Nostalgia is a disease. Sounds bitter and jaded, right? Or maybe it’s a lens of reality that should be more closely examined— lingering too long in the past can make it difficult to progress into the future. 2nd Star Productions, in shared residence at Bowie Playhouse, is currently producing Sweat, written by the Pulitzer-prize-winning playwright, Lynn Nottage. Directed by Miss Cody Jones, the play itself is a powerful social commentary about classism,
As I watched this long-awaited production of August Wilson’s Fences from the Bowie Community Theatre (it was set to open in March 2020 before life got so much more… interesting), I couldn’t help recalling lines from Philip Larkin’s “This Be the Verse”:
They f*ck you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
Absolutely Dead, by
Michael Walker, is a rather difficult play for me to review. Whereas Ken
Kienas, director of the production currently running at the Bowie Community
Theatre, writes in his director’s note that he was floored upon reviewing the
play’s ending, I can’t say that my response was at all comparable — and, given
the overwhelming importance of the reveal to one’s impression of a
murder mystery, that had quite a bit to do with my overall opinion of the
production.
The time is now. The day is here. Les Miserables is on stage at Storytellers: A Theater Arts Academy!
Boldly tackling the iconic behemoth that is Les
Miserables, under the Direction of Terry Sweet Bouma, with Musical
Direction by Chris Pinder, this talented cast of young performers weaves a
story like no other with their spirited and emotionally intense retelling of
Cameron Macintosh’s Les Miserables.
Bowie
Community Theatre is concluding its year of the woman with Deborah Brevoort’s The Women of Lockerbie Directed by
Estelle Miller, a fitting end to a season celebrating women. The play itself is
a nod to ancient Greek drama and a requiem for all the innocent lives lost on
PanAm Flight 103 and on the ground in Lockerbie, Scotland. The production currently on stage at the
Bowie Playhouse is a tour-de-force performance of five spectacular female
thespians.
Women are strong. When most people think of war, the first image that comes to their mind is that of a man charging into battle. It wasn’t until last year that our military opened the doors for women to serve in combat roles. In spite of this, women serving in and alongside the military have faced the horrors of war just as valiantly men have, and they too have suffered the consequences of such violence.
How do you spend your summer? At the pool? In the sun at the beach? How about in your car driving down the highway? Becky’s New Car by Steven Dietz is a summer sensation performing now at Bowie Community Theatre and take my word for it – drive your car straight to the theatre in the woods and see this show! Bowie Community Theatre’s production is under the talented direction of Ilene Chalmers and has a tour de force cast of seven talented actors.
Who is going to believe a con artist? Everyone, if she [he] is good. – Andy Griffith
In the 18th century, a grifter named Samuel Thompson tried to swindle people out of their money and watches by attempting to gain their confidence. Though in the end he was not highly successful, the New York Herald publicized the story, dubbing him the “Confidence Man.” The term took off and was eventually shortened to simply – “con man.” In 1988,
Just the name alone brings an image to the mind, Frankenstein. What did you picture? A large green man with stitches covering him and bolts in his neck? While that is the general depiction of Frankenstein in our society today, the reality is that the name actually belongs to the doctor that gave life and not to his creation. Though it could be said that Doctor Frankenstein himself is the monster all along, a thought that drives the current production of Frankenstein at the Bowie Playhouse.
Tis the season for businesses to capitalize on the holiday season, and the business of show is no exception. Local theatre listings for December are replete with Dickensian tales, miracles on some street or another, and Red Ryder BB guns. And then there are the companies that stage a piece that is a “holiday show” only insofar as it takes place on or around Christmas, thereby giving them an excuse to deck the set with boughs of holly and play carols in the lobby.
Did you know that it’s less than 50 days until Christmas? It is. It is… And did you know that The Bowie Community Theatre is putting on their very own holiday production of A Tuna Christmas? They are! They are, yes they are. Directed bey Ken Kienas, this redneck holiday classic has some wild stereotypes that’ll give you the jingles all over your funny bone and just in time for the coming holiday season!
They’re practically perfect, in every way! Almost practically perfect, that’s what we say! Mary Poppins popping up on the Bowie Playhouse Stage by way of 2nd Star Productions. Directed by Fred Nelson with Musical Direction by Sandy Melson Griese, this charming and quaint little Disney ditty is a lovely offering for the summertime. Anything can happen if you let it and they’re letting anything and everything happen on that stage; well, practically,
A lie is such a small betrayal. And a murder mystery can be such a grizzly arranged spectacle. Hold onto your hats and your sanity when it comes to Bowie Community Theatre’s latest offering to the stage— Lucille Fletcher’s Night Watch. A chilling suspense-driven drama, Directed by Randy Barth, this maddening thriller has all the hallmarks of Gaslight, all the decadence of Deathtrap and all the charm that such plays require to set the hairs at the back of your neck on edge.
Live your life. We never know when it will stop. A fatal disease, a catastrophic accident, none of us know when life will stop. What if you had resigned your fate to life ending? What if you had accepted the fact that you were terminal when suddenly an organ became available to save your life? Would you want to know where it came from? Would you want to know whose heart was beating inside your chest?
The only place in the world where you can truly feel safe is with family. Especially when your family puts the ‘fun’ in dysfunctional as the Kurnitz family does in the classic Neil Simon, Lost in Yonkers, now appearing at Bowie’s playhouse in the woods to start off the 2016/2017 season for Prince George’s Little Theatre. Directed by Ken Kienas, this touching family dramedy tugs at the heartstrings as two teenage boys find themselves unexpected living with their extremely rigid and strictly traditional German grandmother out in Yonkers,
Mistakes can happen even with the most organized and ordinary of people. The Tomb family are a far cry from ordinary. Almost a modern day Addams Family with all of the doom and gloom that shrouds their secrets, the six Tomb children are marvelously mad and delight in the accidentally intentional misfortune of visitors who arrive at their happy haunt. The marvelously maddened transform into mysterious murderers or murder victims as the bodies pile up faster than Dora can find room for them in her flowerbeds.
When one spends the greater part of their life in a fantasy world, there’s a great chance of slipping over completely and never finding one’s way back to reality. If the character’s that you’ve constructed inside that reality are entertaining enough to keep you there, that is. Bowie Community Theatre brings their 2015/2016 season to a close with Bernard Slade’s An Act of the Imagination. Directed by Patrick Gorirossi, this plot-twisted darkened stage thriller has a great deal of potential to entice an audience with Slade’s wicked good writing and the cameo characters that fill in the space between the pages.
Beware of Hootie Pie! Or perhaps just of being a wild turkey. Of waiting too long for the blue heron? Or perhaps just beware of missing a bizarre new comedy making its community area debut at Prince George’s Little Theatre this January. Brush up on your Chekhov before you go to see Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike for a titular and humorous evening; there is a good time of reflective musings and amusing reflections to be had even if you aren’t well-versed with the depressing antics of The Cherry Orchard,
The holidays are all about second chances, and Lord knows the Futrelle sisters are going to need a God’s honest Christmas miracle to make it to the New Year without killing each other and half of Fayro, Texas. Frankie’s overdue with a brand new set of twins, Honey Raye is trying to save the Christmas Eve program at the Tabernacle of the Lamb from going to hell in a holiday decorated handbasket, and Twink’s out of the clink for one night only on a count of good behavior at Christmas.
Hear ye! Hear ye! The royal proclamation has been set down by Prince George, and his little theatre, that those interested in a most fanciful retelling of a treasured fairytale find their way by foot, horse, hired carriage, fairy godmother, and any other means necessary to the quaint little playhouse in the woods and witness the whimsically enchanting production of Once Upon a Mattress, being performed by the aforementioned Prince George’s Little Theatre.
Brush up your Shakespeare! You might need it to thoroughly enjoy each and every hysterical joke featured in 2nd Star Productions current performance of Kiss Me, Kate, the musical whose focus revolves around the Bard’s Taming of the Shrew. Directed by Roy Hammond with Musical Direction Joe Biddle, the show is a smash-hit sensation with an extraordinarily talented cast that makes an afternoon at the theatre thoroughly enjoyable.
When the set has five separate doors— and a pun for a title— a farce is surely in the offing. A cast of nine and five doors means many opportunities for getting away, for being clueless, and… well, a few other things you can do with doors. These five doors belong to a luxurious suite at the Palm Beach Royale Hotel, where not one but two top-grade Hollywood divas have come to raise money for the USO.
From the moment Kecia Campbell strides on stage as Sophie Washington in a plain, sensible dress and sturdy boots, toting a shotgun, Flyin’ West presents realistic, incisive portrayals of the women of color who settled the West in the 19th century. It’s set in the real-life town of Nicodemus, Kansas where newly-freed African Americans created a community following the Civil War. Presented by Bowie Community Theatre at The Bowie Playhouse and Directed by Estelle Miller,
The pure science of criminology will bring about the truth of the matter in this delicate situation: Prince George’s Little Theatre has filled their stage with disastrously hilarious mayhem by mounting A Shot in the Dark. Directed by Keith Brown, this dated whodunit mystery is receiving a refreshing makeover upon the PGLT stage this winter season. An honest hoot, this murderous marvel is packed full of laughter, surprise, and a rousing good time for all.
Advice is free. If it doesn’t fit you can always return it. And just like any shopping endeavor, good advice is often hard to find. Prince George’s Little Theatre is a great place to go looking for it in their production of Brighton Beach Memoirs, the first of three shows in the 55th season. A poignantly witty, well received , emotionally touching comedy, the family featured in the Neil Simon classic puts the ‘fun’ in dysfunctional.
