Josh Mooney’s Jack Kirby opens at his drawing board, carrying the weight of one of the most crucial careers in modern arts. From lights up, the entire story unfolds in his eyes. King Kirby tells the story behind the man who created some of the most popular figures in modern media: Captain America, The X-Men, The Avengers, and many more. They fill the summer box office and take in billions of dollars.
There’s always a moment where you can turn back before it’s too late! And the “too late” moment of missing Thunderous Productions’ summer offering of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Nile is quickly approaching! With just a few performances left in the Greenbelt Arts Center black box three-quarters-thrust space, this edgy classic murder mystery will keep you on your toes questioning through to the end. Directed by Rick Starkweather, this is one whodunit whose conclusion will have your spine tingling by the time it unwinds.
What fire is in my ears? All of Shakespeare’s women in one show? Can it be so? Well, that might be a bit absurd, even for The Rude Mechanicals, but they do come close, featuring a varied assortment of all of the Bard’s leading ladies in just shy of two hours’ stage traffic! Conceived and Directed by Leanne G. Stump, this selection of scenes showcases some of the finer moments of Shakespeare’s female characters,
“Think and wonder, wonder and think.” Infamous children’s book author Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel) seemed to be a big fan of a good think. All throughout his books, he encouraged kids to think for themselves, find out and become who they are and fight for what they believe in. So, it’s no small wonder that a musical based on his books is all about characters trying to do just that. Seussical, The Musical,
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.
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, 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.
The core values of the United States Marine Corps (according to their website) are “honor, courage, and commitment.” The best Marines respect the chain of command and obey orders without question. But what if an order involves an immoral or even illegal act? Should a Marine have the honor, courage, and commitment to challenge that order? Or should he blindly follow military protocol – even if it could have dire consequences, including possible arrest and court-martial?
“Everyone has got a kink, what’s yours?” In kinK, Wolfpack Theatre Company once again invites you to get beyond your immediate gut response to really think about an issue and consider the lives it affects. kinK, an evocative and risqué new work by company founder William Dean Leary, asks what happens when the community’s creed “Safe – Sane – Consensual” encounters the notion of “There are no limits.”
The black box theater of the Greenbelt Arts Center has been transformed into a leather/levi bar.
Misery. Grief. Despair. These are the ailments with which English housewife Charlotte Wilson finds herself plagued in the suffocating confines of dreary, rainy London. She needs a break. She needs to bring purpose into her life, which she feels like she is fast losing. One day, as she is contemplating this, she reads an advertisement in the paper, and Charlotte Wilton finds herself swept up in the enchantment of an up-for-rent village on the coast of Italy,
2016 Templeton Prize Winner Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks once said, “If Jewish survival is problematic, it is because Jewish identity itself is problematic.” What does it mean to be Jewish? How much should a person’s cultural identity define them? Has Judaism gotten so watered down that is becoming obsolete? These are some of the themes that course through Bad Jews, the Greenbelt Arts Center’s latest production, Directed by Bob Kleinberg. This is not to say that Bad Jews is a gripping and searing moral drama.
What if God was one of us? Or at least close enough to talk to us and tell us what it’s like to be Him? What existed before The Beginning? God supposedly created the universe, but who created God? These are concepts former Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus clown Rich Potter explores in the Greenbelt Arts Center production of God, The One-Man Show.
In this fast-paced,
What if Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol had a modern-day spinoff featuring Jacob Marley – only this time, Marley was a gumshoe? Okay, a “dead as a doornail” gumshoe? It might be called A Christmas Cactus, an Off The Quill production written by Eliot Byerrum and Directed by Leanne Dinverno at the Greenbelt Arts Center.
In this holiday comedy, it is not Ebenezer Scrooge, but Cactus O’Riley (Shannon Riley) who owns the business,
On the second interview of Christmas, Wolf Pack Theatre Company did give to TheatreBloom— the insight of their company’s resident Technical Director Stephen Beitzell! Two blinking lights— quick, Stephen they’re not supposed to blink! And a glowing spotlight on solo singers too! Follow along in the TheatreBloom exclusive series to see what Stephen has to say about his Christmas favorites and his experience with A Christmas Carol
Merry Christmas, Stephen! Thanks for giving us a moment of your time!
Football can be violent at times. Relationships can be too. Mix them together, add some beer and a little bit of Jewish humor, and you will get a taste of the Greenbelt Arts Center’s Any Given Monday, by Bruce Graham. Directed by Ann Lowe-Barrett, this extremely dark comedy vacillates between amusing moments, surprising plot twists, and deep, philosophical ponderings.
The play takes place almost entirely in the den of a house in Philadelphia.
Wolfpack Theatre Company once again takes on troubling social issues with their World Premiere production of the new play Forsaken Angels, written by the company’s Founding Artistic Director, William Dean Leary. Now playing at the Greenbelt Arts Center for a limited engagement, this is a raw play about child sex-trafficking. There are no heroes. There refuse to be victims. There are only the survivors and the dead. But what does survival even mean if the spirit is dead?
Ne’er so bethump’d with words has this critic found herself when staring down an amalgamation of a Shakespearean remount dipped in Pythonian humor and sprayed liberally with truncation across the Greenbelt Arts Center’s intimate black box stage, than she has in this very moment in attempting to report upon The Life and Death of King John as presented by The Rude Mechanicals. A history most boring upended ass over tea-kettle by Director Alan Duda,
It’s that time of year, folks! The Washington Area Theatre Community Honors have come around again to honor all of the truly exceptional theatre being performed in community venues across the Washington DC and surrounding metropolitan area. The 2014 award nominations were presented live this evening at The Birchmere in Alexandria, VA.
There were 111 different productions– 34 musicals and 77 plays– adjudicated over in the 2014 theatrical season. 31 community theatre companies participated in WATCH adjudication in 2014.
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,
Take a stroll through the square of Fells point any evening weekend this fall and you’ll hear the joint is truly jumpin’ over at The Vagabond Players. Their production of Ain’t Misbehavin’ has got the whole of Baltimore tappin’ its toes and stompin’ its feet! TheatreBloom took a quick break from doing the jitterbug waltz and sat down with Director Rikki Howie Lacewell to find out just what this crazy cool cat musical is all about!
They’re the 1342 Dupont Circle Heroes! And they are appearing for a limited run engagement at the Greenbelt Arts Center. An evocative story of humanity and human nature written by Cheryl Poole, this one-act production is a striking performance that touches the deepest part of the audience’s souls. Directed by Gregory Poole, the story follows the memories of a quartet of men— self-proclaimed the Dupont Circle Heroes— a bumpy stumble down memory lane to a darker time that may have all but escaped their minds as time left them in the past.
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.
Agatha Christie. The name immediately draws to mind thrilling murder mysteries of the ‘who-dunnit’ era of the utmost suspenseful caliber. Thunderous Productions in the black box theatrical space at the Greenbelt Arts Center, mounts a lesser known Christie work that showcases the versatility of the famed mystery writer’s crafting ability. Verdict, a play wherein the suspenseful twists keep turning even though the killer is revealed immediately.
What would your vagina say if it could talk? Mine would say that you need to go see the Rude Mechanicals and their production of Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues at the Greenbelt Art Center. Co-Directed by Lauren Beward and Jaki Demarest, this particular production of the iconic feminist piece is defying the standards of which the original was formed with and setting the benchmark extremely high for all future productions.