Articles Tagged With: Rebecca Speas

The Changeling at Brave Spirits Theatre

Reviews November 5, 2018 Claudia Bach

Who, precisely, is the title character in Brave Spirits Theatre’s production of The Changeling, by Thomas Middleton and William Rowley, is left open to interpretation. The text of the play speculates on the question but does not provide a definitive answer. Director Charlene V. Smith takes that tone of ambiguity and plays with it brilliantly in her approach to the script. She takes a late-Renaissance play that features violence, misogyny, and sexual assault as major plot elements,

The Duchess of Malfi at Brave Spirits Theatre

Reviews October 30, 2018 Joshua Engel

John Webster is, perhaps, an even better patron saint for Brave Spirits than William Shakespeare: he brings both the verse, and the violence with The Duchess of Malfi. Katie Culligan brings the Duchess’ power from her first silent moments on stage. She is strong and self-possessed, charming and beautiful, grounded and passionate. Her performance is closely nuanced at every moment.

The villain of the piece is Ferdinand, her brother,

Lizzie at Pinky-Swear Productions

Reviews January 18, 2017 Amanda N. Gunther

Lizzie Borden took an ax, gave her mother 40 whacks. When she saw what she had done, she gave her mother 41. But there’s always more to the story, isn’t there? Pinky-Swear Productions is taking you back to an August in 1892 when all hell broke loose in the House of Borden…with the current production of Lizzie. Directed by Marie Byrd Sproul with Musical Direction by Piero Bonamico, this rarely produced,

Review: Henry V at The Rude Mechanicals

Reviews September 1, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

Suppose within the girdles of the Greenbelt Arts Center’s walls are now confined two mighty forces— The Rude Mechanicals: a community theatre troupe that delivers judiciously trimmed and readily accessible Shakespearean plays— and Henry V: Shakespeare’s middle Henry history play. Directed by Rebecca Speas, this muse of fire finds its place among the Bard’s canon in true Rude Mechanicals style and delivers swiftly the plot, the point, and the perfectly pared-down rendition of what is otherwise a lengthy history lesson in the trajectory arc of Prince Hal to King Harry.

Once More Into the Breach: An Interview with Allison McAlister and Rebecca Speas on Henry V

Interviews August 29, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

Once more into the breach, dear friends, once more! But what if it’s your first time into the breach, like it is for Director Rebecca Speas, who’s taking Henry V out for her first full-length directorial debut? Or you’re newcomer Allison McAlister fresh to the Maryland theatre scene by way of North Carolina and delving into the titular role of the show? In a TheatreBloom exclusive interview, we sit down with Rebecca and Allison to get an idea of what muses stoke their fire when it comes to the Bard and his great history lesson.

Review: Julius Caesar at The Rude Mechanicals

Reviews January 8, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

Friends! Romans! Washingtonians! The time has come to take a stand against the inconstant shifting nature of theatre in Washington DC! Hail The Rude Mechanicals and their rebellious production of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. Directed by company founder Jaki Demarest, this scandalous production takes the great Roman Empire to 1920’s soviet occupied Russia. Stalin, proletariat, rebellion; all encompassed in Demarest’s revolutionary vision of one of the Bard’s milder tragedies.

With honor in one eye and death in the other,

Review: Macbeth- The Instruments of Darkness at The Rude Mechanicals

Reviews August 18, 2014 Amanda N. Gunther

Light and darkness make fools both of the eyes. But it is oft better to live in the bliss of darkness than in the harsh intelligence of the light for once a thing is known and learned it can never be unknown. The Rude Mechanicals illustrate this concept with exception as their bring their 2014 Capital Fringe Festival production of Shakespeare’s Macbeth: The Instruments of Darkness to the Greenbelt Arts Center for a limited five show engagement.