Lightwire Theater: Dino-Light at the Clarice, May 9

Lightwire Theater: Dino-Light at the Clarice, May 9

Clarice presents:
Lightwire Theater: Dino-Light

Sat, May. 9, 2026 | 2:30 pm

Venue: Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center.

You won’t believe your eyes as a shining, luminescent world of prehistoric creatures dance, explore and even engage in lightsaber duels in the larger-than-life neon puppetry world of Dino-Light.

Through a mix of imagination, science and magic, a friendly neon-lit dinosaur leaps to life, seeking friends and love in Dino-Light. You won’t believe your eyes as a shining, luminescent world of prehistoric creatures dance, explore and even engage in lightsaber duels! The luminary geniuses at Lightwire Theater utilize light, technology, music and innovative puppeteering to tell captivating stories and unite audiences of all ages with a sense of wonder. As seen on “America’s Got Talent,” the company’s approach to inventive artistry through creative engineering sets them apart. A Jim Henson Foundation Grant awardee and the first full-length work by company founders Ian Carney and Corbin Popp, Dino-Light makes its Clarice Presents debut for a one-afternoon-only matinee that’s sure to enchant would-be paleontologists both young and old!

Tickets: $35, Students/Youth: $15, family pack $80 (2 reg; 2 students). Click here.

Experimental Performance Series at the Clarice, May 9

Experimental Performance Series at the Clarice, May 9

UMD School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies presents:
Experimental Performance Series

#5:
Sat, May. 9, 2026 | 2:00 pm
Sat, May. 9, 2026 | 7:30 pm

Venue: Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center.

The Experimental Performance Series is a collection of self-produced works from undergraduate and graduate students in theatre and dance, ranging from established works to brand new plays and choreography.

This performance will feature two original works:

Folds and Folds and Folds, choreographed by Abigail Ash, is a movement exploration of core concepts of existentialist philosophy. The piece is a visual representation of the emotional and social repercussions of isolation as people struggle to connect with themselves and one another. The dancers contend with the lack of inherent and universal meaning of the world and ultimately resolve to define their own essence. They embrace and nurture their individuality and their relationships with one another, all with the awareness that meaning is created, not imparted.

Sombra da Criança
Co-Writer/Directors: Heidi Lehan and Eitan Amster
Choreographer: Beatriz Moreira Leite

Sombra da Criança is an original horror-choreo play that explores Brazilian folklore and what it means to grow up as a child instilled by the fears of storytelling. This cultural love letter offers a new and often underrepresented perspective on Brazilian theatre.

Free, no tickets required. Click here.

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Salome at the Greenbelt Arts Center, May 7-16

Salome at the Greenbelt Arts Center, May 7-16

The Rude Mechanicals in residence at Greenbelt Arts Center presents:
Salome
by Oscar Wilde
directed by Wes Dennis

May 7 – 16, 2026
Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8PM
Sunday, May 10 at 2PM
Pay What You Will Performances:
Thursday May 7 8pm
Thursday May 14 8pm

Location: Greenbelt Arts Center

Oscar Wilde’s classic tragedy based on the Biblical story of the beheading of John the Baptist. Much has been made of the supposed immorality of the play. When the script was published in 1893, The Times newspaper described it thusly: “an arrangement in blood and ferocity, morbid, bizarre, repulsive, and very offensive…”

…And now the Rude Mechanicals are presenting Salome as a tribute to 1990s media and culture, with a plethora of edits and changes to the Lord Alfred Douglas translation in the service of that end. Also? It’s now a comedy. In short: it’s Oscar Wilde’s Salome as only the Rude Mechanicals would stage it. Cue laugh track.

*This show contains comedic violence, suicide, and murder*

Tickets: $24 General Admission, $22 Seniors/Military, $12 Student/Youth. Buy tickets here.

PLAYdate with Happenstance Theater at the Publick Playhouse, May 2-3

PLAYdate with Happenstance Theater at the Publick Playhouse, May 2-3

Prince George’s Publick Playhouse presents:
PLAYdate with Happenstance Theater

Saturday, May 2, 2026, 7 pm
Sunday, May 3, 2026, 4pm

Prince George’s Publick Playhouse.

This is a super-charged explosion of original work by Happenstance Theater collaborators from the DC/MD Theatre community who want to dive into devising. In only ONE day, the generative artists will assemble an assemblage of vignettes and scenes and perform them for you! It will be Happenstance Theater’s version of “a play in a day.” Let the adrenaline soar!

Tickets: $25 adult, $20 student/senior. Click here for info, and here for tickets.

El Ciclón at the Clarice, Apr 30-May 1

El Ciclón at the Clarice, Apr 30-May 1

Clarice presents:
UMD School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies
El Ciclón
by Yara Travieso
music by Sam Crawford

Fri, May. 1, 2026 | 7:30 pm
Sat, May. 2, 2026 | 2:00 pm
Sat, May. 2, 2026 | 7:30 pm
Sun, May. 3, 2026 | 2:00 pm

Venue: Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center.

Cuban-Venezuelan-American playwright Yara Travieso’s new musical El Ciclón, with music from acclaimed composer, librettist and TDPS faculty member Sam Crawford, is a unique and innovative musical production combining cinema with live theater. It tells the story of a woman stranded with her car in the swampy south during a harsh storm. El Ciclón is a wild, neo-feminist saga within a 1950s B-movie psychological thriller, featuring singing, dancing and just enough alligators to keep things interesting.

Tickets: $35, Students/Youth: $15. Click here.