Articles Tagged With: Mark Scharf

Scharf’s Shorts at Spotlighters Theatre

Reviews October 26, 2021 Mark Briner

Friday night, October 22, 2021, was a very big night for a small but important theatre, one of a select few that are the very soul of Baltimore theatre history. After nineteen months of darkness thrust upon them due to Covid-19 lockdowns and mandates, The Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre, that diminutive little workhorse in the step down basement on St. Paul Street, opened again with a light fanfare and a comfortable crowd of faithful patrons to kick off their 59th Season.

Review: The Elephant Man at Fells Point Corner Theatre

Reviews September 6, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

When you are told a thing, you must listen. Take a closer look with your exhibitionist eyes to the current co-production at the Fells Point Corner Theatre with The Collaborative Theatre; the current production of The Elephant Man by Bernard Pomerance, which launches the 2016-2017 season #RescueMe. Directed by Anthony Lane Hinkle, this strange venture into Victorian London exposes theatergoers to beauty that goes beyond the eye of the beholder. Fully articulating one of the core concepts of theatrical endeavors— suspension of disbelief— the production in its essence is a remarkable parade of aesthetically pleasing features.

The 11th Annual Kid’s Playwriting Festival at Twin Beach Players

Reviews August 5, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

Summer is sizzling up a creativity storm down in North Beach as the 11th Annual Kids’ Playwriting Festival gets underway at the Twin Beach Players. With two dozen scripts submitted from area youth playwrights, six winners were selected for performance in this year’s festival. Festival Director Sherry Lehnen brought six groups of young actors and directors— many of whom have participated in previous KPF events through the years, some of whom have even had their plays produced— together in addition to a series of volunteers of all ages to help run tech and crew for an amazing opportunity for these young and gifted writers.

Review: 10x10x10 at Fells Point Corner Theatre

Reviews May 29, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

Ten actors. Ten plays. Ten minutes. One stage. It’s happening right now in a theatre near you— the Fells Point Corner Theatre, to be exact. Appearing as a new revision to their annual tradition of a 10-minute play festival, this year four directors take ten actors across the course of ten different ten-minute one-act plays. Polished, poignant, and perfectly humorous, this bundle of shorts is perfectly palatable for those who prefer their theatre in quippy clips and devourable morsels.

Dramatists Guild of America Presents: Baltimore Footlights Reading Series- The Quickening

News October 31, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

People take great comfort in proof, especially when it comes to the unknown. But sometimes the proof is the explanation. Baltimore-based playwright Mark Scharf debuts his newest work, The Quickening— a ghost story for the stage— as a part of the Baltimore Footlights Reading Series 2015-2016. Hosted by the Dramatists Guild of America, this reading series provides the opportunities for local playwrights to have staged readings of their new works, generating a chance for workshopping new ideas based on feedback given by the audience.

Ghost Stories of the Stage: An Interview with Playwright Mark Scharf on his New Work The Quickening

Interviews October 20, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

Is there life beyond death? An age old question that plagues the minds of the masses. Science has answers. Religion has answers. Should not the theatre also have answers? In a brand new work by Baltimore-based playwright Mark Scharf, The Quickening, perceived as a ghost story for the stage, dabbles into the uncharted territories of the unknown. In a TheatreBloom exclusive interview we sit down with Mark Scharf to discuss his latest work.

Vivisection: A Dissection of Playwright Mark Scharf’s Brain Over Newly Adapted Work

Interviews October 17, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

Everything in existence takes its color from the hue of our surroundings. When the hue of your surroundings is shrouded in mystery and tingling chills the resulting artwork can be quite chilling this time of year. Debuting as a world premiere at The Twin Beach Players, The Island of Doctor Moreau as written and adapted by Baltimore-based playwright Mark Scharf arrives just in time for the spooky shades of autumn. In a TheatreBloom exclusive interview we sit down with Mark to discuss the inner musings of his new work.

Review: The Island of Doctor Moreau at Twin Beach Players

Reviews October 16, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther 1 Comment

Sensational exposures. Strange sounds in the night. A spine-tingling chill has settled over the beaches of southern Maryland this October as the Twin Beach Players invite the world premiere of Mark Scharf’s adaptation of The Island of Doctor Moreau to their stage. Just in time for the unsettlingly spooky season of Halloween, this tremendous community theatre undertaking will set your nerves on edge as you hear the fancifully woven tale of one man’s attempt to escape the dark and sordid secrets of a mysterious island after being lost at sea.

Review: Commander at Vagabond Players

Reviews July 12, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

America is a promise. A promise of hopes and dreams and live theatre at your fingertips. The Vagabond Players are all American, not only because they’re approaching their 100th anniversary season, but because they’re participating in the 2015 Baltimore Playwrights Festival with an area premier of a political zinger. And as the play says— politics is theatre, all that matters is that you say “here I am! Look at me!” Mario Correa’s Commander takes hold of the stage giving local stage manager Chelsea Dove her full-length Directorial Debut in this poignant dramedy of sexuality in politics.

Politics of the Stage: An Interview with the Cast and Director of BPF production Commander

Interviews July 8, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

“The nature of marriage is that, through its enduring bond, two persons together can find other freedoms, such as expression, intimacy, and spirituality. This is true for all persons, whatever their sexual orientation.” ~Justice Anthony Kennedy, SCOTUS ruling 6/26/15. The nation has finally legally recognized gay marriage in all fifty states, but is the country ready for its first openly gay president? In a sit-down TheatreBloom exclusive interview with the cast and creative team of Commander,

The Enlightening of Billie Dawn: An interview with Anne Shoemaker

Interviews June 12, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

Gin! When a woman sets her mind to it, she can accomplish great things, like beating Harry Brock at gin rummy for example. In a TheatreBloom exclusive interview, we sit down with Baltimore area actress Anne Shoemaker to discuss her first major lead role in Born Yesterday at Vagabond Players.

If you could give us a little introduction and familiarize the readers with who you are and what you’ve been up to as of late,

Review: Born Yesterday at Vagabond Players

Reviews June 7, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

Money talks. And in a city of few secrets and much chat it’s easy to see that Washington DC hasn’t changed in 70 years. The world can only be as good as the people in it, and the same goes for a play. Fortunately at the Vagabond Players, the talent thriving within the confines of Garson Kanin’s Born Yesterday is stellar, making the production a smashing success. Directed by Steve Goldklang,

Pondering Playwrights: An Interview with Mark Scharf on Fortune’s Child

Interviews January 16, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

Everyone dies; it is a fact of life. Fortune’s Child, a new work by Baltimore area playwright Mark Scharf has made its debut at the Baltimore Theatre Project this winter season of 2015. In a TheatreBloom exclusive interview, I’ve sat down with the playwright to discuss the work and what it is meant to tell the audiences who see it about living life.

Thank you for taking the time to sit down with the readers of TheatreBloom for this interview,

Review: Fortune’s Child at Baltimore Theatre Project

Reviews January 10, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

They say life is for the living so live it or you’re better off dead. A quote that may sound harsh especially in the face of the dying, but it’s the honest reality of living. Life interrupts life, even the life of the dying, and that’s a fact. Baltimore-based playwright Mark Scharf captures the essence of humanity at its most simple— living life— with his new play Fortune’s Child, making its premier through the Actors Equity Association Members Project Code at The Baltimore Theatre Project.

Interview: On Art and Friendship- a discussion with Actors Mark Scharf, Steven Shriner, and Eric C. Stein

Interviews September 14, 2014 Amanda N. Gunther

Friendships come and friendships go, and sometimes a disagreement in taste can be all the difference in the world between “best friends” and the end of 15 years of friendship. Taking a moment to dissect this concept, I’ve sat down with three seasoned veterans of the stage— Eric C. Stein, Mark Scharf, and Steven Shriner— who are currently performing in the Vagabond Players production of Yasmina Reza’s Art and gotten their opinion on the matter.

Review: Art at Vagabond Players

Reviews September 6, 2014 Amanda N. Gunther

What is it that binds us to other human beings? On what do we base our friendships with others? And can something as insignificant as a disagreement in artistic tastes be the basis for ending a deep and lasting relationship with a best friend? All of these questions are answered as the Vagabond Players mount their 99th season with a production of Yasmina Reza’s Art. Directed by Howard Berkowitz,