The Christmas Revels

Christmas Revels is a cherished holiday tradition for over 70,000 people throughout the country. Every December, the Washington Revels community gathers in GW University’s Lisner Auditorium to celebrate the season through the traditional songs, dances, and stories of cultures from around the world. This year’s production will be performed live at Lisner Auditorium December 15 – 17 and will be followed by a virtual encore streaming option!

Our 41st production of Christmas Revels whisks audiences to the time of Camelot, King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, weaving the ancient tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight with English and French medieval music, delightful Revels favorites, and many opportunities for the audience to join in the fun. The Christmas Revels: The Magical Medieval Tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, features a multigenerational cast, ages 8 to 92, portraying the legendary ladies and gallant knights of Camelot and the mysterious Green Court of the Lord and Lady Bercilak—as Sir Gawain’s adventure unfolds, filled with beauty, magic, and celebration!

Tickets now on sale!

Photo credit: 2012 Christmas Revels, Sheppard Ferguson, photographer.

2023 Guest Artists

Peter Walker

Described as a “commanding” singer by a recent Boston Globe review, and “rich voiced” and “vivid” by the New York Times, Peter Walker performs with the GRAMMY-nominated Skylark Ensemble, GRAMMY-nominated Handel + Haydn Society, GRAMMY-nominated Clarion Society Choir, Kuhmo Kamarimusiiki, Staunton Music Festival, Early Music New York, Blue Heron, Texas Early Music, Pomerium, and other ensembles, and is a founder and member of Chapter House, a duo exploring the connections between storytelling and music. He is also active as a researcher of early music ranging from the Middle Ages through the eighteenth century, and has presented lectures of medieval and renaissance music at Vassar College and Case Western. Peter holds degrees from Vassar College and McGill University, where he studied with Drew Minter and Sanford Sylvan. He currently sings n the U.S. Army Chorus.

Brian Kay

Brian Kay is a modern-day troubadour. He is the Artistic Director of the early music meets early theater group THEATRO, and is currently overseeing their international recording of music from the plays of William Shakespeare. He is an Artistic Leadership Fellow of Apollo’s Fire and in 2019, he won a GRAMMY® Award for his work on their Songs of Orpheus recording with tenor Karim Sulayman. He works as a consultant for the Netflix music lab and is a featured soloist on the soundtrack of their original series The Witcher. He has performed throughout the world at venues such as the National Concert Hall of Dublin, Belfast Castle (Ireland), Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and the Folger Theater. His live radio appearances include NPR, Baltimore’s WYPR, Baltimore’s 98ROCK, Boston’s WGBH, and Cleveland’s WCLV.  Brian is a founding member of THEATRO and Twa Corbies, a core member of Apollo’s Fire, and regularly performs with Hesperus, The Folger Consort, Early Music Access Project, and Trio Sefardi. Brian is on the faculty as teacher of historical plucked instruments at Cleveland Institute of Music and Case Western Reserve University. He has lectured on music and history at Yale University, The Peabody Conservatory, Johns Hopkins University, The Folger Theater, The Kennedy Center, and Baldwin-Wallace College.

Dongmyung Ahn

Early string specialist Dongmyung Ahn is a performer, educator, and scholar whose interests span from the twelfth to eighteenth centuries. She is co-founder of Duo Custos, a medieval duo that specializes in music of the fourteenth century. Dongmyung regularly performs with Green Mountain Vespers, Pegasus, Raritan Players, The Sebastians, and TENET Vocal Artists. She has played rebec in the critically acclaimed production of The Play of Daniel at the Cloisters. A dedicated educator, Dongmyung has taught music history at Columbia University, New York University, Queens College, Rutgers University, and Vassar College. She received her PhD in musicology at the Graduate Center, CUNY and has published an article on medieval liturgy in the Rodopi series Faux Titre and an article on Jewish-Christians relations in Henry VIII’s court (IU Press).

Washington Revels Brass

The Washington Revels Brass lends its joyful, clarion sound to every Christmas Revels production. Current performers include trumpeters Les Linn and Fred Marcellus, French horn Andrew Houde and trombonists Bryan Bourne and Jeff Gaylord. The ensemble views itself in a certain sense as a microcosm of Revels everywhere: they have their own rituals, traditions, and personality. They differ from every other part of the Revels only in that their ways are largely invisible to all but themselves. (Photo by Alain L. Gutiérrez Almeida)

Emma Crane Jaster (Lady Bercilak)

Emma grew up in Revels watching her parents Gayle Jaster—then director, and Mark Jaster—frequent fool. She has performed with Revels in both DC and Cambridge as a child, teen, and professional actor in Italian, Haddon Hall, and Welsh productions. Throughout her subsequent international training, she has specialized in physical expression and communication. Her work onstage, in the world, and in the classroom focuses on the cross-cultural and humanizing potential of performance. She is Associate Director of the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics at Georgetown University where she works with international artists at the intersection of politics and performance and develops courses to share the skills of the stage for the sake of diplomacy and advocacy. She teaches at The Shakespeare Theater Company’s Academy of Classical Acting, and is an Associate Artist of Heartbeat Opera in NYC. She started onstage at the age of 6 with her father, later studied at the Lecoq school in Paris, the Natanakairali Institute in India and Robert Wilson’s Watermill Center. She has developed work with Dalianshang International Theater Festival in China, and the Grotowski-based Teatr Zar in Poland, among others. She is the recipient of multiple grants and residencies including a recent fellowship with the Asian Cultural Council for cultural exchange in Taiwan.

Morgan Duncan (King Arthur)

A veteran of many Washington Revels productions, Morgan Duncan is a Howard University graduate and member of Actor’s Equity Association. He has performed widely at regional theaters around the country, including The Guthrie in Minneapolis, MN., and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival; and locally, at Arena Stage and The Shakespeare Theater. For many years, he was a company member with The Capitol Steps. Morgan first performed in a Christmas Revels in 1992 as the “Star Fool” in Washington Revels’ initial production of “The Celestial Fools,” a role he reprised in 1999. In both 2001 and 2009, Morgan played the lead role of the Doge of Venice in our Italian Renaissance Christmas Revels, and he portrayed John Manners, 9th Duke of Rutland, in the 2012 Christmas Revels production,“The Spirits of Haddon Hall.”

Abbie Desrosiers Mulberg (Queen Guinevere)

Terrence Bartlebaugh (Sir Gawain)

Terrence Bartlebaugh currently attends the University of Maryland as a Theater and Vocal performance major. His recent roles include Kevin in University of Maryland’s production of The Prom; Nick Bottom in Montgomery College Summer Dinner Theater’s 2023 production of Something Rotten, and Laurie in the Summer Dinner Theatre’s Little Women. This is Terry’s inaugural Christmas Revels appearance.

Preston Jones (Lord Bercilak)

Preston Jones is a Senior Theater Performance major at the University of Maryland, College Park. Most recently, Preston portrayed Lucky in the musical Dancing on the Air: The Teenarama Story in 2021 (Selah Theatre); Duke Frederick and Duke Senior in the University of Maryland’s 2022 production of Shakespeare’s As You Like It; Mr. Hawkins in the Montgomery College Summer Dinner Theatre production of The Prom (2023), and Shakespeare in Something Rotten (2023). This is Preston’s first Christmas Revels appearance.

Our flagship production, The Christmas Revels, is a festive, fully staged celebration of the Winter Solstice and the return of sun and light after the “shortest day,” radiating hope and joy in the renewal of life and the circle of the seasons. Seen by over 10,000 people every December, it draws on traditions and rituals from many lands and peoples, focusing each year on a different culture or related cultures.

Select a link below to learn more about that production.

2011-2021

• 2022: “Celtic Crossroads”
• 2021: American Revels
• 2020: Winter Solstice Revels (virtual show during COVID-19)
• 2019: “Celestial Fools”
• 2018: An Elizabethan Celebration of the Winter Solstice
• 2017: A French-Canadian Celebration of the Winter Solstice
• 2016: A Nordic Celebration (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway & Sweden)
• 2015: A Medieval Celebration of the Winter Solstice
• 2014: An Irish Celebration of the Winter Solstice
• 2013: “Echoes of Thrace” (Bulgaria, Greece & Turkey)
• 2012: “Spirits of Haddon Hall”
• 2011: “Treasures of Andalusia” (Jewish, Arabic & Spanish)

2001-2010

• 2010: Thomas Hardy (featuring The Mellstock Band)
• 2009: Leonardo’s Workshop (Italian Renaissance)
• 2008: French Canadian (Québécois)
• 2007: Elizabethan English
• 2006: Early American
• 2005: Northlands (Nordic)
• 2004: “The King and the Fool” (English Medieval)
• 2003: “Roads of the Roma”
• 2002: Victorian England
• 2001: Leonardo’s Workshop (Italian Renaissance)

1991-2000

• 2000: Celtic
• 1999: Celestial Fools
• 1998: Shepherd Alley – Washington, D.C.
• 1997: Medieval – King and the Fool
• 1996: Northlands
• 1995: French
• 1994: Victorian
• 1993: Celtic
• 1992: Celestial Fools
• 1991: Russian and American

1983-1990

• 1990: Medieval
• 1989: Storybook
• 1988: Medieval
• 1987: Celtic
• 1986: French
• 1985: Appalachian-American (featuring Jean Ritchie)
• 1984: “Haddon Hall”
• 1983: Medieval