Articles Tagged With: Lana Riggins

Vinegar Tom at Spotlighters Theatre

Reviews May 30, 2019 Mark Briner

Sometimes, it’s all in the
timing. When the circles of life coincide with your best efforts, everyone
wins. There is a history of shows that premiered to little or no hoopla, but
when revived later in a different political or social climate, felt way more
relevant and meaningful. The most popular example is Kander & Ebb’s classic
musical Chicago. Opening in 1975
under the direction of Bob Fosse and starring dual leading legends Gwen Verdon
and Chita Rivera,

Detroit ’67 at The Strand Theatre

Reviews November 9, 2018 Amanda N. Gunther

A little scratch gives you character, unless you’re a 45-vinyl, in which case it just causes you to skip a lot. The Strand Theatre has a whole lot of character and more importantly they have the message. They have the message of love with their production of Dominique Morisseau’s Detroit ’67, directed by Erin Riley. Powerful, evocative, visceral— this stunning drama set in the heart of the “colored district in downtown Detroit in the midst of the race riots” is poignant and disturbing in its relevance to the modern day.

Big Fish at Silhouette Stages

Reviews May 14, 2018 Erin Tarpley

Who among us is not guilty of embellishing a story here and there? Whether exaggerating about our feats of derring-do, or adding a few inches to that fish we caught when we were a child, stories have a way of taking on a life of their own when we tell them. In this case, there is “Magic in the Man” through the larger-than life stories Edward Bloom tells his young son. But all children must grow up,

Sally McCoy at Cohesion Theatre Company

Reviews September 20, 2017 Mark Briner

Americans always seem ripe for a good feud. Feuds make great headlines and apparently even better entertainment. Ryan Murphy scored television ratings gold this season with his recounting of the on and off screen cat-fighting between iconic movie stars Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. The current Broadway season features War Paint, a musical based on the corporate backstabbing between leading lady cosmetics pioneers Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden. Nationally, the riffs and hate have become unveiled and brutally wide between Clinton and Trump supporters,

Justin Lawson Isett (far right) as Old Shady, leading the company of Men On Boats in song

Men on Boats at Cohesion Theatre Company

Reviews June 7, 2017 Amanda N. Gunther

Water takes the boat people. Water catch ‘em. Water keep ‘em. A cautionary warning to those brave enough, or perhaps foolish enough, to strike out on a Government sanctioned expedition down the Colorado River through the uncharted “Big Canyon” (what we know now as The Grand Canyon) in 1869. Are you brave enough, or perhaps foolish enough, to join Cohesion Theatre Company as their close out their third season with Men on Boats,

Legally Blonde at Silhouette Stages

Reviews May 15, 2017 Amanda N. Gunther

Love! They’re doing this for love! And love will see them through— the incredibly talented cast of Legally Blonde at Silhouette Stages! Yes, love! They’ve got a lot of love— and with love on their side they can’t lose! Now appearing in the Slayton House Theater of Wilde Lake Village Center, Silhouette Stages’ final production of the 2016/2017 season— Legally Blonde is here to show you a thing or to about pop-modern movie-musicals!

Exit Pluto at The Strand Theater Company

Reviews January 13, 2017 Amanda N. Gunther

Surprises and baking do not mix. But surprises, much like baking for some, are a part of life. And you must learn to embrace the surprises along with the expected and the planned, lest you find yourself guarded off in a fortress, trapped from the rest of the world— be it in the reality of your mind or the actual reality of your physical existence. In a delightfully baked surprise, The Strand Theater company welcomes the world premiere of Amy Bernstein’s Exit Pluto to the stage as their second mainstage feature during this inaugural season in their new home in Hamilton.

Review: Net Worth at Strand Theater

Reviews October 7, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

Assets – Liabilities = Net Worth. Do you know your Net Worth? Bari does, down to the penny. But does knowing your Net Worth make provide you with happiness? Do things like job security, financial stability, and the almighty sense of safety in both of those elements really equate to happiness? In this emotionally entrenched one-woman exploration, which kicks off the 2016/2017 for Strand Theater Company in their brand new home on Harford Road,

Review: Aphorisms on Gender at Cohesion Theatre Company

Reviews April 1, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

The truth of gender; the myth of gender. It’s small to hear but large to know and even larger to understand, respect, and accept. Appearing as a part of the Trans* Voices Workshop Series, Cohesion Theatre Company presents Aphorisms on Gender, a world premiere by Alice Stanley. Co-Directed by Caitlin Carbone and Melanie Glickman, this poignant one-act play addresses a great number of issues regarding the big and small truths of gender identity,

Review: Hamlet at Cohesion Theatre Company

Reviews March 10, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

The mayhem never stops over at Cohesion Theatre Company and their latest mount to the stage is truly wondrous strange. Taking William Shakespeare’s Hamlet to task, Director Alice Stanely refocuses the driving forces of the plot’s actions and tunes them into the highly potent pathos of grief. Coping with loss is never easy, and the ways in which human beings express these feelings are nothing short of evocative, stirring, and daringly dramatic as witnessed in this production.

No Darkness But Ignorance- Shedding Light on Trans* Twelfth Night: An Interview with Director Phil Vanndoorbeeck and Assistant Director Sarah Maher

Interviews January 7, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

“Oh time, thou must untangle this, not I. It is too hard a knot for me t’ untie.” More appropriate Shakespearean words have never been found to suit the current situation of gender fluidity in the 21st century. As the knot of the rigid gender binary breaks apart into an open an accepting existence that genders— much like plays— come in a great many varieties, time proves to be the ultimate salve and knot-worker when it comes to undoing the limited thinking that has been applied to the notion since people began identifying their genders.

Review: A Little Bit Not Normal at Cohesion Theatre Company

Reviews November 18, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther 1 Comment

Some experiences are compatible and others aren’t. In a world where normal is an everyday struggle for the average human being because the notion of normative social constructs no longer fit the individuality of our personal identities, an experience such as relating a gender identification to a family member can be somewhat of a beautiful catastrophe. Cohesion Theatre Company proudly presents the world premiere of A Little Bit Not Normal. Written by Lillie Franks and Directed by Alice Stanley,

Review: 13 Dead Husbands at Cohesion Theatre Company

Reviews March 13, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

It’s a little too fantastical to be true. A theatre company that sprouts up overnight on the side of Charm City where there’s no theatre, and then proceeds to do incredible work like the regional premier of 13 Dead Husbands. But it is true at Cohesion Theatre Company where they are launching the Tom Horan absurdist fairytale. Meet Deedee, the world’s most beautiful woman, and her 12 dead husbands,

Review: God’s Country at Strand Theatre

Reviews October 11, 2014 Amanda N. Gunther

The Strand Theatre is alive and well in Baltimore, presenting a newly furnished work written, created, and performed by Michelle Antoinette Nelson aka LOVE the poet. An hour-long explorative piece of theatre that confronts God in the modern world through the voices of eight individual characters where the ninth voice is meant to be that of the audience, Nelson’s new work brings a series of creative mediums together in one performance that is provocative and touching as well as poignant and relevant to anyone that ventures out to see it.