An affair. A secret. A confession. A twist. Master classic playwright Harold Pinter holds the original drama in his words but they find an edgy and revitalized life in the new production now appearing on the Sokal Stage of the Fells Point Corner Theatre. Directed by Andrew J. Porter, this vivid incarnation of Betrayal is moved by a timeless verve that resonates the emotional simplicity and poignancy of Pinter’s story.
I saw a figure. Or was it a reflection? A brilliant shimmering glimpse of Mary Shelley’s core essence, captured in theatrical perfection upon the Maryland Ensemble Theatre main stage as autumn brings a new adaptation of Frankenstein into their season. Devised by the ensemble under the riveting Direction of Co-Artistic Director Julie Herber, this new concoction is a striking and tragically beautiful amalgamation of Shelley’s most poignant words of prose.
Ay! Ay! Ay! She’s the lady with the tutti-frutti hat on her head! Singing sensation, Brazilian beauty, Carmen Miranda has her whole story explained in Pointless Theatre’s world premiere production of Gimme a Band, Gimme a Banana! The Carmen Miranda Story. Directed by Roberta Alves and Matt Reckeweg, this show appears as part of the Women’s Voices Theater Festival and is an intriguing examination of a popularized figure told through interpretive movement and song.
Worldly goods come and go, but exceptional theatre lasts beyond its ephemeral nature in the recesses of the mind of those that attended. Poe’s Last Stanza falls into the category of ephemeral theatrical brilliance that will linger on and be remembered by those who were fortunate enough to encounter the performance produced by Do or Die Mystery Productions. Written and Directed by C.J. Crowe, the piece is a highly immersive and interactive involvement that makes Edgar Allan Poe and all of his mysterious gloom highly accessible to everyman,
Atomic adolescent angst rears its radioactive righteousness in a teenage nuclear zombie! Not a catchy enough hook? Think Grease meets The Walking Dead, but with more dancing and you’ll have the hysterically campy and hell of a good time musical, Zombie Prom now shambling onto the stage of the Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre just in time for the spooktacular season of Halloween. Directed by Kristen Cooley with Musical Direction by Michael Tan,
Rebelling against the self-satisfaction of our civilization, at the crossroads where film and theatre intersect, a world premier work has settled itself into The Yellow Sign Theatre for the Halloween season. Written and Directed by Aaron Travis, From a Black Egg is an edgy new approach to the way theatre is experienced. Settling into the notion of German Expressionism and silent films, the work— in true Yellow Sign Theatre fashion— does not show you a mere silent film work adapted to the stage,
Sideman: noun – a member of a band or orchestra and especially of a jazz or swing orchestra who is not the leader or a featured soloist.
Side Man written by Warren Leight is a memory play currently in production at The Colonial Players of Annapolis. This memory play is nicely Directed by Jim Reiter and features outstanding performances by Jason Vellon, Mary MacLeod, Ali Vellon,
“One man in his time plays many parts,” declares Melancholy Jacques, and that definitely describes Richard Pilcher’s magnificent performance(s) in Annapolis Shakespeare Company‘s production of As You Like It. A mere eight actors pull off four pairs of lovers, two courts of lords, and an array of miscellaneous country bumpkins. Pilcher plays four separate roles, each strong, distinct, and imbued with life. His Jacques is pitch perfect: melancholy without being glum,
Growing up in the 80’s I had several heroes, one of whom was Dolly Parton. I saw every movie, had every album and knew everything I could about her; I was a fanboy before the term fanboy was used in normal conversation. So getting the opportunity to see one of my favorite movies turned into a musical was extremely exciting for me and overall after leaving the theatre I was not disappointed. Silhouette Stages’ production of 9 to 5: the musical,
Everyone’s life is in danger inside Lord Dudley Rancour’s Estate that sits on a deserted island in the English Lake district. All of Director Eric Potter’s actors play a crucial role in the telling of this classically murderous tale. If one were to be familiar with Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, they might find the story of Something’s Afoot familiar. But stay until the end…and you will find that the writers of this musical piece have twisted the story even more.
Take me out to the ballgame! Take me out to the crowd! Buy me some peanuts and crackerjacks! I don’t care if I ever come back! And it’s root— root! Root for The Heritage Players as they pitch a wild one onto their stage at the Rice Auditorium with their production of Damn Yankees. Directed by Michael Hartsfield with Musical Direction by Stephen Michael Deininger, this classic musical with a time stamp of fond nostalgia slides into home plate under these two dedicated men and the company they plant onto the stage.
I have sailed the world, beheld it’s wonders, from the regions of the west to the regions of the east— and there’s no place like Milburn Stone Theatre. Devilishly embodying the holiday spirit of darkness, and continuing on their unyielding path to produce a season of Sondheim, under the skillful and edgy Direction of Artistic Director S. Lee Lewis, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street takes to the stage for a limited two-weekend engagement.
Sensational exposures. Strange sounds in the night. A spine-tingling chill has settled over the beaches of southern Maryland this October as the Twin Beach Players invite the world premiere of Mark Scharf’s adaptation of The Island of Doctor Moreau to their stage. Just in time for the unsettlingly spooky season of Halloween, this tremendous community theatre undertaking will set your nerves on edge as you hear the fancifully woven tale of one man’s attempt to escape the dark and sordid secrets of a mysterious island after being lost at sea.
WINNER— noun. “someone or something that wins a contest, prize, etc. one that wins.” Just being here at Just Off Broadway’s production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee makes you a winner. W-I-N-N-E-R. Directed by Robin Emrick with Musical Direction by Patty DeLisle, this zany and adorable musical is family fun for everyone and shows the true pride and spirit of just what the Just Off Broadway company has to offer when it comes to their annual fall musical.
Salomé…seductress? Salomé…femme fatale? Salomé…revolutionary heroine? South African Playwright and director Yaël Farber posits how a nameless young woman mentioned briefly in the Bible as the catalyst for the death of John the Baptist became the femme fatale of Oscar Wilde’s version of the story. By examining the biblical narrative in the context of the conquest of Judea by the Romans, Farber presents a provocative reimagining of this woman’s place in history. The result is a fascinating if flawed look at the oppression of feminine narratives in history and literature.
Are you asleep? Good. Let us begin. Again. Darkness has once more descended upon your mind, crept into your dreams, and awakened a nightmare that you knew once before. A vestibule, instructions, the evening awaits— and you recall having been here before. Or have you? Fact and fiction, living and dead, waking and sleeping, the lines are blurring together once more in an evocatively immersive theatrical experience like no other. Returning to The Enoch Pratt House in time for the haunting season,
It is time for the first to become the last and the last to become the first. A mantra that echoes through the words of playwright Robert O’Hara’s work Insurrection: Holding History. Making its Baltimore debut on The Annex Theater stage under the Direction of Kyle A. Jackson, this provocative work draws forth questions of historical importance in a time that is often called into question, particularly in the way it effects current events.
When the dead speak, they might be talking to you. The mystifying and spookily intriguing tagline for a new experiential theatrical installment that has crept its way into the shadowy nightlife of Charm City just in time for the haunting season. Debuting at the historic Carroll Mansion over near Harbor East, Planchette appears for a limited run engagement to conduct an engagement with spirits from the beyond. Directed by Deirdre McAllister, the new piece was a collaborative conception between area playwright Annelise Montone and local performance artist and magician Brian M.
The smartest thing you can ever learn is that you don’t have all the answers. Not to life, not to death, not to love. In a strikingly beautiful and evocative world premier work, playwright Audrey Cefaly debuts her new play Maytag Virgin at Quotidian Theatre Company as a part of the Women’s Voices Theater Festival. Directed by Cefaly, this two-person heartwarming tale explores how fragile human life can be, and how even among the shattered debris of ruined life true beauty can be found.
Gotta bowl. Gotta whisk. Then there’s nothing else but the recipes and chemistry and you. It’s time for the 50th Annual Millberry Cake Off and the only missing ingredient is you in a seat at Signature Theatre this autumn to witness the spectacular new musical that is Cake Off. Debuting as a part of the Women’s Voices Theater Festival, this stunning high-octane comedy is both hilarious and heart-warming, a true veritable rollercoaster of emotions in just 100 minutes of sensational singing and performing.
Sometimes life goes the way you want it to. And sometimes it doesn’t. But when it doesn’t, sometimes you find something beautiful. And Beautiful: The Carole King Musical is what can be found on the Opera House Stage of The John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts this October. Living up to its title, with Words and Music by the infamous Carole King, as well as Gerry Goffin, Barry Mann, and Cynthia Weil,
There are some secrets that do not permit themselves to be told. Arising from the grave ruins of memory, a world premier work takes to the stage with Annapolis Shakespeare Company this autumn. POE, as written by Gregory Thomas Martin and Directed by Sally Boyett, explores the final moments of Edgar Allan Poe before his untimely descent into the permanence of madness and death. Situated inside the charming historic 1747 Pub in the cellars of Reynolds Tavern,
Artists are the real philosophers of the world because they are the ones struggling to communicate the real human condition. In a powerful new evocative work commissioned for Ford’s Theatre, playwright Jessica Dickey explores the notion of protecting the space around the art in her new heart-heavy drama The Guard. Receiving its world premiere upon the stage under the Direction of Sharon Ott, this fascinating new work is not without its levity in its epic journey of exploration through emotions and the notions of art and what it means to exist as humans in a world dominated by untouchable art.
You’re going to have some kinda time at Red Branch Theatre Company this fall as they swing their way into the season with Dogfight, a musical with Book by Peter Duchan and Music and Lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. Directed by Stephanie Lynn Williams, with Musical Direction by Dustin Merrell, this evocatively haunting and tragically beautiful musical shows the caliber of talent that RBTC possesses when mounting a show.
Hope is a powerful thing. It helps you hang onto your dreams, even when you have to hang on for two decades. As a part of the Women’s Voices Theater Festival, NextStop Theatre Company welcomes a bundle of joy in this world premiere production of No Spring Chicken. Written and Performed by Ginna Hoben and Directed by Sullivan Canaday White, this 75-minute one-woman drama is a lighthearted retelling of pregnancy from Advanced Maternal Age.
Whether it is raining outside or perhaps it is sunny,
The MET’s Fun Company has a show that is funny!
It’s a fanciful jaunt, a chance to let your imagination run loose!
Because they’re mounting a production adapted from Dr. Seuss!
Katie Mitchell, the Adaptor, of this fantastical story
Adapts The Cat in the Hat and all of its glory!
Directed by Julie Herber,
Things must be allowed to occur in their own natural time. In keeping true to that sentiment, the Season 9 opening show at Single Carrot Theatre, a part of the Women’s Voices Theater Festival, moves along in not only its own natural time but its own natural world. A world of chaos and war beyond that of a global perspective, deep in our hearts and homes, Phoebe in Winter brings an evocative examination of the roles we play in our lives,
Ambition seduces. Power corrupts. Milburn Stone Theater delivers. For a one weekend exclusive engagement, MST takes on the scandalously charged political thriller Farragut North at the Elkton Station found-space location. Written by Beau Willimon and Directed by Andrew John Mitchell, this edgy political chaser keeps you enthralled with the backroom politics as the race for the big house unfurls in backwoods Des Moines, the biggest political victory a candidate can hope to make in their campaign.
Where do you find your place in the world? And how easy can it be to do so when you’re trying to put together the puzzle pieces of your own life while the world around you falls apart? Imagine such a conundrum. Now imagine it in 1962, as a young African-American girl growing up in Queens, and going to a private charter school in Greenwich Village, as Malcolm X is shot, President Kennedy is assassinated,
We don’t live alone. Our lives intricately touch so many others. Strangers on the street, shop girls assisting us with things, women of the town, factory girls hard at work, they are all living breathing human beings. And what gives us the right to decide that a simple action on our end does not impact their lives irrevocably? The fact that our station may be above theirs? The fact that we are of importance and they are of little consequence?