Fall 2002 Schedule of Monday Night at the National

FREE PERFORMANCES!
6 pm and 7:30 pm, in the Helen Hayes Gallery.
Information available at 202-783-3372.

Seating is limited!! Tickets are Required, and are Distributed without charge one Half-Hour Prior to Performance, on a First-Come First-Served policy.

This weekly showcase in the Fall, Winter and Spring, features local performers, and provides free quality live entertainment to the Greater Washington Area community. Original plays, singers, musical ensembles, dance, drama and comedy are on the bill.

September 23 - EDGEWORKS DANCE THEATER

Under the vibrant artistic direction of award-winning choreographer HELANIUS J. WILKINS, this all male dance company presents an evening of intense, electrifying gymnastic physicality in riveting and viscerally charged works that mesmerize with movement as they shatter stereotypes of men, and of men in dance.

Compelling choreographic patterns and dynamic partnering provoke thoughts and questions leading to new insights about the male identity in America, and indeed many human relationships, from the perspective of African American men.

PHOTO BY PAUL GORDON EMERSON

September 30 - A FRESH OF BREATH AIR

Leads us to an oddball cafe where a congeries of eccentric characters swim against the mainstream with surrealistic zeal and touching humanity.

DALE STEIN, creator and performer of all the roles, brings to life Fifi Mouloir and her invisible dog, Nina Navarre the fading film star, Alexandria Vertu the neo post-modern architect and Shane, an aspiring singer with a plastic brain. This virtuoso performance is suffused with vulnerability, penetrating insight, satire, music -- and above all a deep compassion for humanity in all its delicious variety.

October 7 - THIN AIR

A clever, original, humorous and timely magic show in the best New Vaudeville tradition.

MARK PHILLIPS and KAREN BERISS are an unprecedented, male-female magic duo.

This team is definitely not lordly magician and his lovely assistant. Instead we meet a fastidious, hidebound, magician's magician and his hip, mischievous, conjuring partner who is as unconventional as he is staid. You will laugh and be mystified simultaneously!

October 21 - SHOWTIME IN HARLEM

Takes you back to the glory days of vaudeville and the great headliners, as CHARISMA and company tell the story of a young girl dreaming of the great stars of the Apollo Theatre and the Harlem Renaissance.

You will enjoy the satin smooth song styles of the "old pros" as well as the sassy snap of the emerging newcomers who trod the venerable boards of one of America's greatest theatres.

October 28 - THE POETS ARE A SLAMMIN'

And their words address the world faced by a young urban African American boy. Often surrounded by drugs and gangs and at risk of unemployment, racial profiling, arrest, jail -- or even being dead at 21, he nevertheless holds stubbornly to his hopes and dreams of a bright shining future.

Under the direction of INGRID CORNELL, THE POETS bring his challenges and successes vividly to life in an audience-interactive mix of poetry, rap, tap, instrumental music, historic storytelling and dance.

November 4 - PRECIOUS LAM'

After five years doing time in "the chokey," William "Billy the kid" Tymes is back on the streets of London and looking to set up straight. But with friends like his, that's easier said than done.

ERIC LUCAS, brings his own darkly comical script to the stage in a dazzling one-man performance which explores the Cockney underworld, a bank robbery from hell, family you don't need, and the religion of Tom Jones.

Parental guidance suggested for children under 13 years of age.

November 18 - CARLA & COMPANY

With THE DANCE PLACE MOVING COMPANY present inspirational contemporary dance focusing on building a greater understanding between people from diverse cultural backgrounds and from different generations.

Works include Living In Color Instead of Black and White, One World and The Real World. Energetic dancing -- and the interplay of seasoned professionals and young aspiring dancers -- will energize and delight you.

November 25 - WOLVES OF WINTER

A presentation of songs written and performed by BILL BAKER.

He blends influences from American blues, country, folk, rhythm & blues, and contemporary acoustic music to create a winning musical style.

From country ballads to haunting blues, Bill’s down home lyrics, inventive images and arresting melodies are mesmerizing.

December 2 - A FINE LINE

Propels us to the edge, and over the edge, of the mysterious and hilarious divide between calm sanity and the stressfully bizarre.

Singing Psychotherapist MARGY SEIDES analyzes human foibles and frivolities in a delightful session of comedy and song. She may have you questioning your own “normalcy”!

Parental guidance suggested for children under 13 years of age.

DEC 9 - FIREFLY SHADOW THEATRE

Takes the ancient art of shadow theater to delightfully modern new heights. On a lighted screen the company projects comic, irreverent vignettes and offbeat adaptations of little-known folk tales.

Visually stunning puppets are illuminated by a variety of lighting effects as they sing and speak in many languages. Part circus, part Commedia dell' Arte, totally enjoyable!

DEC 16 - A RENAISSANCE CHRISTMAS

Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Gentlefolk All! Her Royal Majesty the Queene commands Your Presence for A Grand Elizabethan Fete, with Harpsichord, Song and Joye abundant! Master of the Revels GARY SCHWARTZ, at the Virginal, and his bevy of Court Beauties will lead the merriment.

Don You Now your Regal Apparel and lend Your Voice to Greensleaves, Let All the Earth Rejoice, Gaudette and other Goodly Carols.