Political Theatre Roundup #5

Lots of great stuff this week around town!

First off, a special thanks to DC Theatre Scene for mentioning our upcoming show in their article on pre-election theater!  Our teams are meeting at Round House Silver Spring tonight to rehearse in the theater, and they’ve been working hard on their hilarious and thought-provoking plays to get them ready for this weekend.

Last night was the 23rd annual High Heel Drag Race in DC, which is always held the week of Halloween. If you haven’t seen the pictures yet, check them out over at DCist. Political figures definitely made a good showing this year, with many variations on the Sarah Palin theme.

Tonight, previous X-Play director Shirley Serotsky is directing a free reading featuring Jonathon Church, a previous X-Play actor!  THE TRAGICAL HISTORY OF DOCTOR FAUSTUS will be presented at Source Theater at 7:30, just in time to get you in the mood for Halloween.  This classic tale is of a scholar who turns to the black arts when science, philosophy, law and religion lose their appeal, and sells his soul to the devil for knowledge, experience and power.  Directed by Shirley Serotsky. Cast: Jonathon Church as Faustus, Nanna Ingvarsson as Mephistophilis, with: Katie Atkinson, Michael Feldshur, John Geoffrion, Ashley Ivey, Anne Nottage, Amy Quiggins, Theodore Snead & Scott Zeigler.  Seating is first-come, first-served. Doors open 6:45 pm.  For more info check out the Constellation website. 

Tomorrow night, The Race premieres on the Georgetown campus. This collaboration between Portland Oregon’s Sojourn Theatre and Michael Rohd’s class Ensemble Theater Practicum takes the form of a three-act play that engages the issues and dynamics of the 2008 Presidential election as it moves towards its dramatic conclusion. Performances from October 30-November 1 at 8 PM, November 2 at 2 PM, with a Special Election Night event on November 4, and November 5-8 at 8 PM, in the Gonda Theatre in the Davis Performing Arts Center – 108 Davis Performance Arts Center, NW in Washington, DC at 37th & O Streets. More info available at the Georgetown theater department website. Tickets range from $7 to $18 with discounts for students and seniors.

Going into Pay-What-You-Can previews Friday and Saturday night at 8 is PUNCH: that’s the way we do it!. This distressed, dissatisfied, discontent and totally disturbed adult puppet show features a gaggle of folks who’ve been involved with our X-Plays! Puppetry by producing team member Betsy, fights by previous X-Play director Lorraine, and featuring several talented actors who’ve lent their skills to one of our previous Editions. The show is playing through November 22nd at Flashpoint at 916 G street NW, and all tickets are $15. Acting by Josh Drew, Niki Jacobsen, Lee Liebeskind, and Dan Van Hoozer, Fights by Lorraine Ressegger, Blood by Casey Kaleba, Puppets by Betsy Rosen, Sets and Lights by Colin K. Bills, Costumes by Margo Bierne, Masks by Wyckham Avery. Cash only at the door. For more info check out the dog and pony dc website.

Tonight’s the Night!

Welcome to everyone who followed the link from the League of Washington Theatres Free Night of Theatre! Hopefully you can all make it out to our upcoming show – tickets are only $15 – $12 for seniors, young people, and groups. Feel free to read about our mission, our past and upcoming events in the sidebar.

Meanwhile, in Politics…

Tonight is the Great Vice-Presidential Debate!

Democratic VP nominee Joe Biden is facing off with Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin in the showdown of the century. The debate will focus on both domestic and foreign policy and be administered by a single moderator, Gwen Ifill of PBS. So get out your Palin Bingo cards, spiff up your spectacles, put your lipstickforpitbulls.com T-shirt on, invite your neighbors into your living room and settle in to watch the sparks fly! Wonkette has detailed their drinking game, or you can invent your own.

One topic that may come up in tonight’s debate is our nation’s financial crisis. For those of us who are having trouble understanding the bailout plan, or why we should all be panicking and stuffing money under our mattresses, CNN has a great day-by-day timeline that breaks down the money woes. Also, the New York Times has a clear Q&A about the original bailout plan.

In other news, some celebrities think you should vote! or not vote.  but really.  Vote.

Also, for a good laugh and some impressive photoshop skills, you should check out cracked.com’s take on what campaign ads would look like if the voting age was 6.

Convention-palooza

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few weeks, then you are probably aware that the Democratic and Republican National Conventions have been going on. One of the main highlights at both have been the Vice-Presidential picks.

In the blue corner we’ve got Joe Biden, who was our first profile of our Adopt-A-Candidate X Play Edition last November.  Biden’s experience as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations committee and his years of experience in Congress are expected to fill the holes in Obama’s resume.

And in the red corner, John McCain announced Alaskan governor, former beauty pageant runner up and “hockey mom” Sarah Palin as his pick last Friday, throwing the nation into equal fits of loving fervor and fiery disdain. Opinions about Palin are deeply divided, ranging from people who think she’s a modern breath of fresh air for the party to those who think she’s disastrously unqualified.  Either way, there are already plenty of YouTube videos about her.