author: Chris Pence
The Sounds of Silence: Variations on Silence at Rapid Lemon Productions
“Hello darkness, my old friend / I’ve come to talk with you again / Because a vision softly creeping / Left its seeds while I was sleeping / And the vision that was planted in my brain / Still remains / Within the sound of silence.” Is silence truly just the absence of sound, or something more?
author: Chris Pence
Do Not Be Stingy With The Blintzes: You Can’t Take It With You at Spotlighters Theatre
Now, stop me if you’ve heard this one: What do you get when you cross a tax-evading retiree, a wannabe playwright, a fireworks-obsessed husband and his best friend, a dancer, a xylophonist, a jealous housekeeper, a drunken actor, two Russians, a Scot, a Wall Street bigwig and his wife, some star-crossed lovers,
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author: Chris Pence
Photographs & Memories: Her Portmanteau at Strand Theatre Company
Culture shock is a very real side effect of immigration, to which family can be both a cure and an agitator, in varying degrees. As a first-generation Nigerian-American storyteller and educator, Mfoniso Udofia knows these struggles intimately, sharing her understanding through Her Portmanteau, a profound dive into the hearts and minds of a family working to find connection despite a divide carved by 30 years and 5,300 miles of distance.
author: Chris Pence
When You Believe: The Prince of Egypt at Artistic Synergy of Baltimore
Anyone who has ever set foot in a church knows the story: a mother fearing for her firstborn’s safety sets the baby in a basket to flow down the Nile toward Egypt, and towards his fate. The baby grows into the most influential prophet of Judaism, as well as one of the most important in Christianity,
author: Chris Pence
Fate Works Her Own Dread Work: Antigone at Spotlighters Theatre
“Grief teaches the steadiest minds to waver” – Sophocles, Antigone
Man versus woman, government versus people, morality versus legality. These themes have forever been debated on the theatrical stage, though no discussion has been more powerful than Sophocles’ Antigone, currently in production at Spotlighters Theatre. One of Sophocles’ most cherished works,
author: Chris Pence
Perpetual Guests in Foreign Lands: From East, Like The Sun at Rapid Lemon Productions
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” Written in 1883, Emma Lazarus’ The New Colossus has welcomed immigrants into The United States since being mounted inside the Statue of Liberty (Liberty Enlightening The World) since 1903. From its inception, The United States has stood as a guiding light for disenfranchised immigrants,
author Chris Pence
Think Outside The Shadow Box: “Juxtapose: A Theatrical Shadow Box” at Baltimore Theatre Project
In 1968, 2001: A Space Odyssey hit movie theatres shortly after the original novel was released. Sir Arthur C. Clarke, author of the original novel, when asked what exactly the film and novel were about, replied “If you understand 2001 completely, we failed. We wanted to raise far more questions than we answered.”
author: Chris Pence
Revenge at Bethlehem: “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” at St. Gabriel Miracle Players
Good lord, another Christmas show. Who does a Christmas show in November? I mean, really! At least wait until AFTER Thanksgiving! Yeah, I get it, there are tons of cute kids, and holiday cheer and whatnot, but still!
Do you know someone who feels like this? Can’t seem to get them into the Christmas spirit until about December 23rd?
author: Chris Pence
Thou That Humble Themselves: Godspell at Stand Up For…Theatre
Prepare Ye The Way! Stand Up For…Theatre presents a fresh, upbeat take on the Gospel of Matthew with Godspell, a Broadway classic for the ages. Director Ed Higgins & Producer Grant Myers bring the story of Jesus to a new generation of theatregoers with a production that will have even the most doubting of Thomases dancing,
author: Chris Pence
The Worshipper: The Hollow at Laurel Mill Playhouse
Love is murder, though who’s the killer? The Queen of Mystery reigns supreme as Laurel Mill Playhouse presents Agatha Christie’s The Hollow, a weekend romp through the countryside that brings love, lust, intrigue, and murder. Produced by Laurel Mill’s own Queen of Mystery, Maureen Rogers, The Hollow is one of Christie’s lesser-known stories, though it still packs all the same classic twists and turns that made Christie one of the world’s most famous writers.
author: Chris Pence
It was the one case that kept Poirot awake at night, the one that had more twists and turns than a rail line through the mountains, the Murder On The Orient Express. Agatha Christie’s timeless mystery finally comes to the stage, roaring into the station at Manor Mill Playhouse.
Based on the novel of the same name by the Mistress of Murder herself, Dame Agatha Christie,
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author: Chris Pence
Admit it, you had “Tomorrow” running through your head from the second you read the title. And who wouldn’t? It’s such an ebullient anthem to optimism (try saying that three times fast)! Producer Barbara Webber and Compass Rose Theater reignite inspiration, determination, and optimism with Annie, the classic tale of the little redheaded girl that has been stealing Americans’ hearts since 1924.
Based on characters from Harold Gray’s Little Orphan Annie comic strip,
author: Chris Pence
It’s just one of those days that goes on, and on and on. Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre lets audiences relive that day again and again with Groundhog Day: The Musical, an uproarious musical rom-com about a frustrated weatherman, a lovelorn producer, and a rodent who’s always living it its own shadow.
Based on the 1993 movie of the same name, Groundhog Day: The Musical follows Phil Conners,
author: Chris Pence
Something in the Glade There: Into The Woods at 2nd Star Productions
We all remember those classic fairy tales from our childhoods, always ending with “Happily Ever After.” But what happens after Happily Ever After? Into The Woods ventures into the forest of our feelings and yearns to determine what exactly we’re saying when we mutter “I wish” to the brightest evening star.
author: Chris Pence
Happy Mother’s Day 2025! If you need a gift for mom, or a reminder of all that mothers provide for us, Artistic Synergy of Baltimore’s Motherhood Out Loud is all you need! Conceived by Susan R. Rose and Joan Stein, Motherhood Out Loud is an all-encompassing view of motherhood, seen through a series of short scenes and monologues. Through honest, direct delivery, the show follows the mothering process from birth through schooling,
author: Chris Pence
Stuck in the Middle With You: The Odd Couple at Bowie Community Theatre
Some things never change, like the frustration and camaraderie of having roommates, especially those that drive us crazier than a worm in a bowl of spaghetti (IT’S LINGUINI!!!). Neil Simon’s classic buddy comedy, The Odd Couple, screams its way onto the Bowie Community Theatre stage with hilarious consequence.
Perhaps Simon’s most well-known play,
author: Chris Pence
A Rose By Any Other Name: Romeo & Juliette at Laurel Mill Playhouse
“Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene.”1 It’s the classic tale of love and loss, hate and betrayal, ancient grudges to new mutiny, “[w]here civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes, a pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life.”1 Jacqueline Youm breathes new life into the tale as old as time itself with Romeo &
author: Chris Pence
Life on The Ice Floe: Quitting Time at The Baltimore Theatre Project
In today’s world, discrimination is an all-to-prevalent problem that plagues modern society. It has many faces, including by race, sex, religion, and political affiliation. One of the faces least addressed in today’s world is age discrimination. Agism is an issue that many people face daily, yet few people are ready to discuss its true impact.
author: Chris PenceÂ
Voices in My Head: Be More Chill at Rockville Musical Theatre
It’s the classic high school drama: boy meets girl, boy fails to impress girl, boy takes pill containing supercomputer to become cooler, boy wins girl (at a cost.) Rockville Musical Theatre’s Be More Chill incorporates sci-fi, humor, and typical high school drama, to give audiences a new view on how technology and peer pressure mold students into the adults they learn to be during those endless teenage years.
author: Chris Pence
The More Things Change: “Fires in the Mirror” at Laurel Mill Playhouse
What defines us, and what defines our views of the world? Is it our race? Gender? Religion? Culture? The community in which we live, or to which we belong? Laurel Mill Playhouse gives us a moment to reflect on these and many more questions in presenting Anna Deavere Smith’s Fires in the Mirror: Crown Heights,
author: Chris Pence
Where Were You when The World Stopped Turning: Out of The Blue at Laurel Mill Players
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“September 11th, 2001, revealed heroism in ordinary people who might have gone through their lives never called upon to demonstrate the extent of their courage.”
– Geraldine Brooks
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Everyone remembers where they were on that blue cloudless day in September when the Twin Towers fell,
author: Chris Pence
Ever wonder what your dog is thinking? How they feel about your love for them? How about how your love for your dog might impact your significant other? With A.R. Gurney’s Sylvia, Laurel Mill Playhouse examines all these questions and more, delving deep into the meaning of relationships, both human and animal.
Premiering off-Broadway in 1995, the play follows a stray dog named Sylvia as she is adopted by Greg,
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A Spoonful of Wine Helps The Poison Go Down: Arsenic & Old Lace at Bowie Community Theare
author: Chris Pence
Don’t drink the wine at Bowie Community Theatre! Joseph Kesselring’s 1939 classic black comedy Arsenic & Old Lace follows Mortimer Brewster, a theatre critic who comes home to 1930’s Brooklyn to announce to his beloved Aunts Abby and Martha that he’s engaged to Elaine Harper,
author: Chris Pence
What defines success? The American Dream? Career goals? Personal satisfaction? Baltimore playwright Mark Scharf examines these queries and more in The Monroe Doctrine, a new play making its world premiere at The Baltimore Theatre Project. The play centers around the Monroe Family, a typical American family hoping to celebrate Memorial Day 2014 with the Traditional Monroe Family Memorial Day Picnic on Hog Island, Maryland. Through family arguments and personal reflections,
author: Chris Pence
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 On the 12th day of the month of April, in a small auditorium not too far from your home, the human race suddenly encountered a deadly threat to its very existence, and this terrifying enemy surfaced, as such enemies often do, in the seemingly most innocent and unlikely of places… Anne Arundel Community College! Howard Ashman’s cult classic Little Shop of Horrors creeps with terrifying new life onto the AACC stage.
Puffs at Silhouette Stages: Revenge of the Nerds,” Potter Style
Have you ever wondered what it was like to be a side character in a story? To not be the hero, but just another onlooker? Matt Cox’s Puffs at Silhouette Stages examines this idea in hilarious fashion as we delve into the world of a Certain School of Magic and Magic. A riotous romp through mediocrity,
“Laughter Through Tears”
Grab your curlers and spill the tea, because it’s time for Steel Magnolias at Artistic Synergy of Baltimore! Playwright Robert Harling’s comedy-drama comes to stunning life through skilled direction and superb performing. Based on experiences from Harling’s life, Steel Magnolias tells the story of six women who become lifelong friends in a Louisiana nail salon, coming together to support each other through good times and bad.
The Very Model of a Modern Major Musical: Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance at Artistic Synergy of Baltimore
 W.S. Gilbert & Arthur Sullivan’s classic comedic opera comes to life at Artistic Synergy of Baltimore! The Pirates of Penzance follows hopeful orphan Frederic in his mistaken apprenticeship with a wild band of singing, dancing pirates! Frederic’s story takes a drastic turn when he falls in love with Mabel,