Articles Tagged With: Chesapeake Arts Center

Spring Awakening at Maryland Theatre Collective

Reviews July 15, 2024 Amanda N. Gunther

There is no doubt that they are going to wound you; they are going to be your bruise. Viscerally evocative and emotionally stunning, Maryland Theatre Collective closes out their season with Spring Awakening, a musical by Duncan Sheik with Book & Lyrics by Steven Sater based on the play by Frank Wedekind. Directed & Choreographed by Tommy Malek with Musical Direction by Rachel Sandler, this gloriously impactful musical is a gut-punch for the ages with a stellar cast,

The company of Falsettos at MTC ???? Matthew Peterson

Falsettos at The Maryland Theatre Collective

Reviews April 22, 2024 Amanda N. Gunther

Sex and games in Brooklyn Park— gotta be played with flare and passion! Songs and dance at Chesapeake Arts (Center)— gotta be played with flare and passion! Welcome to Falsettoland! It’s so much more than just a ‘march of the Falsettos’ it’s the whole damn show— Falsettos— a half-decade in the making for The Maryland Theatre Collective, currently in residence at CAC. This brilliant production is the perfect close to their first,

Falsettos at Maryland Theatre Collective in rehearsal at sitzprobe

Please Come To Our House: An Interview With Tommy Malek & Rachel Sandler On Maryland Theatre Collective’s Falsettos

Interviews April 15, 2024 Amanda N. Gunther

“It’s a song I was waiting to hear so long, so long ago.”

Five years in the making— a show that was planned and cast and ready to go before the pandemic, now finally appearing on the Maryland Theatre Collective Stage— Falsettos is rounding out MTC’s first full season in production and it’s a proper doozy well worth investigating! In a few minutes following their sitzprobe, Director and Musical Director Rachel Sandler and Associate Director and Performer Tommy Malek sat down to discuss the production and how thrilled they both are to finally be getting it up on its feet for an audience in 2024.

No Experience Necessary at Truest Ethos Theatre Company

Don’t Lie On Your Resume: A Chit-Chat with Marshall Logan Gibbs & Max Wolf about Truest Ethos’ Production of No Experience Necessary

Interviews March 21, 2024 Amanda N. Gunther

Did we not learn our lesson about how we aren’t supposed to lie on our resume? And that taking the old adage of “fake it ‘til you make it” a step too far can result in disastrous consequences? In case you’re still out there learning that lesson (the hard way) and need a crash-course reminder in why this is a bad idea, Truest Ethos Theatre Company has a play for you! And it’s not even an ocean-front play in Arizona— wait,

Ragtime in concert at Maryland Theatre Collective ???? Matthew Peterson

Ragtime at Maryland Theatre Collective

Reviews November 1, 2023 Mark Briner

At the turn of the 20th century, a new music emanating from African-American urban communities began creeping into mainstream culture for the first of what eventually became many times over the course of the century. But in 1975, E.L. Doctorow used this musical form as a metaphor for not only the infusion of African-American influences into the white musical world, but for the changes in emerging racial presences that forced drastic social and class struggle,

The Prom at STAR Ltd. Apples & Bees Casts

News August 4, 2023 Amanda N. Gunther

You can predict what the reviews will say before the next notice arrives!

These YA-kids over are STAR Ltd. are nightly changing lives! It’s such an important show to be producing right now that literally every theatre and their mother is doing it. Including STAR Ltd. (And they’ve got the ‘Apples’ and ‘Bees’ cast and this reviewer saw them both!) and their YA summer production, in partnership with the Chesapeake Arts Center. It’s the show of 2023 (every year gets one,

Agnes of God at The Maryland Theatre Collective

Reviews July 29, 2023 Leonard Taube

Forget Sister Act (no nuns belting out rousing choir songs). Move over Nunsense (even though it is “habit forming”). No comedy tonight. Take a seat, open your mind, and get ready for one of the most powerful, well-acted and thought-provoking pieces of theatre you will see this year. Maryland Theatre Collective’s (Brooklyn Park, MD) production of Agnes of God will leave you speechless with contemplation and full of emotion by curtain call.

Freaky Friday at The Maryland Theatre Collective

Reviews March 28, 2023 Leonard Taube

Hey guys! Sup?! I had the most awesome, freakiest experience last night. Actually, it was a good kind of freaky and I think you should get your freak on too! What am I talking about? Glad you asked! I think you all should come and, well, you know, like chill with the cast and crew of Freaky Friday presented by The Maryland Theatre Collective at The Chesapeake Arts Center in Brooklyn Park. I guarantee you will laugh,

Jake Devries (left) as Bartender with Randi Seepersad (center) as Bobbi, and Darian Grade (right) as Suzie Lemonade in Scam Artist. ????Marshall Logan Gibbs

Scam Artist at Truest Ethos Theatre Company

Reviews August 26, 2022 Amanda N. Gunther

This is the IRS. If you do not give us your social security number, your overdue back-tax payments will force you to become arrested. This is your boss. I need you to buy ten $500 Amazon gift cards— send them straight away and keep the receipt. I’ll reimburse you when you get back to the office. The Prince of Nigeria has named you his successor. You stand to inherit $74,263,879 but a nominal wire transfer fee of $250 as well as your bank account and routing number are required to complete this transaction.

The Heat Is On: From Benny Southstreet to Truest Ethos a Chat with Marshall Logan Gibbs & Maxwell Wolf

Interviews August 25, 2022 Amanda N. Gunther

Post-Pandemic, there are all sorts of things happening as the world settles into ‘new normal’ and finds its footing once more. That of course is true in the world of theatre, with companies getting back on their feet, some companies— regrettably— closing their doors permanently, and other companies springing up and getting started. It’s always exciting when a new theatre company gets under way in the Baltimore area. TheatreBloom is excited to be supporting— to borrow a quote from La Cage Aux Folles— all the old friends,

Chicago: Teen Edition at STAR Ltd

Reviews July 29, 2022 Amanda N. Gunther

Pop.

Six.

Squish.

Uh-uh.

Cicero.

Lipschitz.

And now, the STAR Ltd kids of the Chesapeake Arts Center, in their rendition of Chicago: Teen Edition. Ladies and Gentlemen and Enbees: you are about to see a story of murder, greed, corruption, violence, exploitation, adultery, and treachery… tamped down a bit, because “teen edition”…but still, it’s all those gruesome, scintillating sins that every lover of the Kander &

Urinetown at STAR ltd.

Reviews July 29, 2021 Amanda N. Gunther

Look at the stream! Full of Hope and Bobby! What a wonder you’ll see— how you’ll laugh— maybe pee— when you look at the stream! AT THE STREEEEAM! STAR ltd., streaming live from the Black Box Theatre of the Chesapeake Arts Center (who is operating under limited capacity restriction and allowing performers only into the space at this present time), is bringing you the much-needed laugh of 2021 with their uproarious and hilarious production of Urinetown.

Carrie at Stand Up For Theatre

Reviews October 30, 2019 Mike Zellhofer

Sometimes you can only shake your
head and ask, “Why?” Why the need to turn everything into a musical? Shows like
Pipe Dream, Kelly, and Via Galactica top Smithsonian.com’s list
of Broadway’s Top Ten Musical Flops; also
making the list, Carrie the Musical. Carrie opened on Broadway in 1988 and
after 16 previews and 5 performances it closed. In 1991, Ken Mendelbaum wrote a
book chronicling the history of Broadway musical flops,

La Cage Aux Folles at HDYLMN’s Stand Up for… Theatre

Reviews October 31, 2018 Mike Zellhofer

Every holiday season I search the idiot box for that feel-good show of the year. Little did I know that this year I would find it at the Chesapeake Arts Center, in Stand Up For…Theatre’s La Cage Aux Folles. Like Macy’s, Best Buy, SUFT brings Christmas early; only instead of a big box they use a black box.

Before I dive into the cast, crew, and show itself,

Breaking The Code at How Do You Like Me Now Productions

Reviews June 11, 2018 Mike Zellhofer

Ed Higgins, as Alan Turing says in one scene, “It’s about right and wrong.” How Do You Like Me Now Productions (HDYLMNP) understands this and gets it right again with Hugh Whitemore’s Breaking the Code. If there is one thing that we have learned about HDYLMNP throughout the years, it’s that they will take an issue, put it in your face, and make you aware of something that you needed to be made aware.

Heathers at How Do You Like Me Now Productions

Reviews October 20, 2017 Amanda N. Gunther

The extreme always seems to make an impression, so color me impressed that How Do You Like Me Now Productions, as the theatrical producing entity of Erase Hate Through Art, is producing Heathers: The Musical this Halloween season! It’s a real scream! And totally an extreme example of what both HDYLMN and EHTA stand for, when it comes to creating a world that’s free of hate and bullying. Produced by Grant Meyers and Directed by Ed Higgins with Musical Direction by Andrew Zile and Choreography by Kristin Rigsby,

The Rocky Horror Show at How Do You Like Me Now Productions

News November 2, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

The sword of Damocles is hanging over your head! And you’ve got the feeling someone’s gonna be cutting your thread if you don’t take a jump to the Brooklyn Park and then a step down Hammonds Lane to the black box theatre of the Chesapeake Arts Center to see The Rocky Horror Show. Presented by Erase Hate Through Art and How Do You Like Me Now Productions, the Richard O’Brien cult classic stage musical comes to life under Director Ed Higgins and Musical Director Eliza Van Kan.