In the modern dieting trends where slimming down is all the rage even the world of the theatre could not be spared from the ravages of this new craze. Shakespeare gives us a smorgasbord of poetry and imagery; beautiful and powerful and in the new diet-approved rendition of Bard-Light: tragedies in under an hour, The BOOM Theatre Company is rendering down Macbeth to its purest essence; a powerhouse of moving and monumental scenes.
A genuine princess is exceedingly rare. A genuine fairytale is exceptionally brilliant. Having both together on one stage for a musical is nothing short of a miracle. The Saint Gabriel Miracle Players have found such a miracle with the tremendously talented cast and design team of their current production of Once Upon a Mattress. A rare treat to have such a silly story told with such stellar vocal quality; the music and lyrics of Mary Rodgers and Marshall Barer come to whimsical fruition against Jay Thompson and Dean Fuller’s book— there’s a happily ever after waiting for theatergoers who enjoy sparkling singers and gorgeous costumes.
Bienvenue sur le carnaval! Where the broken sands of time and fairy floss floats o’er the fairgrounds of The Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre. You won’t recognize a single song in this flash of 21 vignettes, at least not by their lyrics, but the iconic melodies of Jacque Brell tinkle blissfully under each song inviting the audience into a cantering calliope of romanticism, cynicism, and jingly jaunts of whimsy. Directed by Timoth David Copney with Musical Direction by Michael Tan,
They’re creepy and they’re kooky! Mysterious and ookey! They’re all together spooky— and now they’re rising up from the dead over at Dundalk Community Theatre. Closing out the 2014-2015 season, DCT presents The Addams Family. All the rage in theatres across the state of Maryland, the black-clad family is putting the fun in dysfunctional as they take to the stage. Iconic characters, memorable musical numbers composed by the infamous Andrew Lippa,
When the set has five separate doors— and a pun for a title— a farce is surely in the offing. A cast of nine and five doors means many opportunities for getting away, for being clueless, and… well, a few other things you can do with doors. These five doors belong to a luxurious suite at the Palm Beach Royale Hotel, where not one but two top-grade Hollywood divas have come to raise money for the USO.
Vote yes! Vote yes! Vote for independency! For God’s sake, theatergoers, sit down! And make sure you do it over at Toby’s Dinner Theatre where history comes to life in one of her most striking productions to date. 1776, a revolutionary tale of how the great nation of America got its start is well underway as spring gets started close to the nation’s capitol. Directed by Jeremy Scott Blaustein and Shawn Kettering,
Golf if not a game. It’s a way of life. And for the spring season at the Reston Community Players, golf is all the rage as they present the hysterical Ken Ludwig comedy Fox on the Fairway. Directed by Adam Konowe, this uproarious farcical piece of comic greenery will chip away at your funny bone for the full 18 holes of the course. With outrageous characters,
How do you shut a mind? Factory449 will expose you to senseless charges, baseless allegations, and brutality in their strikingly disturbing staged adaptation of Closetland written by Radha Bharadwaj. Directed by Rick Hammerly and featuring company members Sara Barker and David Lamont Wilson, this shocking and gut-wrenching political drama permeates deep into the darkened territory of psychological torture. An unforgiving and abrasive script begging to be set in the theatre,
“Live to inspire and to be inspired.” A powerful quote that surfaced in one of five incredible plays performed at the secondary night of the Young Playwrights’ Theater’s New Play Festival on Tuesday night April 21, 2015. The second of three nights for this festival featured five different plays from the middle school category of plays. YPT, as they’re known around the district, is celebrating its 20th year of supporting young writers in and around Washington DC with this incredible opportunity.
Italia – che bella! The beautiful language, the exquisite cuisine, the sensual music – there’s a reason Italy is considered one of the most romantic places in the world! While Italy may seem worlds away, here in Baltimore we are able to experience our own little taste of the Old World culture in downtown’s Little Italy. With all of its independent restaurants, featuring charming atmospheres and top-notch foods, Little Italy is one of the most romantic places that Charm City has to offer.
Tragedy tomorrow, comedy tonight! Phone rings, door chimes, in comes company! Does anyone still wear a hat? Vagabond Players is wearing a sensational hat of many flavors, providing you all the company you could ask for and giving you a comedy, with hints of heart-melting sorrow, with their production of Stephen Sondheim’s Side by Side by Sondheim. A truly one of a kind Sondheim musical revue, everything’s coming up Shannon, as Director Shannon Wollman makes her directorial debut with the company’s second musical of the 99th season.
Outrageously delicious satire is being served hot as the main course over at the Howard Community College Arts Collective this spring as they present Avery Crozier’s Eat The Runt. Directed by S. G. Kramer, this zany upended play without pronouns is a brand new breed of comedic chaos that features a different cast every night! You read correctly: eight actors, eight characters but no two shows are quite the same! With a scintillating whirlwind script this installation of theatrical insanity ensures a night of rip-roaring comic displacement that will have you wriggling to the edge of your seat.
Are you asleep? Good. Let us begin. A vestibule awaits your arrival inside the doors of the Enoch Pratt House; a house preserved in time and seldom available to the public. Instructions await you from one of the house’s many stewards— exploring is encouraged, speaking unless spoken to is prohibited, unearthly events may occur. An intensely immersive theatrical experience like no other in Baltimore, Washington, or any of the surrounding metropolitan areas, The Mesmeric Revelations!
What is language if not an act of faith? Take a leap into the language of the theatre and you’ll find yourself pleasantly pleased with Silver Spring Stage’s current production of Julia Cho’s The Language Archive. Directed by Joseph Coracle, this tender tale of words and love finds the soft spot of your heart and whispers the language of true understanding. A carefully crafted touching drama with an exceptional cast guiding the story through an ocean of linguistics,
Artists make illusions of illusions of heaven and the artists dreaming with the voices loud as thunder in the minds at the Maryland Ensemble Theatre have fabricated an illustriously dark and decadently dark distortion of heaven in their current production of Bernard Pomerance’s The Elephant Man. Directed by visionary and company member Julie Herber, this nightmarish dreamscape of fascination entreats the senses, tugs at the heartstrings and ensnares the soul in a fashion most mesmeric.
From the moment Kecia Campbell strides on stage as Sophie Washington in a plain, sensible dress and sturdy boots, toting a shotgun, Flyin’ West presents realistic, incisive portrayals of the women of color who settled the West in the 19th century. It’s set in the real-life town of Nicodemus, Kansas where newly-freed African Americans created a community following the Civil War. Presented by Bowie Community Theatre at The Bowie Playhouse and Directed by Estelle Miller,
Glory to God in the highest and peace to those Nuns who have taken over St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Riverdale, Maryland. (Generously sponsored by the Wolf Pack Theatre Company and Directed by William Dean Leary, this comedic production of Nunsense benefits Bountiful Blessings and Men Against Breast Cancer) According to Reverend Mother, the sisters were originally going to use the Spanish church across the street from St. John’s for their fundraiser BUT due to a language barrier,
There is a blurry shadow that exists between this world and the next. Dreams and Nightmares Aerial Theatre lives up to their company’s namesake as they explore this veil of death and humanity with a dark and cautionary, but exquisitely beautiful fairytale. Crafted from a dream, Baltimore writer Annelise Montone brings language to the sleepy vision of the company’s Artistic Director Kel Millionie. Directed by Millionie, this phantasmagorical performance blends the lines of dreams and nightmares to create a unique and emotionally evocative experience that plagues the mind with curious questions.
It’s a long road, but a good one; the journey through The Herzog Festival at Centerstage this spring. At least, the back end of the road is worth the journey. Debuting as the second half of the repertory cycle, 4,000 Miles, makes a more lasting impression and is overall more tolerable and enjoyable as a production than its counterpart, After the Revolution. This work, though it is unclear as to where it sits in time in regards to the aforementioned play,
Shakespeare’s gone wild! It’s exactly like it sounds— crazy women, 37 plays, and a whole lot of vomiting! What could make for a better evening of hysterical gut-busting entertainment than the Fells Point Corner Theatre’s production of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)? Which, they are totally proud to present? Directed by Howard Berkowitz, this laugh-a-minute comedy will crack your funny bone wide open and unearth the Bard like you’ve never seen him before.
The more insane a man is, the more powerful he becomes. To experience the ultimate theatrical power in action join the Psychoceramics— humanity’s crackpots— at The Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre for their production of Dale Wasserman’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Directed by Greg Bell, this gripping off-kilter psycho drama, adapted from the novel by Ken Kesey, delves deep into the human psyche and confronts the inner pollutions of the minds of society’s outcasts: the insane.
You can’t fight for change and be nice. But how will you feel at the end of your days when you look back to see how your time was spent? Will you be proud, or will the blanket coverall statement of “we did what we had to do” come to mind? An evocative, albeit esoterically focused, drama kicks off The Herzog festival at Centerstage this spring. After the Revolution, written by Amy Herzog and Directed by Lila Neugebauer,
There aren’t enough superlatives in the English language to describe the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s spectacular production of Man of La Mancha, which opened on Monday to a packed house at Sidney Harman Hall.There is simply no need to travel all the way to Manhattan to take in Broadway-caliber theatre. It’s right here, with all the fire, passion, and intensity of any show on the Great White Way.
We bear witness to the opening as the prisoners in Allen Moyer’s steel cage of a set mill about,
There are no such thing as accidents. In tarot cards. Nor in theatre; particularly not when a fierce and evocative play finds its way to the Venus Theatre stage. Bursting into Feral 15: Feminist Fairytales, No Strings Attached, Artistic Director Deborah Randall sets the season’s bar exceptionally high with the world premier of Doc Andersen-Bloomfield’s God Don’ Like Ugly. A visceral and poignant tale that struggles to find rays of hope and light among the bleakness of a tragic and violent reality,
When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie— That’s BaltAmoŕe! Literally a Fairytale on Wheels, this exciting and unique production comes forth from Fluid Movement— a Baltimore-based performance art group that juxtaposes complex subject matter with delightful and unexpected mediums. Known for their summer-time water ballets and roller-skating shows throughout the year, the company sets out family friendly entertainment that is accessible to everyone. This uniquely fractured fairytale,
Jeezum Crow! Why aren’t more of us living life like the nice folks up in Maine? You know, the way life should be? Well, the good folks of The Ruxton Players are doing just that. Back on their feet with an impressive production of John Cariani’s Almost, Maine, the community theatre is embracing love in all its formats with this heartwarming series of stories. Directed by Bill Kamberger, these eight interwoven vignettes reminds us all that love is a powerful entity and that we should embrace it every chance we get,
We cannot escape history; the good, the bad, the beautiful, the ugly. 150 years ago on April 14, 1865 one of the greatest forefathers of our country was assassinated inside of Ford’s Theatre while attending a production of Our American Cousin. Commemorating this national event that helped shaped the nation as we know it today, Ford’s Theatre has commissioned a brand new musical Written by Frank Wildhorn, Gregory Boyd, and Jack Murphy to capture the essence of the greatness of Abraham Lincoln and the world in which he lived during a time of Civil War.
It’s a big bright beautiful world, with possibilities everywhere— including the Charm City Players as they mount their spring musical production of Shrek. The big green ogre and all his friends from the original DreamWorks animated feature movie are coming to the CCP stage all spring long. Directed by Stephen Napp with Musical Direction by Kathryn Weaver, this musical party is showing that traditional fairytales are indeed overrated. The Books and Lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire and Music by Jeanine Tesori reminds theatergoers everywhere to wave your freak flag and to wave it proud.
Music is our saving grace; we can save the world through music. Though it’s said that the sequel is never as good as the original, ArtsCentric is defying that logic with their new musical revue Sincerely, Men. Following the smashing success of last summer’s production of Sincerely, Me, the all female version of African-American artists who have had a strong influence in shaping music through the decades,
If you enjoy intimate theatre, if you’re invested in supporting local and innovative performance companies, if you are as excited as I am to see the science-fiction genre further explored on-stage, stop reading this review and buy a ticket right now for Glass Mind Theatre‘s The Dum Dums. Once you’ve seen it, come back here and we can talk about some things.
The play is technically immersive and impressive,