Community theater relocates to Mason District

The cast rehearses “Taking Sides,” [Port City Playhouse]

Port City Playhouse, a community theater group that had been based in Alexandria since it was founded in 1977, has relocated to Mason District.

The theater group moved into its new home at Sleepy Hollow Methodist Church, at 3435 Sleepy Hollow Road, Falls Church, in November. Since moving, they’ve put on one Christmas show in conjunction with the church and are getting ready for their first major production in their new quarters.

“Taking Sides” opens Friday, April 21, at 8 p.m. The play, by Richard Harwood, takes place in Berlin in 1946 during the De-Nazification Tribunal in the American Zone. German conductor and composer Wilhelm Furtwängler. who didn’t flee when the Nazis took control, was accused of being a collaborator, while his defenders insisted he stayed to do good in the face of evil.

Additional performances are scheduled on April 22, 27, 28, and 29 and May 5 and 6 at  8 p.m. and April 23 and 30 at 3 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online or at the door. Tickets are $20 for adults and $18 for seniors, students, and members of the military.

Port City Playhouse’s 2017 series continues with “Fabulation, or the Re-education of Undine,” a family drama by Lynn Nottage. That play will be produced in partnership with Dominion Stage and will be performed at Gunston Theatre Two in Arlington.

The troupe returns to Sleepy Hollow Methodist Church Oct. 13-28 with a production of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.”

“Port City looks to produce plays that aren’t often done in standard community theater,” says Eleanore Tapscott, the group’s vice president for marketing and publicity. “We frequently do plays that have historical significance or look at important attributes of human beings.”