Articles Tagged With: William Leary

Melanie Kurstin & Jon Townson in Rocky Horror Show

Rocky Horror Show at Wolf Pack Theatre Company

Reviews October 31, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

There’s a liiiiiiiight! Over at the Taylor Street Plaaaace!
There’s a liiiiiiiii— iiiiiiii— iiiiiiight! Burning in their fireplace, there’s
a light— in the darkness of the October-November calendar and it is blazing
rainbows, folks. That’s right, as only Wolf Pack Theatre Company can do, they’ve
but a kooky and queer-positive spin on an already zany cult classic. Are you
just dying with antici— PATION to know what we’re talking about? Cause it’s
just a jump to the left (of Bladensburg) and then a step to the right (of DC.) Put
your hands on your hips— and HOLD ON TIGHT because Wolf Pack Theatre Company is
bringing you their very own Rocky Horror Show.

Jekyll & Hyde at Wolf Pack Theatre Company

Reviews October 3, 2019 Wes Dennis

Before we plunge into the guts of
this review, let me offer an admission: I am not generally a fan of musicals.
That said, I am incredibly fond of Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case
of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. I even reread it in preparation for reviewing
Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical, with book and lyrics by Leslie Briscusse
and music by Frank Wildhorn. I imagined that my affection for the source
material would,

Hand to God at Wolf Pack Theatre Company

Reviews July 6, 2019 Wes Dennis

There are certain works that, for
all of their other merits, really demand to be seen for one specific scene.
Fans of obscure cinema know this well. In an age where sharing spoilers was not
a capital offense, amateur critics would often open reviews by describing these
climactic scenes in exhaustive detail, and readers were not deterred. Rather
than complaining that the work had been ruined for them, they signed into their
eBay accounts and searched for used VHS copies of the films in question because
it was incredibly important that,

Dog Sees God at Wolf Pack Theater Company

Reviews May 3, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

The broken parts of a dead body will never heal. Sticks and
stones may break my bones but names— will scar me so deep that I just may never
recover. Good grief. When the iconic, albeit off-kilter, happiness of one’s
childhood, hits puberty and spirals off course with tough life lessons and
harrowing high-school truths, you get Bert V. Royal’s Dog Sees God. Fitting into the wheelhouse of Wolf Pack Theatre
Company productions,

Wolf Pack Theatre Company's Spring Awakening

Spring Awakening at Wolf Pack Theatre Company

Reviews September 14, 2018 Alan Duda

Spring Awakening – Charity, Chastity, Choreography

Every generation thinks they invented sex. Spring Awakening is how they invented it under the Second Reich. Wolf Pack Theatre Company brings you this oft-censored 1890 play which was revamped as a musical in 2006 to win eight Tony Awards.

Co-director William Leary usually chooses dark and heavy adult subject matter, and continues to do so with Spring Awakening – this time with adolescents.

A Christmas Carol at Wolf Pack Theatre Company

Reviews December 8, 2017 Alan Duda

A thoughtful retelling of Dickens’ classic, with music.

This is the fourth year of Wolfpack Theatre Company’s A Christmas Carol. Director William Leary has updated the off-told story with modern settings and sentiment. For example, we learn that Robert Cratchit Sr. and Andrew Scrooge had formed a beneficial business partnership that young Ebenezer destroys by merging with Marley. This deliberately joins all of the characters as an extended family with its attendant tensions.

Midnight Cigarette at Wolfpack Theatre Company

Reviews September 8, 2017 Alan Duda

Content Warning! Midnight Cigarette contains nudity, racist, derogatory and inflammatory terminology, sexual situation, graphic content, coarse language, controversial conversations regarding politics, abortion, incest, rape, domestic violence, and scenes of substance abuse.

So reads the insert in the program of William Leary’s latest play. Set in a coal town with no more coal, Midnight Cigarette revolves around the remains of those still trying to live there. It’s a small town where everyone knows most everything about everyone,

Review: A Christmas Carol at Wolf Pack Theatre Company

Reviews December 17, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther 3 Comments

Hark the herald angels sing— beckoning you to see this thing! Peace on earth and mercy mild, glory to this precious child! And all the children in Wolfpack Theatre Company’s production of A Christmas Carol. Written by Charles Dickens, Adapted and Directed by William Leary, this production is not the Dickensian classic you’re familiar with, unless you’ve been attending the Wolfpack family tradition over the last few years. When most companies choose to take the comedic twist,

Review: Memories & Legends at Wolfpack Theater Company

Reviews September 24, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

The world may change but people stay the same, at least they do in Newfoundland. This is a sobering discovery for rock-legend Oran Tobin when he returns home for the first time since childhood. Coping with the loss of a father he never knew, his declining career, and rocky relationship, the rock star vocalist finds himself drowning in a tidal wave of nostalgia and memories that are not quite his own as he encounters for the first time the legend that was the father he never knew.

Review: Love, Sex, and The I.R.S. at Wolfpack Theatre Company

Reviews April 9, 2016 Ben Harcourt

Tax man got you down? Then make your way to St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church in Riverdale, MD, where Wolf Pack Theatre Company’s current production of Love, Sex, and the I.R.S., is sure to put a smile on your face, and is guaranteed to tickle your funny bone. Written by William Van Zandt and Jane Millmoore, and Directed by William Leary, this hilarious farce set in the disco-era of the late 1970’s is loaded with lies,

Review: A Christmas Carol at WolfPack Theatre Company

Reviews December 12, 2015 Jason Crawford Samios-Uy

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is a staple during the holiday season and many theatre companies all over the world are cashing in on it with traditional productions as well as new adaptations. Directed and Adapted by William Leary with Music Direction by Lauren Giglio, this new adaptation produced by the Wolfpack Theatre Company out of St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Prince George’s County is set in present day at a homeless shelter operating in a church.

Belle (L- Lauren Giglio) Tiny Tim (C-Sophia Nasreen Riazi-Sekowski) and Scrooge (R- Ray Converse) celebrating a Christmas miracle.

Review: A Christmas Carol at Wolf Pack Theatre Company

Reviews December 3, 2014 Amanda N. Gunther

The bells of St. John are ringing you in for holiday season. Wolf Pack Theatre Company is proud to present an original adaptation written and directed by William Leary of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. When everyone is popping this holiday classic onto their stages this time of year as the Christmas Cash-cow, Leary’s socially brilliant commentary brings the story to modern day times and highlights the social issues that are so prevalently buried in Dickens’ original text that are all too often forgotten or overlooked in favor of spectacle.

Review: Masquerade at Wolf Pack Theatre Company

Reviews September 18, 2014 Amanda N. Gunther

Pain. Illness. Death. These are all parts of our lives. All too often the socially unacceptable topics along these lines creep in unnoticed and are swept away into taboos. Suicide becomes one of those un-discussable topics, the white elephant in the room as it were. The founding Artistic Director of Wolf Pack Theatre Company is pushing to change that convention with a brand new work entitled Masquerade. Playwright and Director William Leary embarks on a journey with a cast of six to create an honest conversation about the topic of suicide with his compelling new work;