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When Milan Bolden-Morris walked into Pahokee High Schools prom, she knew her dress would get attention.

Not for the sparkles or the cut like others that night, but for the faces of Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice and others displayed across her dress. Faces of those whose deaths sparked the Black Lives Matter movement.

As the 17-year-old smiled for the cameras, she said she knew the dress was bigger than prom or her.

Every life on this earth is precious. God created us all as gifts, Bolden-Morris said. When a mother loses a child or a child loses a parent, especially when its under unnecessary circumstances, their lives shouldnt be overlooked.

Friday evening, Bolden-Morris wore the dress created by local designer Terrence Torrence, who said hes had the idea for a while. When he was asked to design a dress for Bolden-Morris, a Cardinal Newman senior basketball star who is the Palm Beach Post Small Schools All-Area player of the year, he said he had an idea and wanted to bounce it off of her. Bolden-Morris, who got a full scholarship to Boston College and will study pre-med, she said she loved the idea.

I already knew this dress was way bigger than me or how I looked in it or how I felt in it, she said. I knew the purpose was to bring awareness. To highlight these things going on in America.

Bolden-Morris was invited to Pahokee High prom by a family friend because she cant make it to Cardinal Newmans prom.

Torrence and Bolden-Morris both knew the dress would garner attention, but didnt know it would get this big. Snoop Dogg shared a photo of Bolden-Morris on his Instagram, and Essence and CNN wrote stories about it. Most important for both Bolden-Morris and Torrence was the call from Trayvon Martins mother, Sybrina Fulton.

I just thought, Wow, this is amazing, Bolden-Morris said. God is really using me for things that are bigger than me.

She said she was honored to have such an influential person with such courage and power to praise her for her small act. Morris said she was just the model conveying Torrences message.

Torrence, who splits his time between West Palm Beach and Atlanta, said he was so happy to hear Fulton loved the dress. Above all other comments and praise, Fultons was the most important to him. On Torrences dress, he displayed a photo of Trayvon Martin in a hoodie as the most prominent figure.

Trayvon, I remember that whole movement. It was the first time I can remember people coming together for someone killed that way, he said. I remember being in L.A. and wearing my hoodie for Trayvon.

Though many of the faces included on the dress garnered the national spotlight like Sandra Bland and Mike Brown, the faces of locals Corey Jones and Henry Bennett III rested there as well. Torrence, who grew up in Belle Glade like Bolden-Morris, said it was important to remind people police violence happens at home too.

The ones I chose, they all spoke to me. The look on their faces all had this glow, he said. At the end of the day, you want to always remember their faces and their stories. Everyone on that dress has a story.

Here is the original post:
Cardinal Newman star player wears Black Lives Matter prom dress - Palm Beach Post

NEW HAVEN >> Before arriving at the Yale Divinity School to lead a discussion on race Thursday evening, Jimmy Jones couldnt help but think about the son he buried 20 years ago.

There is no pain like the pain of burying your children, Jones said, referring to his son, Malik Jones. My heart still aches.

Malik Jones was fatally shot by East Haven police on April 14, 1997. Twenty years later, Jones led a discussion titled Black Lives Matter Because All Lives Matter, at the school from which he graduated in 1983, in commemoration. Now a professor at Manhattanville College, Jones, who still lives in New Haven, joined the Rev. Bonita Grubbs and Divinity School student Gabby Cudjoe-Wilkes for a conversation on race.

Following his sons death, Jones said he was essentially muted by rage. His ex-wife, Emma Jones, became the family spokesperson and to this day continues to advocate on behalf of her son.

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I was angry, so I couldnt even speak publicly for two months, Jones said. He said found some solace in Islamic writings: Patience is to be observed at the first stroke of a calamity.

Fatal incidents involving black men and women continue to garner widespread attention, especially after the fatal shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson in 2014. That shooting, and other high-profile incidents involving fatal use of force by police, sparked a renewed interest in police accountability and discussion on law enforcements relationships with the African-American community.

This conversation keeps happening because incidents keep happening, Cudjoe-Wilkes said.

In his discussion, Jones expanded the current climate to show how closely it mirrors fears and anxieties African-Americans faced during the Jim Crow era. During this period, thousands of African Americans, and even white immigrants from countries such as Italy, were lynched without repercussion.

Jones described the lynching of Emmett Till as having a profound effect on his psyche. Jones grew up in Virginia, and said the photographs published from Tills open-casket funeral were haunting. Tills mother, Mamie, wanted an open casket to show how savagely he had been assaulted.

As a 9-year-old, looking at this picture on Jet magazine, it terrorized me, Jones said. Indeed, that was the point of this kind of attack.

Following Maliks death, Jones said he spoke with the East Haven police chief, a police commissioner and mayor. He asked that they address his sons shooting, or risk further turmoil. He said it wasnt meant as a threat, but rather a warning of unrest.

If you allow this kind of thing in our community ... sooner or later, it will come back to bite you, Jones said.

Jones suggested a new BLM movement, perhaps with the acronym standing for Be Like Martin, in reference to Martin Luther King Jr., or Be Like Mary as in Jesus mother, or Be Like Muhammad the prophet of Islam.

One attendee on Thursday asked about how the current generation can be reenergized, since Civil Rights-era figures such as King were young. Cudjoe-Wilkes said the Black Lives Matter movement was started by three gay women in their 20s who wanted to keep people informed about incidents involving African Americans. The phrase itself is frequently used on social networks with a hashtag to make it part of a larger, global conversation.

That hashtag helped keep a lot of people aware of what was going on, Cudjoe-Wilkes said.

Cudjoe-Wilkes said every generation seemingly has had their tools be mocked or questioned by older generations.

Jones said patience must be practiced, as the fruits of the current generations social activism will bear in the future.

We shouldnt give up on our young people, Jones said.

Reach Esteban L. Hernandez at 203-680-9901.

View original post here:
Malik Jones' father leads Black Lives Matter discussion 20 years after son's fatal shooting - New Haven Register

A Black Lives Matter demonstration and a march to demand that Donald Trump give up his tax returns are planned for downtown. Meet the organizers and see what to expect.

In Seattle we do like our protest marches.

The city issued 49 free speech events permits in 2016, averaging nearly one a week, ranging from Homeless Rally and March to Seattle Dyke March.

These days, if you can make a Facebook event about one, theyll come. Hopefully.

Downtown on Saturday will offer two protests with similar themes. The weather is cooperating, with a partly-cloudy forecast that shows a little sunshine poking through.

1. Tax March Seattle: Donald Trump, release your tax returns. Its page now lists 3,100 as going and 7,700 as interested. Symbol: A giant inflatable chicken with Trumpish blond hair, called Chicken Don.

2. Black Lives Matter March on Seattle 2.0: We are in a tax system that does not value people of color and black people We also DEMAND Donald J. Trump to release his tax return Its page lists 18,000 as going and 37,000 as interested. Symbol: Black beanies that participants are urged to wear to show you shouldnt discriminate against clothing or peoples color.

You can make a full Saturday of protesting.

The Tax March is timed to begin at the Federal Building at Second Avenue and Marion Street at 11 in the morning and end at 1 p.m. at Seattle Center.

Then you can just make your way to Westlake Park, where Black Lives Matter will have a dance party beginning at 1, followed by rally and the finale a march at 3 to the Federal Courthouse at Seventh Avenue and Stewart Street.

As with other recent protests, many of those behind them are not from traditional political camps.

Theyre in their 20s and early 30s, and their activism begins with grass-roots social media.

Cody Herring, 26, a Microsoft engineer, is one of those behind Tax March Seattle.

I dont have much, if any, activism background, he says.

Now hes sending out a news release about President Donald Trump and American Kleptocracy.

Herring, who lives in the Judkins Park area, says his interest in activism was piqued when he was having a pancake breakfast for friends at his home Jan. 21.

That was the day of the historic Womens March that drew tens of thousands in Seattle, and which began at the park.

We invited random people to come in and have pancakes, Herring says. It was the first day I felt hopeful since Nov. 8.

That was the day that Americans elected Trump as president.

Herring says he was inspired by a tweet from comedian Patton Oswalt, known for his epic Trump takedowns.

This time, Oswalt was making a serious statement: Dear #WomensMarch organizers: please organize a #TrumpTaxesMarch for April 15th. I am happy to help. We all are.

So up went Tax March Seattle on Facebook.

As with marches these days that become nationwide, the one in Seattle started locally and then joined others. Some 170 cities are now listed as having marches. In this state, there also will be protests in Anacortes, Olympia, Richland and Spokane.

The Black Lives Matter march has a more recognizable name listed at its spokesman.

He is Mohawk Kuzma, 26, who in December 2014 became something of an unofficial spokesman for a loosely connected group of Seattle protesters after the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson, Missouri.

Kuzma actually had begun working with some of the Tax March people to have one march, but things fell apart between them as happens in emotionally charged grass-roots dealings.

So he put up his own Facebook page.

If Kuzmas name seems unusual, well, here is the story behind it.

His real name is Miles Partman.

From 2011 until 2015, he says, he had a Mohawk hairstyle and so that became his nickname.

As for Kuzma, he says, he went online and used a random-name generator and there it popped up.

I liked the sound of it, he says.

Others involved in the march dont have the local notoriety of Kuzma.

One such person is Jessica Owens, 32, who manages The Weaving Works in the Roosevelt District.

She has contacts with a wide number of knitters and crocheters in the area who helped with the pussy hat project that was a symbol in the Womens March.

Now they were looking for another project and there it was black beanies for the Black Lives Matter march.

So up went a Facebook group called the BLF206 March On Seattle 2.0 Yarn Army (the BLF stands for Black Liberation Front).

It includes a link to a simple pattern for a super simple garter stitch hat that a first time knitter can make.

It turns out that a beanies shape is more complex to knit than that of a pussy hat.

The group didnt have much notice but has managed to collect 100 knitted hats.

Owens posted to her army of knitters, Thank you to everyone has dropped off hats! Keep them coming Its been wonderful to see all of your wonderful work and thoughtfulness.

Meanwhile, both groups say they really dont know how many protesters will show.

Its one thing to click going on Facebook, and another to actually trek to downtown.

But you can dream that your posting will actually motivate the masses.

Says Cody Herring, Were hoping itll be like the Womens March. Two-hundred-thousand. Thatd be cool.

Read more from the original source:
2 downtown marches Saturday: Black Lives Matter and calling on ... - The Seattle Times

BLACK LIVES MATTER Philadelphia made a good bit of news this week because its invitation for its April 15 strategy meeting stated, "Please note that BLM Philly is a Black only space." They followed up by tweeting out, "If you identify as a person of the African Diaspora. You can attend our meetings and become a member. If not you can support us in other ways."

The conservative website The Daily Caller headlined, "Black Lives Matter Philly Bans White People from Its Meetings." Breitbart detailed the same issue and talked about how many people on Twitter said Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would never sanction such a policy. BLM Philly countered on Twitter: "He made that choice and we have made ours. White people can support us but they cannot attend our meetings."

These columns only scratched the surface.

Writing in the Daily News, Jenice Armstrong wrote a brilliant piece that featured Asa Khalif, leader of Black Lives Matter Pennsylvania, and his 80-year-old grandmother, who is white. Khalif conceded that his grandmom would be welcome but that the overall banning of whites policy is not new. Khalif said, "It's a space particularly for black people to heal, cry, to vent, to organize, to be empowered, to be uplifted."

I know Asa and, even though I think this policy is misguided, I think he and his colleagues can certainly pursue it. I don't, however, think they can legally pursue it in taxpayer-funded spaces. Nashville Public Library officials agree with me. They rejected the request of the Nashville chapter of Black Lives Matter to meet in a library because library policy specifies that all meetings at their facilities must be open to the public and news meetings.

My first thought when I heard about all this was this meeting in this discriminatory form can't happen in a taxpayer-funded site. The meeting is supposed to be held at the Mastery Charter School-Shoemaker Campus in West Philly. I contacted Scott Gordon, who runs all the Mastery Charter schools. I'm a big fan of what Scott has accomplished for kids in his schools, and I would be surprised if he sanctioned this meeting.

I was right. Scott was unaware of this meeting. He checked into it and then he emailed me: "Thanks for bringing the matter to my attention. We are following up to ensure all organizations using our facilities abide by our policy. Below is a statement regarding the policy."

The statement said: "Mastery charter schools are public schools. As such, community groups may reserve space for meetings and events in our facilities. Events must follow our facility use policy, which does not allow any organization using our facilities to bar participation by any members of the public based on race, religion, or gender."

My instinct was to say that BLM Philly is out of step with where Americans are and what is settled policy. Isn't it curious that Philadelphia City Councilwoman Helen Gym and other major critics of charter schools are silent on this? Do they believe in some BLM Philly loophole that allows them to discriminate?

In fact, the Black Lives Matter coalition has clearly been an opponent of charter schools. In fact, Lance Izumi, senior director of the Center for Education at the Pacific Research Institute, writing at Philly.com says BLM "talks about an international education privatization." He further says this echoes the National Education Association tweeting, "Privatization is a global threat to public education." He talks about an NEA resolution that supports BLM. He also says Herm Rivera, one of the authors of the BLM document opposing charter schools, is executive director of the Philadelphia Student Union, which has received funding from the American Federation of Teachers.

I guess BLM Philly, which I feel blocks opportunity for minority students by trying to block charter schools, sees this charter school as an opportune spot for them. I hope people of good will see through this and oppose their use of a taxpayer-funded facility. I have faith in Gordon and people who honor King's memory and wisdom.

Teacher-turned-talk show host Dom Giordano is heard 9 a.m. to noon weekdays on WPHT (1210-AM). Contact him at http://www.domgiordano.com

@DomShow1210

Published: April 13, 2017 12:49 PM EDT

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Black Lives Matter is not inclusive - Philly.com - Philly.com

The weekly feature of whats happening on Washington stages.

Ragtime at Fords Theatre, A Raisin in the Sun and Smart People at Arena Stage, Mosaic Theater Company of DCs South Africa: Then & Now repertory of Blood Knot and A Human Being Died That Night, Pike St. at Woolly Mammoth the citys surging with personable social justice themes, especially if you toss in Parade at Keegan Theatre and Forum Theatres topically titled Nasty Women rep of Dry Land and What Every Girl Should Know.

Also note the double dose of Lisa Kron: Well continues at 1st Stage in Tysons, and her musical Fun Home (with composer Jeanine Tesori) arrives Tuesday at the National Theatre.

Already looking ahead? Keep up with the latest, most comprehensive guide to D.C. theaters 2017-18 season here, with notes from Post critics. More than 100 shows are already announced.

Want DC Theater Friday delivered to your email inbox Thursday evening? Subscribe here.

MORE:

Peter Marks on the making of Broadways War Paint

Baltimore notes: The Center Stage re-opening & Everymans Los Otros

PREVIEWING

Fun Home. The national tour of the 2015 Tony-winner for Best Musical, based on the coming-of-age graphic novel by Alison Bechdel. April 18-May 13 at the National Theatre, 1321 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Tickets $48-$98. Call 202-628-6161 or visit thenationaldc.org.

[Peter Marks talks Fun Home with Jeanine Tesori]

[Michael Cavna talks with Alison Bechdel as Fun Home wins 5 Tonys]

Henry V. From DCs We Happy Few, a 90-minute take on Shakespeares history play with a cast of eight. Through April 29 at Capitol Hill Arts Workshop. Tickets $15. Visit wehappyfewdc .

In the Heights. The Spanish language premiere of Lin-Manuel Mirandas 2008 Tony-winning hip-hop musical, foreshadowing his Hamilton success. Through May 29 at GALA Hispanic Theatre, 3333 14th St. NW. Tickets $60. Call 202-234-7174 or visit galatheatre.org.

The Late Wedding. Christopher Chens play, based on the writings of Italo Calvino. April 14-May 7 at the Hub Theatre, 9431 Silver King Court, Fairfax. Call 703-674-3177 or visit thehubtheatre.org.

The Magic Play. A rolling premiere by Colossal playwright Andrew Hinderaker, about a magician (played by actual magician Brett Schneider) facing personal crisis. Through May 7 at the Olney Theatre Center, 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Rd., Olney. Tickets $20-$70. Call 301-924-3400 or visit olneytheatre.org.

Or. A comedy by Liz Duffy Adams dealing with Restoration playwright/spy Aphra Behn. Aaron Posner directs a cast of three: Holly Twyford and Gregory Linington (recently potent in Martha and George in Fords Theatres Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf?), with Erin Weaver. Through May 7 at Round House Theatre, 4545 East-West Hwy., Bethesda. Tickets $30-$60. Call 240-644-1100 or visit roundhousetheatre.org.

Smart People. Stick Fly playwright Lydia Diamonds comic drama on science and prejudice. April 14-May 21 at Arena Stage, 1101 Sixth St. NW. Tickets $40-$101, Subject to change. Call 202-488-3300 or visit arenastage.org.

[Playwrights Diamond and Lawton on Lorraine Hansberry]

CONTINUING

The Blood Knot. Mosaic typically leans hard (and thoughtfully) into new works on contested issues, but this one has a deeper pedigree. Its an acclaimed 1961 work by South Africas great anti-apartheid playwright Athol Fugard. And its directed by Joy Zinoman, the retired founding artistic director of the Studio Theatre. Blood Knot deals with half brothers Morris, who is light enough to pass as white, and Zachariah, who is dark-skinned . . . Cannily winds itself up to epic heights thanks to the earthy, ferocious performances by Tom Story and Nathan Hinton. (Nelson Pressley) P art of Mosaics South Africa: Then and Now rep with Pumla Gobodo-Madikizelas A Human Being Died That Night. Through April 30 at the Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H St. NE., Tickets $20-$60. Call 202-399-7993 or visit mosaictheater.org.

[Nelson Pressley reviews Blood Knot]

Boeing Boeing. The 1960s farce, recently seen at Rep Stage and the now-defunct No Rules Theatre, about a playboy juggling international stewardesses. Through April 30 at Next Stop Theatre Company, 269 Sunset Park Drive, Herndon. Tickets $35-$55. Call 866-811-4111 or visit nextstoptheatre.org.

Brighton Beach Memoirs. The seasons second revival of one of Neil Simons 1980s autobiographical trilogy, following Broadway Bound at 1st Stage. Susan Romes portrait of the harried, controlling Kate is an invaluable anchoring force in director Matt Torneys production. Few of the other actors embed their characters quite as deeply and seamlessly in the world of Neil Simons semi-autobiographical play, about a cash-strapped household in 1937 Brooklyn. Still, its a pleasant production, well stocked with funny, absorbing moments and boasting a couple of notably persuasive turns by young actors. (Celia Wren) Through May 7 at Theater J, 1529 16th St. NW. Tickets $15-$57. Call 202-777-3210 or visit theaterj.org.

[Celia Wren reviews Brighton Beach Memoirs]

.d0t: A Rotoplastic Ballet. A 45 minute multimedia fable of robots and the last human, from the puppeteers at Pointless Theatre. A trippy mash-up of hip-hop, sci-fi and the designs of the Italian artist of futurism, Fortunato Depero . . . Executed by eight unseen puppeteers, expertly manipulating dozens of figures and objects on sticks in a toy puppet theater four separate perspectives deep, .D0t explores a time in the future when humanity has been reduced to a single survivor, Navi (Navid Azeez). On this day, something goes awry: robot Dee Zero Tee develops a glitch of some sort, and one rebellious machine threatens to shatter the harmony of a perfectly ordered world. (Peter Marks) Through May 6 at Flashpoint, 916 G St. NW. Tickets $30. Call 202-315-1305 or visit pointlesstheatre.com.

[Peter Marks on Pointless and .d0t]

A Human Being Died That Night. You want to try acting a whole show with your feet chained to the floor? Chris Genebach accomplishes it with flair as South Africas notorious Eugene de Kock, the apartheid-era Death Squad officer widely known as Prime Evil. The white de Kock wisecracks about a Hannibal Lecter vibe as he sits on the other side of a prison cell interrogation table from a black woman, Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, but the 80-minute A Human Being Died That Night is anything but a psycho-thriller. Its an unflinching face-to-face dialogue about how people and countries become utterly unglued. (Nelson Pressley) Part of Mosaics South Africa: Then and Now rep with Athol Fugards The Blood Knot. Through April 30 at the Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H St. NE., Tickets $20-$60. Call 202-399-7993 or visit mosaictheater.org.

[Nelson Pressley reviews A Human being Died That Night]

[Geoffrey Himes talks to the Human Being actors]

A King and No King. Brave Spirits Theatres revival of a 1611 tragicomedy by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher chronicles the scandalous love between Arbaces, king of Iberia (Brendan Edward Kennedy), and his sister Princess Panthea (Kathryn Zoerb). As if the siblings romance werent complicated enough, the moody Arbaces has promised Panthea to his recently vanquished enemy, Tigranes, king of Armenia (Gary DuBreuil), who is loath to give up his own sweetheart, Spaconia (Alison Talvacchio). On a stark, runway-style stage, dressed in modern-meets-Renaissance garb (the aesthetic for both productions), the actors conjure up the scenes of scheming, recrimination and braggadocio that hurtle into a happy ending. (Celia Wren) Part of Brave Spirits Incest Rep with Tis Pity Shes a Whore. Through April 23 at the Lab at Convergence, 1819 N. Quaker Lane, Alexandria. Tickets $20, or see both shows for $30. Call 240-516-8745 or visit bravespiritstheatre.com.

[Celia Wren on A King and No King and Tis Pity Shes a Whore]

King Lear. Lean & Hungry Theatre typically produces audio versions of plays, and the radio technique hampers the fully staged venture in a small black box at the Atlas Performing Arts Center. The show never achieves its own visual language, despite fog, low lights, modern costumes and the persistent musical underscoring that is jarringly generic: it makes Shakespeare sound like a soap opera. That heaps a lot of pressure on the actors, and very few performers really come through in this sizable tragedy. Bill Grimmette is a promising but uncertain Lear, but Jessica Lefkow and Duyen Washington are expert as Kent and Goneril. Far too much of the rest of this is underimagined cartoon villiany. (Nelson Pressley) Through April 23 at Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H St. NE. Tickets $20. Call 202-399-7993 or visit leanandhungrytheater.com.

Midwestern Gothic. A brand new musical thriller set in a small town, with music by Josh Schmidt (composer of The Adding Machine) and book by the busy librettist Royce Vavrek. It isnt quite Fargo, the Musical, but Midwestern Gothic attempts to dance right up to the edge of Coen brothers territory, with maybe a quick two-step and a hop over to the land of David Lynch . . . What were to make of the manipulative Stina who ropes into her odd, malevolent schemes a local boob is never brought entertainingly to light. An audience begins to lose hope, and interest, well before the bloodiest business has a chance to start. (Peter Marks) Through April 30 at Signature Theatre, 4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington. Tickets $40-$100. Call 703-820-9771 or visit sigtheatre.org.

[Peter Marks reviews Midwestern Gothic]

[Geoffrey Himes talks with the Midwestern Gothic songwriters]

No Sisters. Aaron Posner (Stupid F-ing Bird, Life Sucks) continues his string of free-spirited Chekhov adaptations. Its a clever, cerebral theater game that playwright-director Posner constructs especially since simultaneously, in another theater downstairs, a production of the actual Three Sisters is going on. This requires those seven actors (and an eighth), to commute between the two shows, repeatedly entering in No Sisters after points at which they exit from Three Sisters. You got that? The complicated logistics make it reverential fun: six television monitors are perched on the No Sisters stage so that we can see Three Sisters unfolding and they can tell when its their cues. (Peter Marks) Through April 23 at Studio Theatre, 1501 14th St. NW. Tickets $20-$80. Call 202-332-3300 or visit studiotheatre.org.

[Peter Marks on Three Sisters/No Sisters]

Pike Street. Anyone who saw Suns breathtakingly smart and entertaining No Child . . . in which she played teacher and students in a harried New York public school wont be surprised and will be equally rewarded by another 90 minutes in this artists graceful company. The setting this time is Pike Street on Manhattans Lower East Side, where Puerto Rican immigrants are bracing for a storm that puts you in mind of Hurricane Sandy in 2012 . . . As Sun pursues each highly idiosyncratic character, she keeps you off balance about where the family has been and where the story is going. It turns out to be a resonant, highly timely American malting pot tale. (Nelson Pressley) Through April 23 at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, 641 D St. NW. Tickets $20-$93. Call 202-393-3939 or visit woollymammoth.net

[Nelson Pressley reviews Pike St.]

Ragtime. Make them hear you, goes the climactic chorus in the musical Ragtime, and the new production at Fords Theatre stirringly delivers on the kaleidoscopic shows cries for justice. The setting is 1906, but the issues ring true throughout the 1998 musicals crusading score . . . As its cast of two dozen swarms up and down a three-story set layered with class implications, Peter Flynns production utilizes the full volume of the large Fords stage. Fords keeps displaying a knack for putting local actors into the right big roles, and as a composed, powerful Coalhouse, McAllister emerges as the soul of the show. (Nelson Pressley) Through May 20 at Fords Theatre, 511 10th St. NW. Tickets $18-$71. Call 202-347-4833 or visit fords.org.

[Nelson Pressley reviews Ragtime]

A Raisin in the Sun. The weather vane of Arena Stages aggressively entertaining A Raisin in the Sun is Lizan Mitchell, the force-of-nature actress playing the 1959 plays righteous, loving grandmother, Lena Younger. When director Tazewell Thompson wants this show to be funny, the impish Mitchell nails a punchline. When he wants it to be grand, Mitchell rises majestically and gives the performance the force and depth of Greek tragedy. Quibble with its florid excesses if you like, but theres no mistaking that this Raisin bizarrely, the first in the companys nearly 70-year-history is a crowd-pleaser . . . Watching it, you might realize that theres been a lot of August Wilson the past few decades where at least a little Lorraine Hansberry should have been. (Nelson Pressley) Through May 7 at Arena Stage, 1101 Sixth St. SW. Tickets $40-$111, subject to change. Call 202-488-3300 or visit arenastage.org

[Nelson Pressley on A Raisin in the Sun]

[Playwrights Diamond & Lawton on Lorraine Hansberry]

Three Sisters. Anton Chekhovs play directed by Jackson Gay, sharing a cast and running simultaneously with Aaron Posners new No Sisters. Not only drags, its also a bit of a lightweight drag. Our encounter with the passive, aristocratic sisters and their stultifying existences has to live in an air of compelling distress. Its hard to say what is off about them, Ansa the maid, played expertly by Nancy Robinette, rightly observes in No Sisters. Which means that if the ennui and melancholy of Olga (Bridget Flanery), Masha (Caroline Hewitt) and Irina (Emilie Krause) are not leavened by some bittersweet sense of complexity and mystery, there is nothing much to savor. (Peter Marks) Through April 23 at Studio Theatre, 1501 14th St. NW. Tickets $20-$80. Call 202-332-3300 or visit studiotheatre.org.

[Peter Marks on Three Sisters/No Sisters]

Tis Pity Shes a Whore. John Fords 17th century tragedy of jealousy, part of Brave Spirits Theatres Incest Rep with A King and No King. Director Charlene V. Smith (Brave Spirits artistic director) nicely hones the comedy in a subplot about a ninny named Bergetto, who in this production is seen sucking on a series of lollipops. The drollery serves to emphasize the intensity of the broader play, which centers on a secret love affair between siblings Giovanni and Annabella . . . The acting in the productions can be creaky, and the fights often look fake, but its mostly fun to watch these 400-year-old soap operas rip along. (Celia Wren) Through April 23 at the Lab at Convergence, 1819 N. Quaker Lane, Alexandria. Tickets $20, or see both shows for $30. Call 240-516-8745 or visit bravespiritstheatre.com

[Celia Wren on A King and No King and Tis Pity Shes a Whore]

Well. From Lisa Kron (Fun Home, starting Tuesday at the National Theatre), an autobiographical play dealing with her mother. Director Michael Blooms beautifully paced production has a warm, funny anchor in Audrey Bertauxs now-poised, now-rattled Lisa. Elizabeth Pierottis affably batty Ann generates hilarious and touching moments. Thats particularly true when Ann unintentionally sabotages her daughters memory-play plans, luring the ensemble away from their assigned roles as figures from the past. (Celia Wren) Through April 23 at 1st Stage, 1524 Spring Hill Rd., McLean. Tickets $15-$30. Call 703-854-1856 or visit 1ststagetysons.org.

[Celia Wren reviews Well and Suffrage Plays]

CLOSING

Back to Methuselah. From the Shavian specialists at the Washington Stage Guild, the final third of George Bernard Shaws epic-length futuristic saga, following Part 1 in 2014 and Part 2 in 2015. If this now feels like inside baseball for hardcore followers of George Bernard Shaw, that was always to be expected. The five-part play split into thirds by the Stage Guild about dumb humankind trying to grow up is unnervingly long and unapologetically intellectual . . . A generally static yet smartly acted show, directed by Bill Largess with a keen ear for the thrust of Shavian arguments. (Nelson Pressley) Through April 16 at the Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church, 900 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Tickets $25-$60. Call 202-347-9620 or visit stageguild.org

[Nelson Pressley on Back to Methuselah]

[Years in the doing: Wrangling Shaws Methuselah]

Chicago. Brandy Norwood plays Roxie opposite Terra C. MacLeods Velma in the Broadway hits first ever run at the Kennedy Center. If youve seen the show half a dozen times, this iteration will fall in the middle of the pack . . . What Brandy Norwood brings is her smoky, singular, Grammy-winning voice. Youd take her sultry, dead-accurate crooning over plastic Broadway belting any day; thats the asset. She moves better than youd expect during her long fantasia about fame, the slow-vamping Roxie, and she can be funny (as long as she keeps her speaking energy up), unleashing a deliriously skillful string of notes as a witty, lusty response to one of the muscled chorus boys sidling her way. The dance-driven ironic happy ending? Not her strong point. (Nelson Pressley) Through April 16 in the Kennedy Centers Opera House. Tickets $49-$149. Call 202-467-4600 or visit kennedy-center.org

[Nelson Pressley on Chicago now and forever]

[Q&A with Brandy Norwood, stepping into Chicagos DC stop]

[Roxie and Velma through the decades]

Dry Land. A drama about two teen girls one of them with an unwanted pregnancy by young writer Ruby Rae Spiegel; part of Forum Theatres Nasty Women Rep with What Every Girl Should Know. A heartbreaking and often funny play, artfully directed by Amber Paige McGinnis . . . Though it barely strays from its main locker-room setting, the play offers vivid glimpses of the society that has left Amy and Ester feeling uncertain, vulnerable, rushed and judged, but neither hopeless nor helpless. (Celia Wren) Through April 15 at the Silver Spring Black Box Theater, 8641 Colesville Rd. Tickets $18-$38. Call (301) 588-8279 or visit forum-theatre.org.

[Celia Wren reviews Forum Theatres Nasty Women rep]

Parade. Fascinating to see this Jason Robert Brown-Alfred Uhry musical fleeting on Broadway in 1998-99, and staged by Fords Theatre in 2011 open at the same time as Fords lavish Ragtime. The heavy thematic lift of Parade, about the 1913 anti-Semitic lynching of Leo Frank in Georgia, is less durable than the comparably serious, comparably epic Ragtime (so many righteous anthems!): the crime is outrageous, but the red-faced mob is brutish and the racist railroading is rote. The songs labor to rouse indignation, but the effort doesnt pay and Keegans earnest low-budget staging, featuring little more than broad swatches of bland light, lacks style. Nice to hear a nearly 10 peiece orchestra playing the robust score, though, and the two leads Michael Innocenti as a flinty Frank and Eleanor J. Todd as his wife are terrific. (Nelson Pressley) April 15 at Keegan Theater, 1742 Church Street NW. Tickets $45-$55. Call 202-265-3767 or visit keegantheatre.com.

[Nelson Pressley on Parade]

What Every Girl Should Know. Part of Forum Theatres Nasty Women Rep with Dry Land. Arresting and appealingly idiosyncratic. Set in 1914 and directed by Jenna Duncan, the play chronicles the friendship of four girls at a reformatory school in New York. Joan (Lida Maria Benson), Anne (Menendez), Lucy (Rich) and Theresa (Whitworth) have rich fantasy lives; they are also fascinated by the idea of Margaret Sanger, the crusader for womens right to birth control. (Sanger founded what became Planned Parenthood.) The fact that Sangers work is at odds with the law only increases her appeal in the eyes of the four friends, who have good reason to be rebellious. (Celia Wren) Through April 15 at the Silver Spring Black Box Theater, 8641 Colesville Rd. Tickets $18-$38. Call (301) 588-8279 or visit forum-theatre.org.

[Celia Wren reviews Forums Nasty Women rep]

TYA (Theater for Young Audiences

Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp. For all ages. Through May 21 at Adventure Theatre MTC, 7300 MacArthur Blvd (Glen Echo Park), Glen Echo. Tickets $19.50. Call 301-634-2270 or visit adventuretheatre-mtc.org.

[Jane Horwitz on spring TYA shows]

[Jane Horwitz on theater for the very young]

ETC.

The Capitol Steps. The longtime political satirists, tearing laughs from the headlines. Fridays and Saturdays in the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center Amphitheater, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Tickets $40.50. Call 202-397-7328 or visit http://www.capsteps.com.

[Peter Marks on the Kennedy Centers international directors series]

Shear Madness. The indestructible interactive comedy whodunit, at 12,000-plus performances. Ongoing in the Kennedy Centers Theater Lab. Tickets $50-$54. Call 202-467-4600 or visit kennedy-center.org.

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