'Boom' Writer Has Comedy Down to a Science

Theater Alliance Returns

Comedy and biology mix in "Boom," with Kimberly Gilbert and Aubrey Deeker. (By Stan Barouh -- Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company)

After taking several months off from producing shows, Theater Alliance is ready to announce productions for the first half of 2009 (see box).

With a $100,000 Upstart grant from the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Artistic Director Paul Douglas Michnewicz has worked with consultants to get the financially shaky theater on firmer ground by using better practices in budgeting, development, marketing and technology.

By substituting less expensive productions to end last season, the company finished in the black. In July, Michnewicz was elevated from interim to full artistic director and took a break from production to confer with the consultants and reboot Theater Alliance's infrastructure.

He's decided to reopen Theater Alliance (which performs at H Street Playhouse) with a musical, "The Women of Tin Pan Alley," because last year's "A Nite at the Dew Drop Inn" was "a huge success for us," Michnewicz says. "I don't want to lose doing the great, artistically adventurous stuff, but we have to balance it with stuff that is appealing to a big, broad audience."

Follow Spots

· Chris Jennings has been named managing director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company. As general manager since 2004, Jennings oversaw the growth of the company's budget from $12 million to $19 million during its expansion into the Harman Center for the Arts. Jennings will now handle business and external affairs and partnerships with other arts groups.

· "Kick," a play for families about racial stereotyping and sports teams that use American Indian mascots, will run in daytime performances Friday and Saturday at the Rasmuson Theater in the National Museum of the American Indian. It is a production of Encompass, a Los Angeles group that specializes in "Compassion Plays" about diversity. Call 202-633-6644 to reserve seats.