're interested in how drag functions as political and artistic practice beyond nightclub settings. It rewards viewers who appreciate ambitious formal experimentation and aren't looking for conventional plot resolution. If you need your theater to be intimate and psychologically realistic, this probably isn't your show—but if you crave visual boldness and ideas that linger after the curtain falls, Velour's work at Woolly Mammoth will justify the trip to Penn Quarter.
A Good Day to Me Not to You
Mar 27 – May 3
If you appreciate character studies with emotional complexity and aren't afraid of titles that telegraph thematic ambiguity, this could reward your curiosity. Best suited for patrons who follow Arena's season strategically rather than seeking crowd-pleasing accessibility.
Folger Gala
Opens Apr 24
Perfect for serious theater supporters who want to fund the work they care about while enjoying an elegant evening, and for those new to the Folger who'd like to understand what makes this institution tick. Skip it if you're looking for a casual night out rather than a meaningful investment in local arts infrastructure.
Teacher Weekend Intensive: Exploring the New Folger Guides to Teaching Shakespeare
May 1 – May 2
Essential for high school English teachers and middle school educators looking to refresh their Shakespeare curriculum with contemporary teaching methods. If you've felt stuck in the same approaches to *Macbeth* or *Romeo and Juliet*, the Folger's institutional knowledge applied directly to classroom practice makes this worth your time.
The Motion
May 6 – Jun 14
Theater patrons who trust Arena Stage's curatorial judgment and want to stay connected to the regional theater landscape. Given the lack of available details, this is best suited for adventurous audiences willing to leap into a production without extensive advance research—or those who will do their own homework on the play itself.
An English Garden
May 8 – May 10
If you're drawn to early music but find traditional concerts static, this literary-musical hybrid offers genuine novelty. It's ideal for anyone curious about how Elizabethans actually experienced their gardens—neither a botanical lecture nor a music recital, but something more textured. Skip it if you prefer straightforward narrative or need a concert that prioritizes virtuosic display.
CrazySexyCool – The TLC Musical
Jun 12 – Aug 9
This lands best with audiences who have genuine affection for '90s R&B and hip-hop culture, or anyone interested in how women of color carved out power in a male-dominated industry. If you're looking for a nostalgia-driven jukebox musical with reverence for its subject, Arena's production should deliver; if you need subtlety and moral complexity, a TLC bio-musical may lean toward celebration over critique.
Family Workshop: My Shakespearean Monologue
This works beautifully for families with kids ages 8-14 who are curious about language but might find traditional Shakespeare daunting. Skip it if your family needs passive entertainment, but if you want your kids to actively play with words and discover that Shakespeare's vocabulary can express *their* voice, this delivers exactly that.
Family Workshop: From Print to Paint
This works best for families with kids who already have some exposure to Shakespeare (or who are curious about it) and enjoy hands-on art projects more than sitting still. If your child lights up at the idea of making something that will be displayed publicly, or if you want to demystify the connection between theater and visual art, this is worth your Saturday morning.
Family Workshop: Celebrations - Shakespearean Style
This works best for families with children ages 6-12 who aren't intimidated by Shakespeare and parents who want their kids to experience literary classics as living, playful things. Skip it if your family needs highly structured, performance-focused activities; this is exploratory and messy in the best way.
The 2026 O.B. Hardison Poetry Series Finale Reading
This works best for readers already engaged with contemporary poetry who want to understand a living poet's intellectual genealogy—not an entry point for newcomers to the form. If you've ever wondered what poets read to become poets, or you're curious about the specific artists who influenced someone whose work you admire, this intimate gathering offers genuine insight.
The 2026 Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize Reading
Essential for serious poetry readers and anyone curious about what contemporary emerging poets are exploring right now. If you value discovering writers before they're widely anthologized, or you follow Shane McCrae's work, this is intimate and direct access to the current literary conversation.
Folger Book Club: 'Queen Hereafter' by Isabelle Schuler
This is ideal for readers interested in Shakespearean reinterpretations who want historical grounding over fantasy wish-fulfillment, and for anyone who enjoys book club conversations that dig into women's agency in pre-modern contexts. Skip it if you're looking for a straightforward escape—this demands engagement with moral ambiguity.
Folger Book Club: 'The Unbecoming of Margaret Wolf' by Isa Arsén
If you're drawn to metatheatrical examinations of artistic life—the kind that don't sentimentalize the theater world—this is essential. Skip it if you're looking for a straightforward relationship drama; Arsén is more interested in how ambition and performance corrode intimacy than in conventional emotional beats.
Director’s Talk: As You Like It with Dr. Farah Karim-Cooper
Ideal for Shakespeare readers and the production's audiences who want context beyond the text itself, or for anyone curious how institutional scholars think about relevance and interpretation. Skip this if you prefer experiencing theater without analytical framework—it's designed for the intellectually curious, not the casually curious.
The Humanities Lab: As You Like It
This is for people who want to understand *why* a play matters, not just experience it passively. If you've ever left a Shakespeare production wishing you'd caught more layers, or if you're the type to linger in museum galleries reading every placard, this Capitol Hill intensive will satisfy that hunger. Skip it if you prefer entertainment divorced from intellectual engagement.
Community Workshop: Seven Ages of Music
This works beautifully for families with musically curious kids, but don't discount it if you're an adult who's curious about the intersection of language and music. Skip it if you prefer finished performances to process-based experiences; this is about discovery, not polish.Sondheim Award Gala
Sondheim Award Gala
If you're someone who loves musical theater but find yourself frustrated by conventional pop-song structures, this is where you belong. This gala rewards listeners who appreciate Sondheim's fractured narratives, unexpected rhyme schemes, and emotional complexity. Skip it if you're seeking a polished concert experience; come for the raw artistry of performers grappling with one of theater's most demanding catalogs.
Family Workshop: An Ode to the Gardens
Ideal for families with children old enough to engage with Shakespeare excerpts (roughly 8+) and parents who want their kids to experience poetry as something they *make*, not just consume. Skip this if your family prefers passive performances, but if you want a morning that genuinely teaches literary thinking while getting outside, this hits differently than a typical kids' workshop.
Gallery Talk: Mandy Cano Villalobos
Essential for anyone interested in how contemporary artists engage with historical archives and environmental justice—particularly those who find traditional museum lectures too passive. Skip this if you want a polished presentation; this is thinking-in-real-time, and that's precisely the point.
Folger Salon with Debbie Finkelstein, Yunah Kae, and Austin Raetz
This works best for people genuinely curious about how scholarship happens, particularly those interested in Renaissance literature, history, or material culture. If you find archival work fascinating or want to understand what living scholars actually spend their time thinking about, come prepared to ask questions. Skip this if you prefer fully formed arguments and formal presentations.
Our Shakespeare Exhibition
Essential for scholars and serious Shakespeare students, but equally rewarding for people skeptical of Shakespeare's relevance who want to understand why his work remains contested cultural territory. This isn't a traditional biography—it's curatorial thinking about canon, legacy, and power.
Out of the Vault
Ideal for Shakespeare enthusiasts and book collectors who want to move beyond passive reading, and for theater patrons curious about how productions are researched and staged. Skip this if you're looking for a polished, narrative-driven exhibition—the appeal here is in the intellectual depth and the conversations between objects and ideas.