Articles Tagged With: Maryland Ensemble Theatre

Fred’s Diner at Maryland Ensemble Theatre

Reviews June 3, 2017 Amanda N. Gunther

Happiness comes only in moments. And to ensure those moments, sometimes drastic action is necessary. Closing out their 2016/2017 mainstage season, the Maryland Ensemble Theatre brings to the stage a rarely produced darkly-driven British comedy. Fred’s Diner, by Penelope Skinner, takes place in an American 1950’s themed diner in present-day Britain just off the major motorway. Everything looks hunky-dory, as the Yanks might say, but upon closer examination, things aren’t always what they seem.

Peter and The Star Catcher at Maryland Ensemble Theatre

Reviews April 17, 2017 Amanda N. Gunther 1 Comment

To have faith is to have wings. Have faith that you’ll absolutely love what’s happening on the Maryland Ensemble Theatre’s main stage this spring and you’ll find yourself sprouting wings that will fly you right into downtown historic Frederick for their outstanding production of Peter and The Star Catcher. Based on the novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, written by Rick Elice with Music by Wayne Barker, this marvelously mesmerizing tale is the official beginning of how the boy who wouldn’t grow up,

Top Girls at Maryland Ensemble Theatre

Reviews February 17, 2017 Amanda N. Gunther

If you could sit down to dinner, or better yet a dinner party, with any five influential women in history, who would you choose? Well-behaved women seldom make history, as Laurel Thatcher Ulrich says. Wouldn’t you want to choose radical women, the movers and shakers of their time? Those that simply refused to live the life of a lady and broke through the gender barrier that so often held them in place, wouldn’t those be your choice invitees to a dinner party in a completely absurdist and fictitious dream sequence?

Review: Family Holiday at Maryland Ensemble Theatre

Reviews December 4, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

Oh there’s no place like home for the holidays…except for when home for the holidays comes with a handful of surprises that you just weren’t ready for and a quartet of secrets that you just can’t keep to yourself! Settle into the Maryland Ensemble Theatre this Christmas season and let their zany family be your home as they present the world premiere of DC Cathro’s Family Holiday. Putting the fun in dysfunction with his high-octane farce,

Review: Rocky Horror Show at Maryland Ensemble Theatre

Reviews November 1, 2016 Mark Briner

In the early 70’s, an out of work British actor, Richard O’Brien, amused himself during his hiatus by writing a campy ode to indulge the passions of his youth— science fiction, B horror movies, Steve Reeves muscle flicks, and 50’s rock and roll. Accentuating the unintentional humor and over-the-top dialogue of the so-bad-they’re-good movies he was saluting, he paired it with a catchy pop/rock score and wrapped it in layer after layer of camp to create The Rocky Horror Show.

Review: Bunnicula at Maryland Ensemble Theatre’s Fun Company

Reviews September 27, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

There’s nothing like a pet in the house! They keep you safe! They keep you warm! They drain your vegetables of all their color because they’re juice thirst vampires! Wait— what?!? Well, only that last bit if you accidentally sit on a rabbit in a movie theatre while seeing Dracula and decide to take it home. This may be exactly what happens to the Monroe family in the childhood classic story of Bunnicula,

MET Marches On: An Interview with Artistic Director Tad Janes about the 2016/2017 Season at Maryland Ensemble Theatre

Interviews June 8, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

It’s that time of year when all the theatres start making their big announcements for what’s coming to their stages in future seasons! After a roaring successful season of new works, fun shows, area premieres, and much, much more, the Maryland Ensemble Theatre is ready to roll straight into their 2016-2017 season. In a TheatreBloom exclusive interview, we’ve sat down with Artistic Director Tad Janes to talk about the company’s rich history, how they continue to fight the good fight of professional theatre in Frederick and what’s next for them as the new season gets underway.

Review: Superior Donuts at Maryland Ensemble Theatre

Reviews May 28, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

Donut cannot change. Donut will always be donut. But the Maryland Ensemble Theatre can change up what’s on their mainstage menu as they close out the 2015/2016 season with Tracy Letts’ Superior Donuts. A shockingly different production from the original company-written rock musical seen just a month ago upon the boards, Superior Donuts, directed by company member Gené Fouché, is a stellar and touching dramedy that lives up to its titular adjectival description in talent,

Interview: It’s All In The Family- An Interview with Oedipus Rox! Co-Creators Thom Huenger and Sarah Shulman

Interviews April 28, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

Oedipus! TheatreBloom knows something you don’t know! And here in this exclusive interview with Co-Creators Thom Huenger and Sarah Shulman, we’re going to tell you anyway! We’re going to tell you all about how this electrifying rock opera musical came to exist on the stages of the Maryland Ensemble Theatre and what drove the Greek Tragedy to bleed its veins into the world of musical theatre.

Thank you Thom and Sarah for giving us your time to talk about this exciting project!

Shelly Hierstetter (left) as Cinderella and Daniel Valentin-Morales (right) as Prince Champion in the MET Fun Company production of Cinderella

Review: Cinderella at Maryland Ensemble Theatre’s Fun Company

Reviews April 19, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

True love can be recognized without sight or sound, but you simply must come see and hear the Maryland Ensemble Theatre’s Fun Company production of Cinderella to experience one of the loveliest non-Disney retellings of the classic fairytale. Adapted by Theatricks Music and Meryl Cullom and Directed by Julie Herber with Musical Direction by Jennie Huntoon, this charming performance is spellbinding with its magical characters, dazzling with its vivacious costumes,

Review: Oedipus Rox at Maryland Ensemble Theatre

Reviews April 7, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

Oedipus! They know something you don’t know! But they’re going to tell you anyway! A stellar new revolutionary musical is seizing the stage at Maryland Ensemble Theatre this spring, shaking the walls and shocking the soul with one of history’s most brutally revolting Greek tragedies. Oedipus Rox! a new MET original musical production, with Music and Lyrics by Thom Huenger and Book and Lyrics by Sarah Shulman, brings the well-told tale of Oedipus Rex to crackling sizzling life.

Review: Stupid Fucking Bird at Maryland Ensemble Theatre

Reviews February 18, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

Do you know what passes for theatre these days? Honestly? How many of you get out of your comfortable living rooms— with your live-streaming Broadway channels on Netflix or the “new musical of the month” live on NBC— and go to the theatre, sit through two to three hours of live performance, and actually take in what you’ve just seen? The Maryland Ensemble Theatre seems to know what’s passing for live theatre and has challenged the standard,

Review: James and The Giant Peach at Maryland Ensemble Theatre

Reviews February 18, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

Marvelous things! Amazing, incredible, flabbergasting, marvelous things await theatergoers of all ages on the Maryland Ensemble Theatre’s Stage2 Performance Space as their Fun Company proudly presents James and The Giant Peach. Adapted to the stage by David Wood from the imaginative novel by Roald Dahl, this twisty and highly chimerical tale spins a story of a young lad called James and the marvelous things that await him once he encounters the giant peach.

Review: The Gifts of The Magi at Maryland Ensemble Theatre

Reviews December 8, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther 1 Comment

You can’t tell Christmas from the Fourth of July without snow! And the snowflakes are falling on the Maryland Ensemble Theatre’s Main Stage with their musical and magical production of The Gifts of the Magi. Directed by Suzanne Beal with Musical Direction by Alison E. Shafer, this charming production is a perfect reminder of what the true spirit of Christmas is meant to feel like for the holiday season.

Review: Junie B. Jones in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells at MET’s Fun Company

Reviews November 30, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

Great family-friendly entertainment plus your favorite theatre in Frederick equals the Maryland Ensemble Theatre’s Fun Company holiday production of Junie B. Jones in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells. BOOM! You do the math! That’s right, everyone! It’s that time of year when Junie B. Jones starts her holiday shenanigans with jingle-bell hats, Christmas sing-a-longs and— a burp-in-a-bag? Directed by Julie Herber, Adapted by Allison Gregory, and based on the book by Barbara Park,

Review: Frankenstein at Maryland Ensemble Theatre

Reviews October 24, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

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.

It’s Alive! The Director’s Brain of Julie Herber reanimated for MET’s Frankenstein

Interviews October 17, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

It’s alive! And rising up from the creative minds of Maryland Ensemble Theatre! Frankenstein, newly adapted for the stage as a part of the 2015/2016 season, the Mary Shelley classic finds its footing in an innovative new approach this autumn. In a TheatreBloom exclusive interview, we sit down with Director Julie Herber to discuss the good doctor and his creature, learning and discover just who the monster is.

If you’d give us a brief introduction of who you are and what of your work the readers might recognize,

Review: The Cat in the Hat at MET’s Fun Company

Reviews September 26, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

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,

One Interview, Two Characters: Meet MET Actor Thomas Scholtes

Interviews September 25, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

Tricky and thick and none too quick, in the brains department that is, a servant of two masters finds humor and hilarity in his daily task. The critically acclaimed and highly humorous production of One Man, Two Guvnors has only a few weekend performances left at the Maryland Ensemble Theatre! If the rave reviews weren’t enough reason to go investigate, TheatreBloom has sat down with leading player Thomas Scholtes to hear out a few more hilarious reasons as to why people should come enjoy the production.

Review: One Man, Two Guvnors at Maryland Ensemble Theatre

Reviews September 18, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

Sometimes being a liar works, and with the Maryland Ensemble Theatre there’s bound to be some fireworks! In their season opener, that is. Kicking off the 2015/2015 season with a big comedic bang, MET presents Richard Bean’s One Man, Two Guvnors. Based on The Servant of Two Masters by Carlo Goldoni, this physically intensive farcical slapstick endeavor is Directed by the company’s Artistic Director, Tad Janes, with Musical Direction by Thom Huenger and will leave you rolling in the aisles with gut-bursting laughter.

Review: The Shape of Things at Maryland Ensemble Theatre

Reviews August 29, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

Anyone can be provocative. But there is a line drawn between saying something artistic and just saying something for attention. At least there should be. Shouldn’t there? Are love and cruelty human heartfelt emotions or merely subjective terms thrown about loosely in the art scene for the sake of creating truth in art? In a twisted and evocative emotional drama, the Maryland Ensemble Theatre, through their MET-X Production Squad, discovers the honesty in art and poses the question ‘what makes art?’ and ‘when has art gone too far?’ in a compelling and versatile performance of The Shape of Things,

Review: The Elephant Man at Maryland Ensemble Theatre

Reviews April 13, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

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.

Review: The Arsonists at Maryland Ensemble Theatre

Reviews February 16, 2015 Joshua Engel

Maryland Ensemble Theatre picks up in the back half of their 2014/201g season with a fiery smart and dark comedy. The Arsonists is Max Frisch’s satirical look at the banality of evil. Directed by Gerard Stropnicky, the new translation by Alistair Beaton is sure to light a fuse of laughter through the audience with its twisted elements of absurdism. Intent on proving how simple it is for human beings to be manipulated into bringing about their own destruction,

Review: A Revolutionary Christmas at Maryland Ensemble Theatre

Reviews December 8, 2014 Amanda N. Gunther

At this festive time of year when everyone is presenting their decorated version of Dickens’ holiday classic (and yes, even MET is doing that in their family series) it comes as a revitalizing surprise to see the Maryland Ensemble Theatre producing a Christmas original on their main stage. Written by company member Reiner Prochaska, this quaint tale is richly populated with local flavor and all the right notions to tug gently at the heartstrings for this spirited time of year.