Articles Tagged With: Olivia Ercolano

Gillian Shelly (center) as Edna Pontellier and the ensemble of The Awakening with Endangered Species Theatre Project 📷 Madeline Reinhold

The Awakening at Endangered Species (Theatre) Project

Reviews April 19, 2023 Amanda N. Gunther

Resolved to never belong to anyone but herself, Edna Pontellier controlled her own destiny.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Picture it. A balmy, breezy, almost tropical evening on Grand Isle. Louisiana Gulf. Cottages. 1890’s. Summertime. Can you feel the sea breeze blowing in? Smell the scent of the water? Can you hear the French Creole dialect running thick like Cajun gumbo through the words that get spoken? You’ll picture it a whole lot better if you slip on over to Endangered Species Theatre Project this April to experience their extraordinary production of Rebecca Chace’s The Awakening.

Blood, Sweat, and Fears at The National Edgar Allan Poe Theatre

Reviews October 20, 2022 Amanda N. Gunther

Are you ready for your one-way ticket to nightmarish places? Ghastly things and ghoulish notions to put you in the mood for the season of the macabre? In their live-stage-performance debut, The National Edgar Allan Poe Theatre brings Blood, Sweat, and Fears to the FPX Events stage just east of Poe’s beloved Baltimore. Directed by Jay Brock the conceptualized work formulated by Jennifer Restak and Richard J. Hand with Alex Zavistovich, will have some of Poe’s lesser known works on display for your darkened sense of entertainment.

Much Ado About Nothing at Annapolis Shakespeare Company

Reviews October 7, 2017 Amanda N. Gunther

Annapolis Shakespeare Company opens its main stage with a lavish, lush, magnificent Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare’s most genuinely romantic rom-com. Director Sally Boyett has given it a 50’s spin, with a rock-and-roll soundtrack and a spectacular Tuscan villa (by way of California), with a two-story stucco house and terra-cotta dance floor (by scenic designer Jack Golden).

Helena Farhi and Benjamin Russell play Shakespeare’s greatest lovers, Beatrice and Benedick.

Alice and The Book of Wonderland at Annapolis Shakespeare Company

Reviews July 31, 2017 Joshua Engel

Annapolis Shakespeare Company inaugurates its new space with a stunning, lavish play, an adaptation of Alice in Wonderland, which shows off the amazing capabilities of their new venue. Written by Sally Boyett (who also directed it) and Donald Hicken, it mixes Carroll’s novel with a frame story about the book Alice in Wonderland itself, given to Alice by Charles Dodgeson (Carroll’s real name) himself. It intersperses this bit of meta-textuality with a few modern references to,

The Tempest at Annapolis Shakespeare Company

Reviews July 9, 2017 Joshua Engel

Directors Donald Hicken and Sally Boyett have created a sparkling Tempest under the stars at the Charles Carroll house in Annapolis. With a spreading tree dominating the scene and a shrub hedge covering the back stage, the hill slopes toward the river for Shakespeare’s watery play. Bring a blanket or a lawn chair… and some bug spray and you’re ready for Annapolis Shakespeare Company’s The Tempest this July.

The early evening and the river bring a hint of cool weather to summer in Annapolis,

Richard III at Annapolis Shakespeare Company

Reviews May 24, 2017 Amanda N. Gunther

“The catastrophe of power in the wrong hands.” An apt tag line for the Annapolis Shakespeare Company’s current production of Richard III as it speaks plainly to the Bard’s bloody history-borderline tragedy play and more broadly to situations at hand all around us right up to the currently political regime in the nation’s capital. Directed by Donald Hicken, this sharply rendered and quick-paced rendition of what is arguably the most violent of the history plays in Shakespeare’s canon,

Our Town at Annapolis Shakespeare Company

Reviews February 1, 2017 Amanda N. Gunther

Everybody has a right to their own troubles; some people ain’t made for small town life. The quintessential all-American play about the daily doings of small town life, Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, marks the inaugural production of Annapolis Shakespeare Company’s new home at 1804 West Street. Directed by Sally Boyett, this theatrical chestnut settles into the turn of the 20th century in Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire with a whole mess of Gibbs’ and Webb’s and other small town folk whose stories are important to no one but themselves.

Review: It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play at Annapolis Shakespeare Company

Reviews December 8, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

It’s that time of year when the world falls in love, every song you hear seems to say, Merry Christmas! And no one’s singing or saying it brighter than the good folks over at WBFR: Playhouse of the Air as they prepare for their annual holiday broadcast, this year featuring It’s a Wonderful Life. Fully settled into the hokey yet happy holiday gimmick that is It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play,

Review: Twelfth Night at Annapolis Shakespeare Company

Reviews October 17, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

I say there is no darkness but ignorance, and to remain ignorant of the truly sensational production of Twelfth Night that is gracing itself upon the stage of the Annapolis Shakespeare Company’s studio stage would be to remain steeped in the depths of an aphotic gloom of indescribable proportions. Directed by the company’s Artistic Director— Sally Boyett— this reimagined, innovative approach pays homage to the glistening golden era of Hollywood’s silver screen,

Review: A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Annapolis Shakespeare Company

Reviews July 13, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

Lord, what fools these mortals be— thinking that summertime theatre in Annapolis need only involve outdoor musicals! Annapolis Shakespeare Company has set up shop, for a two-weekend limited engagement, in the luxurious Gardens of The Charles Carroll House for their current production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Directed by Sally Boyett and Donald Hicken, the performance is a tightly trimmed rendition of the whimsical faerie-laden comedy, which showcases mesmerizing costumes,

Review: Romeo & Juliet at Annapolis Shakespeare Company

Reviews May 3, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

Dreams are the children of idle brain, but let your mind sit still no longer! It is time for your imagination, your mind, your brain, and every other part of one’s thinker that by any other name reasons just as soundly, to engage with the Bard’s most iconic romantic tragedy. Tightened for core efficiency and pared to its essence, Romeo & Juliet is now the two hours’ traffics upon the Annapolis Shakespeare Company’s stage.