The Lights Come Up on a Full Season and New Spaces

Maura McGinn and Jim Jorgensen are electric together in "Spinning Into Butter," the Journeymen Theater Ensemble production at the Clark Street Playhouse in Arlington. (By Colin Hovde)

Northern Virginia has such an active theater scene, and Alexandria and Arlington in particular have so many theater companies, that going to the theater has become a year-round experience. However, the majority of local theater companies are gearing up with new slates of plays and musicals that will number well over 60 productions by next summer.

The big news this season is the long-awaited and somewhat delayed move by Arlington's nationally recognized Signature Theatre in January from its longtime home in a former auto repair garage on South Four Mile Run Drive into a larger, state-of-the-art facility nearby at the end of South 28th Street in Shirlington. The new space will feature two black box stages, one a 299-seat main stage and the other a 99-seat venue for works that are more experimental.

Arlington County has invested $5.5 million constructing the shell and infrastructure for the theater complex, which will occupy the second, third and fourth floors of a county library branch. Signature is raising $7 million for the build-out and theater equipment. The theater-and-library complex opens onto a public plaza, which will be adorned with art, and is next to a 750-space parking garage. The garage is a major boon to theatergoers, who have had to struggle to find parking and often walking long distances from the theater late at night. Signature's final show in its old theater will be the musical "My Fair Lady," opening Tuesday and directed by Signature co-founder and artistic director Eric Schaeffer. The first show in the new space will be the Stephen Sondheim musical "Into the Woods," opening Jan. 16.

The county expects Signature to anchor an arts and entertainment district to include other theater companies as well as the shops and restaurants of Shirlington Village and the small Theatre on the Run, a block from Signature's old space on South Four Mile Run Drive and home to a number of smaller theater groups.

The county will renovate the old Signature space, work that could cost as much as $3 million, and groups are waiting in line to occupy it. These include Classika Theatre, which specializes in children's productions and is jammed into a storefront on South 28th Street, and its partner Synetic Theatre, which is building a regional reputation for its movement-based productions. Synetic uses a conference hall in Rosslyn for some of its shows, while the Kennedy Center has made its Terrace Theater available for others, including its current production of "Frankenstein." Also wanting in is the Washington Shakespeare Company, which is losing its home at the Clark Street Playhouse, a former industrial space slated for demolition next year. Journeymen Theater Ensemble is hoping for a nod to use the space but is planning to perform in several District theaters this season after its current hit production of "Spinning Into Butter" wraps up at the Clark Street Playhouse.

Also making news this season is the move by Charter Theatre from the District to Theatre on the Run. The respected professional troupe opens its season tomorrow night with "Short Order Stories" a drama written by Renee Calarco and directed by her brother Joe Calarco. Keegan Theatre, which tours Ireland every year with an American play, has a new commitment to performing in Arlington. Its New Island Theatre Project is launching a series of plays at Theatre on the Run, while the troupe will also continue to perform in the District.

Theatergoers may have seen the last production from Arlington's Trumpet Vine Theatre Company. Artistic Director Vincent Worthington cites financial challenges, what he calls an "oversaturated local theater scene," and personal exhaustion for the troupe's failure to announce a schedule this season.