Spooky Action Theater

Spooky Action Theater Spooky Action Theater is an award-winning adventurous professional theatre, a hub for bold aesthetics, vital conversations and global visions.

Versatile black box theater for producing thought provoking productions.

You wanna know what makes Spooky Action “D.C. theatre’s most exciting worldbuilders” ()? Drumroll for the creative team ...
08/16/2025

You wanna know what makes Spooky Action “D.C. theatre’s most exciting worldbuilders” ()? Drumroll for the creative team shaping the surprising and surreal landscape of “The Dragon!” Director Elizabeth Dinkova. Scenic designer Margarita Syrocheva. Costume designer Johnna Presby. Lighting designer Mike Durst. Sound designer Brandon Cook. Movement director Robert Bowen Smith. Stage managers Maria Mills and Olivia Tyndall. Assistant director Troy Johnson. Technical director Barrett Doyle. Production manager Lauren Janoschka. Our space will be bursting at the seams with the talent and creativity of this crew, and you don’t wanna miss.

CAST ANNOUNCEMENT! For “The Dragon,” we’re bringing together a cast of local favorites that represent the global crossro...
08/15/2025

CAST ANNOUNCEMENT! For “The Dragon,” we’re bringing together a cast of local favorites that represent the global crossroads of cultures that is D.C. They come from Puerto Rico, Syria, Chile, Bangladesh, the United States. Who better to tell us a bedtime story about an authoritarian dragon and a town under siege? We’re thrilled to welcome Gabriel Alejandro, Raghad Almakhlouf, Surasree Das, Ryan Sellers, and Fran Tapia!

One of the most important (and fun!) aspects of our programming is training emerging artists. As a part of our vision of...
08/14/2025

One of the most important (and fun!) aspects of our programming is training emerging artists. As a part of our vision of a globally interconnected world through art, we are passionate about making a career in the arts compelling and viable for young people. We had a blast this year hosting two interns through the ’s program for high school students. Under the mentorship of our General Manager Lauren Janoschka, these brilliant young women dipped their toes into casting, marketing, and production tech and each completed an independent project: Mikayla analyzed audience data to help us engage new patrons, and Alisha proposed a new organization system for our costume shop. Their program is over, but we’ll stay energized and inspired long after. If you’re interested in learning about internship opportunities with Spooky, send us a message on [email protected].

Tambo and Bones find themselves in a fix: they’re trapped in a minstrel show. And it’s damn hard to know what’s real and...
08/02/2025

Tambo and Bones find themselves in a fix: they’re trapped in a minstrel show. And it’s damn hard to know what’s real and what’s not. The escape plan? Get famous…cash in…and get even. This time-traveling hip-hop fantasia from slam poet turned playwright Dave Harris dares to say the quiet part out loud, wrestling with America’s racist past and present and exploding its post-racial future.

This production is directed by Ashleigh King and will run Feb 12-March 7, 2026 at Spooky (1810 16th St NW). You can find more information at spookyaction.org. Graphics by Barrett Doyle.

Terrorized by a wicked dragon, a town gets a chance for freedom with the arrival of a confident and cocky Sir Lancelot (...
08/01/2025

Terrorized by a wicked dragon, a town gets a chance for freedom with the arrival of a confident and cocky Sir Lancelot (yes, distantly related). Sounds simple enough, right? On the surface a supernatural fairytale, this subversive play written (and banned) in Stalinist Russia offers a scorching satire of authoritarian regimes and the mechanisms they use to control people. In a sharp new adaptation centering immigrant actors, “The Dragon” is a witty allegory that exposes the dangers of tyranny - and would be even more fun if it were not so disturbingly relevant. Tickets on sale August 15. Graphics by Barrett Doyle.

It is finally here! SEASON 21: COUNTER-NARRATIVES. Spooky Action’s season includes productions of two plays that are bol...
07/31/2025

It is finally here! SEASON 21: COUNTER-NARRATIVES. Spooky Action’s season includes productions of two plays that are boldly theatrical, entertaining, and resonant. In her third season as Artistic Director, Elizabeth Dinkova directs a new adaptation of “The Dragon” by Evgeny Shvarts, a banned 1940s political fairytale. Dave Harris’ “Tambo & Bones,” a provocative and hilarious Off-Broadway hit, will be directed by 2020 Helen Hayes Award Winner Ashleigh King (Keegan Theatre’s “Legally Blonde”). In addition, Spooky Action’s season will include developmental readings and workshops through its New Works in Action program, and a return of its popular Cabaret Series featuring new acts by local talent.

Here’s what you can expect from our second mainstage production in Spring ‘26. This season will pull all the stops and s...
07/23/2025

Here’s what you can expect from our second mainstage production in Spring ‘26. This season will pull all the stops and serve bold theatricality with a vital message. Are you ready?

This is what critics say about the first play in our 25/26 season…can you guess what it is? Stay tuned for the season an...
07/22/2025

This is what critics say about the first play in our 25/26 season…can you guess what it is? Stay tuned for the season announcement soon!

Happy opening to our friends at , and to our artistic director  who was the associate director for ’s one-woman musical ...
07/19/2025

Happy opening to our friends at , and to our artistic director who was the associate director for ’s one-woman musical fertility journey “Dead Inside!” The show has already been extended and now runs until August 3.

As we get ready to announce our 25/26 season, we wanted to take a little trip down memory lane and revisit the rousing c...
07/18/2025

As we get ready to announce our 25/26 season, we wanted to take a little trip down memory lane and revisit the rousing critical reception of our past season’s productions.

For our 20th anniversary season, The Birth of Myth, we proposed a radical idea — that a small, scrappy theater can be an...
07/17/2025

For our 20th anniversary season, The Birth of Myth, we proposed a radical idea — that a small, scrappy theater can be an incubator for the most daring and vital new works. In the Fall, we premiered Christopher T. Hampton’s contemporary epic “Cracking Zeus;” this production, directed by Mosaic Theater’s Reginald L. Douglas, and produced in collaboration with Howard University, garnered us a Helen Hayes Award for Lo**ta Marie’s Outstanding Supporting Performance. In the Winter, we transformed our space into an underground club: our cabaret series was launched by Tony Award-winning playwright and rock musician Stew Stewart (“Passing Strange”), and spotlighted the eclectic duo Here & There (Jordyn Taylor & Deimoni Brewington) and Chilean powerhouse singer-songwriter Fran Tapia. In the Spring, we produced our first new musical, and the best-selling show in Spooky Action’s history: the anti-authoritarian fantasia “Professor Woland’s Black Magic Rock Show,” heralded by critics as “a major new contribution to American musical theater” (DC Theater Arts) and “one of the most authentically political productions of the year” (Washington City Paper). In the Summer, we celebrated World Pride with the transcendent Lucy Eden, who merged circus and advocacy into “Circus of the Self,” an empowering show about living as your authentic self. Stay tuned over the next week to hear what we’re cooking up for next season!

Address

1810 16th Street NW
Washington D.C., DC
20009

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 4:30pm

Telephone

+12022480301

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