Arts & Culture

The Theatre at Washington, Virginia

Excellent acoustics and an intimate yet comfortable atmosphere make The Theatre at Washington, Virginia, an ideal setting for a musical performance. Built in 1948 as a movie theater and setting for occasional live performances, the theatre today presents a wide variety of musical concerts on weekends during fall, winter and spring, attracting gifted professional performers and appreciative audiences.

The Smithsonian at "Little" Washington concert series, which features three or four chamber music concerts each year, is now in its 18th season at the theatre. In addition to classical music, the theatre also presents an eclectic mix including music of Broadway, folk music from the United States and foreign countries, and outstanding jazz. The political satirist Mark Russell has appeared at the theatre on more than one occasion — always to sell-out crowds. A touring troop of students from Cambridge University has produced a play by Shakespeare to open the theatre's fall season for the last several years.

When the theatre is not presenting its own concerts and performances, the premises are available for rent to other organizations wishing to present shows. Community events, open to the public without charge, also are held at the theatre.

For a list of current performances, see the Calendar of Events page or visit the theatre's website.

Related Events

September 15, 2013

"Measure for Measure"
This production by students from Cambridge University in England is described by its director as a "highly physical, explosively visual production, which will make the 1604 text as relevant now as it ever was, without losing the fraught beauty of Shakespeare's original words." Each year, the Cambridge American Stage Tour (CAST) brings to the United States a near-professional quality performance of a Shakespeare play. The students' annual performances at the Theatre have been outstanding.
TheatreWashingtonVA.com
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540.675.1253
291 Gay Street / Washington, VA 22747
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September 21, 2013

An Evening with Mark Russell
Mark Russell has retired from retirement. And lucky for us, he's un-retiring here. He is bringing his usual piano and friends (all 435 members of Congress, the President and the Supreme Court Justices) to our stage. It's not as though nothing has been going on since he retired. Let's see -- the White House is spending the summer in crisis mode; Congress can't seem to pass a bill; and as for the Supreme Court . . . Oh, yes, and Virginia is electing a governor this year.
TheatreWashingtonVA.com
TheatreVA@aol.com
540.675.1253
291 Gay Street / Washington, VA 22747
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September 28, 2013

Opera, Broadway, Country!
The lovely soprano Jacqueline Neimat and friends will perform duets and arias from Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto and from Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly, followed by lighter selections from Broadway -- and, for the country music fans, "Crazy," made popular by Patsy Cline.
TheatreWashingtonVA.com
TheatreVA@aol.com
540.675.1253
291 Gay street / Washington, VA 22747
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October 12, 2013

"Old Friends"
"Old Friends" is an evening of the music of Johnny Mercer, Willie Nelson and "a few others" featuring old friends Ben Jones and Broadway composer singer/songwriter Jim Wann. Wann is perhaps best known as the creative spirit behind the hit "Pump Boys and Dinettes", and his old friend Jones says that Wann is also America's finest interpreter of the music of Johnny Mercer. And Jones is bringing along the ever-popular Cooter's Garage Band for the occasion!
TheatreWashingtonVA.com
TheatreVA@aol.com
540.675.1253
291 Gay Street / Washington, VA 22747
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October 20, 2013

"Gilbert and Sullivan and the D'Oyly Carte Tradition"
This show was first performed for Smithsonian Associates last March. The Associates' publication notes that Gilbert and Sullivan "conspired to write some of the most hilarious, melodious, and enduring operettas in the English language. Their rapier wit spared almost nothing in Victorian society: The rigid class system, government, monarchy, new ideas of equality, lawyers, the Royal Navy . . . were but a few of their targets. Actor and director Nick Olcott, tenor Doug Bowles, pianist Alex Hassan, and soprano Karin Paludan share musical highlights, hilarious anecdotes, and insight into why Gilbert and Sullivan are still beloved."
TheatreWashingtonVA.com
TheatreVA@aol.com
540.675-1253
291 Gay Street / Washington, VA 22747
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November 10, 2013

Mikhail Yanovitsky
Concert pianist Mikhail Yanovitsy studied at the Leningrad Special School of Music and the Moscow State Conservatory before relocating to the United States and continuing his studies at the Julliard School. He won the Young Concert Artists Competition in 1991 and became their most frequently re-engaged artist. For this concert, he will play: the Sonata in B flat major, D. 960 (1828) by Franz Schubert; Two Rhapsodies, op. 79 (1879) by Johannes Brahms; and, by Alexander Scriabin, the Sonata No. 2, Op. 19 Sonata-Fantasy (1897) and the Preludes, Op. 11 Nos. 1-14 and 20 (1888-1896).
TheatreWashingtonVA.com
TheatreVA@aol.com
540.675.1253
291 Gay Street / Washington, VA 22747
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November 17, 2013

Smithsonian at Little Washington
To open the twenty-second season of The Smithsonian at Little Washington, National Symphony Orchestra violinist Heather LeDoux Green and cellist James Lee return to the Theatre in the company of Smithsonian Chamber Music Society artistic director and pianist Kenneth Slowik to perform Haydn's Gypsy Rondo trio, and Beethoven's Op. 11 and Op. 70, No. 1 (the "Ghost" trio).
TheatreWashingtonVA.com
TheatreVA@aol.com
540.675.1253
291 Gay Street / Washington, VA 22747
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December 14, 2013

Frank Vignola and Vinny Raniolo
"We have a duo show that will knock your socks off. You'll laugh, cry and enjoy some beautiful songs played on two guitars." -- Vinny Raniolo
TheatreWashingtonVA.com
TheatreVA@aol.com
540.675.1253
291 Gay Street / Washington, VA 22747
display map