1st Stage Offers Quality Theater in Tysons Corner

Photo courtesy 1st Stage Theatre website

One thing I love about the 1st Stage Theatre in Tysons Corner is that it is so hard to find. As one of those obnoxious “I-like-something-until-it-becomes-popular” people, I love the secret-password quality of getting to it: You park in a warehouse strip mall off Spring Hill Road, then walk past a doggy day care and a Jazzercise gym to get to the theater door, all the while glancing at other people walking toward the door and thinking, "I hope THEY know where they're going."

But now that the Silver Line has opened, the sparkling new Spring Hill Metro stop is just a half block from the theater. With 1st Stage's engaging and innovative black box performances and its central location just east of Leesburg Pike and just west of Tysons Galleria, I have no doubt that I will no longer be able to keep this gem of a theater to my snobby self.

We discovered the theater last year after reading a Washington Post review about the play Never the Sinner, a dramatization of the infamous Leopold and Loeb killing, when two high-society teens in the 1920s killed a young boy. Six actors took part in this play in the middle of the small black space facing several rows of chairs on risers. And yet, with simple prop switch-outs, old-fashioned sound-effect equipment and striking performances from the lead actors, this small play became bigger than the box, became real and engaging and haunting. I am not a true-crime fan, but I was so fascinated by the performance that I now have a non-fiction book about Leopold and Loeb on my bedside table.

Never the Sinner performed at 1st Stage Theatre. Photo via Washington Post by Teresa Castracane/1st Stage

The website says 1st Stage was established to give young and emerging talent a place to build their resume and gain experience. “We want to be that ‘first stage’ in their careers: a place to struggle with the art, learn from their discoveries and their mistakes, and find pride in what they produce.” They have so many ideals I support that I’ll just quote their website again: “In return, our community gets the chance to experience great theatre. As Tysons Corner grows into a city, it’s going to need more than office buildings and shopping malls to build that ‘pride of place’ that marks strong, vibrant communities.”

Their current production, Take Me Out, is a 2003 Tony Award winner about an All-Star baseball player who reveals that he’s gay. The Washingtonian called the performance “dramatically tense, uneasily sympathetic, and hysterically funny,” and says lead actor Jaysen Wright “does a fine job of making the protagonist remote and unknowable—yet compelling—until his resolve finally begins to crack when circumstances push him to the edge.”

Photo courtesy 1st Stage Theatre website

I may not get a chance to check it out before the play closes on Oct. 12. But I'm looking forward to attending a couple of other performances this season, even if that means I'll have to beat back the throng to get in the door.

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1st Stage Theatre

1524 Spring Hill Road, Tysons, VA 22102

In-Between Tip: 1st Stage will host its annual benefit Saturday, Oct. 18 at 7 p.m. Come support a great local theater and enjoy a fun night out. 

Out-of-the-Box Date Night at the Mosaic District

There are times when going out for dinner and a movie with your significant other can be as depressing as spending a Saturday night at home. It’s the predictability of the event, entering a boxy restaurant for food, then a boxy theater for entertainment. A late night yawn, a tired drive home, then bed.

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Strawberry Park at the Mosaic District

Dinner and a movie at the Mosaic District in Fairfax, Virginia is a wide-open, exploratory event with lots of opportunities for surprise, whimsy and fun. One of the biggest surprises is its location: this vibrant, architecturally interesting, walkable “urban district” is just outside the Beltway off Lee Highway, among one-story industrial parks and retail centers that need a facelift. The developers -- who also developed Union Market in D.C. -- had a vision when they pictured this place here.

Chock-full of distinctive restaurants, interesting retail stores and opportunities for fun – a piano on the sidewalk, a giant chessboard, an outdoor movie screen – the Mosaic District makes sure that once you’ve parked your car in their multi-story lot for your dinner-and-a-movie date, you won’t need it again until you’ve thoroughly enjoyed yourself.

Dinner

Romantic dining – Put on your fancy clothes and head to Four Sisters Vietnamese Restaurant or Sea Pearl for an elegant meal with a nice bottle of wine. Call for a reservation at Four Sisters if you intend to be on time for the movie; its 23 years in business and move from Seven Corners hasn’t detracted from its popularity. With ocean-blue walls and lovely seafood presentations, Sea Pearl is a pretty date spot.

A cocktail at Matchbox

Fun dining – Matchbox and Cyclone Anaya’s Mexican Kitchen offer a meal that’s a little more raucous and booze-oriented. While Matchbox restaurants are proliferating like bunnies all over the DMV, I have yet to find one that disappoints with their inventive cocktails, great beer selection, re-interpreted bar food and super-cool interiors. Cyclone Anaya’s have margaritas as big as your head.

Casual dining – The Mosaic offers lots of quick bites that are easy on the wallet: Cava Mezze Grill (referred to as the “Chipotle” of Mediterranean food on Yelp), Sweetgreen (salads), and Taylor Gourmet (subs) are all interesting grab, eat and go food options right across the street from the movie theater. If you want to go even more casual, have an impromptu picnic on the green in front of the theater. Go to Red Apron Butcher for truly astonishing sandwiches or to Le Pain Quotidien for a baguette and other picnic fixings.

Movie

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Indoors – The Angelika Film Center throws the tired idea of a boxy movie theater with sticky floors and insolent teen employees into the trash. A three-tiered cinema temple of glass and gleaming wood, the Angelika honors the fact that adults are shelling out big bucks to see a movie these days and makes it a true experience. The theater offers a coffee bar and pastries downstairs, beer and gourmet hotdogs on the theater level, and a bar – yes, a bar – on the top floor. You can buy an entire bottle of wine at the bar and take it into the theater with you. You select your seats ahead of time and take your time getting there, rather than fighting to snatch a seat like animals. And when you amble into your movie with your bottle of wine and your gourmet hot dog, the theater – generally filled with adults – is as quiet as a tomb. My love for this place knows no bounds.

Outdoors – Or maybe you’re not as crotchety as I am and would enjoy a little people watching and children laughing and summer breezing as you enjoy your movie. The Mosiac hosts summer movies every Friday night on its ginormous outdoor screen at Strawberry Park, the wide green space just outside the Angelika Film Center. Apollo 13 is playing tonight.

After the Movie

The fact that the Mosaic District has provided so many incentives to stroll, relax and wander is my favorite aspect of the place. Don't head to your car after the movie. Take a second to enjoy this area and the amazing partner at your side.

• Have a delicious drip coffee at the glass-enclosed coffee shop, Dolcezza in the Park.
• Stroll the wide sidewalks and window shop at stores like Anthropologie, South Moon Under and Paper Source. 
• Get you feet wet in the rainbow-colored fountain in Strawberry Park.
• Enjoy post-movie gelato at Dolcezza.
• Play the piano on District Avenue.
• Indulge in the cocktail you didn't have before the movie at Matchbox or Sea Pearl.
• Play a game of chess on the giant chessboard in Strawberry Park.
• Dance to the bands playing in Glass Alley every Saturday evening from 7/26-8/23 at the Summer Block Party, with food and drink provided by Red Apron Butcher.

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Take this handy map with you to explore all the fun of the MOSAIC DISTRICT

In-Between Tip: If you’re approaching the Mosiac District from the East, you’ll be tempted to turn left at Gallows Road and then right to enter the shopping area. Don’t! You’ll be snarled in pedestrian traffic that makes everyone testy. Instead, stay on Lee Highway until you hit the next light at Eskridge Road. This left and the next two lefts into the Market Garage are effortless and will prevent you from starting your night out in a bad mood.

Have favorite dinner-and-a-movie places? I would love to explore places that make this tired date night fun. Tell me about them on my Facebook page or in the comments below.