A Valiant Second Step for First Stage

Keegan's 'Cuckoo' Change

Keegan Theatre (http://www.keegantheatre.com) has made changes in its current season schedule. "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," which the company just toured in Ireland, has been postponed from this fall till next summer to accommodate Round House Theatre, which is doing its own production in April.

Instead, Keegan will do "Glengarry Glen Ross" (Nov. 28-Dec. 20) as its fall mainstage production at Church Street Theater. Presented concurrently will be "Love, Peace and Robbery" (Nov. 28-Dec. 21) at Theatre on the Run in Arlington.

"Krapp's Last Tape" (Feb. 19-March 14) comes next at Theatre on the Run, followed by "Elizabeth Rex" (March 19-April 18) at Church Street. In "Glengarry's" original June slot at Church Street, Keegan has added "Lincolnesque" (June 4-28) by John Strand.

The season closes with "Cuckoo's Nest" (July 16-Aug. 15) at Church Street. The musical "A Man of No Importance" has been dropped.

Slighted by Slate

Slate fomented an online mini-tempest on Nov. 7 when it re-published an "open letter" to the Obama family on what to expect upon moving to Washington. It was actually written in 1993 by Marjorie Williams (a Post reporter who died in 2005) as advice to the incoming Clintons.

Although Slate's editors noted in a disclaimer that "glaringly dated" references had been deleted, they didn't change this: "The city is provincial, we add. The theater is still second-rate at best."

Well, harrumph and snap. Anyone who has attended and/or covered Washington theater in the last decade and a half knows how the art form has burgeoned here.

Glen Howard, vice chair of the Helen Hayes Awards board, fired back that "some would argue that Washington theatre is more adventurous, challenging, and enriching than much of what one can see these days in New York." (His comment and those of other theatergoers can be found on Slate.com.)