What makes a great leader? This weighty question looms large in our national discourse as a new presidential istration takes up the helm. For this month’s column, we’ve spoken to a kaleidoscope of cultural practitioners who have mastered their craft through a style of leadership characterized by diversity and difference. Perhaps, as Roald Dahl’s Matilda eventually learns, our uniqueness can be our greatest advantage?
In the Spotlight:
Matilda the Musical,
Little Theatre of Alexandria
Showing Feb 8 – Mar 1
www.thelittletheatre.com
When you’re born a little different, the world can seem like a scary place. Roald Dahl’s tale of a little girl born to unloving parents who finds comfort within the pages of books, befriends a lonely teacher and learns that she possesses magical powers has inspired a musical that’s been performed across the world since 2010. With music and lyrics by Tim Minchin, Matilda the Musical has won a slew of awards and will soon be gracing the stage of Virginia’s Little Theatre of Alexandria.
Produced by Kadira Coley and Jennifer Hardin, this fantastical fable is being directed by Janie Downey, who just last year directed and designed the props for the same show at Yarmouth, MA’s Royal River Community Players. “I love the show. I have a really different way that I direct and I had to make sure they were comfortable with that and they were, so here we are!” says Downey, whose software development-style technique of cutting the script into chunks to “run it, test it, see if it works” is being used to great effect with the children being cast in this production. Downey’s having fun with the cast, who she says are truly representative of the DC area. “Kids just bring it on. They’re daring and reckless. I love their energy.” Cecilia Gorini and Lyle Vogel play Matilda, while Bruce Bogtrotter is played by Caleb Dawkins and Kiril French and Bogtrotter’s famously nausea-inducing, larger-than-life chocolate cake (a star in its own right) is the very same that was used in the Royal River Community Players production.
Downey is aiming for full immersion in Matilda’s world. “I want everyone that comes to this to think ‘Oh my gosh! I’m in this classroom and that’s my teacher and my awful principal!’” There’s something special about the message of Matilda the Musical; that a leader can chart a way forward for herself and her friends through comion, kindness and understanding, in contrast to the hatred and intimidation that the fearsome Miss Trunchbull embodies. Downey adds that the show is also about “finding yourself through education. It’s leadership through education and finding an adult that believes in you and that sees you.”
SPECIAL MENTION:
Atlas INTERSECTIONS Festival,
Atlas Performing Arts Center
Showing Feb 15 – Mar 16
www.atlasarts.org
This year’s cornucopia of star talent at H Street’s Atlas Performing Arts Center will showcase 650 artists from the DMV appearing in 37 different performances across the categories of Movement, Sound and Story. Exploring the convergence of art and humanity, performances will take place every Friday, Saturday and Sunday evening. For this month’s column—an amuse-bouche of what to expect later this month—we’ve chatted with three artists from each category to get you excited about what’s to come.
Visit www.atlasarts.org/intersections2025/ to view the full program and to buy your tickets.
SOUND:
Where Life Meets Art, Capital City Symphony
Showing Feb 22, 7 p.m.
“Art can be a vehicle for human connection, and for people to come together.” Johannes Visser, Assistant Conductor for Capital City Symphony and the brains behind the lineup for the Symphony’s program at the Atlas INTERSECTIONS Festival, explains. “It’s not often that people get to experience something at the same time in the same space and that was the spirit with which I approached the programming.”
Visser’s lineup of classical compositions is a celebration of the universal power of music to connect communities across the globe, regardless of cultural, political, social or historical differences: Béla Bartók’s Romanian Folk Dances, George Walker’s Lyric for Strings, Edgar Elgar’s Enigma Variations and a special, deeply personal composition by Visser himself, titled A Winter Night in Palestine. Expect an evening of spine-tingling, soaring strings.
MOVEMENT:
Where there’s smoke, there’s fire…
Aerial Ignition
Showing Feb 15, 8 p.m.
If the spectacle of aerial dance performers soaring through the air on ropes, silks, hoops and trapeze a la Cirque du Soleil thrills you, then you’re not going to want to miss Aerial Ignition. Michelle Khalili, a student, collaborator and artist who performs for both Aerial Ignition and The Eternal Art Collective, will appear alongside Sydney Ignacio and six other performers. They’ll be using straps, lyra (an aerial hoop) and other aerial performance equipment to communicate the ion, hard work, commitment and talent required to do what they do so well.
“What you see on stage is the tip of the iceberg. Under that is the hard work and toil. Part of what we wanted was to bring in the real human side of what it means to be a performer and dancer.” Khalili says.
Ignacio has performed with the Philippine Ballet Theatre, Verb Ballet, Washington Reflexions Dance Company and CityDance. He’s familiar with the exceptional talent that DC possesses in this art form. “DC is a big place.” he explains. “My goal is for everyone to realize that we have really good performers here.” This year’s show will debut an aerial spiral device and a performer that will hang from their hair. Don’t miss it.
STORY:
Bright Colors and Bold Patterns,
Olive Ghardon
Showing Feb 22, 7:30 p.m.
You’re invited to the wedding of Brennan Newkirk and Joshua Pearson, but don’t you dare wear any bright colors or bold patterns! This dress code is the catalyst for Drew Droege’s 2017 one-person play of the same name, set during the evening before a wild weekend in Palm Springs where lead (and only onstage) character Gerry drinks, smokes and sashays through a steady stream of witty dialogue, steadfastly refusing to be squeezed into a closet of conformity.
For one night only, Chad Rabago – and his alter-ego Olive Ghardon – will take on the role of Gerry, with guaranteed hilarious results and an important message about being authentic in a world that too regularly tries to snuff out individuality. “I’ve been doing drag as Olive for over 2 years and I’ve been involved in theater.” Rabago says. “I’ve been looking for a way to bring those two things together in a way where I have some creative control.”
Fans of Olive’s appearances at JR’s drag musicals will love Rabago’s interpretation of Droege’s script. Don’t forget to wear something bright and colorful.
