Whenever
I am assigned to review a show presented by Stand Up For… Theatre, I know for
sure that I am going to be challenged to examine my conscience. For years now SUFT,
the theatrical division of Erase Hate Through Art, has been giving us
productions that challenge us to not only look at the world around us and the
role we play in it, but our perception of the madness that surrounds us.
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,
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.
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 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.
In a world where everyone struggles, bullying is rising to the surface as an alarmingly high cause for youth suicide. Taking to the helm of a new project to help generate awareness about bullying in schools, particularly in the LGBT+ community, Baltimore-based actor and performer Ed Higgins has taken a stand against bullying by using the art form that he knows best. Creating the ongoing project of ‘Erase Hate Through Art’ Higgins and Co-Founder Grant Myers have launched the theatrical branch of their project,
A moment can change your life forever. You go from being the blueberry muffin lady to the lesbian traffic reporter whose girlfriend got beaten into a coma. The powerfully evocative drama Stop Kiss comes to the stages of How Do You Like Me Now? Productions as their second official production since their inception a year ago. Directed by company Co-Founder Ed Higgins, the work is a remarkably astute encapsulation of the company’s mission statement to draw awareness to bullying and erase hate through art.